of the Somme.

Fresnoy, which was held by the Canadians, and which jutted into the
German lines, was subjected to intense fire and showers of high
explosives and shrapnel throughout the night of the 7th, and in the
morning of the following day the Germans attacked in force. The
British were overwhelmed, but served their machine guns to the last,
and only fell back from their advanced lines when the village was no
longer tenable. The greater part of the ground lost by them was
recovered on the following day.

The French captured first-line German trenches over a front of
three-quarters of a mile northeast of Chevreux near Craonne, during
the night of May 8, 1917, capturing several hundred prisoners.
Vigorous counterattacks made about the same time by the Germans to
regain lost positions on the plateau of Chemin-des-Dames and on the
Californie Plateau were shattered by the French artillery. The Germans
here displayed the most intrepid bravery, sending forward successive
waves of men again and again until the battle area was strewn with
dead. Northwest of Rheims the French carried 400 yards of German
trench, taking prisoner 100 men and two officers.

Severe and continuous fighting went on during May 9, 1917, in the
neighborhood of Bullecourt, where the Germans tried vainly to shake
the British hold on the position. East of Gricourt a portion of the
German front and support lines were captured by the British, also a
considerable number of prisoners. Counterattacks on the French front
along the Chemin-des-Dames and in the region of Chevreux resulted in
heavy losses to the Germans in men and guns.

Toward the close of the day, May 11, 1917, the British after the
hardest and most sanguinary fighting won two positions at Roeux just
north of the Scarpe, and at Cavalry Farm beyond Guemappe. The loss to
the Germans was serious, for these were observation posts of the
highest value. The British captured about 350 prisoners, mostly of
Brandenburg regiments, who were found crouching in tunnels waiting for
a pause in the storm of shell fire to rush out and meet the attackers
with machine guns. But they waited too long, and Haig's troops were
upon them before they could use their weapons. At Roeux the Bavarian
garrison in the tunnels fought ferociously, and being unwilling to
yield were destroyed.

Around Guemappe, by the Cavalry Farm, which the Scottish troops had
been forced to abandon in the previous month, the fighting was l