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                      ILLUSTRATED MICHELIN GUIDES
                    TO THE BATTLEFIELDS (1914-1918)

                                  THE
                                 SOMME

                               VOLUME 1.
                     THE FIRST BATTLE OF THE SOMME
                              (1916-1917)
                      (ALBERT, BAPAUME, PÉRONNE)

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                               THE SOMME

                               VOLUME I

                    THE FIRST BATTLE OF THE SOMME
                              (1916-1917)

                      (ALBERT--BAPAUME--PÉRONNE)


                    Published by +MICHELIN & Cie.+
                       Clermont-Ferrand, France.

                   Copyright 1919 by Michelin & Cie.

  _All rights of translation, adaptation, or reproduction (in part or
                 whole), reserved in all countries._




THE FRANCO-BRITISH OFFENSIVE OF THE SOMME (1916).


THE OBJECTIVES OF THE OFFENSIVE.

In June, 1916, the enemy were the attacking party; the Germans were
pressing Verdun hard, and the Austrians had begun a vigorous offensive
against the Italians. It therefore became necessary for the Allies
to make a powerful effort to regain the initiative of the military
operations.

[Illustration: GENERAL FOCH, IN COMMAND OF THE FAYOLLE-MICHELER ARMY
GROUP, DURING THE SOMME OFFENSIVE OF 1916.]

The objectives of the Franco-British offensive were, to regain the
initiative of the military operations; to relieve Verdun; to immobilise
the largest possible number of German divisions on the western front,
and prevent their transfer to other sectors; to wear down the fighting
strength of the numerous enemy divisions which would be brought up to
the front of attack.

Thanks to the immense effort made by the entire British Empire, their
army had considerably increased in men and material, and was now in a
position to undertake a powerful offensive.

Under the command of Field-Marshal Haig, two armies, the 4th (General
Rawlinson) and the 2nd (General Gough) were to take part in the
offensive.

In spite of the terrible strain France was undergoing at Verdun, the
number of troops left before that fortress, under the command of
General Pétain, who had thoroughly consolidated the defences, was
reduced to the strictest minimum, and the 6th and 10th Armies, under
the command of General Fayolle and General Micheler, respectively, were
thus able to collaborate with the British in the Somme offensive.

Within a few days of the enemy's formidable onslaught of June 23
against the Thiaumont--Vaux front, in which seventeen German regiments
took part (see the Michelin Guide: +"Verdun, and the Battles for its
Possession"+), the Allied offensive was launched (July 1).

[Illustration: FRENCH HEAVY GUN ON RAILS.]


The Theory, Methods and Tactics adopted

With both sides entrenched along a continuous front, the predominating
problem was: How to break through the enemy's defences to the open
ground beyond the last trenches, and then force the final decision.

In 1915, the Allies had endeavoured unsuccessfully to solve it; in
1916, the Germans, in turn, had suffered their severest check before
Verdun.

Putting experience to profit, the Allies now sought to apply the
methods of piercing on broader lines.

The defences having increased in strength and depth, the blow would
require to be more powerful, precise, and concentrated as to space and
time.

After the attacks of September, 1915, the French Staff set down as an
axiom that "material cannot be combatted with men." Consequently, no
more attacks without thorough preparation; nothing was to be left to
chance.

The orders issued to the different arms, divisions, battalions,
batteries, air-squadrons, etc., were recorded in voluminous plans of
attack, the least of which numbered a hundred pages.

Thousands of aerial photographs were taken and assembled; countless
maps, plans and sketches made. Everything connected with the coming
drama was methodically arranged: the staging, distribution of the
parts, the various acts.

Such was the intellectual preparation which, lasting several months,
was carried out simultaneously with the equipping of the front line.


Equipping the Front Line

Preparing for a modern battle is a Herculean task. At a sufficient
distance behind the front line immense ammunition and revictualling
depôts are established. Miles of railway, both narrow and normal
gauge, have to be put down, to bring up supplies to the trenches.
Existing roads have to be improved, and new ones made. In the Somme,
long embankments had to be built across the marshy valleys, as well as
innumerable shelters for the combatants, dressing-stations, and sheds
for storing the ammunition, food, water, engineering supplies, etc.
Miles of deep communicating trenches, trenches for the telephone wires,
assembly trenches, parallels and observation-posts had to be made. The
local quarries were worked, and wells bored.

