East of Monchy-le-Preux the Germans after a heavy bombardment of British positions made an attack in force that was entirely successful in gaining the first-line defenses. The British were driven back with considerable losses to their main new position on Infantry Hill.
After the disastrous experience of the German airmen during the battle of Messines Ridge their flying forces adopted the familiar tactics of mass formation. The British air pilots seldom encountered in these June days squadrons of less than fifteen machines, and occasionally they met aerial armies of as many as sixty planes. In some battles in the second week of June, 1917, between seventy and eighty machines were involved. Most of these air fights took place inside German territory, and despite superior numbers the British Royal Flying Corps continued to prove their superiority in the air over the Teutons. In one of these aerial battles, when a large number of planes were engaged, the British pilots smashed ten German machines, while only two British flyers were compelled to withdraw from the fight, one of them making a successful landing within his own lines.
Of the reckless bravery displayed by some of the younger members of the Royal Flying Corps many authentic stories are told. One intrepid British pilot coolly took up a position over a German aerodrome at a considerable distance within the enemy lines. There were seven machines in the aerodrome when the British flyer took up his position above, and as they issued forth first one and then two at a time he attacked and in every instance was successful in smashing or in driving out of control the German machine.
On the Arras battle front on June 19, 1917, the British gained some ground south of the Cojeul River, capturing during the operation thirty-five prisoners.
French positions between the Ailette River and Laffaux Hill in the Champagne and northwest of Rheims were on this date the special marks for the concentrated fire of German guns. French outposts were attacked at Mont Teton and Mont Carnillet (an almost daily occurrence this summer), but the Germans were unable to gain any advantage and were driven back to their trenches with heavy losses.
The British were successful on June 20, 1917, in regaining the Monchy position which had been lost some days before. It was of utmost value that this point should be wrested from German hands if the advance was to continue, and the British were correspondingly elated that they had possession of it again.
South of La Fère the French attacked during the night following the 21st, and penetrating German lines in the region of Beauton, destroyed large numbers of the enemy and brought back prisoners. In the Champagne after severe artillery preparation the Germans attacked French trenches on Teton Height and to the east of this position on a front of 400 yards. The Germans employed strong forces in the operation, and in a daring push in which they sacrificed large numbers of men they succeeded in penetrating advanced positions. But they were unable to hold them long, when the French came back in a dashing assault that swept them out and back to their own lines. On the following day the French in a brilliant movement made on a 600-yard front advanced their line 600 yards nearer to Mont Carnillet.
It was in this region that a unit consisting of only sixty-two French Grenadiers and portable machine guns occupied a position that the Germans coveted. The Germans attacked with a strong force, but the stout-hearted defenders, though vastly outnumbered, not only drove them back, but pressed on in pursuit, capturing a considerable length of German trenches and killing more than 200.
In the Chemin-des-Dames on June 22, 1917, the Germans launched a number of attacks, which led to some desperate engagements. In the vicinity of La Royère Farm the ground was covered with the bodies of German dead, according to the statements of correspondents on the field. The Germans at a heavy cost only succeeded in gaining possession of a short section of a French front trench.
Rheims continued to be the mark on which the Germans vented their anger when things went wrong, and on the 22d they threw 1,200 shells into the cathedral city.