LENS IN RUINS—BRITISH ADVANCE NEAR YPRES

French positions on the right bank of the Meuse north of Verdun were attacked by strong German forces in the morning of September 9, 1917. The assault was delivered over a front of about two miles on both sides of Hill 344. In one section of the line the Germans succeeded in gaining a temporary foothold. By a vigorous counterattack made a little later the French drove them out and captured fifty prisoners. This smashing blow had cost the Germans dearly, for they left over 1,000 dead on the battle field.

On this date (September 9) the British forces carried out successful local operations southeast of Hargicourt, when Northumberland troops carried by storm 600 yards of German trenches and took fifty-two prisoners. East of Malakoff Farm the British attacked and won after heavy fighting a strip of hostile trenches which was much needed to round out their lines in that sector.

German prisoners captured around Lens spoke of the awful havoc wrought by the British gas cylinders and gas shells. The German First Guards Reserve Regiment lost twenty men when a gas shell exploded in the cellar where they lay asleep. Another company of this regiment had seventeen casualties from the same cause in one day. The failure of Germany to get a sufficient supply of rubber was a contributing cause of the gas fatalities. German masks were of poor quality and tore easily. Masks of soft leather were used by them at this time on some parts of the Lens front. The objection to masks of leather was that they could not be put on as easily as those made of rubber, a serious defect when a moment's delay might prove fatal.

Northumberland troops operating in the neighborhood of Villaret extended their gains southward 400 yards in an attack made on German trenches in the morning of September 11, 1917. During the day the Germans attempted three counterattacks with bombs on the new British positions but were driven off.

The French continued active in the Verdun region, where they had to defend themselves from frequent counterattacks. In the Champagne territory French troops struck a shrewd blow on September 11, 1917, when in successful raids they drove across the German trenches between St. Hilaire and St. Souplet and penetrated the second line. Here there was intense and deadly fighting. The German defenders were either killed or made prisoners, and the French captured large quantities of supplies.

North of CauriÈres Wood, northeast of Verdun, the French advanced line on a front of about 500 yards penetrated the German trenches and close fighting developed. This was the scene of continuous attacks and counterattacks for two days in which each side gained in turn a temporary ascendancy, but the result was indecisive. It was not until the night of September 14-15, 1917, that the French succeeded in ejecting the Germans from the greater part of the trench system here and took possession. In Champagne on September 14, 1917, a surprise attack made by the French in the region of Mont Haut was successfully carried out. A German observatory and a number of shelters and dugouts were destroyed and much damage wrought to the enemy defenses.

No important operation was attempted by the British troops around Lens for several days following, but bombardments were incessant. The Canadians, though constantly under fire and subjected day and night to strong attacks, firmly held their positions. The situation of the Germans in the center of Lens with an active enemy occupying high ground to the north and south was not a comfortable one. When they did fight it was with rage and despair. Prisoners taken told of the deadly effects of the British gas projectiles which wrought awful havoc among the troops herded in tunnels and dugouts. The constant bombardment of Lens had reduced the city to the same ruined condition as the suburbs. The subterranean caverns which the Germans had built by the forced labor of civilians two years and more before became death traps. Often they collapsed under a heavy bombardment, burying alive whole companies in the ruins. Again, as frequently happened, a shell would explode inside the caves with fatal results to the occupants.

The Germans had every reason to wish that they had never introduced poison gas in warfare, for as employed by the British it had become a far deadlier destructive weapon than in their own hands. Many times during these days the Canadians had flooded the city with gas which soaked down into the tunnels and dugouts and stifled men in their sleep, or they died with their masks on if they delayed a second too long.

After days of raids and counterattacks insignificant when considered as separate operations, but important in the aggregate, British troops under Field Marshal Haig delivered a powerful attack against the German lines east of Ypres on an eight-mile front on September 20, 1917. According to an eyewitness, the barrage that preceded the advance was the heaviest on record. The British were successful in attaining all their objectives. The German center along the Ypres-Menin road was penetrated to the depth of a mile.

Rain had fallen steadily during the night preceding the assault, but the assembling of the regiments assigned to the operation was carried through without a mishap. North Country troops carried the Inverness Copse. Australian troops stormed Glencorse Wood and Nonneboschen (Nun's Wood); Scottish and South African brigades captured Potsdam, Vampire, and Borey Farms; West Lancashire Territorials carried Iberian Farm and the strong point known as Gallipoli. After making a swift "clean-up" of these places and positions the British forces advanced on the final objectives.

Troops from the counties who drove forward on the right encountered fierce opposition in the woods north of the Ypres-Commines Canal, and in the vicinity of the Tower Hamlets, but cut through with mighty thrusts and gained the desired goal with light casualties. In the center North Country and Australian battalions pierced German positions to a depth of over a mile and won all their objectives, which included the village of Veldhoek and the western part of Polygon Wood. Zevenkote, farther north, was won and the London and Highland Territorials made a clean sweep of the second line of farms, including Rose, Quebec, and Wurst Farms, all on the line of their final objectives.