[Illustration: _Ginchy, bombarded by the British on July 11, 1916._]

[Illustration: _Ginchy, ten days later (July 21, 1916)._]

[Illustration: _Ginchy, two days before capture by the British (Sept.
7, 1916). See p. 86._

ILLUSTRATING THE PROGRESSIVE DESTRUCTION AND LEVELLING OF A VILLAGE BY
ARTILLERY.]

[Illustration: FIRING A 12-INCH LONG-RANGE GUN.]


The Part Played by each Arm in the Different Phases of the Attack

In modern, well-ordered battle, it is the material strength which
counts most. The cannon must crush the enemy's machine-guns.
Superiority of artillery is an essential element of success.

According to the latest formula, "the artillery conquers, the infantry
occupies."

At each stage of the battle, each arm has a definite role to play.


The Artillery

_Before the battle_, the artillery must destroy the enemy's wire
entanglements, trenches, shelters, blockhouses, observation-posts,
etc.; locate and engage his guns; hamper and disperse his working
parties.

_During the battle_, it must crush enemy resistance, provide the
attacking infantry with a protecting screen of fire, by means of
creeping barrages, and cut off the defenders from supplies and
reinforcements by isolating barrages.

_After the battle_, it must protect the attacking troops who have
reached their objectives, from enemy counter-attacks, by barrage fire.

[Illustration: CAMOUFLAGED HEAVY GUN ABOUT TO FIRE.]

[Illustration: THE CAPTURE OF VERMANDOVILLERS.

_The arrival of French reinforcements. Photographed from accompanying
aeroplane at 600 feet (p. 128)._]


The Infantry

_Before the battle_, the attacking troops assemble first in the
shelters, then in the assembling places and parallels made during the
previous night. The battalion, company and section commanders survey
the ground of attack with field-glasses.

_During the battle_, at a given signal, the assaulting battalions
dash forward from the departure trenches, the first wave deployed in
skirmishing order; the second and third, consisting of trench-cleaners,
machine-gunners and supports, follow thirty or forty yards behind, in
short columns (single file or two abreast). Reinforcements _echeloned_,
and likewise in small columns, bring up the rear, 150 to 200 yards
behind.

As a matter of fact, in actual fighting, each regiment attacks
separately. The Commandant, realising the difficulties on the spot,
must have in hand all the necessary means of success, the most powerful
being the artillery, which accompanies and prepares each phase and
development of the attack. Generally, the creeping barrage, timed
beforehand, is loosed at the same moment of time as the assaulting
wave. The infantry follows as closely as possible.

[Illustration: INFANTRY ADVANCE.

_The attacking waves mark their advance with Bengal lights._]

Constant and perfect _liaison_ is necessary between the infantry and
artillery. This is ensured by means of runners, pennons, panels,
telephones, optical telegraphy, signals, rockets, Bengal lights, etc.
A similar _liaison_ is ensured between the various attacking units, on
the right, left and behind. Action must be co-ordinated, an essential
point on which the G.H.Q. always strongly insist.

As soon as the enemy perceives the assaulting waves, every effort is
made to scatter them by means of artillery barrage and machine-gun
fire, asphyxiating gas, grenades and liquid fire, so that generally the
storming troops cross "no man's land" through a veritable screen of
fire. The enemy's fire likewise extends to the first-line trenches, to
cut off the first waves from their supports.

Without stopping at the enemy's first-line organisations, the first
attacking wave overwhelms the position, annihilates all defenders
encountered, and only comes to a halt at the assigned objective.
The following waves support the first one, and deal with points of
resistance. The trench-cleaners or moppers-up "clean out" the position
of enemy survivors with bayonet, knife and grenade, in indescribable
death grapples. Progress is slow along the communicating trenches, and
in the underground shelters, tunnels, cellars and ruins, where the
defenders have taken refuge. From time to time hidden machine-guns are
unmasked and have to be captured.

_After the attack._--As soon as the "cleaning out" is finished, any
prisoners are sent to the rear, being often forced to cross their own
barrage-fire. Meanwhile the other defenders will have withdrawn to
their positions of support.

[Illustration: GERMAN PRISONERS HURRYING TO THE ALLIES' LINES.]

