On April 16, 1917, the French 410th Regiment of the Line attacked the enemy's formidable positions there. This Brittany regiment set out from positions to which they had given names taken from the history of their country (_Quimper Bastion_, _Auray_, _Redon Bastion_, etc.). On the first day they carried three successive lines of defences, and advanced about a mile. On the 17th and 18th they left their zone of action, to ensure the _liaison_ on their right, and to help a brigade in difficulties on their left. For eight days they held their positions against powerful enemy counter-attacks, after having progressed to a depth of two miles and captured more than 400 prisoners, 11 bomb-throwers, and an immense amount of stores. These positions, like the neighbouring villages, were re-taken by the Germans in May and June, 1918, and finally by the Allies in October, 1918. _Return to the road and follow it towards Rheims. Leave on the left_ the devastated =Aviation-ground of Champagne=--now in a state of complete upheaval, due to the terrific shelling it received--_then cross the_ =Plain of Bétheny= (_photo, p. 157_). The Plain of Bétheny was the scene of two important historical events: in 1901 the Tsar Nicolas II. reviewed a part of the French Army there; in August, 1909, the Great Aviation Week was inaugurated there, in the presence of an immense crowd of spectators. [Illustration: GERMAN FIRST-LINE POSITIONS BÉTHENY PLAIN (_see sketch-map below_) _Photographed at 7,000 ft. from aeroplane, August 6, 1916, at 10 a.m._] [Illustration: THE GERMAN FIRST-LINE DEFENCES IN THE PLAIN OF BÉTHENY _The tourist passes through this region on returning to Rheims, shortly before coming to the bridge under the railway. The sketch map explains the photograph above._] _Pass under the Rheims-Laon railway by a very sharp double turning._ =Pierquin Farm=, entirely destroyed, _stood on the right a short distance further on_. The only remaining trace is the torn shapeless carcass of a large iron shed. The railway embankment south of Pierquin Farm was fiercely disputed from September 18, 1914, onwards. Several enemy attacks against it broke down before the French 75's. During the offensive of May, 1918, the whole of this region was the scene of desperate fighting. La Neuvillette was taken on May 30, and Pierquin Farm on the 31st. On August 4, the French, after crossing the Aisne Canal, advanced to La Neuvillette, where the enemy made a desperate stand. At the beginning of October they advanced to the north of La Neuvillette, which the enemy was eventually compelled to abandon. The last inhabitants had left the locality on July 12, 1916. _The tourist enters Rheims by the Rue de Neufchâtel and the Avenue de Laon._ =La Neuvillette= _On reaching the Avenue de Laon, the tourist, instead of entering Rheims, may turn to the right and go northwards as far as the_ village and cemetery of La Neuvillette.