zagged its
way to a point about sixty miles north of Paris, whence it then
followed an eastern tangent paralleling the northern bank of the River
Aisne; thence easterly to Verdun, forming there a queer half-moon
salient arc with the points bent sharply toward the center. From the
south of Verdun the line extended unbroken and rather straight south
and a little easterly to the Swiss frontier.

In the Ypres sector during the first four days of March the fighting
was confined to the usual round of violent artillery duels, mine
springing, hand grenade skirmishing, intermittent hand-to-hand attacks
and effective aircraft raids. On March 1, 1916, twenty British
aircraft set out seeking as their objective the important German lines
of communication and advanced bases east and north of Lille.
Considerable damage was inflicted with high explosive bombs. One
British aeroplane failed to return. From all parts thrilling, tragic
and heroic aerial exploits are recorded. While cruising over the
Beanon-Jussy road a German Fokker observed a rapidly moving enemy
transport. Reversing his course, the pilot floated over the procession
and dropped bombs. The motor lorries stopped immediately, when the
aeroplane dropped toward the earth, attacked the transport at close
range and got away again in safety. On the same day also a French
biplane equipped with double motors encountered an enemy plane near
Cernay, in the valley of the Thur, and brought it down a shattered
mass of flame. North of Soissons, near the village of Vezaponin, a
French machine was shot down into the German lines; another French
aero was struck by German antiaircraft guns; with a marvelous dive and
series of loops it crashed to earth. Both pilot and observer were
buried with their machine. During the evening of March 1, 1916, the
German infantry, after a furious cannonading north of the Somme,
delivered a sharp assault on a line of British trenches, but were held
back by machine-gun fire. Along the Ypres sector the same night
violent gunfire took place on both sides with apparently small effect
or damage. In a previous volume it was mentioned that the Germans had
once more recaptured the "international trench" on February 14, 1916.
For a fortnight the British artillery constantly held the position
under fire and prevented the consolidation of the ground. At 4.30 a. m.
the British infantry suddenly emerged from their trenches. The
grenadiers dashed ahead, smothering the sur