"In view of important operations which the French were to carry out on the 5th of May, 1917, I arranged for a considerable extension of my active front. While the Third and First Armies attacked from Fontaine-les-Croisilles to Fresnoy, the Fifth Army launched a second attack upon the Hindenburg line in the neighborhood of Bullecourt. This gave a total front of over sixteen miles.
"Along practically the whole of this front our troops broke into the enemy's positions. Australian troops carried the Hindenburg line east of Bullecourt, Eastern county battalions took Chérisy. Other English troops entered Roeux and captured the German trenches south of Fresnoy. Canadian battalions found Fresnoy full of German troops assembled for a hostile attack, which was to have been delivered at a later hour. After hard fighting, in which the enemy lost heavily, the Canadians carried the village, thereby completing an unbroken series of successes.
"Later in the day, strong hostile counterattacks once more developed, accompanied by an intense bombardment with heavy guns. Fierce fighting lasted throughout the afternoon and far into the night, and our troops were obliged to withdraw from Roeux and Chérisy. They maintained their hold, however, on Fresnoy and the Hindenburg line east of Bullecourt, as well as upon certain trench elements west of Fontaine-les-Croisilles and south of the Scarpe.
"Early in May, 1917, local attacks had been undertaken by Canadian troops in the neighborhood of the Souchez River, which formed the prelude to a long-sustained series of minor operations directed against the defense of Lens. Substantial progress was made in this area on June 5 and 19, 1917, and five days later North Midland troops captured an important position on the slopes of a small hill southwest of Lens, forcing the enemy to make a considerable withdrawal on both sides of the river. Canadian troops took La Coulotte on June 26, 1917, and by the morning of June 28, 1917, had reached the outskirts of Avion.
"On the evening of June 28, 1917, a deliberate and carefully thought-out scheme was put into operation by the First Army to give the enemy the impression that he was being attacked on a twelve-mile front from Gavrelle to Hulluch.
"Elaborate demonstrations were made on the whole of this front, accompanied by discharges of gas, smoke and thermit, and a mock raid was successfully carried out southeast of Loos. At the same time real attacks were made, with complete success, by English troops on a front of 2,000 yards opposite Oppy, and by Canadian and North Midland troops on a front of two and a half miles astride the Souchez River. All objectives were gained, including Eleu dit Leauvette and the southern half of Avion, with some 300 prisoners and a number of machine guns."
In the meantime the commander of the Canadian corps, General Sir Julian Byng, early in June, 1917, had been promoted to the command of one of the British armies. On June 19, 1917, Major General Sir Arthur Currie, who only a short time before had been knighted by King George on the battle field of Vimy, was gazetted as the new commander of the Canadian corps and in July was promoted to the rank of Major General. He was succeeded in the command of the first Canadian Division by Major General A. C. Macdonell. Sir Arthur Currie had a most distinguished career. Having joined the Canadian militia as early as 1895 as a private, he had gradually worked up his way to the command of the Fifth British Columbia Regiment of Garrison Artillery. In 1914 he was given command of a brigade for active service, and in 1915 was promoted to the command of the First Canadian Division, showing in all his commands exceptional military capacity.
In the middle of August, 1917, the Canadians again became active in the Lens sector. A highly successful operation was carried out in the neighborhood of Lens, whereby the situation of the forces in that sector was greatly improved. At the same time the threat to Lens itself was rendered more immediate and more insistent and the enemy was prevented from concentrating the whole of his attention and resources upon the front of the British main offensive.
At 4.25 a. m. on August 15, 1917, the Canadian corps attacked on a front of 4,000 yards southeast and east of Loos. The objectives consisted of the strongly fortified hill known as Hill 70, which had been reached but not held in the battle of Loos on September 25, 1915, and also the mining suburbs of Cité Ste.-Élizabeth, Cité St.-Emile, and Cité St.-Laurent, together with the whole of Bois Rase and the western half of Bois Hugo. The observation from Hill 70 had been very useful to the enemy, and its possession materially increased the British command over the defenses of Lens.
Practically the whole of these objectives was gained rapidly at light cost and in exact accordance with plan. Only at the farthest apex of the advance a short length of German trench west of Cité St.-Auguste resisted the first assault. This position was again attacked on the afternoon of the following day and captured after a fierce struggle lasting far into the night.