A Lucky Shot.

Manawatu Times, Volume XL, Issue 1372868, 15 September 1917, Page 3

A Lucky Shot.

INCIDENT ON FRENCH FRONT IN THE CHAMPAGNE. HOW A BIG GUN “OPENED THE DOOR,” The most remarkable feat of marksmanship—either scientific or lucky of the entire war occurred on May 20 during the artillery preparation that preceded the French final conquest of Mont Cornilletc and Monts Teton and Sesque, (writes Mr Henry Wood, the British correspondent with the French armies in Champagne). A French gun crew manning one of the new 400 millimetre French guns, and firing at a distance of not less than ten miles, placed one of their giant projectiles, much larger than a human being and weighing over half a ton, square in tlie ventilating shaft of the German tunnel under Mount Cornillete This one shot can actually be said to have made possible the French victory on the same day in which the final conquest was made on the northern slopes of the Moronvillers crest from Cornilletc to Mount Teton. The supreme importance of this conquest is indicated by the fact that in the following ten days the Germans launched no fewer than sixteen counter-attacks in their efforts to regain the position, sacrificing uselessly thousands of their best troops. The tunnel under Mount Cornilletc was one of the veritable masterpieces of defensive organisation which the Germans have perfected in the hopes of maintaining an unbreakable hold on French soil .Mount Cornilletc itself, on ■which the Germans had no fewer than a dozen observatories, dominates the Champagne plains between the Moronvillers crest 'and the forts of Berm. The system of tunnels underneath, in which reserves could be kept safe from all bombardment, was calculated to render the mount absolutely untakeable and to ensure permanently the Germans’ stranglehold on Champagne. The tunnel consisted of three galleries, which were united in the centre by a cross corridor. Several ventilating shafts extended upward to the top of the mountain, and ventilation was assured by handworked ventilators. Each of the three galleries was capable of holding a battalion of troops with six days’ provisions and large depots of reserve munitions. This constituted the regular garrison. It was this tunnel that on April 17, in the original French attack along the Moronvillers front, checked the French on the extreme left. A SUDDEN DASH. As the victorious “poilus” swept up the Cornilletc Crest, driving everything before them these three battalions of reserves, fresh and fully protected in the tunnel from the French artillery preparation, suddenly dashed out and delivered a counter-attack that quite naturally checked the French foot soldiers, already exhausted from a long victorious attack and advance. The latter dug iu, however, before the mouth of the tunnel, and were able to hold out till May 4. The Germans in the meantime having brought up fresh troops from the rearward through, the tunnel and repaired their positions at the exit of the tunnel, were able finally to force the French to fall back. It was not till over two weeks later that the French again undertook the capture of the mount. Everything depended upon either the capture or the destruction of the tunnel, and for this some of tho heaviest French artillery was brought into play. During the artillery preparation of May 39, gas shells were rained into tho month of the tunnel until it was practically certain that the garrison had boon driven out or killed. VIGILANT ’PLANES.

The aeroplanes, however, were unable to report any indication of serious damage, with tho exception of the entrance, which, however, in view of the experience of the first attack, could hardly be coup ted on as insuring the destruction of the tunnel. The bombardment continued with all its intensity, and with an ever-increasing accuracy, as every shot was controlled by aerial observation until suddenly, during tho forenoon of the 20th, just a few hours before tho infantry scheduled to dash to the assault, the big 400-millimetre shell struck squarely in the principal ventilator shaft. No doubt remained in the minds of the French commanders of the efficacy of this shot, and they ordered their troops to the assault with a light and confident heart. But it was only after the mountain, with its tunnel, was taken, the effects of the shot could be established. The shell, penetrating the air-shaft, demolished tho transverse corridor, which connected up the three galleries. Half of the garrison was dead, and the entrance so filled up that the rest could not escape. Several hundred prisoners were taken from the interior. A German officer who had been on the outside of the tunnel and who was taken prisoner, stated that when tin; French launched their attack he was astonished not to see the German reserves dash out of the tunnel to counter-attack. He accordingly started to run to tho car to give the alarm. As he passed each airshaft he shouted down to the troops below, without receiving a response. Hurrying to the entrances, he found one completely stopped up and the other two filled with dead bodies. There was no sign of life on the part of the garrison. Before he could move another step the French dashed by and he was caught.