strong forces for a counterattack at daybreak against the newly won Canadian positions, and had already begun their forward push when they encountered the Canadians rushing across no-man's-land. Owing to a dense mist that prevailed at the time, the Germans did not see them until the foe fell upon them with bomb and bayonet.

This dramatic surprise for the Germans seemed to have had a chilling effect on their fighting spirit. They retreated in wild haste to the trenches they had left, despite 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 that had gathered for the attack. As the Germans fled for the communication trenches the Canadians leaped among them, and with bomb and bayonet killed a great number.

In the Verdun region on this date the French continued to make important gains. All day long the tide of battle ebbed and flowed in waves of fire. On the left bank of the Meuse the French captured the famous Côte de l'Oie and the village of Régneville. On the right bank of the river, sweeping through Samogneux, 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 gains on the left bank of the Meuse may be gathered from the fact that when the Germans held the village of Fleury and menaced Verdun they were two and a half miles from the fortress. On August 21, 1917, when the French held the village of Samogneux, the Germans were seven miles from the fortifications.

Throughout the day's fighting the German counterattacks failed completely. The French maintained all their gains and organized captured positions. Nearly 7,000 prisoners were taken during the advance, of whom 116 were officers.

The capture of Dead Man Hill by the French troops was an especially notable achievement, for its system of underground defenses made it as nearly impregnable as human ingenuity could devise. That it could be captured in a single day was owing to the ceaseless activity of the French gunners, who had ravaged 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, which included two battalion commanders, were also made prisoners. When it is considered that the Germans had 400 batteries in action back of their front lines during the two days' advance it will be understood that the French fighting man was heartened up and could look with confidence to the future.

The British resumed the offensive in the morning of August 22, 1917, east and northeast of Ypres along the Ypres-Menin road, capturing a series of fortified farms and strong points in front of their positions and gaining in the advance a third of a mile of territory.

Further to the north the British carried forward their lines about half a mile over a front of two and a half miles. Owing to the fierce character of the fighting encountered 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 morning of August 15, 1917, the British had taken 1,378 men, including officers. In the same period they captured thirty-one machine guns and twenty-one trench mortars.

South and southwest of Lens the Canadians continued to fight hard and to make important gains. They succeeded in getting a firm grip on a stronghold only 300 yards south of the main railway station of the town. This was a huge slag pile which had been tunneled by the Germans and was known as "Green Crassier." The odd position constituted a barrier between the Canadians and the defenses of the city proper. It was connected by tunnels with dugouts and defenses underneath Lens, and the Germans, appreciating its value, clung to it tenaciously. 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 efforts of the Germans to oust them. Surrounding the slag pile or "crassier" many of the ruined buildings had been transformed into strong and most ingeniously constructed fortifications. The Canadians systematically bombed their way through these defenses and drove out the defenders, who sought refuge in the numerous tunnels under the city. Lens was crowded with German troops of the Fourth Guards Division and the First Guards Reserve. Forced to live among the dead and wounded in underground caves, their lot was hideous beyond description.

French troops operating in the Verdun sector gained an important victory on August 24, 1917. In the early morning they began a powerful offensive on the left bank of the Meuse between Avocourt Wood and Dead Man Hill. By a single charge they 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 mile and a quarter. The loss of Hill 304 and Dead Man Hill, which commanded all the approaches and ravines as far as Douaumont, deprived the Germans of every observation point from which they could watch the operations of the French troops.

The Germans won some success against the British forces along the Ypres-Menin road on this date, while the Canadians were forced to retire from the crest of the "crassier," or slag-pile stronghold, and to take up positions adjoining it. The Germans 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 chambers, and a network of cellars connected by passages from which they could dash suddenly, and after striking a shrewd blow disappear mysteriously from sight. The Germans were in a precarious situation and showed a disposition to conserve their forces.

On the Verdun front the French continued their victorious progress, capturing north of Hill 304 three strongly fortified works near Bethincourt. Since the beginning of this offensive the French 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 position must be held regardless of the cost, but except in isolated instances they had displayed no unusual fighting qualities, while the German officers often perpetrated amazing blunders.

The French renewed the offensive on August 25, 1917, when they delivered a smashing blow on the right bank of the Meuse in the Verdun sector, gaining two-thirds of a mile on a front of two and a half miles. This gave them 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 forward to the southern outskirts of the village of Bethincourt and Forges Brook. A violent counterattack made by the