August 30, 1917 
LAND & WATER 
this week by the second ot tne two actions to which we refer, 
the very heavy fighting for what we called last week the 
" southern pillar of the Paaschendaele Ridge." 
This " southern pillar," it will be remembered, was essen- 
tially the group of higher ground of wliich the summit is 
hill 64 on the Menin Road, called by the British troops 
" Clapham Junction." It is marked with a cross upon last 
week's map which I here reproduce. 
It will be remembered what importance this point has for 
the defensive and for the oitensive, and how wie pointed out 
last week that the enemy would make every effort to prevent 
its falling completely into British hands. Such an effort 
has been made, and is, at the moment of writing, undecided. 
Upon August 22nd, that is last Wednesday, the British 
advancing from the highest point of Hill 64 down the Menin 
Road, got into the splintered wood called the Herenthage 
Wood, which the British .^rmy christens " Inverness Copse." 
The undulations here are very slight and, in spite of the im- 
portance of observation in the Flanders plain from even a 
small rise, we must beware against exaggerating the con- 
tours in our imagination. All the way down hill from " Clap- 
ham Junction " to Gheluvelt is only 35 feet, and from the 
same point to the middle of Inverness Copse there is a fall 
of only 13 feet. 
It was' upon Thursday last, the 23rd of August, that the 
British entered Inverness Copse and occupied about half of 
its shattered area — the eastern half, of course. Had they 
occupied the whole of this wood one might say that the 
hummock which thus slightly overlooks Gheluvelt and the 
Menin Road would have been entirely in their hands. 
But it was impossible for the enemy to admit this threat 
to his " pillar," without a very strong re-action and bid 
for its recovery. We accordingly find a violent counter-attack 
taking place upon Friday, the 24th, in which the enemy claim, 
in rather confused language, the recovery of this part of 
the wood ; while the British communique registers the 
withdrawal of the British advanced troops, but adds : " The 
confused fighting which has taken place in Inverness Copse 
. . . is still continuing." 
Upon Saturday, the 25th, there was another fluctuation 
of the line in this liardly contested and tS.ontial point. The 
German document admits the recapture by the British of 
the north-western comer of the Herenthage Wood (Inverness 
Copse) , and on Sunday morning it was lost again, the Germans 
attacking with flame in great strength, but by the afternoon 
they had again been driven out. We may take it (as far as 
the very brief indications afforded us go), that the general 
result upon the Sunday night of the three days heavy fighting 
for this part of the " southern Geniian pillar" was: 
(i) A heavily pressed and successful British advance occu- 
pying half the copse and reaching down to somewhere near 
contour 60, but leaving the ruins of the Chateau on the south ' 
of the road still in German hands. This on Thursday. 
(2) A very strong German counter-attack to recover this 
essential .piece of ground filling the hours of Friday, and 
pressing back the British perhaps to the edges of the little 
wood, and in any case recovering the greater part of it. 
(3) Another British blow on Saturday, which did not recover 
the whole of what had been taken on Thursday, but a portion 
of it, to wit, the north-western comer of the copse. 
(4) A violent German flame attack on Sunday morning 
which temporarily recovered the north-west comer of the 
wood, but was driven back before night. 
To those who have the opportunity for following the most 
important element of all in the fighting— the comparative 
losses— (an opportunity denied, of course, to the student at 
home) the really significant factor is the price which the 
enemy has paid in thus attempting to cHng to the higher 
ground. The highest ground of all at " Clapham Junc- 
tion " he has lost altogether. He is putting forth a very 
great effort to hold on to the first beginning of the further 
slope, and so far has maintained himself there. But the real 
value of the operation can only be tested from his point of 
view or from ours by its effect upon his numbers — and ours. 
The Verdun Front 
Meanwhile, far to the south, a new simultaneous offensive 
lias further tested his numbers. This has been the sudden 
and successful blow launched by the French upon the Verdun 
sector. We are dealing her6 with an action about half as'large 
in the efifectives employed and the artillerj' work corresponding 
to them, as the corresponding effort on the Ypres salient. It 
has not the importance of the work on the Ypres salient, but 
it is very significant as an example of the degree to which the. 
enemy is now pressed for men. \ 
The French planned this offensive upon a sector of about- 
II miles, directly north and north-west of Verdun town from 
the wood of Avocourt to Bezonveaux upon both banks of the 
Meuse. ; 
There was ample and lengthy artillery preparatioa wliich' 
Bdiiuicmtxf m^ 
