Caures-Wald – Bois des Caures –
Battles 1917-1918 – Americans & Austrians
After the end of the fighting between February 21 and 24, 1916, cleanup operations initially began in the area of the Caures-Wald. Scattered material was collected and remaining fallen soldiers were recovered from the battlefield. In the ravines and valleys, numerous artillery positions and large storage areas were gradually established to support the ongoing advance of the German troops. However, the actual combat operations now shifted to the area of the central battlefield, where they were to continue until the end of 1916.
Already by mid-1916, the German attack on Verdun had bogged down. The meanwhile significantly superior French artillery led to massive losses among the German positional and assaulting troops. At the end of August 1916, a change at the Obersten (colonel) Heeresleitung occurred through Generals von Hindenburg and Ludendorff. On September 2, 1916, the cessation of all offensive efforts before Verdun was ordered. During a major attack on October 24, 1916, the French succeeded in recapturing Fort de Douaumont. On November 1, Fort Vaux fell back into French hands. In December 1916, a renewed French major attack pushed the front lines back to behind the destroyed village of Louvemont and thus already close again to the positions that had been reached in February 1916. That was the end of the German Verdun offensive.
From the turn of the year 1916/1917, a certain calm had set in in the eastern Verdun sector. Artillery duels and individual operations came to the fore. For the coming months, the strategic focus of the Entente lay on other sectors of the Western Front, such as in Champagne, at the Chemin des Dames, in the area between Bapaume and Arras, as well as in Belgian Flanders.
Significant fighting, in which the Bois des Caures was once again to play a role, began in the summer of 1917. The French and English offensives of the spring had not brought a breakthrough. For the month of July 1917, another offensive was to follow, which originated in the area of the salient around the Belgian city of Ypres and had as its objective the capture of the German coastal defenses as well as the submarine bases on the Belgian North Sea coast. Several diversionary attacks were planned for support. North of Verdun, too, heavy French operations began in August 1917. Clarity regarding the plans was brought by a German enterprise in the Caurières Forest on August 16, 1917, during which all orders for the impending attacks were captured. The focal points were on both sides of the Meuse. They had the ambitious goal of pushing the German troops back to their initial positions at the beginning of 1916.
The heaviest artillery fire prepared the French assault from August 17, 1917, onward, which ultimately began on the morning of August 20, 1917. East of the Meuse, the attackers succeeded just a few hours after the start of the attack in overrunning the weak German positions on the strategically important Hill 344. Immediate counterattacks brought no success. West of the Meuse, parts of Height Toter Mann were taken on August 21, 1917. As a result, the German positions on the adjacent Hill 304 were endangered, so that on August 22, 1917, both heights were evacuated and the defense was withdrawn into the Hagen Position created north of the Forges Brook. This in turn threatened the German positions east of the Meuse in the flank by French artillery, so that plans to recapture Hill 344, which had been in German possession since February 1916, were abandoned. Nevertheless, the bitter fighting continued just south of the Bois des Caures. The village of Beaumont, which by then consisted only of piles of stones, changed hands several times until September 1917, but was ultimately held by the Germans.
Already in 1916, the construction of rear defense lines had begun in the area of the Bois des Caures. From the former assault departure position of the year 1916 north of the “Müller-Platz” became the Volker Position. South of it, the Hagen Position had been created from the former French main position. The foremost German line ran in the form of the Beaumont and Haumont Switch Line at the southern edge of the village of Beaumont and through the Fay Woods.
One of the communication lines begun in mid-1917 was the Caureswald Switch Line. Starting from the intersection D 905/D 125 on the ridge north of the Hessen Ravine (today’s D 905), it ran westward and connected with the Brabant Position at Anglemont Farm. Since the fighting in February 1916, the intersection D 905/D 125 had been named, in honor of the XVIII (Hessian) Corps , “Hessenplatz”. Because of dwindling material reserves and above all a lack of labor, the Caureswald Switch Line was no longer completed. There could be no talk of a defensible line. In the few accounts of the regiments deployed there until 1918, there is talk of unfortified, collapsed, and water-filled trenches without dugouts and without a continuous wire entanglement.
