[Footnote 39: According to the old classical story, there was in Crete a building constructed for King Minos, in which dwelt the terrible beast known as the Minotaur. This building, which was known as the Labyrinth, contained many winding passages, arranged in such a fashion that a way out was most difficult to find.]
Suppose for a moment that, in the first week of May, a British soldier in the captured village of Neuve Chapelle is looking towards the German lines. Away to the north-east he sees a long ridge crowned by the village of Aubers. He gazes upon this ridge with eyes of desire, and recalls the many determined but, so far, fruitless efforts which the British army has made to capture it. He remembers that, as far back as October 17, 1914, the red-roofed village in the distance was in British hands, and that two days later the 2nd Royal Irish, by storming the hamlet of Le Pilly,[40] attained our "farthest east." But our grasp of the ridge was very feeble; it could not be held, and by mid-November we had fallen back behind the ruins amidst which our soldier now stands. The coveted position was as far off as ever.
Fresh in his memory is that terrible day in the second week of March 1915, when he raced through the streets of Neuve Chapelle full of hope that the goal would be reached before nightfall. Alas! he and his fellows were again doomed to disappointment. The Aubers ridge, so near and yet so far, was still beyond our grasp. And now the rumour reaches his ears that another big effort is to be made. The French are striving south of the canal to carry Lens,[41] and we are to attack for the double purpose of preventing the enemy from sending reinforcements to the south, and of reaching the ridge if possible. Once we are securely established on it the flat plain to the eastward will be commanded by our guns, and La Bassée and Lille will soon know the German no more.
Look at this map and find the wood of Biez, which, you will remember, figured largely in the fighting around Neuve Chapelle. To the east of the wood you will see a road which skirts the ridge for a mile and a half and then climbs it to pass through the villages of Aubers and Fromelles. We were now about to make a thrust through the wood and through Fromelles, in the hope of reaching the ridge. On the morning of Sunday, 9th May, the 8th Division advanced against the village, and at the same time the 1st Corps and the Indians began to push through the wood. The attacks were preceded by the usual bombardment. Our high-explosive shells wrecked the first line trenches of the enemy, but unhappily did not do sufficient damage to the second line, and our men found themselves up against unbroken wire and unbreached parapets. Some ground was gained, but it could not be held, and by the evening we had made but little progress. Many fine deeds of heroism were done during the fierce fighting of the day.