By 8 o'clock in the morning the British had a number of guns in position for the defense of the village against counterattacks which were sure to follow. It was found that the Germans had prepared in the village an elaborate system of dugouts that could provide shelter from the heaviest shell fire. Under the château there were great rooms luxuriously furnished and provided with electric lights, where British and Scotch officers regaled themselves with German beer.
An hour after the occupation of the village it was heavily shelled by big German guns, German airmen from above directing the fire. The British held on determinedly in spite of heavy losses, and their courage never flagged. In the afternoon the Germans made some determined counterattacks, but their advancing waves were mowed down by the British machine guns and eighteen pounders, and finally they were thrown back in confusion. The British now advanced beyond the village, while the Germans were forced to retreat from the trench below.
In the opinion of the German press the battle of Arras was an event of only local importance which did not affect in any degree the strategic situation. The plan of the Anglo-French command to deliver a shattering blow on the Somme front and roll up the new Hindenburg line by assaults on both flanks at Soissons and Arras, they contended, had been foiled.
With better weather conditions the British were able to push forward more rapidly and to make further breaches in the Hindenburg line. Advancing over a wide front, they were drawing nearer to the coveted line of German communications running north and south through Douai and Cambrai. On the northern horn the British captured Liévin, the southwest suburb of Lens, and Cité St. Pierre, northwest of that place. On the southern horn they advanced within 400 yards of St. Quentin. Some idea of the extent of the British advance within a week may be gained from the fact that the British were now three miles beyond the famous Vimy Ridge.
It was expected that the Germans would stubbornly defend St. Quentin and Lens, which were now the British objectives, and on which the heaviest British gunfire was now concentrated. In the course of the day advances were made south and east of Fayet to within a few hundred yards of St. Quentin. On the way the village of Gricourt was carried at the point of the bayonet and over 400 Germans were captured.