The Canadians fought their way into AVION, a southern suburb of Lens, to a line giving them the larger half of the village, and driving the enemy back across the swamps to the outer defences of Lens city.
"From Bapaume to Passchendaele, 1917"
Philip Gibbs
Just in front of where I crouched in a shell-crater was Swallows' Wood, or the Bois d'Hirondelle, and beyond that La Coulotte, which the Canadians had just taken, and a little way farther the long straggle of streets which is AVION, leading up to Lens, with its square-towered church and high water-towers and factory chimneys.
"From Bapaume to Passchendaele, 1917"
Philip Gibbs
A gleam of sunlight rested there for a while, and the little river was a blue streak this side of AVION.
"From Bapaume to Passchendaele, 1917"
Philip Gibbs