sacrifice.
When the first lines fell, their places were filled by others, and the
British guns and machine-guns could not kill them fast enough." Two
batteries of field artillery at Epehy, it is said, "fired steadily with
open sights (that is, pointblank) at four hundred yards for four hours,
into the German masses swarming over No Man's Land."

On the first day, some field batteries aided the Germans, but these were
soon left behind in the advance over difficult and shell-torn ground,
and the battle became one of rifle and machine-gun fire and hand-to-hand
combat.

On the north the British 3rd army made a splendid resistance and
held its ground well, but the 5th army farther south, which bore the
principal brunt of the attack, under General Gough, was gradually forced
to retreat, though in good order, in a northwesterly direction, towards
Amiens. French troops were ordered from the southwest to reinforce the
British in the vicinity of Noyon. There the French stemmed the tide of
Germans, and the drive was soon turned northward, with Amiens as its
evident objective.

ALLIED LINES BEGIN TO HOLD FIRM

The battle continued along these lines, with the British still slowly
retiring, with their faces to the foe, until the 26th of March, the
French stretching their lines farther and farther to the left to keep in
touch with the British, and never failing to maintain connection between
the two armies. The Germans' fond hope of cutting them apart was doomed
to disappointment. French and British cavalry aided in keeping the line
intact, and for the second time since the early days of the war the
horsemen came into their own, doing valiant service in covering the
retreat of the British and impeding the enemy's advance at many points
where their aid proved invaluable.

On March 27 and 28, the situation began to improve. British
reinforcements arrived at the points of greatest danger, and the defense
stiffened, then held the lines firmly before Amiens, and at a distance
from that threatened city sufficiently great to prevent its successful
bombardment by all but the heaviest artillery of the enemy. The
devastated and shell-torn condition of the terrain taken over by the
Germans was unfavorable for bringing up the great guns to within
striking distance. From that time on, the Allies were supremely
confident of their ability to cope with any forces.

While the Allied armies, especially the British, lost heavily in men and
guns