_After visiting Vauquois, return to and follow G.C. 38._ The original front lines are soon crossed. Cheppy Wood on the left and Hesse Forest on the right were cut to pieces by the shells. The ground is covered with defence-works. _6 km. 500 beyond Varennes the road divides on the edge of Hesse Forest, G.C. 38 running to the left, towards Avocourt. Take the right-hand road (I.C. 60), which enters the forest._ Numerous French military works, and some gun emplacements, may be seen along the road. _The road to Récicourt, on the left, is soon passed._ _Coming out of the forest I.C. 60 crosses a plateau, then reaches_ =Aubréville= (_14 km. from Varennes_). [Illustration: CLERMONT-EN-ARGONNE. PANORAMIC VIEW OF COUNTRY LOOKING TOWARDS VAUQUOIS] _Cross the railway (l.c.) near the station, then the Couzance River, and enter the_ ruins of Aubréville (_photo, p. 59_). _At the end of the village the road forks; keep straight along I.C. 60, which crosses first the Aire, then the railway (l.c.)._ The =Ridge of Clermont-en-Argonne= _soon comes into view_. _The road joins that leading to Neuvilly; cross the bridge over the railway and enter_ =Clermont=, _coming out at the Place de la Mairie_. Clermont-en-Argonne The history of this picturesque little town, which was the capital of the old Comté of Clermont, has been a troubled one. In 719, Charles-Martel gave it and its dependencies to the Bishop of Verdun. In 1094 it was taken by an adventurer named Odon, and recaptured from him by the Bishop of Verdun. In 1110, Dudon, Count of Clermont, having insulted the Bishop of Verdun, the town was besieged by the Emperor. In the subsequent struggles between the Bishops of Verdun and the Counts of Bar for the possession of the town, it was several times besieged and burnt. The Counts of Bar, who finally gained the upper hand, on the condition that they would pay homage to the Bishops of Verdun, strongly fortified it. A fortress, added by Henri II., Count of Bar, in the 13th century, was built on the St. Anne Plateau. Letters of enfranchisement were given to the inhabitants of the fortress by Count Tiébault II. in 1246, and to the people of the town by the Duke Henri IV. in 1339. In 1354, Yolande of Flanders, Countess of Longueville, Bar, and Cassel, had a mint at Clermont. In 1539, Clermont became a feudatory state of the Empire. Ceded to France in 1634 by the Treaty of Liverdun (confirmed by the Treaty of the Pyrénees in 1659) it was definitely incorporated in France by the Treaty of Paris on March 29, 1641. In 1648, Louis XIII. settled it on the Great Condé, whose family held it until the Revolution. During the _Fronde_, Clermont took part in the war of the rebel princes; in 1654, the town was besieged by the royal troops, the siege being conducted by Vauban, who had himself fortified the place in 1652. On November 8, 1654, the Marquis de Riberpray took the fortress and church by assault, and on the 22nd, after a siege lasting one month, the town surrendered.