[Illustration: VARENNES CHURCH. SOUTH-WEST FRONT] _N. 46 coming from Fléville, passes the church_ (_hist. mon.--photos above and below_). The three-sided apse of this church, with its fine windows, dates from the 14th or 15th century; the façade and the tower from the 18th. The Hôtel du Grand Cerf, near the church, contains carved presses and pretty Argonne earthenware. The bridge over the Aire, from which there is a pretty view of the river, connects the upper and lower town. _Before crossing the bridge, take G.C. 38 to the left, 1 km. 800 from Varennes; leave the Cheppy road on the left, and keep on in the direction of_ =Vauquois=, the bare crest of which is seen _on the right_. _3 km. 500 from Varennes, on the right, is a sheet of water, behind which rises_ =Vauquois Hill.= _One hundred yards further on, at a small wood, leave the car and take on foot the (bad) road on the right for about 400 yards_, to a square constructed in cement and stone. This was a German Command-Post (_photo, p._ 54). _On the left of this building, follow a small winding path up to_ =Vauquois Crest.= (The visit on foot to Vauquois Crest takes an hour.) [Illustration: VARENNES. NAVE OF CHURCH SEEN FROM THE CHOIR] [Illustration: PANORAMIC VIEW OF VAUQUOIS CREST AS SEEN FROM G.C. 38 AT AVOCOURT] [Illustration: NEAR VAUQUOIS. GERMAN POST OF COMMANDMENT, AFTER CAPTURE BY AMERICAN TROOPS, WITH STARS AND STRIPES FLYING] Vauquois Vauquois is one of the famous spots of the Argonne battlefield. The Germans took it in September, 1914, during a strong attack on the French 3rd Army, in their efforts to encircle Verdun. The ridge concealed their operations to the north of Varennes, covered the re-victualling of the Argonne front by the Four-de-Paris road, and above all furnished their artillery with an excellent observation-post. The importance of the position caused the Germans to convert it into a veritable fortress. Caves were made in the rock and connected by underground passages. The streets of the village were excavated, so that the vent-holes of the cellars formed loop-holes on a level with a man’s head. The walls of the houses and gardens were battlemented, and trenches were dug in the slopes in front of the village. The position was supported and flanked by the guns in the Woods of Cheppy, Montfaucon and Argonne. Approach was the more difficult, in that the position was surrounded on all sides by ravines and _glacis_, which provided admirable firing positions for the machine-guns. This formidable position, which earlier in the war, before the improvement in the French artillery, would have been considered impregnable, was taken by the French 10th Infantry Division after heroic sacrifices. The first assaults especially, made without artillery preparation or support, cost the splendid French Infantry heavy losses.