English rifle regiments and light infantry captured La Vacquerie and the formidable defense on the spur known as Welsh ridge. Other English county troops stormed the village of Ribecourt and fought their way through Coillet wood.
In severe hand-to-hand fighting at Flesquieres near Cambrai, on the 21st, British troops, preceded by tanks, stormed the town. The Germans fired on the tanks with seven big guns at short range. The British infantry charged the guns, captured them, and killed the crews. Three other big guns were captured in a similar manner at Premy Chapelle. British cavalry captured a battery at Rumilly, sabering the crews.
Highland territorial battalions crossed the Grand ravine and entered Flesquieres, where fighting took place. West Biding terriorials captured Havrincourt and the German trench, systems north of the village, while the Ulster battalions, covering the latter's left flank, moved Northward up the West bank of the Canal du Nord.
Later in the day the advance was continued and rapid progress was made at all points, English, Scottish, Irish, and Welsh battalions secured the crossings on the canal at Masnieres and captured Marcoing and Neuf Wood. On the following day, Wednesday, November 21, reinforcements which the enemy hurried up to the battlefield to oppose the British advance were driven out of a further series of villages and other fortified positions.
Thousands of cavalry co-operated with the great army of tanks and infantry in continuing the successful assault begun on November 20. Open fighting went on at many places and the mounted troops, who long had waited for a chance to vindicate their existence in this war, rendered invaluable services in "mopping up".
AMERICAN COMMISSION IN EUROPE
A special American Commission, headed by Colonel Edward M. House, personal friend and trusted adviser of President Wilson, arrived in London on November 8, on its way to attend the Allies' conference which met in Paris November 22, to perfect a system of co-ordination among the nations at war with Germany and secure a better understanding of their respective needs.
BRITISH NEAR JERUSALEM
On November 24 the British forces contending against the Turks in Palestine had advanced to the suburbs of Jerusalem, after inflicting a severe defeat upon the enemy at Askelon, with Turkish casualties of 10,000. More than seventy guns were captured at Askelon, and the British subsequently occupied the ancient port of Jaffa (Poppa). The fall of Jerusalem was then considered imminent and the end of Turkish dominion in the Holy Land was plainly in sight.