To the east of Reins on Thursday week General Gouraud
began a powerful offensive on a twenty-two-mile front in unison with the American Army at Verdun, west of the Meuse. The plan was to attack on either aide of the Northern Argonne and to advance steadily northward until the enemy was forced to abandon -that wild tangle of lull and wood, which he has held since the first battle of the Manic, and with it the valley of Grandpre, which gives the best lateral communication.s between his Champagne and Woevre fronts. Both the Allies were highly successful. The French stormed in a day all the " Buttes " or rounded hills which had baffled them before, and took seven thousand prisoners, while the Americans, whose attack west of the Meuse was a surpries for the enemy, advanced seven miles on a twenty-mile front and took twelve towns and villages—of which Varennes Is the best known and Montfaucon the most important from the military standpoint—with five thousand prisoners.
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