“Measures promptly were taken to head off the enemy, who were surrounded and trapped in a sunken road, where over 400 men surrendered.

“On September 10 a small party under a noncommissioned officer was cut off and surrounded.  After a desperate resistance it was decided to go on fighting to the end.  Finally the noncommissioned officer and one man only were left, both of them being wounded.

“The Germans came up and shouted to them:  ‘Lay down your arms!’ The German commander, however, signed to them to keep their arms and then asked to shake hands with the wounded noncommissioned officer, who was carried off on his stretcher with his rifle by his side.

“Arrival of reinforcements and the continued advance have delighted our troops, who are full of zeal and anxious to press on.

SUCCESS OF THE FLYING CORPS

“One of the features of the campaign on our side has been the success obtained by the Royal Flying Corps.  In regard to the collection of information it is impossible either to award too much praise to our aviators for the way they have carried out their duties or to overestimate the value of the intelligence collected, more especially during the recent advance.

“In due course certain examples of what has been effected may be specified and the far-reaching nature of the results fully explained, but that time has not arrived.

“That the services of our Flying Corps, which, has really been on trial, are fully appreciated by our allies is shown by the following message from the commander-in-chief of the French armies, received September by Field Marshal Lord Kitchener: 

“’Please express most particularly to Marshal French my thanks for the services rendered on every day by the English flying corps.  The precision, exactitude and regularity of the news brought in by its members are evidence of their perfect organization and also of the perfect training of the pilots and the observers.—­JOSEPH JOFFRE, General,’

“To give a rough idea of the amount of work carried out it is sufficient to mention that during a period of twenty days up to the 10th of September a daily average of more than nine reconnaissance flights of over 100 miles each has been maintained.

FIVE GERMAN PILOTS SHOT

“The constant object of our aviators has been to effect an accurate location of the enemy’s forces and, incidentally, since the operations cover so large an area, of our own units.  Nevertheless, the tactics adopted for dealing with hostile air craft are to attack them instantly with one or more British machines.  This has been so far successful that in five cases German pilots or observers have been shot while in the air and their machines brought to ground.

“As a consequence the British Flying Corps has succeeded in establishing an individual ascendancy which is as serviceable to us as it is dangerous to the enemy.