Leaving the trenches hastily dug on the Chambry--Barcy--factory of Marcilly line, the troops of the Lamaze group, before getting up to the German trenches, had to cross two kilometres of uncovered ground, under terrible fire. It was in one of these attacks, starting from Barcy, that Major d'Urbal (brother of the general) fell at the head of his Zouaves as, waving his cane, he drew them along. He was brought back to the French lines, thanks to the devotion of one of the few officers who survived the attack, helped by two Chasseurs d'Afrique. Because of his great height the commander's body could not be carried back, and they were obliged to place it on a horse. The group returned thus to Barcy under a hailstorm of bullets, where a shell-hole in the cemetery served for a grave. [Illustration: A CORNER OF THE BATTLEFIELD] In the counter-attacks, the Germans as they left their trenches also suffered serious losses, as one can judge from the preceding photograph, which was taken in front of the position. _The tourist will return to Étrépilly by the road he came, leaving the church (the roof of which was hit by several shells) on the right, and taking the Trocy Road on the left._ =ÉTRÉPILLY TO MEAUX= (19 km.) via +Trocy+, +Gué-à-Tresmes+, +Varreddes+. [Illustration: FARM THAT WAS SHELLED] _The beautiful shady road that leads from, Étrépilly to Trocy first crosses a hollow, then winds up the hillside to the plateau on which =Trocy= is built (3 km.). On arriving, turn to the left and so enter the heart of the village._ Trocy did not actually suffer from the German attacks, but it was bombarded by the French artillery. In front of the horse-pond, on the left of the little church, stands a farm (_view opposite_) which in 1917 still showed traces of the "75" shell which damaged its roof. Other houses were completely destroyed. The Germans had concentrated their chief artillery forces on the Trocy Plateau. Heavy and light batteries were in position north and south of the village, the greater part being north, between Manœuvre, Plessy-Placy, and Trocy. The intense cannonade poured from this dominating platform very much hampered the progress of the French centre. The position was evacuated by the Germans on the 9th, not without serious losses of light artillery, as shown by the photograph below and that at the top of the following page. [Illustration: GERMAN GUN DESTROYED ON TROCY PLATEAU] [Illustration: GERMAN GUNS DESTROYED ON TROCY PLATEAU] The limber (_shown below_), abandoned at the side of the road, is an infantry limber which contained rifle and machine-gun cartridges. The French artillery which swept the plateau hit it in the course of the retreat. [Illustration: GERMAN LIMBER ON TROCY PLATEAU] [Illustration: GATE OF TROCY] _Rounding the horse-pond, we take the road which runs under the monumental gateway, a view of which is given above._