The fighting then from
Lens southward to the Avre came to an end with the Germans completely
halted. The first definite stage of the decisive battle of the war was
thus concluded.
[Sidenote: The attack about Bucquoy.]
[Sidenote: Considerable initial successes.]
[Sidenote: A stand at the edge of the Forest of Nieppe.]
[Sidenote: The Germans take Messines Ridge.]
But the Germans were by no means ready to acknowledge defeat. The
Lens-Arras sector had to be cleared up. The attack from the south,
crystallizing about Bucquoy, and from the east both having broken down,
there remained but to attack from the north. Utilizing to the utmost the
advantages of the great railroad system which parallels this front,
connecting in a single chain all of their great advance bases, the
Germans effected a heavy concentration at Lille, and, using about twenty
divisions (which were afterward increased to thirty), struck the British
line between Givenchy--just north of La Bassee--and Warneton on the Lys
River. The initial successes were considerable. The Germans penetrated
to a maximum depth of more than four miles in the centre, although on
both right and left the line held fast. North of Armentieres, however,
the British line gave ground, which enabled the Germans to pocket this
city and to capture it on the second day of the attack. On the
succeeding days, the British centre continued to give way until the edge
of the Forest of Nieppe was reached. The German position at this point
in the attack became practically untenable.
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