THE GREAT WAR, 1917

The attacks on the Cambrai front continued but the
enemy brought up large reserves and the battle became of
a ding-dong nature. Many counter-attacks were launched
but most of them were repulsed at once, although some took
a day or two to recapture the ground that had been lost.
The principal stumbling-block was, however, at Bourlon*
This was a very strongly defended point and repeated
attacks failed to drive the enemy out* Unfortunately it
dominated the position and until it was captured the 'ad-
vance elsewhere was necessarily held up. The line every-
where except at this point was thinly held, but the shortage
of troops at Douglas's disposal was a great handicap* He
wrote and told me that another two divisions would just
have made all the difference. He had hoped that a complete
break-through might be achieved and that he would be able
to employ the cavalry to exploit his success to its full ad-
vantage. The break-through, however, just failed to be
accomplished.

The Germans launched a very strong attack on the last
day of November in order to drive our troops from their
position in Bourlon Wood. The Third Army, under General
Byng, came in for the severest part of this attack and
Douglas was very troubled as to the result. He had sent
every available man to the assistance of the hard-pressed
troops, but these reserves were small owing to the with-
drawal of troops to Italy* Besides, the fighting troops were
very tired owing to the shortage of troops for proper reliefs.
Nevertheless tremendous losses were inflicted on the enemy,
and by the 4th of December Douglas became less anxious
about the situation. He found his corps commanders con-
fident that they could now hold back the German attacks,
which, though causing many casualties, had failed to capture
our position in Bourlon Wood. The enemy, however, ap-
peared to be determined to drive us out regardless of cost
to himself, and so it was decided to evacuate the position

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