Bloody, notorious Höhe 304

[Chris Boonzaier]

.. a simple Arty photo :-))))

Edited February 8, 2013 by IrishGunner

[Chris Boonzaier]

The regimental history of the I.R. 155 (2) describes the heights as follows

"......The bloody, notorious Höhe 304, endless desolation filled with grief and damnation. Neither trees nor rocks, neither grass nor clods of earth could survive here. Shellhole overlapped shellhole, no more trace of field or meadow. Shells and mines have wiped away everything, leaving nothing but a desert, empty, inhabited only by death.

The green cloak of life has been ripped from the earth, brown and naked she lies there, ripped and turned over. Blackened by explosions, yellowed by powder, the earth is covered with splinters, human remains and military equipment. The smell of decay hangs heavily over the field of battle.

Here, in this pestilant corner,in their scanty, half destroyed trenches and mud filled bunkers live the companies, engaged in an endless and bitter fight with the enemy- death and destruction wherever one looked."

[Chris Boonzaier]

A German officer writes of 304...

At 06.25 our artillery opened up. The first task was to immobilise the French artillery and this was done by a gas barrage. Suddenly the objectives changed and all known command and observation posts were fired upon, them another change as the trenches to be assaulted were targeted by a heavy barrage. There are no words thart could to describe the fury of the bombardment. The earth itself shook and shivered as if terrified. Time after time the candles went out until we made no more effort to light them and sat there in the darkness. Two hours the barrage was to rain down on the French front line, then it was to move backwards as the stormtroops rushed forwards