re they gained the
upper hand.

The British had looked for stout resistance from the enemy in a street
of fortresslike houses built of huge blocks of concrete six feet
thick, but their shell fire had done its work so thoroughly that most
of the structures were in ruins, while the occupants of those that
remained intact were too cowed and panic-stricken to make any but the
feeblest defense.

For the first time on anything like a large scale the British leveled
woodlands by spraying them with drums of burning oil, thus laying bare
hidden trenches and gun emplacements and clearing the way for their
infantry to advance.

In Dead Wood some German troops of the Thirty-fifth Division attempted
a counterattack on a body of British South Country troops. It was a
fierce, close struggle, when bayonets were the favorite weapon. The
Germans, who are not generally fond of cold steel and hand-to-hand
fighting, on this occasion did their share in the general thrusting
and stabbing, and certainly displayed no lack of courage. But the men
of Kent, who were eager to be on their way, fought with such wild fury
that the Germans, after they had incurred very heavy losses, were
eager to drop their rifles and surrender.

The part the armored tanks played in the battle of Messines Ridge was
not very important, but they would have been missed if they had not
been present in emergencies to help out the infantry. When there was
no particular business for the monsters, pilots and crews sallied
forth and joined in the fight.

Military critics award the principal honors in the battle of Messines
Ridge to the guns and the gunners who served them. For about a
fortnight the gunners had worked incessantly with scarcely any sleep
in the midst of nerve-racking noises and with death constantly
hovering around them. The number of shells used in this battle by the
British was incredible. One division alone fired over 180,000 shells
with their field batteries and over 46,000 with their heavies.

It was a joyous hour for the British in the course of the day's
fighting when they were able to abandon the old gun positions after
two and a half years of stationary warfare. They had no longer to fear
that any more shells would be fired by the Germans from the commanding
position on the ridge. All danger from that quarter had ceased.

The cheering British troops made way for the gunners, as shouting
joyously they went up the ridge on a run, the infantry trai