During the night of July 11, 1917, British naval aeroplanes carried out successful raids in Flanders in and near five towns, when several tons of bombs were dropped with good results. Railway lines and an electric power station at Zarren were attacked by gunfire from the air, and bombs were dropped on a train near St. Denis-Westrem. The British airmen's bombs caused a fire near Ostend, and heavy explosions at the Varssenaere railway dump followed by an intense conflagration which was still flaming fiercely when the British returned safely to their own lines.
On the French front there was increasing aerial activity on July 12, 1917, on both sides from daybreak to midnight. In some cases as many as thirty machines were actively engaged. As a result of these encounters fourteen German aeroplanes were brought down and sixteen others were driven out of control. Nine British machines were counted missing.
Fighting continued daily in the Champagne and at frequent intervals. The Germans were paying a high price for every foot of ground gained and learned at the cost of heavy sacrifices that the French were as strong as ever, notwithstanding a report to the contrary was circulated by the German High Command that they were short of men and would be unable to fight much longer.
On July 14, 1917, the French scored a double victory when they occupied five heights among a clump of hills known as the Moronvilliers Massif to the east of Rheims. The positions won were of the first importance whereby the Germans lost their principal observatories in this region. The French occupied all the crests of the hills, but some of the slopes were held by the Germans, from which points of vantage they were able to watch the movements of their opponents.
The net gains to the French during the day included a network of German trenches on a front of over 800 yards to a depth of 300 yards, while the prisoners captured numbered 360, including nine officers.
On the left bank of the Meuse, in the Verdun sector, around Hill 304 and Dead Man Hill, artillery duels were continuous during the night of July 13, 1917.
The loss of the strong positions on the Moronvilliers hills, the chief observation posts in the region, spurred the Germans on to make frequent and frenzied attempts to force the French out. In the night of July 15, 1917, the hills were subjected to sustained and violent bombardment. It was followed by German attacks on Mont Haut and a height known as the Teton. At Mont Haut the Germans succeeded in penetrating French positions, but were driven out by a brilliant counterattack. The fighting lasted throughout the night, and was of the most violent description. By morning the French had thrust the Germans back and held all positions on the hills securely. The Germans had gained only a short stretch of trench near Mont Haut, which for the time they were able to hold possession.
On the left bank of the Meuse, in the Verdun sector, to the west of Hill 304, the French carried out a dashing operation early in the morning of July 17, 1917. After strong artillery preparation that had lasted all through the previous night the French attacked, and notwithstanding the stubborn and energetic resistance of the enemy, recaptured in a few minutes all the positions that the Germans had occupied since June 29, 1917. Following up the advantage thus gained the French carried German positions beyond their objectives to a depth of 2,000 yards on both sides of the road between Esnes and Malancourt. All the first German line was captured, and a little later after the most intense fighting the second line was carried. The French gained ground in this advance to a depth of over a mile. The number of unwounded prisoners captured reached 425, of whom eight were officers.
The loss of such important positions in the Verdun sector stimulated the Germans to make repeated endeavors to recapture them, and during the night of July 17, 1917, they delivered furious counterattacks preceded by intense artillery preparations. The assaults were all repulsed by the French, and at no point were the Germans enabled to gain even a temporary footing.
In the evening of July 18, 1917, the Germans attacked the French lines south of St. Quentin over a front of about half a mile. They succeeded in penetrating the first line, and held it for a brief period, when they were driven out. A few hours later the Germans made another strong attack over a front of about four miles, their objective being the same—the hillock known as Moulin-sous-Toutvent. This attack was broken up by the French artillery and machine-gun fire.