De aanval op Damloup In Mars 1916 Grenadier Regiment 3 (G.R. 3) came to the vicinity of Verdun.

Being for a long time on the Eastern front the 1st Division to which the regiment belonged, had no experience on warfare on the Western front. To prepare the regiment for the front at Verdun they practiced a lot with for example gas and throwing handgranates. A cart of the First Battalion.

In the beginning of June being on the front at Verdun for some time the regiment faced a new order. On the first of June (Ascension Day) the regiment now in the lines of the 50th Division got the following order that: during the night the First Division, that was on the right of the 50th Division, penetrated to the northern slope of Fumin wood and that further to the right the Tenth Reserve Corps penetrated as far as the railroad in the Vaux valley and the Caillete wood. The 50th Division has the order to attack fort Vaux with the 100th Infantry Brigade. If the brigade succeeds, the regiment should prepare itself to attack and take the village of Damloup and if possible the Damloup ridge. The regiment decided that the first Battalion would take the guidance of this attack supported by the 12th Company of the same regiment and the fourth Company of the 105th Saxon regiment (I.R. 105). When it started to get dark that evening the battalion went to the trenches. In the early morning of 2 June at for 4 am the 100th Brigade attacked fort Vaux. At 6.45 am the message came that the brigade succeeded in taking the fort and that in the fort fighting was still going on. At 7.30 am the regiment passed on this message to the first Battalion with the message to attack Damloup at 08.30 am. The attack was carried out by the 2nd, 3 rd and 4th Company (G.R. 3) and the 4th Company (I.R. 105). The other two Companies stayed in the second line. The attack came to the French as a total surprise. Their machineguns started firing when the first wave of the attack was already in Damloup. The attack was supported by seven machineguns that prevented the French from leaving the cellars of the houses of the former houses of Damloup. The attack was carried out in three waves.

The attack on Damloup. The red line is the jump-off trenche and the blue line is the new frontline after the attack.

The attack came for the French so surprisingly that the attackers went through the village and could attack the ridge of Damloup. They were prevented from the attack on the ridge because of own heavy friendly fire. In the village the cellars were cleared in which the French in some cases resisted heavily. The attack was a great success. The battalion started to prepare the village for its defence immediately.

Soldiers of the First Battalion with their French prisoners. Note the German on the right with the cap. He is wearing a primitive kind of gasmask tin. The German soldier on the left wears a peaked helmet with the point removed. The model of 1915 made it possible to screw the point of. The picture is taken by the medical company of the 50th Division. The battalion took in total 18 officers and 502 men prisoner of which the most belonged to the 142nd Infantry regiment. The losses that day were 13 deaths and 67 wounded.