In April 1710 the campaign was resumed. Douai was captured, but Arras and the road to France were found to be protected by a line of trenches which foiled even Marlborough. Béthune and other places fell into his hands; but during the winter the French extended their trenches from Namur on the east right to the coast, and the barrier seemed impregnable. In 1711, however, Marlborough carried out a series of movements which are said to be the most wonderful in the whole history of tactics. Early in August he approached the French lines as if about to attack Arras. The French massed their forces to meet him, and in order to do so had to weaken their hold on the trenches farther east. Suddenly, on the same night, Marlborough made a forced march of thirteen leagues to the left. Many of his men dropped from fatigue, but with the remainder he seized a portion of the trenches, and was behind the French lines while the French army was still awaiting his attack on Arras. He had completely outwitted the French general, though, for various reasons, he was unable to take further advantage of his success. The French trenches of which you have just read ran, roughly, east and west, and were meant to stop an advance on Paris from the north. During the race to the sea the rival armies were moving from the south to the north. Each was trying to outflank the other. The Allies wished to strike eastwards, and the Germans westwards, and the result was that the lines of trenches in which they opposed each other ran from north to south. [Footnote 11: _Dool._] [Footnote 12: _Vō-bān´_, born 1633, died 1707.] [Footnote 13: _Roo-bay´._] [Footnote 14: _Toor-kwan´_ (_n_ nasal).] [Footnote 15: _Meh-nan´_ (_n_ nasal).] [Footnote 16: Chaucer, "the morning star of English song," born 1340, died 1400.] [Footnote 17: _Diks-müd´._] [Footnote 18: The most brilliant, and perhaps the greatest, of all English generals, specially famous for his genius in tactics; born 1650, died 1722. (See _Highroads of History_, Book VI., Chaps. VII. and VIII.). Mr. Winston Churchill (First Lord of the Admiralty from October 1911 to May 1915) is a direct descendant of the great general.] [Footnote 19: _Ow-den-ar´deh._] [Footnote 20: _Doo-ay´._] [Footnote 21: See Vol. II., p. 107.] [Footnote 22: See Vol. II., pp. 26 ff.] [Footnote 23: _Mal-Pla-kay´._] CHAPTER V. MAUD'HUY AT ARRAS, AND THE RETREAT FROM ANTWERP. Two hundred and three years after Marlborough vainly tried to capture Arras, that little historic town became once more a prize for which rival forces strove fiercely. Marlborough coveted it because it was, as Louis XIV. styled it, the true gateway to Paris. The Germans, who were now to make a great effort to seize it, desired its possession because it would enable them to outflank Maud'huy's army and seize the Channel ports.