nse artillery protecting fire. By nightfall of June 7 the
whole position had been recaptured, heavy losses inflicted, and over
7,000 prisoners taken at a comparatively slight cost, by the II. Army,
under General Sir H. C. O. Plumer. During the German offensive in 1918 a
counter-attack by three brigades was launched by night against the
village of _Villers Bretonneux_. The attack was launched at 10 p.m. on
the night of April 24-25. By daybreak the village was surrounded, and by
the afternoon it was entirely recaptured with upwards of 1,000 prisoners.
Among the offensive operations which preceded the general advance of the
Allies in July, 1918, was a highly successful night attack by the 2nd
Australian Division, on a front of about 2 miles, south of _Morlancourt_
(June 10, 1918). At 4.35 a.m. on May 12, 1864, one of General Ulysses
Grant's Corps, under General Hancock, assaulted "the Salient," part of
General Robert Lee's entrenchments in The Wilderness of Virginia
(_Spottsylvania_). 20,000 men were assembled and a night advance was
made, {150} directed by compass, on an unusually dark and stormy night,
with part of the line of the advance densely wooded. The assault was
ordered for 4 a.m., but a dense fog delayed the signal until 4.35 a.m.
When the order was given, one of the divisions had some difficulty in
making its way through a wood and marsh, but contrived to keep up with
the others, and reached the abattis at the same time. The assault
resulted in the capture of 4,000 prisoners and inflicted losses with the
bayonet of over 2,000, with a total loss to the assailants of about
2,000. This manoeuvre consisted of a night march by compass of a whole
corps to a Position of Assembly within 1,200 yards of the hostile
outposts, of an advance before dawn, and of a final assault of 20,000
troops. The captured salient was afterwards retaken by the Confederates
by a decisive counter-attack, rendered possible by the provision, in rear
of the salient, of a second line of entrenchments (see _Battle of
Spottsylvania_).

Owing to the risks of confusion and the limitations imposed on the
attacking movement, Night Assaults do not now carry the same comparative
advantages over Daylight Attacks as was the case before the introduction
of _Smoke_. Hence they will be restricted to attacks on a very limited
objective, as in the case of raids or attempts to capture special
tactical localities. But by employing Smoke only two eleme