eries; but the French gunners kept
command of the field. In the twenty days' battle--from February 16 to
March 7, 1915--the French won scarcely a mile of ground; but they
found and buried 10,000 German dead. The French staff estimated that
60,000 German soldiers had been put out of action. The German staff
admitted they had lost more men in this action than in the campaign in
East Prussia against the Russians, where fourteen German army corps
were engaged. The French lost less than 10,000 men.

In the last week of February, 1915, it had been learned by General
Joffre that General von Falkenhayn of the German forces had withdrawn
from Neuve Chapelle, and the section north of La Bassee six batteries
of field artillery, six battalions of the Prussian Guard, and two
heavy batteries of the Prussian Guard. These had been withdrawn for
the purpose of checking the supposed French advance at Perthes, as
already narrated. Hence it was known that the English, in command of
Sir Douglas Haig, at Neuve Chapelle, were opposed by a thin line of
German troops who were making a demonstration of force for the purpose
of concealing the weakness of their line.

[Illustration: The Western Battle Line, January 1, 1915.]

The British officers in the region of Neuve Chapelle received complete
instructions on March 8, 1915, in regard to an offensive which they
were to start on the 10th. These instructions were supplemental to a
communication which had been sent on February 19 by the British
commander in chief to Sir Douglas Haig, the commander of the First
Army. Neuve Chapelle was to be the immediate objective of the
prospective engagement. This place is about four miles north of La
Bassee at the junction of main roads, one leading southward to La
Bassee, and another from Bethune on the west to Armentieres on the
northeast. It is about eleven miles west of Lille. These roads formed
an irregular diamond-shaped figure with the village at the apex of the
eastern sides, along which the German troops were stationed. The
British held the western sides of this figure.

The land in this part of France is marshy and crossed by dykes; but,
to the eastward, the ground rises slowly to a ridge, on the western
border of which are two spurs. Aubers is at the apex of one; and
Illies at the apex of the other. Both of these villages were held by
the Germans. The ridge extends northeast, beyond the junction of the
spurs, from Fournes to within two miles southw