Until the Battle of Verdun this sector of the front line had been relatively "quiet".
At dawn, on 21 February 1916, German 210 mm shells bombarded the trees in the wood, the French positions and artillery guns.
At 16.00 hrs the German infantry troops, with their "pickles" removed from their helmets, "Pickelhaubes", attacked the French 72th and 51st Divisions.
Lieutenant Colonel Emile Driant disposed in this wood over a large network of three lines of trenches and bunkers.
Two whole sections of troops were destroyed by the bombardment.
By the end of the bombardment only one fifth of the Chasseurs à Pied (Light Infantry Troops) were left to defend their positions.
During the German infantry attack the French Soldiers defended ferociously every inch of their positions with bayonets and hand grenades. At the end of the day the casualties on the side of the 18th German Army Corps were enormous. They did not succeed to take over the French positions in the wood yet. But this would take only one day more.
