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Woodland at Mort Homme
The regiment was sent over to Mort-Homme (Left Bank), on April 6. Jubert's company was held in a reserve position at the base of the hill. On April 8, the 2nd Company was put on alert; it would be moving forward soon. Jubert remarked to a fellow officer, "This will do us good. We were starting to get out of the habit of dying."
As he woke up early the following morning, he gazed at the men: "They were sleeping, with no suspicion that death was nearby; like condemned men, they would be awoken only so that they had to die no more."
At 0700 hrs, the German artillery opened up with a massive bombardment on Mort-Homme and the neighboring Hill 304. In fact, it was the heaviest one since the opening of the battle on February 21, and many witnesses described Mort-Homme as resembling an erupting volcano. Jubert watched in awe at the sheer violence of the assault and noted poetically:
"Brushstroke was being added to brushstroke in quick succession, dozens at a time. So heavy that they could suffocate you if you were close, from a distance they looked fresh, harmonious to the eye. Thunderclouds floated across the sky, touched with the color of the morning. The sun has this virtue: beneath it's rays, death takes on pure beauty"
Woodland at Mort Homme
The regiment was sent over to Mort-Homme (Left Bank), on April 6. Jubert's company was held in a reserve position at the base of the hill. On April 8, the 2nd Company was put on alert; it would be moving forward soon. Jubert remarked to a fellow officer, "This will do us good. We were starting to get out of the habit of dying."
As he woke up early the following morning, he gazed at the men: "They were sleeping, with no suspicion that death was nearby; like condemned men, they would be awoken only so that they had to die no more."
At 0700 hrs, the German artillery opened up with a massive bombardment on Mort-Homme and the neighboring Hill 304. In fact, it was the heaviest one since the opening of the battle on February 21, and many witnesses described Mort-Homme as resembling an erupting volcano. Jubert watched in awe at the sheer violence of the assault and noted poetically:
"Brushstroke was being added to brushstroke in quick succession, dozens at a time. So heavy that they could suffocate you if you were close, from a distance they looked fresh, harmonious to the eye. Thunderclouds floated across the sky, touched with the color of the morning. The sun has this virtue: beneath it's rays, death takes on pure beauty"