The British had made no sensational advances in France for some time, but along the entire 120-mile front occupied they continued to maintain strong pressure on the enemy positions. During the night of the 24th they carried out a number of successful local operations. One of these enterprises was of importance, as it increased the British grip around Lens. Attacking by starlight the British troops stormed and captured 400 yards of front-line trenches east of Riaumont Wood, in the western outskirts of Lens, thus drawing closer the ring of iron with which they were hemming in the French mining center.
In numerous raids carried out in the night on enemy trenches in the vicinity of Bullecourt, Roeux, Loos, and Hooge, much damage was wrought to German defenses and a considerable number of prisoners were captured. One daring body of British troops remained for two hours in German trenches, blowing up dugouts and inflicting serious casualties on the garrison.
In the general advance on Lens the Canadians occupied the strongest outpost in the defense of that place and had pushed forward to La Coulotte. The object of the British command was to exert extreme pressure on the enemy and at the same time keep down the casualties, and this they were successful in doing.
Patrols sent out reached the crown of Reservoir Hill without meeting opposing forces and pressed on down the eastern slope to occupy the strong Lens outpost. South of the Souchez River the Canadians were pressing on the very heels of the retreating Germans. Railway embankments southeast of the Lens electric station were occupied, and the advance was then continued toward La Coulotte.
For several days the Germans had been destroying houses in the western part of the mining center, in order to secure a wider area of fire for their guns. This movement suggested to the British command that they intended to cling as long as possible to the eastern side of the city and to prolong the fight to the bitter end by house-to-house fighting.
In the night of June 25, 1917, the French made a brilliant attack northwest of Hurtebise on a strongly organized German position. They gained all their objectives and the rapidity with which the attack was carried out proved a crushing surprise to the Germans who lost in the fight and in counterattacks ten officers and over 300 of other ranks.
Among the positions captured by the French in the operations in this region was the "Cave of the Dragon," which was more than 100 yards wide and 300 yards deep, and had been converted into a strong fortress. The cavern had numerous exits and openings through which machine guns could be fired. Here the French captured a vast amount of war material, including nine machine guns in good condition, ammunition depots, and a hospital relief outpost.
In the morning of June 27, 1917, the Canadians, encouraged by their recent successes, which had been won at slight cost, decided to attack across the open ground sloping upward to Avion and the village of Leauvette near the Souchez River. The assaulting troops consisted of men from British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, and Nova Scotia, and the British army contained no more daring fighters. The attack was a success, except at one point, where the Germans were strong in machine guns, and were surrounded by barbed-wire entanglements of a peculiarly complicated sort. Here the sturdy men from overseas were unable to gain their objectives, but at other points they gained valuable ground.
In the following night, during a heavy rainstorm, the British attacked a number of the southwesterly suburbs of Lens, including the one known as Avion. They won all their first objectives, and captured over 200 prisoners. The fighting was in and out of ruined buildings, collieries, pit derricks, and the usual structures of a mining settlement. It was continued on the following day, advance being made on a total front of about four miles to a depth of over a mile. The result of these attacks was to give the British a series of strongly organized defensive systems on both banks of the river Souchez covering Lens.
On the same night the suburbs of the mining center were attacked, the British captured German forward positions south and west of Oppy in the Arras sector on a front of about 2,000 yards.