me 600 or 700
yards, but the gain in ground could not at all points be maintained.
Opposite St. Julien we fell back from the village to a position just
south of the place, and in front of the Bois des Cuisinirs and on the
left of the line a similar retirement took place, the enemy making
extensive use of his gas cylinders and of machine guns placed in farms
at or other points of vantage. None the less, the situation at nightfall
was more satisfactory than it had been. We were holding our own well all
along the line and had made progress at some points. On the right the
enemy's attacks on the front of the Grafenstafel Ridge had all been
repulsed.

In the meantime the French had achieved some success, having retaken
Lizerne and also the trenches round Het Sast, captured some 250
prisoners, and made progress all along the west bank of the canal. Heavy
as our losses were during the day, there is little doubt that the enemy
suffered terribly. Both sides were attacking at different points, the
fighting was conducted very largely in the open, and the close
formations of the Germans on several occasions presented excellent
targets to our artillery, which did not fail to seize its opportunities.

[Illustration: GENERAL SIR IAN HAMILTON

Commanding the Allied Expeditionary Forces Operating Against the
Dardanelles

_(Photo from P.S. Rogers.)_]

[Illustration: ANDREW BONAR LAW

The Canadian-born Leader of the Opposition in the British House of
Commons

_(Photo by Bassano.)_]

Nothing in particular occurred during the night.

The morning of the 27th found our troops occupying the following
positions: North of Zonnebeke the right of the line still held the
eastern end of the Grafenstafel Ridge, but from here it bent
southwestward behind the Haanebeek stream, which it followed to a point
about half a mile east of St. Julien. Thence it curved back again to the
Vamheule Farm, on the Ypres-Poelcappelle road, running from here in a
slight southerly curve to a point a little west of the Ypres-Langemarck
road, where it joined the French. In the last mentioned quarter of the
field it followed generally the line of a low ridge running from west to
east. On the French front the Germans had been cleared from the west
bank of the canal, except at one point, Steenstraate, where they
continued to hold the bridgehead.

About 1 P.M. a counter-attack was made by us all along the line between
the canal and the Ypres-Poelcappelle road, an