At about midnight, two battalions of the 67th Regiment advanced from Chevremont on the Haut Taillis wood without firing a shot. Once inside it there was a determined struggle, but the French were driven back on the village, and the pioneers immediately intrenched the skirt of the wood towards Perouse under a heavy fire from the forts. Half an hour later two Landwehr battalions advanced from Bessoncourt to the copse on the north of the village. They were received with a heavy fire, but made their way onward over abatis, pits and wire-entanglements, driving the enemy back into the quarries. A stationary fight now ensued, but the 67th presently renewed the attack, and without allowing themselves to be checked by the earthworks forced their way into Perouse. They took possession of the eastern half of the straggling village at about half-past two, and the detachment defending the quarries, finding itself threatened, retreated. At five o'clock, Colonel Denfert abandoned the western part of the village, which was now completely occupied by the Germans. The losses on the German side were 8 officers and 178 men; the French left 5 officers and 93 men prisoners. _January 21st to 27th._--The next day the construction of the first parallel was undertaken, extending about 2000 yards from Donjoutin to Haut Taillis. Five battalions and two companies of Sappers were employed in this work, and were undisturbed by the French; but the rocky soil prevented its being constructed of the prescribed width. General von Tresckow considered that he might thus early succeed in carrying both the Perches forts by a determined assault. Two half redoubts with ditches more than three yards deep cut perpendicularly in the solid rock, casemated traverses and bomb-proof blockhouses in the gorge, afforded protection to the defenders. Each work was armed with seven 12-cm. cannon, and they were connected by trenches, behind which reserves were in readiness. On the right flank this position was protected by a battalion and a sortie-battery in Le Fourneau; on the left the adjacent wood was cleared, cut down to a distance of 650 yards, and wire-entanglements between the stumps formed an almost impenetrable obstacle. In front the gentle slope of the ridge was under the cross-fire of the two forts.