FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146  
147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   164   165   166   167   168   169   170   171   >>   >|  
cing these two positions. Using seven divisions--about 90,000 men--the Germans attacked on a front not exceeding ten miles from Arleux to Fampoux on the Scarpe. The attack continued for two days, but was an absolute failure. The German advance had to be made down the slopes of one hill, across a stretch of flat, open valley, and up the sides of another. Down in the valley were the British outpost positions which were overwhelmed and driven in. But in attempting to cross the valley floor the Germans literally withered under machine gun and rifle fire. At the end of two days' fighting, during which the greater part of these divisions were cut to pieces, the attack had to be abandoned. The fighting then from Lens southward to the Avre came to an end with the Germans completely halted. The first definite stage of the decisive battle of the war was thus concluded. [Sidenote: The attack about Bucquoy.] [Sidenote: Considerable initial successes.] [Sidenote: A stand at the edge of the Forest of Nieppe.] [Sidenote: The Germans take Messines Ridge.] But the Germans were by no means ready to acknowledge defeat. The Lens-Arras sector had to be cleared up. The attack from the south, crystallizing about Bucquoy, and from the east both having broken down, there remained but to attack from the north. Utilizing to the utmost the advantages of the great railroad system which parallels this front, connecting in a single chain all of their great advance bases, the Germans effected a heavy concentration at Lille, and, using about twenty divisions (which were afterward increased to thirty), struck the British line between Givenchy--just north of La Bassee--and Warneton on the Lys River. The initial successes were considerable. The Germans penetrated to a maximum depth of more than four miles in the centre, although on both right and left the line held fast. North of Armentieres, however, the British line gave ground, which enabled the Germans to pocket this city and to capture it on the second day of the attack. On the succeeding days, the British centre continued to give way until the edge of the Forest of Nieppe was reached. The German position at this point in the attack became practically untenable. The northern side of this wedge was lined with heights from which the British artillery was pouring a devastating plunging fire. These heights, beginning farther east, began with the famous Messines-Wytschaete Ridge and extended due
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146  
147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   164   165   166   167   168   169   170   171   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

Germans

 

attack

 
British
 

Sidenote

 

divisions

 
valley
 

heights

 
centre
 
Messines
 

Nieppe


Forest
 

successes

 

Bucquoy

 

initial

 

fighting

 

German

 

positions

 

advance

 

continued

 
Warneton

Bassee
 

considerable

 

penetrated

 
maximum
 
effected
 

single

 

parallels

 
connecting
 

concentration

 

thirty


struck
 

Givenchy

 

increased

 
afterward
 

twenty

 

artillery

 

pouring

 

practically

 

untenable

 
northern

devastating

 
plunging
 

Wytschaete

 
extended
 
famous
 

beginning

 
farther
 

enabled

 

pocket

 
capture