They held it only for a few hours. By converging
on it from three points at once the French retook it soon after
midnight.
On Friday morning a wonderful French bayonet charge at length drove out
the Germans, who had fought most gallantly and stubbornly throughout the
day and during the night, and the terrible morning which followed. The
Red Cross workers were busy without ceasing; but many men had bled to
death, lacking surgical aid, in that strip of ground between the
trenches.
This is the kind of warfare which is going to be waged in this seemingly
inevitable battle between the two rivers. It may last as long as the
battle of the Yser or the Aisne, and we may wait day after day again for
the verdict. If the Allies can press forward just three or four miles
before the year is out they will have done extraordinarily well.
Hereabout the German artillery is in greater strength than anywhere else
along the whole line of battle.
Progress will undoubtedly be slow because the Germans have taken such
tremendous pains to pave (in a literal sense) with concrete trenches the
way of retreat. British airmen report line upon line of intrenchments
where the Germans have defensively furrowed the land behind them for
miles. As the Allies advance--and they indubitably will advance--these
trenches will in turn be stubbornly defended. It is going to be, I am
afraid, a long, weary, and bloody business.
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