“Tuesday, Oct. 20, a determined but unsuccessful attack was made against virtually the whole of our line.  At one point where one of our brigades made a counter attack 1,100 German dead were found in a trench and forty prisoners were taken.”

The narrative points out that the advance of the Allies has been hindered by the weather and the nature of the ground, together with the impossibility of knowing beforehand the reception that advance detachments were likely to meet in approaching any village or town.  “One place may be evacuated hastily as untenable,” the recital continues, “while another in the same general line will continue to resist for a considerable time.  In some villages the inhabitants meet our cyclists with kisses, while at the next one the roads will, in all probability, have trenches cut across them and blocked with barricades and machine guns.  Under these circumstances an incautious advance is severely punished, and it is impossible for large bodies of troops to push on until the front has been thoroughly reconnoitred.  This work requires the highest qualities from our cavalry, our cyclists, and our advanced guards.

Armored motor cars equipped with machine guns are now playing a part in the war, and have been most successful in dealing with small parties of German mounted troops.  In their employment our gallant allies, the Belgians, who are now fighting with us and acquitting themselves nobly, have shown themselves to be experts.  They appear to regard Uhlan hunting as a form of sport.  The crews display the utmost dash and skill in this form of warfare, often going out several miles ahead of their own advanced troops and seldom failing to return loaded with spoils in the shape of lancers’ caps, busbies, helmets, lances, rifles, and other trophies, which they distribute as souvenirs to the crowds in the market places of the frontier towns.

Although the struggle in the northern area naturally attracts more attention than the one in the Aisne, the fighting in this region still continues.  Although there has been no alteration in the general situation, the enemy has made certain changes in the positions of his heavy artillery, with the result that one or two places which formerly were safe are now subject to bombardment, while others which were approachable only at night or by crawling on hands and knees now serve as recreation grounds.  At one point even a marquee tent has been erected.

A story from this quarter illustrates a new use for the craters made by the explosions of the “Black Marias,” the name given by the men to the projectiles of the big German howitzers.  An officer on patrol stumbled in the dark on the German trenches.  He turned and made for the British lines, but the fire directed at him was so heavy that he had to throw himself on the ground and crawl.  There was no cover at hand, and his chances looked desperate, when he saw close by an enormous hole in the ground made by one of these large shells.  Into this he scrambled and remained there for a night and a day.  When night again came he succeeded in reaching our lines in safety.