Start of the battle of Soissons

On 8 January 1915 French infantry attacked the German trenches on the heights above the village of Crouy, a few kilometres north of Soissons. On the first day the attack was a complete success: Moroccan tirailleurs and chasseurs à pied took Hill 132 and two lines of German trenches within a few minutes. So began the Battle of Soissons, called by the French the Battle of Crouy, which was to last a week and end quite differently from the way it began.

A bridgehead across the river

Since September 1914, since the end of the First Battle of the Aisne, the front at Soissons had hardly changed. The French, who had retaken the town in mid-September, held a narrow bridgehead on the northern bank of the Aisne: the floor of the valley and the lower slopes between Crouy and Missy. The crest of the plateau remained in German hands. From its edge they watched the French trenches, the bridges over the river and the town itself, which their artillery shelled regularly. The French units in the bridgehead were supplied over a few bridges and footbridges, so their position was awkward and, in the event of a strong attack, dangerous.

The ground favoured the defenders. The plateau above the Aisne is cut by deep ravines, and its slopes hide numerous caves and old quarries, in which both sides set up shelters and command posts. West of Crouy juts a spur known as Hill 132 or Montagne-Neuve, up which the road from Soissons towards Laon climbs in hairpin bends. The Germans who held it had a good view of the valley and the French rear.

The French plan

In December 1914 General Joseph Joffre began the winter offensives in Artois and in Champagne. The other French armies were meanwhile to carry out local attacks that would improve their positions and prevent the Germans from moving reserves freely. The commander of the Sixth Army, General Michel Joseph Maunoury, ordered General Henri Berthelot to take Hill 132. Berthelot, in the first weeks of the war one of Joffre’s closest collaborators at headquarters, had commanded the 5th Group of Reserve Divisions since the end of November. It consisted of the 55th Reserve Division and a mixed brigade in which, among others, Moroccan tirailleurs fought.

A first attempt, made on 25 December, failed. The French then tried out a new idea against the German wire: carts loaded with explosives that were meant to blow gaps in it. Only one worked. General Maunoury, however, reminded his commanders that they must attack despite setbacks, and the attack was fixed for 8 January.

The attack on Hill 132

On the morning of 8 January the French artillery shelled the German positions on the spur. The preparation was short and not very effective: it opened only four gaps in the wire. That was enough, however, to surprise the defenders. A battalion of chasseurs à pied and a battalion of Moroccan tirailleurs, supported by units of the 55th Division, ran through the gaps and within a few minutes burst onto the top of the hill. The French took the German salient and two lines of trenches behind it. These were held by Brandenburg units of the German III Corps, part of General Alexander von Kluck’s First Army.

For the next two days the French held the ground they had won despite German counter-attacks. On the afternoon of 10 January their infantry attacked further east, towards the rocky promontory known as the Dent de Crouy, and took further stretches of trench. All this took place in unceasing rain, in mud that filled the fire trenches and communication trenches.

The Germans were also preparing an attack

The French did not know that they had struck at a place where the Germans themselves were preparing an attack. At the end of December the German Supreme Army Command had demanded an attack that would tie down French forces in response to the offensive in Champagne. Kluck chose the sector north of Soissons. General Ewald von Lochow’s III Corps, whose chief of staff was Colonel Hans von Seeckt, was to strike in mid-January at the plateau near Vregny and push the French back across the river. Preparations for this attack were already under way, though forces were scarce: according to the German official history, Lochow had fewer than 20 infantry battalions at his disposal and ammunition for only one day of fighting.

The French attack upset the German plan only briefly. Lochow had to use some of the units intended for the attack to patch the breaches at Crouy, but on 11 January he decided that he would first retake the heights above the village and then return to his original intention. Meanwhile the Aisne, swollen by days of downpours, began to rise sharply, and the only supply route of the French units on the hill was the bridges behind them.