B saw some of the stiffest encounters, the
Germans attacking the hill nearly every day after the French captured
it, and even the Prussian Guard being put in. The woods at C, D, and E
were centres of terrific combats, in which trenching and mining were
continuous tasks. The redoubt at F was captured only after large losses
on both sides. At the extreme west is still another wood, (G.) which the
French attacked three times before they were successful in getting a
foothold there.]
Some of the points where the fighting has been heaviest are shown in
letters on the map. A is the "little fort," a redoubt on an open spur,
holding perhaps 500 men. This was first attacked in January; it was
partly taken, but the French in the end retained only the southern
corner, where they remained for something like a fortnight. On Feb. 16
it was again taken in part, and lost the same day. On the 17th the same
thing happened. On the 23d they once more got into the work; in the
evening they repulsed five separate counter-attacks; then a sixth
succeeded in turning them out. On the 27th they took all except a bit of
trench in the northern face, and two days later they made that good, as
well as a trench about fifty yards to the north of the work.
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