From Mons to Loos

From Mons to Loos

From Mons to Loos

ADVANCE ON MONS. 31

The battle of Mons, which began on the

THE PURSUIT TO THE AISNE.

It had been eaten by my Division at the battle of Mons, and this was the first oppor- tunity afforded us of replacing ib:

From Mons to Loos

From Mons to Loos

LOOS. 295

went forward to an advanced depdt which had been formed close behind our trenches. From a slack-heap, nearly the whole field of the coming battle was spread before me. Almost directly in front, about 2000 yards away, rose the queer, pagoda-like twin-towers of Loos. To their left the ground rose in a scarcely perceptible swell, to fall again as gradually to the northward. Here, hardly discernible, were the German trenches. To the right of Loos was Lens, and beyond that town rose the long blue ridge of Notre Dame de Lorette. Be- hind me some of our heavy artillery was ranging on to the German position, and it was interesting to watch their work: First came the roar of the gun as it was dis- charged, then the whine of the shell through the still air, growing fainter each second ; next the flash of the explosion on the gentle rise ahead, as the shell struck the ground, followed immediately by an enormous volume of red earth and dark smoke flung into the air; lastly, a deep base rumble came down to the ear like the muttering of distant thunder.

LOOS. 303

The Battle of Loos was over. It was an Allied success of some magnitude. The German Front had been penetrated in two places. Thousands of the enemy had been killed or wounded, many thousands more, with a number of field and machine guns, had been captured, while the Prussian prestige for invincibility had received yet another severe blow.