Other notable tactical points in our front were:
"_Fosse 8_" (a thousand yards south of Auchy), which is a coal-mine with a high and strongly defended slag heap.
"_The Hohenzollern Redoubt._"--A strong work thrust out nearly 500 yards in front of the German lines and close to our own. It is connected with their front line by three communication trenches abutting into the defences of Fosse 8.
_Cité St. Elie._--A strongly defended mining village lying 1500 yards south of Haisnes.
"_The Quarries._"--Lying half-way to the German trenches west of Cité St. Elie.
_Hulluch._--A village strung out along a small stream, lying less than half a mile south-east of Cité St. Elie and 3000 yards north-east of Loos.
Half a mile north of Hill 70 is "_Puits 14 bis_," another coal-mine, possessing great possibilities for defence when taken in conjunction with a strong redoubt situated on the north-east side of Hill 70.
It was arranged that the First Corps, consisting of the Second, Seventh, and Ninth Divisions, under Lieut.-General Hubert Gough, should attack the line between La Bassée Canal and Vermelles, while the Fourth Corps (First, Fifteenth, and Forty-seventh Divisions), under Lieut.-General Sir H. Rawlinson, attacked from Vermelles to Grenay, the Hulluch--Vermelles road forming the boundary between the two Corps.
The attack began at 6.30 A.M. on September 25, after four days' continuous bombardment by our massed guns. Gas was employed, but unfortunately the wind was unfavourable, and it moved so slowly that it retarded the advance. Further, the wire in some places had hardly been touched, and consequently the Second Division was held up from the start. Meanwhile the Ninth Division started well, and even managed to reach the northern end of "Little Willie," but was unable to maintain its advanced position on account of the check to the Second Division. The Seventh Division captured the first line of the trenches and cleared the quarries half-way between the front line and Cité St. Elie, while the leading troops even penetrated as far as Cité St. Elie itself.
By mid-day the First Corps had secured the whole of the German front from the Hohenzollern Redoubt southwards and had pushed forward to the second line at three points. But in this achievement it suffered heavy casualties, and was left too weak to do more than hold on to the position it had gained.