salient, made it impossible for the enemy, in the short time allowed them, to save their heavy artillery and the large quantity of material accumulated behind the lines. The German troops, who, it is said, had been warned to expect attack on Sept. 15, were taken by surprise when, at 5 a.m. on the 12th, after an intense bombardment lasting four hours, the American infantry assailed their positions on a front of ten miles, from the Moselle to the Rupt de Madt at Xivray, and, encountering little resistance, made rapid progress. At the same time French troops, advancing from the region of St Mihiel, carried the heights, and covered the American flanks. Later, at 8 a.m., a third attack was made on the western flank of the salient, between Les Eparges and Seuzey, which, though strongly opposed, gained its objectives early in the afternoon. The Allied forces continued to press forward on both flanks. Thiaucourt was taken in the evening; and, by 8 o'clock on the following morning, the advanced troops operating from the south-east and north-west had joined hands at Vigneulles. 15,000 prisoners and over 200 guns were captured. On the subsequent days the advance proceeded in a north-easterly direction, meeting ineffective counter-attacks about Jaulny and St Hilaire; and the enemy's retreat became general between Bezonvaux and Norroy. By the evening of Sept. 15, the Allied forces had passed the line Villecey-HaumontDoncourt-Fresnes-Abaucourt; and the fortress guns of Metz had come into action.

During the closing days of September events marched with breathless rapidity. On the 26th the first of a series of great combined attacks, which shook the enemy's entire front from the Meuse to the Yser, was delivered by the 1st American and 4th French armies, advancing, respectively, east and west of the Argonne Forest. General Liggett's army quickly overran the positions on the west bank of the Meuse established by the Germáns during their attack on Verdun in 1916, and, by the end of the month, had penetrated the enemy's fortified zone on the entire front of attack to a depth of seven miles, West of the forest General Gouraud was equally successful, his troops making light of the obstacles which had brought the Champagne offensive of September 1915 to a standstill, and carrying their front beyond the line

Condé-Séchault-Aure-Somme Py, a general advance of six to seven miles. In the intervening region the Germans were evacuating the forest under the direct pressure of the Americans.

The second great blow followed on Sept. 27, when portions of our 1st and 3rd armies attacked in the Cambrai sector, American troops prolonging the offensive front southwards beyond Le Catelet. Two days later the 4th Army came into action between Le Catelet and St Quentin. Our troops won back the whole of the Cambrai battle-field, gained the right bank of the Canal about Crèvecour, occupied the western suburbs of Cambrai, and, further north, reached Blécourt. North of St Quentin the 4th Army fought its way as far as the line Lavergies-Estrées, three miles east of the Canal. On Sept. 30 General Debeney, cooperating with Rawlinson's right wing, attacked St Quentin and the adjoining defences. Two days earlier, General Mangin carried the heights of the Chemin des Dames as far eastwards as the Vailly-Laon road; and, by Sept. 30, the battle spread to the region between the Vesle and the Aisne, where the enemy began to fall back on the entire front west of Reims.

On Sept. 28, the Belgian Army, with General Plumer's forces, under the command of King Albert, assailed the German positions from Dixmude to Ploegsteert.* Dixmude and the whole of the Messines and Passchendaele ridges (including the Zandvoorde and Moorslede spurs) were captured, and Ledeghem was occupied, British and Belgian troops, respectively, reached the outskirts of Menin and Roulers, and, in the interval, advanced beyond the railway. Influenced by the attacks at Cambrai and Ypres, the Germans show signs of giving way on the intervening front.

Thus, at the end of September, the whole front from the heights of the Meuse to the swamps of Flanders was in violent oscillation; and the enemy, who had already suffered heavily,t was throwing division after division

* Vide maps published in the Quarterly Review' for January and July last.

The British armies, alone, during July and August, took 123,618 prisoners and 1400 guns. In the last five days' fighting between the Sensee and St Quentin they defeated 36 German divisions.