The Boy Allies with Haig in Flanders; Or, the Fighting Canadians of Vimy Ridge

by Clair W. Hayes

Behind the tanks the infantry advanced slowly, flanked here and there by squadrons of cavalry, the horses of which could hardly be held back, so anxious did they seem to get at the foe.

The British tanks spat fire from the rapid-fire guns that formed their armament. Streams of bullets flew into the German lines, dealing death and destruction.

From the rear the great British guns dropped high explosive shells in the German trenches.

The German first-line defenses, prepared with days of hard labor, and formed of deep ditches, of concrete and pure earth, offered no difficulties to the British tanks. Straight up to these emplacements they crawled, shoved their noses into the walls, and uprooted them; then crawled calmly over the debris.

Into the gaps thus opened, the British infantry poured, while cavalrymen jumped their horses across the gaps and fell upon the foe with sword and lance.

The Germans fought bravely, but they were so bewildered by this innovation in the art of warfare that their lines had lost their cohesion long before the tanks plowed into them, and they scattered as the British "Tommies" dashed forward, after one withering volley, with the cold steel of the bayonet.

Here and there small groups collected and offered desperate resistance, but their efforts to stem the tide of advancing British were in vain.

An hour after daylight first-line defenses of the entire Hindenburg line were in the hands of the British.

But General "Bingo" Byng was not content to rest on these laurels. He ordered his left wing—those of his troops who had advanced against the Wotan line—to advance farther, and also threw his center into the conflict again. Troops opposed to the Siegfried line he held in reserve, that he might strike a blow in that sector of the field should his main attack fail.

Again the British on left and center dashed to the attack. Again the tanks plowed over the uneven ground, and advanced against a second apparently impregnable barrier. Flushed with victory, the British "Tommies" cheered to the echo, as they moved forward gaily.