cted. 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
its captors within the zone of fire of several others. Moreover
there was an elaborate series of underground works, including mines
and wolf pits, the latter being covered over with a thin layer
of turf and thickly studded with stakes whose points awaited the
charging French.

General Foch was ready on Sunday morning, May 9, 1915, and his
artillery began one of the heaviest bombardments in history. The
1,100 French cannon hurled 300,000 shells on the German fortifications
that day. The reverberations were deafening and terrifying. They
startled the British engaged at the Aubers Ridge. The deluge of
projectiles crashed their way through the supposedly impregnable
work of engineering that the Germans had erected, and buried their
mangled defenders in chaotic ruins. The preliminary work of the
artillery was continued for three hours, accompanied by the plaudits
of the French infantrymen. Then the infantry were sent to take the
wrecks of what had been the pride of the German engineers. Th