Though the Germans were prepared, the British advance worked smoothly. Some of the hardest fighting was encountered south of Langemarck to the Ypres-Roulers railway, where there were numerous strong concrete and steel redoubts. Many positions like Rose and Quebec Farms were captured by the British in the face of deadly machine-gun fire, and over a terrain of heavy mud and through pools of water.

When the advance was begun and the Australians went over the top, a heavy barrage was dropped by the Germans just back of them, but many shells fell among the advancing men and caused a number of casualties. The Australians were in an unpleasant situation, but pressed cheerfully forward without pause and gained Anzac Farm, where their standard was raised in honor of the victory.

In the course of the evening the British in local attacks northeast of Langemarck drove the Germans out of the last strong points in that region, and like operations were successfully carried out on the rest of the front, the enemy offering only slight opposition.

The Germans lost heavily at every point, especially around the Anzac Ridge, where they counterattacked six times. This ridge was one of the key positions east of Ypres and the German command appreciated its importance.

There was little change in the situation on the day following the advance, though local fights occurred, where the Germans still held on to some small defense, or redoubt, which the British needed to consolidate with their new line.

The British captured during the push over 3,000 men of all ranks. German officers paid an unwilling tribute to the British artillery and machine-gun service, which had virtually shattered every attempted counterattack.

The new German method of holding lines by small garrisons in concrete blockhouses with large reserves behind for counterattacks had broken down completely.

Massed attacks were made by the Germans on September 22, 1917, against the positions captured by the British in the recent drive, but only at one advanced point on the line did they meet with success. There was every evidence that the Germans were making desperate efforts to stem the advancing tide of British troops, regardless of the cost. In the main their attacks broke down, and where they gained a little ground it hardly compensated them for the frightful loss of life incurred. The British were forced to yield ground south of the Ypres-Menin road, where they had not as yet consolidated their positions. The Germans attacked in waves from the height, and in the hand-to-hand fighting that developed, both sides pounding away with their heaviest guns, there ensued one of the fiercest struggles of the war.

East of St. Julien the Teutons pierced the British line, but were almost immediately thrust out by a spirited counterattack. Three times the Germans assaulted the front east of Langemarck, but after heavy losses and having failed to gain the slightest advantage they drew off, greatly reduced in numbers.

During these days of heavy fighting the British airmen were continually active. The weather favored observation and scout aeroplanes and balloons performed invaluable service in finding the range for Haig's guns and in locating centers of attack where a shower of shells was needed. Over the wide battle area British aircraft swept in flocks, raining down death and destruction in their flight. Ten tons of bombs were dropped, the stations at Roulers, Menin, and Ledeghem were squarely hit, an aerodrome bombarded, while masses of German troops moving along the Ypres-Menin road were showered with explosives. These offensive operations from the air cost the British in all a dozen machines. Ten German airships were brought down and eight others were driven out of control.

Though the battle of Menin road had practically ended, the British continued to add slightly to their gains, and to strengthen their positions. North of Langemarck in Flanders they won additional German defenses in the morning of September 23, 1917, and took a number of prisoners. Since the offensive began on the 20th, the British had captured 3,243 Germans, of whom eighty were officers.

It was in the course of the fighting in Flanders that the Germans employed a new kind of frightfulness in some attacks. British troops reported that they were fired on by "flaming bullets" that set the clothing afire. It was related that men struck by these bullets had to be rolled in the mud to extinguish the flames.

During these days of busy fighting on the British front in Flanders French troops along the Aisne and the Meuse Rivers were constantly engaged in local fights with the enemy, though no important operations were attempted. The French command was exceedingly careful not to waste men unless there was some highly important advantage to be gained, contented to act on the defensive until a master stroke could be delivered. The German troops were not spared in the same way, but were constantly driven forward by their inexorable masters and lost heavily in futile attacks.

On September 24, 1917, the Teutons took the offensive at an early hour in the morning. On the right bank of the Meuse four German battalions, supported by special assaulting troops, made a drive against French trenches north of Bois le Chaume, along a front of about a mile and a half. The French "75's" broke the front of the attack, but in the center some trench elements were pierced by the Germans and violent fighting ensued. It was a short, sharp struggle at close quarters, when the French forced out the invaders and reoccupied the positions. Two other German attacks on the same front were made in the afternoon in which they gained nothing, while the French took fifty prisoners.

A more ambitious attempt was made on the same day to force the French from their positions that extended from the northwest corner of Fosses Wood to the eastern fringe of Chaume Wood, in the Verdun area. The Germans began the assault with sprays of liquid flame, which was followed by a furious grenade attack and bombardment. The intrepid French troops dashed out to meet their assailants and with bayonet and hand grenade drove them in disorder back to their trenches. There were numerous hand-to-hand struggles between the lines. The Germans made extraordinary efforts to regain lost ground around Hill 352, which offered every advantage for observation, but they were unable to break through the steel wall of French resistance. At Bezonvaux, and to the south of Beaumont, attacks were made in the hope of distracting attention from the real objective, but here the French Colonial battalions were on guard, veterans known for their dash and daring, who hurled the enemy back to his own lines, leaving heaps of dead on the field.

