There was also a lively cannonade in the region
of Lens, around Albert, between the Avre and Oise, in the neighborhood
of Soissons, and at Verneuil, northeast of Vailly. In Lorraine the
Germans, after having pushed back the French main guard, succeeded in
occupying the height of the Xon beacon and the hamlet of Norroy. The
Germans were repulsed by a counterattack as far as the slopes north of
the beacon.

The French on February 18 made some progress in the region of
Boureuilles on Hill No. 263. They also gained a wood south of the Bois
de Cheppy. At the same time French troops took four hundred meters of
trenches north of Malancourt and about as much south of the Bois de
Forges. The Germans made five unsuccessful counterattacks, near
Bolincourt, to retake the trenches which the French had captured. On
the same day, the French recaptured the village of Norroy. In the
Vosges, the French repulsed two infantry attacks north of Wisembach,
in the region of the Col de Bonhomme, and consolidated their
positions, progressing methodically north and south of the farm of
Sudelle. The bombardment of Rheims was continued during these days. On
the heights of the Meuse, at Les Eparges, three German counterattacks
on the trenches which the French had won on February 17 were stopped
by the French artillery fire.

In the Vosges, between Lusse and Wisembach, in the Bonhomme region,
the Germans, after succeeding in getting a footing on Hill 607, were
dislodged on the morning of February 19, 1915. The French held their
position on the height notwithstanding the violent efforts to dislodge
them. An attack by the Germans on Le Sattel north of the Sudelle farm
was also repulsed.

In the evening of February 19, 1915, the Germans delivered their
fourth counterattack against the trenches which the French took at Les
Eparges, but the French artillery again beat them back. The Germans
were also unsuccessful in a counterattack on Hill 607, at Sattel,
south of the Fecht. They succeeded in gaining a footing on the eastern
spur of Reichsackerkopf.

After having repulsed a sixth counterattack by the Germans at Les
Eparges, the French on February 10, 1915, delivered a fresh attack
which enabled them to enlarge and complete the progress they made on
the day before. They took three machine guns, two trench mortars, and
made two hundred prisoners, among whom were several officers.

They also repulsed a counterattack of the Germans and then took all of