The Story of the Great War, Volume VII (of VIII)

r three days of almost continuous shelling of the German lines the French armies attacked simultaneously on both banks of the Meuse and carried their objectives at all points. On the west bank

nded Germans wer

04, Dead Man Hill, and Talou Ridge that the Germans were forced to abandon their first line. The French found less opposition from the enemy than they had expected, for the well-served French guns had taken much of the fighting spirit out of their opponents. At some points, however, where the

machine-gun bullets on the enemy lines, dispersing assemblies forming for counterattacks and bombing German gunners at close quarters. In a series o

201 being taken with about 6,700 men. This seemed to show that the German officer class had deteriorated, that the best trained had be

s which formed the Sixth Reserve Division of Brandenburgers and the kaiser's favorite troops were l

hwest of the city they had by desperate fighting established strong posts among the trenches and railway cuttings that formed

st. They were now in a hollow all around the front which swings about Lens in a semicircular form. As every eastern exit to the city was now subjected to a

hey forced their way through streets entangled with hedges of steel and houses bristling with machine guns. They penetrated tunnels too strong to be touched by shell fire. They threw themselves against fortress positions amid a fiery hail of shells and explosives. Th

e within twenty-four hours they launched no less than seven strong assaults. Between the attack

urage and amazing fighting power. These were the Seventh, Eighth, the Eleventh Reserve, the 220th and the First Guards Reserve Division. Be

e here that the German strength used at Lens was upwards of 50,000 m

as protection for an important mining suburb southeast of Lens, and it was here that they had set up the guns withdrawn after the Canadian advance two days before. Here the hand-to-hand fighting was fier

n, using bomb and bayonet freely, winning important enemy positions to the northwest and southwest of the center of the city. It appears that the Germans had massed strong forces for a counterattack at daybreak against the newly won Canadian pos

ite the frenzied attempts of their officers to rally them. Close on their heels dashed the Canadians, and mounting the parapets showered bombs among the other troops

mogneux, they seized an entire system of trenches between that village and Hill 344 which had been won on the previous day. The Germans delivered a number of strong and determined attacks on both sides of the river, but lost heavily in their attempts to check the French advance. Some idea of the French

The French maintained all their gains and organized captured positions. Nea

aged the stronghold with explosives so thoroughly that it seemed impossible that anything human could survive, however hidden underground. There were a hundred deserters to the French lines, and the Germans surrendered in squads with their noncommissioned officers. The whole garrison of Dead Man Tunnel

f Ypres along the Ypres-Menin road, capturing a series of fortified farms and strong poin

countered in the forward push the number of prisoners taken was out of all proportion to the total losses inflicted on the enemy. Since the offensive began in the mo

usly. Preceded by a heavy bombardment the Canadians attacked at early dawn and were atop of the Germans before the latter had any warning of what was impending. The long series of counterattacks in which they had been engaged during the previous days had not entirely quenched the German fighting spirit, and the slag pile was such a network of defenses that the Canadians were from the start roughly handled, but they held on with dogged determination, though they had never faced more formidable conditions, and despite the desperate effo

ey carried Hill 304 and Camard Wood to the west of it. All the German positions were captured and the defenders made prisoners. To make doubly secure their possession of Hill 304, the French pushed on beyond it for a distance of about a m

had succeeded in bringing forward fresh troops against the Canadians, who were worn down but not discouraged by almost continuous fighting day and night. The enemy had the advantage of numberless underground retreats, tunnels, subterranean chamber

ench had taken over 8,000 prisoners. If they cherished any belief in the superiority of the Germans as fighters, they held it no longer. The German High Command had issued orders that every

possession of the Fosses and Beaumont Woods and brought them to the outskirts of Beaumont. Violent artillery fighting continued around Hill 304 during the day. The French continued the drive, pushing their advanced posts f

alf a mile of ground, and carried by assault strong enemy positions at Cologne and Malakoff Farms. About the same hour of the morning when this advance was made the Germans under cover of a heavy bombardment attacked in the neighborhood of the Ypres-Menin road. In this assault fla

de stretch of country back of Ypres. For miles he walked through concentric lines of batteries and estimated that the British were able to fire a hundred shells to the Germans' one. It was probably with the hope of saving man power that the Germans now built concrete blockhouses in front-l

a number of aerial engagements the British brought down four German aeropl

asons. This was disproved by the discovery of an order signed by the German commander in this sector of the Verdun front addressed

the Meuse and along the river the line of the French left was now extended at Samogneux and on Hill 344. From this point the front runs eastward down hill past Mormont Farm to the Vacherauville-Beaumo

eble counterattacks, and there were times when their guns became vociferous, but no important operation w

itish many losses in men. The Steenbeke and Hannebeke Rivers had overflowed and transformed the region round into bogs. Into this marshland the men from Yorkshire and other English counties, drenched to the skin from being out all night, struggled forward to destroy the Germans' "pill boxes." There was violent fighting near the Springfield and Vancouver Farms no

saults to recover lost positions, but were driven off by gunfire. North of Hill 304, on the same date there was in

uccess, bombing their way into British advanced posts and forcing the defenders to fall back. But the British quickly rallied, and by a dashing

ttack during the night of September 2, 1917, a British position southwest of Havrincourt. The assault was preceded by a heavy bombardment in wh

complete surprise to the enemy. British troops were atop of the Germans before they could make a strong defense, but

ith the clearing weather. During the night of September 3, 1917, the "Kanucks" struck in upon the outer shell of Lens, gaining 250 yards on a 600-yard front. This was really an advance of importance, considering the nature of the ground fought over. For th

day passed without a German attack, but the French, occupying commanding posi

northern France. Tons of bombs and explosives were dropped with good results on railway tracks at Ghent, on aerodromes near Cambrai, Courtrai, and

city of Lens, captured a row of houses 300 yards long occupied by four companies of German troops. Thi

a hostile counterattack launched against them later in the day. In the eveni

itions, but in the area of the slag pile or "crassier" the men from overseas extended their holdings and the new front they established now became a serious menace to German positions along the north side of the Souchez River. This latest advance so enraged the enemy t

lic that the French military power was waning and had become a negligible factor in the war the indomitabl

ied important positions on a front of a mile and a half, capturing during the advance over 800 prisoners. Assaults on the French lines east of Rheims and on the Aisne front resulted in crushing