This notice was posted in French munitions works by order of the Minister of Munitions. It contains an aviator's pictures of Fort Douaumont before and after the artillery bombardment and proves the importance of immense munitions supplies.
Owing to the almost continuous bad weather, heavy rains, and snowfall, there was little fighting along the Somme during the succeeding days, but the bombardment of enemy positions was continuous, and the British took some prisoners in trench raids.
In the morning of January 17, 1917, British forces on the Ancre launched the strongest attack that had been attempted for weeks on a front of 600 yards north of Beaucourt. Preceded by a heavy bombardment that shattered the German defenses British troops occupied a line of enemy posts at the cost of a few casualties. The position won by the British was especially valuable because it afforded them better advantages than they possessed for observation in this area. In the afternoon of this date the Germans attempted a counterattack which was broken up with heavy losses by the British artillery barrage.
Another daylight raid was successfully carried out by the Canadian troops northeast of Cité Calonne on the same morning. The Canadians succeeded in penetrating German trenches on a front of 700 yards and pushed forward to a depth of 300 yards, or as far as the enemy's second line. The German dugouts were completely wrecked. The British report stated that heavy losses were inflicted on the enemy. They captured one officer and ninety-nine of other ranks, and several machine guns and a trench mortar. In the evening of this date the Germans, after three hours of intense artillery fire, delivered a series of reconnoitering attacks in Chevaliers Wood on the height of the Meuse (Verdun front). The British artillery and machine guns at once became active and sent such a withering fire against the Germans that they were scattered with heavy losses.
Violent artillery duels continued for several days following, but there was no important fighting along the Somme. On January 20, 1917, in the region south of Lassigny, the Germans were especially active in shelling French positions. They attempted a surprise attack on one of the advanced French trenches, but were beaten off. On this date the French launched a successful attack against German lines in the Vingre sector, where they captured a number of prisoners. In the sector of Burnhaupt, in Alsace, the French won a victory in an encounter with enemy patrols, and repulsed a strong German reconnaissance which attempted to reach French lines in the region southwest of Altkirch.
During the night of January 20, 1917, and most of the following day, German and French artillery fought an almost continuous duel on the right bank of the Meuse, while patrols of the two armies engaged in close and sanguinary encounters in Caurières Wood. It was during the fighting in this region that the British took over twelve miles of the French front. French troops, however, still held the line on the northern bank of the Somme near Mont St. Quentin, the key to Péronne.
In the morning of January 21, 1917, the British forces made a successful raid on German trenches southeast of Loos. It was a short but spirited fight while it lasted. The British reported that they had bombed and destroyed dugouts full of Germans, while their own losses were slight. A number of Germans were made prisoner in this raid, but the majority preferred to fight rather than yield, and fighting fell.
In the evening on this date the Germans on the right bank of the Meuse (Verdun front) attacked on two different occasions the French trenches to the northeast of Caurières Wood. They made the advance after an intense preliminary bombardment, but were unable to reach the French position. The accurate fire of the French artillery proved destructive and drove them back, and the French were enabled to hold their lines without a break. About the same time British troops repulsed a German raid on their lines north of Arras. During the night and on the day following, January 22, 1917, the British took a number of prisoners as the result of patrol and bombing encounters in the neighborhood of Grandcourt, Neuville-St. Vaast, Fauquisart, and Wytschaete.