the southern
corner, where they remained for something like a fortnight. On Feb. 16
it was again taken in part, and lost the same day. On the 17th the same
thing happened. On the 23d they once more got into the work; in the
evening they repulsed five separate counter-attacks; then a sixth
succeeded in turning them out. On the 27th they took all except a bit of
trench in the northern face, and two days later they made that good, as
well as a trench about fifty yards to the north of the work.

B is a small hill, marked 196. The capture of this, with its two lines
of trenches, was one of the most brilliant pieces of work done. Since
this date, the 26th, the enemy have continued to counter-attack nearly
every day. It was here that the Prussian Guard was put in; but they have
failed to get it back, and their losses have been very high. The
prisoners stated that one regiment had its Colonel and all the superior
officers killed or wounded. C is a wood, called the "Yellow Burnt Wood."
It is still in the hands of the Germans, a regular nest of machine guns,
which command the ground not only to the front but also down valleys to
the east and west. The French are just in the southwest corner.

At D there are two woods; the southern we will call No. 3, the northern
No. 4. On the 16th our allies got a trench just south of No. 3; they got
into the wood on the 18th, and fought backward and forward in the wood
that day and all the 19th and 20th; by the evening of the 20th they had
almost reached the northern edge. On the 21st a stronger counter-attack
than usual was repulsed, and in pursuing the retiring enemy they
secured the northern edge. On the 22d there was more fighting in No. 3,
but in the end the French managed to make their way into No. 4 as far as
a trench which runs along a crest midway through the wood. The next six
days saw continuous fighting in No. 4, sometimes near the northern end,
sometimes at the crest in the middle, and occasionally back near the
southern end. The French now hold the northern edge, and have pushed
troops into the "Square" wood just north of the line of the 25th.

At E again there are two small woods; these were both captured on the
26th, but the trenches in the northern one had been mined, and the
French had no sooner seized them than they were blown up. At F there was
another small redoubt; part of this was taken on the 19th from the east,
but the work was not finally captured till the 27th, when