The British captured Irles in the morning of March 10, 1917. Previous to the attack their howitzers had deluged the place with shells. The infantry followed closely, one force advancing from the south and another turning north, to head off any attempt of the Germans to retreat. In a sunken ravine the British found a small garrison of old men with machine guns. Here thirty prisoners were taken and the rest killed. The British swept on over the German trenches, meeting with very little opposition. About 150 Germans were taken in this main attack and quite as many more were gathered in by troops working west and north. The prisoners were all Prussians, belonging chiefly to the Second Guards Reserve. The Germans succeeded in withdrawing without very heavy losses, leaving their rear guard to bear the brunt of the British attack. The evacuation of Irles, which had become untenable, had been fixed by the Germans for the 10th at 7.30 a. m., but the British caught them napping by striking two hours earlier, with the result that they captured three officers and 289 men. In the night of March 10, 1917, the French carried out successful surprise attacks on the German trenches in the Lassigny and Canny-sur-Matz regions, and in the neighborhood of the Woevre north of Jury Wood, destroying defensive works in these operations and taking fifteen prisoners and some machine guns. In the afternoon of March 12, 1917, the French troops operating on the Champagne front recaptured all the trenches on Hill 185. These lines lay west of the Maisons de Champagne Farm which the Germans had won in the previous month. The attack was made over a front of nearly a mile. During the night of March 11, 1917, French troops had crawled forward and by the use of grenades prepared the way for the general assault on the German positions which were carried on the following day. All the German trenches were taken on the hill and a fortified work on the slopes north of Memelon. In the course of the action the French captured about 100 prisoners and a considerable number of machine guns. On March 12, 1917, the British advance was resumed on a front of nearly four miles to the west of Bapaume. The Germans, retreating, left only a strong screen of rear guards to oppose, but they avoided contact with British patrols as far as possible. It was evident that the Germans were reserving their strength for some important operation.