Butte Vauquois

In September 1914, after the initial advance into France had been halted, the Germans once again went on the offensive, capture land south of Verdun, an area that would be known as the St. Miheil Salient. The salient cut off one of the two major rail lines into Verdun. On September 22nd, the Germans attacked south in the Argonne Forest, gaining several kilometers including a butte, with the town of Vauquois on top, overlooking the remaining rail line into Verdun. The Germans could direct fire on the railroad, just six kilometers from the butte. So in a matter of a few days, the Germans had reduced the supply line of Verdun to a country road and a narrow guage railroad from Bar le Duc. Starting on October 28th, the French began attacking the butte, without much success. In December, the French high command took note of the Verdun's tenuous supply situation and ordered the capture of the butte. On February 17, 1915 the French attacked again, with the first use of mines at the butte. Attacks continued into March, but the two sides still faced each other across the ruins of the town.

In March 1916, the Germans blew four tons of mines, the French twelve. On May 4th, the Germans blew sixty tons of mines. Mining continued, and eventually, the top of the butte became two ridges separated by mine craters. Attacking across the craters was impractical. Both sides saw an escalation in the mining as the solution. The French hoped to simulateously detonate three mines of 145 tons each, while the Germans hoped to blow off the entire top of the butte. Only with the American Meuse-Argonne offensive was the butte finally captured. In all, 520 mines were detonated. The French accounted for 320 of these, amounting to 664 metric tons of explosives.