General Byng made his main attack in the open country,
as yet unbroken by shell-fire, between the Bapaume-Cambrai road on the north and the Cambrai-St. Quentin canal to the east. The British and Irish troops engaged broke the triple Hindenburg line on a front of at least ten miles, and advanced rapidly from four to five miles from their starting-point. In the centre they took the little town of Marcoing and secured the crossing of the canal four miles due south of Gambrel. On the left they cleared the villages up to the Bapaume road. Simultaneous attacks were made to the north near Bullecourt and to the south-east of Epehy with equal success, no that the battle-front was in reality twenty miles long. The advance was continued on Wednesday. The enemy's miaforeements were brushed aside or flung back with heavy loss, and the victorious infantry pressed across the Bapaume road and across the canal. Over eight thousand prisoners, including one hundred and eighty officers, had been taken by Wednesday. The captured guns had not been counted.
