One of the most notable achievements of the British advance was carrying the famous Queant-Drocourt "switch line" on September 1-2, 1918. This strongly fortified stretch of trenches was won by English, Scottish, and Canadian troops on a front of about six miles. The Germans considered this one of their strongest positions and made desperate efforts to hold it, but were unable to hold back the impetuous drive of the British forces, which were in high spirits over their almost continuous victories. The fighting became fast and furious, and the Germans rushed forward reenforcements, but it was a losing game for them from the first and their losses were appalling. The British captured thousands of prisoners; the roads to the rear of the fighting front were jammed with them. In parts of the battle field bodies in field-gray lay in piles. The Canadians, whose attack was made astride the road from Arras to Cambrai, captured the villages of Dury, Cagnicourt, and Villers-les-Cagnicourt, the last place being four miles beyond the point from which the attack was launched. The left wing of the attacking forces, composed of English troops, drove a wedge in the German defenses northeast of Eterpigny, while the right composed of English and Scottish troops driving forward in the direction of Quéant captured a string of strongly fortified positions including the village of Noreuil. Southward to a point beyond Péronne the tide of battle swept, the British capturing towns and villages and always advancing. On the Lys front it was the same story, the Germans in retreat, the British in close pursuit. They took Neuve Eglise, a place not forgotten in former fights, and pushed their line forward to the east of Estaires. American troops after the capture of Voormezeele in Flanders advanced from that village and linked up with the British in close pursuit of the German rear guards. The French, pushing forward north of Soissons, noted great fires in the direction of Vauxaillon, indicating that the enemy was burning his supplies previous to retirement. They had now completed the conquest of the Soissons Plateau and the Germans were forced to retire to the Chemin-des-Dames, which was already threatened by the French advance toward Vauxaillon. Field Marshal Haig's troops continued their victorious advance on September 3, 1918, gaining Baralle, eight miles from Cambrai, crossing the Drocourt-Queant line and forcing the Germans to retire in haste to the Canal du Nord. They carried by storm Quéant, and thirteen other villages were taken on a twenty-mile front, which attained a maximum depth of six miles. In the course of these operations the British took over 10,000 prisoners. Their outposts had now been pushed forward to the outskirts of Lens. On the following day the eastward sweep of British troops north of Péronne continued. On a front of about fifteen miles northward from Moislains they forced a crossing of the Canal du Nord and made substantial progress eastward.