With the successes achieved before Verdun between August and December 1917, the French were initially satisfied. Throughout the first half of 1918, apart from isolated operations and the constantly continuous artillery fire on the east bank, there were no noteworthy combat actions. The hostile troops faced each other rather passively in the area of the Bois des Caures and were busy with the construction of positions. The focus of the war had shifted to the west bank and, above all, once again to the more northern sectors of the Western Front. In October 1917, the French succeeded in the Battle of the Laffaux Corner in accomplishing the reconquest of the Chemin des Dames that had failed in the spring of 1917. In addition, despite considerable initial German successes, they were able to parry the German offensives designated as the Great Battle in France and conducted with a large part of the reserves. This initiated the final phase of the war.
At the beginning of October 1918, strong offensive efforts against the German front north of Verdun began anew. The strategic organization of the front sectors had been reorganized several times from the end of 1916 onward. The units stationed on the west bank had been combined into the Maas Group West. The troops on the east bank belonged to the Maas Group East. This was subdivided again later with the creation of the Ornes Group.
Superior to this was the Gallwitz Army Group established in January 1918 under the General der Kavallerie (lieutenant general) Max Karl Wilhelm von Gallwitz. Belonging to the Gallwitz Army Group was the 5. Armee (Fifth Army) with the Maas Groups West and East. This had been assigned until February 1918 to the German Crown Prince Army Group adjoining to the west. Von Gallwitz had initially been entrusted with the command of the 5. Armee in addition to the army group command, the command of which passed on September 27, 1918, to General der Kavallerie Georg von der Marwitz. Added to the south was the Armee-Abteilung C (Army Detachment C). The army detachment formerly called Armee-Gruppe von Strantz, which was deployed in the St. Mihiel salient, had been under the command since March 1918 of Generalleutnant (major general) Georg Fuchs.
In late September 1918, the area north of Verdun with the Caures Forest was located at the extreme southeastern edge of the planned American Meuse-Argonne Offensive. Units of the First U.S. Army under General John J. Pershing, whose successor from October 1918 was General Hunter Ligett, were deployed. The First U.S. Army had already made a name for itself as of September 12, 1918, during the American offensive in the St. Mihiel Salient. At the western edge of the Bois des Caures stood the units of the 29th Division. To the east were the French 18th Infantry Division, the 26th Infantry Division, as well as the 10th Colonial Infantry Division, which were to attack in cooperation with the Americans. The objective in this sector was to push the German positions as far back to the north and northeast as possible.
From late 1917, the Oberste Heeresleitung had requested from the Austro-Hungarian Army High Command the transfer of several k.u.k. divisions, among other things for the threatened Verdun sector. The Austrians only complied with this request when the food situation at home deteriorated dramatically in the summer of 1918. Mass strikes by the workforce occurred in the factories. In exchange for extensive German grain deliveries, the Army High Command in Vienna hesitantly promised the transfer of a total of 6 divisions. In July 1918, the 35th k.u.k. Infantry Division was first ready for action in the area of the St. Mihiel Salient. In the same month, the 1st k.u.k. Infantry Division as well as parts of the 106th k.u.k. Landsturm Division reached the area north of Verdun. Both formations belonged to the XVIII k.u.k. Army Corps under the command of Feldmarschall-Leutnants Ludwig Goiginger.
The troops reflected a cross-section of the Austro-Hungarian multinational state. Alongside German-Austrians, there were Romanians, Hungarians, Czechs, Croats, and Serbs who could hardly understand one another. Orders had to be given in multiple languages. In addition, the units were poorly equipped. Scattered references can be found in German regimental histories. According to these, many of the soldiers wore no boots and their uniforms were torn. Weapon equipment was also inadequate. After their arrival, the k.u.k. troops had to be accustomed to the conditions of the Western Front over several weeks through exercises. These differed fundamentally from their previous theaters of operation (Balkans, Russia, Italian mountain front).
There are differing accounts regarding the relations between German and Austrian soldiers. It is frequently reported that the Austrians were jeered and viewed with suspicion. They were seen as prolonging the war. Slurs such as “Kamerad Schnürschuh” made the rounds. On the other hand, there are descriptions according to which Austrian troop canteens were popular places among German soldiers as well, due to the good food and consistently cheerful atmosphere.
