Nelson's history of the war. Vol. XI., The struggle for the Dvina, and the great invasion of Serbia

118 HISTORY OF THE WAR.

found their real objective unattainable, and the fight

resolved itself into a grim see-saw struggle for the

crest of the ridge above the ragged pine trees.

: :

On the 19th there was another sporadic German

effort in the Loos area. In the afternoon an attack

"Of «owas made against the front from the Oct. 19. Quarries “'to Hulluch. It was of the

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usual type—first a bombardment, then an infantry ° advance across open ground, which was stopped

dead by our machine-gun and rifle fire. It was followed by a number of bombing attacks against

the Hohenzollern, which had a better chance, since

the enemy held the maze of communication trenches east of the main trench of the Redoubt. These, too, failed, and the Germans suffered heavy losses without the gain of a single position. Sir John French’s report on that day gave an interesting sketch of the British lines. “ The new front,” he wrote, “ leaves our old line at a point about 1,200 yards south-west of the southern edge of AuchyLa Bassée, and runs thence through the main trench of the Hohenzollern Redoubt, in an easterly direction 400 yards south of the southern buildings of Fosse 8, to the south-western corner of the Quarries. ‘We also hold the south-eastern corner of the Quarries, our trenches running thence south-east, parallel to and 4o0 yards from the south-western edge of Cité St. Elie, to a point 500 yards west of the north edge of Hulluch. The line then runs along the LensLa Bassée road to the Chalk Pit, 1,500 yards north of the highest point of Hill 70, and then turns south-west to a point 1,000 yards east of Loos Church, where it bends south-east to the northwest slope of Hill 70 and runs along the western