At the end of April the front was fixed as follows: from Steenstraat the line followed the canal as far as Het Sas Bridgehead and then passed along the right bank to Pilkem (on the opposite bank). Here it turned at right-angles eastwards, as far as Soetart Farm (on the Ypres-Langemarck Road), turned south-east through Wieltje, then west of Hooge, finally linking up with Hill 60 and St. Eloi. The Germans revenged themselves for their failure by again bombarding Ypres. The shelling, which had ceased for a time prior to the offensive, began again with renewed intensity. An enormous quantity of heavy artillery had been brought up, and large calibre shells were continuously rained on the unhappy city, causing a panic. The few remaining inhabitants fled terror-stricken along the Poperinghe Road. During the last week of April the battle continued with great bitterness, but in spite of the enemy's use of gas, the Allies gradually retook the lost ground. Then followed a fresh period of calm, broken from time to time by fierce attacks, of which that of May 5 on Hill 60 was the most important. On May 8 the battle broke out afresh in the region lying between Poelcappelle and the Ypres-Menin Road. The Germans pierced the British line at several points, notably between St. Julien and Frezenberg, and reached Wieltje, but after bitter hand-to-hand fighting, they were driven back to their trenches at the point of the bayonet. The next day the attack was renewed in close formation, under the protection of an intense bombardment of gas shells, but the British, now provided with masks, stood firm. The German columns, mown down by shrapnel and machine-gun fire, were unable to reach the British trenches. The fighting died down during the next few days, on account of rain and wind storms, which made all movement impossible, but began again on the 24th without, however, any appreciable advantage for the Germans, who once more took the offensive. Another period of calm set in, and this Second Battle of Ypres--the second serious check of the Germans before the town--ended in a successful operation by the British, who, on June 2, captured the Château of Hooge on the Menin Road, two miles from Ypres. =Long period of comparative calm. Isolated actions. Artillery activity on both sides= (June, 1915--June, 1917.) These weeks of fierce, bloody fighting were followed by a long period of comparative calm, the operations having been transferred to other parts of the front (Argonne, Artois, Champagne). Nevertheless, local actions took place from time to time without any appreciable result. From July 22 to 26 the British, after successful mining operations, advanced their line along the Ypres-Menin Road, in the neighbourhood of Hooge Château. After being driven from the outskirts of the château by a gas attack on August 7, they retook the lost ground on the 8th and advanced beyond it.