While the French troops, fighting against overwhelming odds, continued to hold their lines inviolate, came the painful news that their most famous aviator, Captain George Guynemer, had been killed by the enemy.

Guynemer had won world-wide fame by his daring exploits. At the time he was reported missing he had a record of having destroyed fifty-two German machines. Two years before he was a simple soldier. He entered the army as a volunteer after having been rejected five times by the medical inspectors. One of his most striking achievements was the shooting down of three German aeroplanes in less than three minutes in September, 1916. Captain Guynemer operated his aeroplane alone, serving both as pilot and gunner. He was twenty-one years old.

At daybreak on September 26, 1917, Field Marshal Haig's troops made a heavy attack against the German positions east of Ypres on a six-mile front in which they won an advance ranging from half a mile to a mile in depth. The offensive was started along the major portion of the lines reached by the British on September 20, 1917, extending from east of St. Julien to southwest of Gheluvelt. The most important points involved in the new offensive were east of the city of Ypres, between the Ypres-Roulers railway and the Ypres-Menin highway, as was the case in the previous week. Here the Germans held elevated positions on ridges and in forests, the vital points of their defenses in Belgium.

The Australian, Scotch, and English troops engaged in this new offensive had a desperately hard road to travel, forcing their way over sodden and flooded ground among steel and concrete redoubts heavily manned with machine guns. On every elevated point and in every scrap of woods the Germans had established a vast number of rapid-firing guns.

The main British attack was directed against the German front in the Zonnebeke region. The village was stormed and the Germans were thrust back nearly a mile.

To the right of this sector and north of the Menin road, there was fierce fighting throughout the day when the British drove the enemy from all positions and made secure the flank of their principal advance.

Australian troops fighting farther south swept the Germans from Polygon Wood and won a trench position to the east of it. Near Tower Hamlets an important height that had been much fought over was won by British forces, who also occupied strong field works on the eastern slope. On the left of the main attack there was an advance of about half a mile along the road to Gravenstafel.

For days the Germans had been bringing up reenforcements in anticipation of the British offensive. The German command, appreciating the importance of the elevated positions, had given orders to their troops to hold fast at whatever loss of life. The British consequently encountered everywhere a desperate resistance, especially on the right of the offensive around Tower Hamlets Ridge west of Gheluvelt.

In the course of the afternoon and evening the Germans projected seven powerful counterattacks against positions the British had captured east of Ypres, but were unable to shake the victors' bulldog grip. Here and there the Germans were successful in capturing a redoubt, but were only able to hold it for a short time before being thrust out by a well-directed counterattack. In this offensive the British captured 1,614 Germans, of whom forty-eight were officers.

The result of this British drive was to remove almost the last cover for the Germans between their advanced line in Flanders and the Ostend-Lille railway, their principal means of communication and of supplies in this part of Belgium. Parts of this line could be clearly seen from Zonnebeke Heights and within easy reach of the British guns, six miles away.

While the British were gaining ground their naval aeroplanes were attacking this line from the sky, dropping tons of explosives on the Thourout and Roulers junctions and on the German base at Ostend. The last British advance of a mile had brought this important objective almost within reach. Its capture would result in the evacuation of Belgium as far as the Scheldt and free the French cities of Lille, Roubaix, and Tourcoing.

The Germans continued to counterattack and bombard British positions that had been won during the advance, but they were unable to score any permanent successes. The net result of the fighting in the Ypres area was the capture by the British of 5,296 prisoners, including 146 officers. They had also taken during the month eleven guns, including heavy pieces, 377 machine guns, and fifty-seven trench mortars. On the French front during these days, particularly in the Aisne sector, there was almost continuous fighting in which the Germans displayed dogged determination and reckless bravery, but every attack broke down. On the right bank of the Meuse they were partly successful in an assault on French outposts. Here they penetrated the French center, where they held on for a time, but the French returned in force, and after a struggle of the most sanguinary description in which the opponents fought murderously at close quarters the Germans were forced out and driven back to their lines.

North of Verdun the German attacks were especially violent. Here they employed "flame throwers" freely, but were unable to overcome the French resistance or to gain any marked advantage.

Wastage of German man power was an outstanding feature of recent engagements on the French front. The combat front of Verdun was held by twelve German divisions, that along the Aisne in 1917 was held by fourteen divisions. During the same period of time from May to September, 1916 and 1917, respectively the Germans engaged along the Verdun front, twenty-five new divisions in 1916; along the Aisne thirty-five new divisions in 1917. The Allied armies had so improved their mechanical means and fighting methods that the Germans were forced to maintain a reserve of at least forty divisions for the safety of their battle line in the west.