In the sector of the Caures Forest, starting in September 1918, stood the 15. (rheinische) Infanterie-Division (15th Infantry Division). As an outpost line, it held the former Beaumont and Haumont switch line just south of the village of Beaumont, as well as the positions connecting to the rear. As the main line of defense, the former Hagen Position had been developed in the central area of the Caures Forest.
After their arrival, the Austrian units were distributed among the front sectors. They were deployed predominantly in the western area of the Maas Group East (Brabant sector). With the 15. Division, the three k.u.k. Field Rifle Battalions 17, 25, and 31 were deployed. Operating within the regimental formation under Oberstleutnant (lieutenant colonel) Marchan, they were subordinated to the command of the 15. Division and were tasked with taking the area of the Caureswald Riegel up to “Hessen-Platz”. The commander of the XVIII. k.u.k. Army Corps, FML Goiginger, was entrusted with the leadership of Group Ornes, in whose sector the Herbebois and Wavrille sector also lay. It was a unique occurrence that an Austrian officer commanded a correspondingly large sector on the Western Front.
The American-French Meuse-Argonne Offensive began on September 26, 1918. The attacks concentrated on the western bank of the Meuse and above all on the Argonne sector and the Champagne. In the first few days, the American units along the Meuse achieved a very deep penetration into the German lines. Parts of the 15. Infanterie-Division (15th Infantry Division) were subordinated to Meuse Group West in the Sivry-sur-Meuse area to seal off the advance of the American units. With Meuse Group East, the Allies initially remained passive except for massive artillery fire.
On October 8, 1918, the Allied attack also began east of the Meuse. In the Beaumont sector, the French divisions attacked after heavy artillery preparation. After the outpost position south of Beaumont was evacuated as planned and the defense was withdrawn into the main line of resistance north of the Hessenschlucht (D 905), the German and Austrian formations succeeded in repelling the repeated French attacks. Bitter fighting occurred especially in the area of “Hessen-Platz”.
The situation proved problematic in the sectors located further to the west, where the parts of the 1st k.u.k. Division stationed there ultimately proved unequal to the American onslaught. Due to enemy advance in the area of the Ormont and Haumont woods, the encirclement of the German front threatened. The main line of resistance had to be withdrawn on October 11, 1918, into the former Volker position at “Müller-Platz”.
Until October 11, 1918, the French attempted to achieve a breakthrough in the area of the Caures Forest with ever-new, yet futile attacks. In the evening, the Austrian Marchan Jäger Regiment, which had been considerably decimated in the fighting, was withdrawn from the front. Meanwhile, reinforcements by units of the 1. Landwehr-Division (1st Landwehr Division) had been brought up. The 31. Landwehr-Infanterie-Regiment (31st Landwehr Infantry Regiment) took over the positions of the Austrian Jäger in the Caures Forest.
As early as October 10, 1918, elements of the 26th US Division had intervened in the fighting around the Caures-Wald area. However, like the French, the American troops were unable to achieve a breakthrough. Afterwards, the fighting subsided. The French and Americans had suffered considerable losses and were no longer capable of further attacks. The units of the 1st Austro-Hungarian Infantry Division were also considerably weakened. On October 17, 1918, they were relocated to the Sivry-sur-Meuse area and replaced by units of the 228. Infanterie-Division (228th Infantry Division). On November 4, 1918, the Austrian units were completely withdrawn from the front.
Once again, heavy fighting broke out on November 9, 1918. American units had once again advanced far north along the Meuse. In order to maintain a continuous defensive front, the German lines had to be bent back to the east. On November 4, 1918, the occupation of the Antwerp-Meuse Position was ordered. Therefore, on November 7, 1918, the German main line of resistance was withdrawn from the Caures-Wald into the Kriemhild Position. This ran approximately along a contour line Damvillers – Romagne – Azannes. From November 9, 1918, units of the 79th US Division advanced against the local positions of the 1. Landwehr-Division (1st Landwehr Division). Although the armistice had already been agreed upon, the attacks continued unabated into the morning of November 11, 1918. The Americans suffered heavy losses. Many soldiers were killed in German defensive fire during stubbornly fought assault attacks by individual groups just before the ceasefire, which was agreed for 11:00 French time, came into effect. What the Americans intended with these last-minute attacks, which cost the lives of many young soldiers, remains unclear to this day.
were AI-edited (notice pursuant to Art. 50 Regulation (EU) 2024/1689).