The Boy Allies At Verdun

OR

Saving France from the Enemy

By CLAIR W. HAYES

AUTHOR OF "The Boy Allies At Liège" "The Boy Allies On the Firing Line"
"The Boy Allies With the Cossacks" "The Boy Allies In the Trenches"
"The Boy Allies On the Somme"

1917




CHAPTER I

THE EVE OF VERDUN


On the twenty-second of February, 1916, an automobile sped northward
along the French battle line that for almost two years had held back the
armies of the German emperor, strive as they would to win their way
farther into the heart of France. For months the opposing forces had
battled to a draw from the North Sea to the boundary of Switzerland,
until now, as the day waned--it was almost six o'clock--the hands of time
drew closer and closer to the hour that was to mark the opening of the
most bitter and destructive battle of the war, up to this time.