The British armies, after taking Le Gateau on Thursday week,
encountered very stubborn resistance on the line of the river Selle. On Monday, indeed, the enemy made a regular-attack on our posts east of the Selle, but was repulsed. Deferring a further advance at this point until Thursday, when he resumed the offensive, Sir Douglas Haig pushed forward slowly against the enemy rearguards between Douai and Lille—a plain intersected with marshes, canals, railways, and coal-pits in which rapid progress. is impossible. The last remnants of the once famous Drocourt-Queant switch line were captured on Friday week. On Saturday last our men penetrated into the suburbs of Douai. Further north our troops on Tuesday crossed the Haute Deule Canal, to the east of Loos, and on Wed- nesday were on a line two miles west of Lille. On Thursday our troops were unofficially reported to be in the city.
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