During the night of April 23, 1917, the British advancing on a wide front south of the Arras-Cambrai road captured the villages of Villers-Plouich and Beaucamp and pressed forward as far as the St. Quentin Canal in the vicinity of Vendhuille.
The second phase of the offensive in the Arras region was especially notable for the victories won by the British in the air. In one day forty German machines were brought down, while the British lost only two.
The British advance was now necessarily slow, for they were no longer engaged in rear-guard actions as in the first phase of the offensive, but faced strong bodies of troops whose valor was unquestioned. Thus, as in the first days of fighting in the Somme, there was desperate fighting to gain or regain a few hundred yards of trenches. With varying fortunes the opponents fought back and forth over the same ground without either side gaining any distinct advantage, though both were losers in precious lives. By early morning of April 25, 1917, Scottish and British troops had reestablished the line on the Bois Vert and Bois de Sart.
A striking incident in connection with the fighting in this area was the recovery of parties of British soldiers who had been given up as lost. They had been cut off from rejoining their regiments and had come through the most ghastly perils, being swept by a British barrage that preceded an infantry attack and subjected to the deadly and constant shelling of the German guns. They had clung to their isolated positions in the face of all these terrors and not a man was killed.[Back to Contents]
CHAPTER LVIII
FRENCH VICTORIES IN THE CHAMPAGNE—THE BRITISH CAPTURE BULLECOURT
During the night of April 25, 1917, the Germans renewed their attempts to recover lost positions on the high ground near the Chemin-des-Dames, and especially west of Cerny. West of Craonne they hurled masses of men against Hurtebise Farm with disastrous results. Eastward in the vicinity of Ville-aux-Bois the French artillery dropped shells with mathematical precision on the German lines. The regiment that was detailed to capture the village of Ville-aux-Bois, which formed with Craonne one of the pillars of the German line in this area, carried out the difficult operation with complete success. It was necessary to capture two heavily garrisoned woods before the place could be assaulted. At the end of the first day's fighting the French had taken hundreds of prisoners and several dozen machine guns. The prisoners alone numbered more than the French troops who made the attack.
Fighting continued in this region during the 26th. The French repulsed all attempts made by the Germans to recover lost ground, and extended their gains.
During the desperate fighting along the Aisne in this offensive the French captured about 20,000 prisoners and 130 guns. The German losses in killed, wounded, and prisoners were estimated at over 200,000—one of the most formidable totals of the Great War.
North of the Scarpe River and in the vicinity of Catelet the British continued to improve their positions. Thirteen German aeroplanes and one balloon were brought down on the 26th by British aviators.