as many of the enemy hors de combat in dead, wounded and prisoners.

"Throughout these operations Gen. Foch has strained his resources to the
utmost to afford me all the support he could. An expression of my warm
gratitude is also due to Gen. Dubail, commanding the Eighth French Army
Corps on my left, and to Gen. de Maud'huy, commanding the Tenth Army
Corps on my right."

Discussing the details of the engagement from Ypres to Armentieres,
Field Marshal Sir John French explains that he was impressed early in
October with the necessity of giving the greatest possible support to
the northern flank of the Allies in the effort to outflank the Germans
and compel them to evacuate their positions. He says that the situation
on the Aisne warranted the withdrawal of British troops from positions
they held there, as the enemy had been weakened by continual attacks and
the fortifications of the Allies much improved.

The Field Marshal made known his view to Gen. Joffre, who agreed with
it. The French General Staff arranged for the withdrawal of the British,
which began on Oct. 3 and was completed on Oct. 19, when the First Army
Corps, under Gen. Sir Douglas Haig detrained at St. Omer.

The general plan, as arranged by Field Marshal French and Gen. Foch,
commanding the French troops to the north of Noyon, was that the English
should pivot on the French at Bethune, attacking the Germans on their
flank and forcing their way north. In the event that the British forced
the Germans out of their positions, making possible a forward movement
of the Allies, the French and British were to march east, with Lille as
the dividing line between the two armies, the English right being
directed on Lille.

The battle which forms the chief feature of Gen. French's report really
began on Oct. 11, when Major Gen. Gough of the Second British Cavalry
Brigade, first came in contact with German cavalry in the woods along
the Bethune-Aire Canal. The English cavalry moved toward Hazebrouck,
clearing the way for two army corps, which advanced rapidly in a
northeasterly direction. For several days the progress of the British
was only slightly interrupted, except at La Bassee, a high position,
which Field Marshal French mentions as having stubbornly resisted.

Field Marshal French says the Second Corps, under Gen. Smith-Dorrien,
was opposed by overpowering forces of Germans, but nevertheless advanced
until Oct. 18, when the German opposition compelled a