On the Thursday the enemy, while continuing his furious attacks
to the south, delivered a tremendous blow at our Arras defences. He used ten divisions in the hope of capturing the Vimy Ridge, which we took from him last spring with three divisions. He overwhelmed such of our advanced posts as were not withdrawn, but he failed to make any impression on our battle-positions north and south of the Scarpe. For eleven hours the enemy repeated his assaults, and saw his divisions melt away under our steady fire. The London troops near Gavrelle and Oppy, who withstood the heaviest onslaughts, are said to have "probably killed as many of the enemy as any troops of equal numbers have ever killed on any battlefield." A Colonel of the London Rifle Brigade fired over three hundred rounds from a rifle "at marks which, he said, no man could miss." The crew of one machine-gun accounted for four hundred Germans. The enemy withdrew his shattered divisions at night, and has made no further attempt upon our Arras lines.
