There was fierce fighting in the Amiens sector in the
middle of ast week, but the enemy has struck his heaviest blows against he Franco-British front in Flanders. East of Amiens on Wed- nesday week the Germans had attacked in great force, especially on the four-mile front between the roads to St.. Quentin and to Roye, and compelled us to retire from Villers-Bretonneux, while the French lost Hangard, another village on the low plateau that bars the way to Amiens. The same night English and Australian troops made an irresistible counter-attack and recaptured Villers- Bretonneux, with six hundred Germans, the remnants of the garrison. The French on Thursday week retook Hangard, but lost it again. Resuming the attack on Friday week, the Allied troops, whose lines join near this point, succeeded after a bitter conflict in reoccupying the western part of the village, which had changed hands twice in the course of the day. The enemy made seven Separate attacks in the hope of recovering Hangard Wood, but failed every time. We took nine hundred prisoners, and our line by the night of Friday week was substantially the same as it had been on the previous Wednesday morning.
