_After visiting Gruerie Wood, return to and proceed along G.C. 67. The road passes beside_ two large French cemeteries, _then_ a row of dug-outs. The forest becomes more and more denuded of trees, which were smashed by the shells. _The site of_ =Four-de-Paris= _is soon reached_, though not a trace of the village remains (_photo, p. 104_). _Four-de-Paris is 2 km. from La Harazée._ Four-de-Paris It was against the Four-de-Paris sector that the first efforts of the Germans, after their retreat of September, 1914, were directed. No sacrifice, however costly, was considered too great to recapture this essential position on the road to Les Islettes. In two days (November 27-28) seven enemy attacks were launched to the north of Four. Three times on December 5 their troops, to the sound of fife and drum, returned to the charge, but without success. On the 18th, after blowing up a trench, they again attacked. On January 5, 1915, by way of a diversion, the French 2nd battalion of the 4th Foreign (or Garibaldian) Regiment carried out an operation in this sector, while, further to the east, the rest of the regiment delivered the main attack at Courte-Chausse. At 10 a.m., the Garibaldians, supported by some bomb-throwers belonging to the 9th Battalion of Chasseurs and French 91st Regiment of the Line, and by two sections of the engineers, attacked the enemy trenches on a front of 400 yards, but, decimated by machine-gun fire, they were unable to reach them. On February 16-17 and on March 9 there were renewed and violent struggles. From June 29 to July 15 the battle broke out again in this sector, interrupted from time to time by terrible bombardments with gas shells. [Illustration: GENERAL VIEW OF THE “FOUR-DE-PARIS” (_see page 103_) _The road in the foreground leads from Four-de-Paris to Varennes._] In 1916 and 1917 this sector, like the rest of the Argonne, quieted down. Mining operations continued from time to time, but there were no battles properly so called. In the occasional surprise attacks which took place, the French generally got the better of the enemy. _From Four-de-Paris, instead of going to La Chalade by the direct road through the valley of the Biesme (2 km. 500), the Itinerary follows a number of roads (17 km. 500 in all) through the forest, in order to visit_ certain picturesque spots and at the same time to see places like =Bolante=, =Les Meurissons=, =La Haute-Chevauchée=, =Fille-Morte=, =Pierre-Croisée= and =Courte-Chausse=, made famous by the war. All these places were the scene of fierce conflicts in 1914 and 1915.