wide depression. Beyond, the land ascends to Mont St. Eloi. The valley
of the Lys is to the north of the Lorette ridge. To the east the land
descends to the long, narrow valley in which is the highway between
Arras and Bethune. La Targette and Souchez are along the way. Again
the land rolls upward to the hills of Vimy with the Lens-Arras highway
beyond them.

The Teutons held a salient in this region at the beginning of May,
1915. The line which bounded this salient ran east of Loos over the
Bethune-Lens road, east of Aix-Noulette, and appeared on the Lorette
plateau considerably to the west of its tallest spur, where was
situated the Chapel of Our Lady; running out to the prow of the
salient, it took in Albain; and then proceeded to Carency; bending
closely, it ran east of the Bois de Berthonval, taking in La Targette
and the Arras-Bethune highway. That part of the German line was called
by the French the "White Works," on account of the chalk with which
the breastworks were constructed. To the southeast of it was a section
known as the Labyrinth. Ecurie was inside the line which finally ran
back east of Arras. The salient was constructed for the guarding of
Lens, which was considered the entrance to the upper valley of the
Scheldt and the lowlands in the direction of Douai and Valenciennes.
Of more importance than Lens itself was the railroad back of this
front, the capture of which would naturally be a source of great
danger to the Germans.

The French had won some ground in the region of the Lorette plateau
early in 1915. The Tenth Army in the Artois received enough additional
men to give it seven corps. More than 1,100 pieces of artillery, of
varying caliber, were taken to this region by the French. The entire
preparation for the campaign was under the personal direction of
General Foch. In the meantime the Germans, becoming aware that their
enemy was becoming more and more active, proceeded to strengthen the
front by the addition of three divisions which were known as
"divisions of assault." The men composing these additions were from
Bavaria, Saxony, and Baden. Even this reenforcement left the Teutons
outnumbered, and with less artillery than their opponents; but they
held a position which was considered more impregnable than any other
on either front. The Germans here had a chain of forts linked together
by an elaborate series of trenches, these latter so arranged that the
taking of one of the series placed