Five months later (October 24th) they lost it again after a heavy bombardment and attack, during which a French 16-inch shell pierced the superstructure of the fort and started a fire. A dense fog overhung the fort when, at 11.40 a.m., the signal for the attack, directed by General Mangin, was given. When, at about 2.30 p.m. the fog lifted, French observers perceived the Moroccan Colonials of the Nicolaï battalion scaling the ruins of the fort. On arriving there, the latter found units of the 321st line regiment which, operating _in liaison_ on their right, had preceded them and already hoisted the French flag on the ruins of the fort. Two sappers of the 19-2 Co. of Engineers slipped into the basement of the fort, and with the aid of four Colonials captured twenty-four German soldiers, four officers, two guns and three machine-guns in one of the counter-scarp shelters. Other enemy soldiers in one of the casemates surrendered, with the German commander of the fort, on the night of the 24th. The next morning the entire fort, together with a great quantity of arms, munitions and foodstuffs, was in the hands of the French. Four enemy counter-attacks on the 26th failed to retake it. [Illustration: SOLDIERS OF THE MOROCCAN COLONIAL REGT. OCCUPYING THE MOATS OF THE RECONQUERED FORT (photographed on the morning of Oct. 25th, 1916, the day after the victory)] On the night of the 24th a sergeant of the 4th Zouaves captured, unaided, a German company and six officers. Returning from revictualling duty, he was taken prisoner by some Germans occupying a shelter near the fort Coolly informing them that Douaumont and Damloup Battery had fallen, he called on them to surrender. The attitude of the sergeant was so convincing that after some hesitation they laid down their arms and were brought into the French lines. Douaumont was entirely cleared on December 15th by the 37th D.I., which fought a hard battle in the woods before the village. Having learned the time of the attack, the Germans were on their guard, but after a furious combat the 2nd Tirailleurs drove back the VIth Prussian Grenadiers and crossed Helly Ravine (_photo, p. 80_). =Hardaumont= and =Caillette Woods= and =Douaumont Village= _may be visited, on foot from the fort of Douaumont_.