n on a
front of 400 yards. The Germans employed strong forces in the
operation, and in a daring push in which they sacrificed large numbers
of men they succeeded in penetrating advanced positions. But they were
unable to hold them long, when the French came back in a dashing
assault that swept them out and back to their own lines. On the
following day the French in a brilliant movement made on a 600-yard
front advanced their line 600 yards nearer to Mont Carnillet.

It was in this region that a unit consisting of only sixty-two French
Grenadiers and portable machine guns occupied a position that the
Germans coveted. The Germans attacked with a strong force, but the
stout-hearted defenders, though vastly outnumbered, not only drove
them back, but pressed on in pursuit, capturing a considerable length
of German trenches and killing more than 200.

In the Chemin-des-Dames on June 22, 1917, the Germans launched a
number of attacks, which led to some desperate engagements. In the
vicinity of La Royere Farm the ground was covered with the bodies of
German dead, according to the statements of correspondents on the
field. The Germans at a heavy cost only succeeded in gaining
possession of a short section of a French front trench.

Rheims continued to be the mark on which the Germans vented their
anger when things went wrong, and on the 22d they threw 1,200 shells
into the cathedral city.

The British had made no sensational advances in France for some time,
but along the entire 120-mile front occupied they continued to
maintain strong pressure on the enemy positions. During the night of
the 24th they carried out a number of successful local operations. One
of these enterprises was of importance, as it increased the British
grip around Lens. Attacking by starlight the British troops stormed
and captured 400 yards of front-line trenches east of Riaumont Wood,
in the western outskirts of Lens, thus drawing closer the ring of iron
with which they were hemming in the French mining center.

In numerous raids carried out in the night on enemy trenches in the
vicinity of Bullecourt, Roeux, Loos, and Hooge, much damage was
wrought to German defenses and a considerable number of prisoners were
captured. One daring body of British troops remained for two hours in
German trenches, blowing up dugouts and inflicting serious casualties
on the garrison.

In the general advance on Lens the Canadians occupied the strongest
outpost in the