_The road goes round the castle._ The opposite photograph gives a side view of the façade. The tower at the end has been cleared of the ivy which covers it (in the photograph on p. 174), and completely restored. The ruined roof has been removed, in order to give place to a new one. In the foreground is a tree which has been felled by a shell. Shells from the '105's' and '150's' laid low many others, sometimes killing at the same time the persons who had sought shelter under them. [Illustration: THE CASTLE, WESTERN FRONT] [Illustration: PRINCIPAL ENTRANCE] _Take the Broyes road_ which passes before the principal entrance (photograph opposite). The two heraldic lions surmounting the pillars of the gateway are worthy of notice. The roofs of the buildings were destroyed by shells, and the main-building opposite the gate has a temporary zinc covering. [Illustration: GRAVE AT MONDEMENT] In the field on the other side of the Broyes road is the grave where the Zouaves and other foot soldiers, who fell during the attack on the castle, were buried (photograph opposite). After the entrance gate come the out-buildings, and then the kitchen-garden, whose wall we skirt. [Illustration: THE CASTLE AS IT APPEARED TO THE ATTACKING TROOPS] The above view shows the two sides on which the French attacked on the afternoon of September 9. The trees behind the kitchen-garden are those of the park. On the right of the horizon, and separated from Mondement by a hollow, are Allemant Woods. The castle was taken by the Germans at daybreak on the 9th, and was immediately put into a state of defence. Loop-holes were made in the walls, and machine-guns placed on the towers and at prominent windows. The 77th line Regiment which was reforming at Saint-Loup (see pp. 162-163) was directed in all haste to Mondement to counter-attack. Colonel Lestoquoi placed a battalion on either side of the Broyes Road in the woods which come to an end a few hundred yards from the south side of the kitchen-garden. The Zouaves and sharp-shooters of the Moroccan Division, also hidden among the trees, were to attack on the other side, by the principal entrance. The artillery preparation was entrusted to the guns of the Moroccan Division, aided by the batteries of the 42nd Division, which had halted at Broyes before descending into the plain (see pp. 162-163). [Illustration: BREACH IN THE SOUTHERN WALL OF THE CASTLE]