It was to Hooge that were borne the dead bodies of Fitzclarence, Cavendish, Wellesley, Wyndham, Cadogan, Gordon-Lennox, Hay, Kinnaird, Bruce, and Fraser, and not far from there they are chiefly interred. Close at hand also is the grave of the brave young Prince Maurice of Battenberg. It has long since--chateau, hamlet, and wood--been smashed to fragments by their guns; but we continued to hold it, and now it is theirs. It is of no strategical significance, perhaps, but it brings them nearer to Ypres, and the graves of so many of our heroic dead. From the hill where I am stationed, the line of the new German trenches is clearly visible, even if it were not indicated by their shell-fire, which just now continues particularly hot in the neighbourhood of St. Eloi. Our line has been slightly indented, but the high ground to the east was already theirs, from which they could belch forth all their artillery resources, and it is difficult to see what strategical advantage they have gained from their late bloody effort. From all I can gather, the cost to them in casualties, as well as ammunition, has been very great--much greater than was first supposed. Earlier in the war the shelling I am now witnessing at the turn in the loop which encloses this blood-stained amphitheatre of three thousand acres would have seemed a serious bombardment. Now it is merely an artillery diversion. Twenty thousand Canadian soldiers, hidden in what seems an absolutely deserted plain, are looking upwards at those great white or yellow puffs of smoke with quiet unconcern, awaiting the appointed hour. For the present, the Boche has done his worst. He has given a violent tug at the loop, and if he has shortened it by a few inches, it is possible it has also made it stronger. It has cost him thousands of lives and yielded him a few battered trenches and a brick-heap. Elsewhere on the British front numerous raids, adroitly planned by us, and almost invariably successful, have been the order of the day. At one point an enormous white placard has been exhibited on the enemy parapet: ENGLISCH--TAKE WARNUNG BY KITCHENER’S FATE. GERMANY IS INVINCIBLE. It is impossible to reproduce the character or the spelling, both of which were atrocious. This was brought in by a raiding party, and provoked infinite amusement amongst our men. [Illustration: Map--Ypres and area] *IV.* _June 14th._ The expected has happened. The Canadians, chafing over the results of the fierce German offensive of the past ten days, successfully carried through in the early hours of yesterday morning a counter-attack which restored every rod of valuable ground they had lost. Observatory Ridge, the whole of Armagh Wood, and the uplands to the south, including Mount Sorel, are again firmly in our hands.