the thoroughfare of London. Thus there was "Regent
Street," "Piccadilly Circus," "Leicester Square," and many others.
There was also a "Kensington Garden," in which grew wild flowers
transplanted from the forest by the soldiers.

The Germans had been driven out of the forest in the fall of 1914 when
they made their dash to reach Calais; but their trenches were only
about 400 yards beyond the eastern edge. The earth here was especially
adaptable for mines, and both sides made many attempts to work
destruction by tunneling forward. In this activity it was soon found
necessary to have men in advanced positions in the tunnels to listen
to the mining operations of their opponents. As soon as such
operations were discovered, a countertunnel was driven in that
direction and a mine exploded, thereby destroying the enemy's tunnel
and burying his sappers. Sometimes, however, the men in the
countertunnel cut through to the other excavation and engaged in a
hand-to-hand conflict beneath the surface of the earth. Then primitive
methods were used. Though mining had taken place on other sections of
the western front, as at Hill 60, it was in this forest area that it
was probably brought to its highest development.

The British mine here, as noted above, on June 6, 1915, blew up the
German trenches, and the British charged into the crater and drove the
Germans out with bayonet and bomb. A similar crater was the result of
the mining at La Bassee. Five mines at the end of tunnels constructed
by the Germans did not go far enough toward the British trenches, and
when the explosions occurred the trenches remained intact.

The sappers, however, had other things to contend with; this was the
case when a tunnel was driven toward the German trenches between Rue
du Bois and Rue d'Ouvert, near the La Bassee Canal. Water was found
below the German intrenchments. The British managed to keep the water
out of the tunnel by using sandbags. Then they planted enough dynamite
to blow up a large part of the German force. The two trench lines were
very close together on this part of the front; and, to prevent
accidents, the British left their trenches near the mine before it was
fired.

On the night of June 6, 1915, the mine tore open the trenches of both
sides, and buried one of the British magazines which was filled with
hand grenades and killed several British bomb throwers. At about the
same moment another supply of British bombs was exploded when