Map of the British position. The solid line represents the territory held by the British, the dotted line to the north showing the position of the Franco-Belgian Army, and the dotted line to the south the position of the French Army.
The fighting here was made up of a series of isolated and desperate hand-to-hand combats with bayonet and hand grenades, and, since the Germans were, at many points, outflanked and enfiladed, their losses were very heavy, for in the narrow trenches there was often no room for escape, and the only alternative was death or surrender. In some places the trenches presented a horrible sight, being heaped with German corpses, many of whom had been blown to pieces by our bombardment carried out previous to the original attack. By about noon the total number of prisoners captured since the commencement of the attack on Sunday had increased to 550.
On the extreme right the Germans were pressed back along their communication trenches in such large numbers that they occasionally formed an excellent mark for the machine guns in our own line to the north of Givenchy, which were able to do great execution at certain points.
By midday the total front of the "bite" taken by us out of the enemy's position was almost exactly two miles long; but, as trenches and isolated posts were taken and retaken several times, the exact situation at any moment, as is usual in such cases, is somewhat obscure. Further progress was made to the south during the afternoon and after dark, and various posts and breastworks east of La Quinque Rue, from which we had withdrawn the previous night, again fell into our hands, although the enemy continued to hold some trenches in rear of them. But they again formed an exposed salient, and were once more temporarily evacuated by us.
At nightfall we held a continuous line embracing the whole of the German original front trenches from the south of Festubert to Richebourg-L'Avoue, and, in many places, were in possession of the whole series of hostile entrenchments, with the exception of a few supporting points and machine-gun posts in rear of the zone.
EAST OF FESTUBERT.
The following dispatch was received on May 26, 1915, from Field Marshal Sir John French, commanding in chief the British Army in the field:
The First Army continues to make progress east of Festubert. A territorial division carried last night a group of German trenches, capturing thirty-five prisoners, and this morning it captured one officer, twenty-one men, and a machine gun.
Since May 16 the First Army has pierced the enemy's line on a total front of over three miles. Of this the entire hostile front line system of trenches has been captured on a front of 3,200 yards, and of the remaining portion the first and second lines of trenches are in our possession.
The total number of prisoners taken is 8 officers and 777 of other ranks. Ten machine guns in all have fallen into our possession, as well as a considerable quantity of material and equipment, particulars of which are not yet available.