e only one of the outer ring of
forts at Verdun which remained in German hands. All attempts on the
part of the Crown Prince to regain the lost ground were fruitless. Four
German attacks were beaten back on the 26th, and the following day the
French advanced south and west of Vaux and tightened their grip on the
fortress. During violent artillery duels, many German attacks on the
gained ground were repulsed, and by November 1 the prisoners in French
hands numbered 7,000.

On November 4 the French began the attempt to take the village of Vaux
held by the Crown Prince, and gained a foothold in the village. Next
day they captured the whole of Vaux village and also the village of
Damloup. The fort at Vaux had been evacuated by the Germans a few days
previously. Thus the long and bloody struggle for the possession of
Verdun apparently ended, although artillery duels of varying intensity
continued at intervals, and the laurels of the prolonged campaign rested
with the French.

BRILLIANT WORK OF CANADIAN TROOPS.

Brilliant work on the part of the Canadian troops on the Somme front
aided materially to gain the British successes recorded on October 21.
William Philips Simms, an eyewitness with the Canadian forces, gave a
graphic account of the attack, which was typical of much of the fighting
on the Somme. He said:

"Eight minutes of dashing across a sea of mud worse than the Slough of
Despond, of methodically advanced barrage fire, of quick work in trench
fight, sufficed for the Canadians to take Regina trench--one of the
smoothest bits of trench-taking that has been witnessed in the Somme
drive. I saw the Canadians, muddy to the eyebrows--but grinning--on the
day after they had accomplished the feat.

"The assault was over in eight minutes. It was carried out in brilliant
moonlight, and despite a terrific German counter barrage fire and a sea
of mud. Every objective the Canadians sought was won.

"Though the Germans repeatedly counter-attacked, the Canadians not only
kept every inch they had wrested from the enemy, but before dawn they
had strongly reorganized their position and dug over 250 yards of
connecting trenches."

ACTIVITIES OF THE RUSSIANS.

On the eastern front in the middle of September strong Russian attacks
before Halicz were driving the Teutonic troops back toward Lemberg, and
several thousand German and Turkish troops were captured. The Russian
advance was checked, however, on September 18, after a to