The result was wholly satisfactory. We took in the three
days' battle nearly two thousand prisoners, a form of success very difficult in trench fighting, and in addition we put some eighteen thousand of the enemy hors de combat. Of these casualties at least eight thousand men must be reckoned as dead or severely wounded—that is, men who can be written off for the purposes of the present war. It will be seen item these figures that the victory was well worth having for its own sake, and quite apart from its moral effect. It is true that the ground gained is small, but in siege fighting—for that is what the present war bas come to—we must measure advanoes by yards, not miles. Unhappily, our success could only be purchased at a great expenditure in killed and wounded, though fortunately not in prisoners. Full lista are not yet available, bat it would appear that, exclusive of prisoners, our losses were about two-tbirds of those imposed on the Germans, or, say, twelve thousand men. Of these, however, not more than five thousand at the highest should be permanent losses.