Having reached their objective, the assaulting troops must hold their
ground. Sentries are posted, while the rest of the men consolidate the
position in view of the inevitable counter-attack, which is generally
not long in coming.

Under bombardment, the levelled trenches have to be remade, the
shell-holes organised and flanked with machine-guns, and communications
with the rear ensured for the bringing up of stores and, if necessary,
reinforcements.

The assaulting troops may thus reach their objectives without excessive
losses or nervous strain, and may be kept in line for a second and
third similar effort, after a few days' rest, during which the
artillery will have destroyed the next enemy positions.


The Flying Corps

_Before the battle._--Metaphorically speaking, the Flying Corps
(aeroplanes and observation balloons) is the "eye" of the High Command,
which largely depends on it for precise information regarding the
enemy's movements and positions. It likewise regulates the artillery
fire, and furnishes that arm with photographs, showing exactly the
progress made by the destruction bombardments. Another equally
important duty is to "blind the enemy" by destroying their aeroplanes
and observation balloons.

[Illustration: OBSERVATION BALLOON.]

_During the battle._--Flying low, sometimes within a few hundred feet
of the ground, the airmen furnish invaluable information, and often
photographs, showing the progress of the attack, the _terrain_ being
marked out with panels and Bengal lights. They also often attack the
enemy with their machine-guns.

[Illustration: BRITISH TANKS MAKE THEIR DÉBUT.]

_After the battle._--The massing of enemy troops for counter-attacks is
signalled to the artillery, which regulates its barrages accordingly,
then, working in _liaison_, the two services "prepare" the ground for
the next attack.

These tactics were, gradually perfected on the Somme battlefields,
where the Germans learned by costly experience to improve their
defences.

[Illustration: GENERAL FAYOLLE INSPECTING THE CONQUERED LINES.]

The offensive methods acquired also greater suppleness, and the new
arm--=the tank=--came to the relief of the infantry.

[Illustration: THE DOTTED ZONES REPRESENT THE GERMAN LINES OF
RESISTANCE.]




THE SOMME BATTLEFIELD.


The battle extended over the Picardy plateau, south and north of the
Somme. Before the war, the region was rich and fertile, the chalky
ground having a covering of alluvial soil of variable thickness.

The slopes of the undulating hills and the broad table-lands were
covered with immense fields of corn, poppies and sugar beet. Here and
there were small woods--vestiges of the Arrouaise Forest, which covered
the whole country in the Middle-Ages. There were scarcely any isolated
houses, but occasionally a windmill, farm or sugar-refinery would break
the monotony of the landscape.

The villages were surrounded with orchards, and their low, red-tiled
houses were generally grouped around the church. The plateau was
crossed by wide, straight roads bordered with fine elms.

The war has robbed the district of its former aspect. The ground, in
a state of complete upheaval, is almost levelled in places, while the
huge mine-craters give it the appearance of a lunar landscape. The
ground was churned up so deeply that the upper covering of soil has
almost entirely disappeared and the limestone substratum now laid bare
is overrun with rank vegetation. From Thiepval to Albert, Combles
and Péronne, and from Chaulnes to Roye, the ground was so completely
upturned as to render it useless for agriculture for many years to
come, and a scheme to plant this area with pine trees is now being
considered.

Nearly all the villages were razed, and now form so many vast heaps
of débris. This battlefield is a striking example of the total
destructions wrought by the late war.


The Topography of the Ground and the Enemy Defence-works

_North of the Somme._--The battle zone, bounded by the rivers Ancre,
Somme and Tortille--the latter doubled by the Northern Canal--forms a
strongly undulating plateau (altitude 400-520 feet), which descends in
a series of hillocks, separated by deep depressions, to the valleys of
the rivers (altitude 160 feet). The Albert--Combles-Péronne railway
runs along the bottom of one of these depressions.

The higher parts of the plateau form a ridge, one of whose tapering
extremities rests on the Thiepval Heights, on the bank of the Ancre.
Running west to east, the ridge crosses the Albert-Bapaume road at
Pozières, passes Foureaux Wood, then north of Ginchy. It is the
watershed which divides the rivers flowing northwards to the Escaut and
southwards to the Somme.

The second line of German positions was established on this ridge,
while the first line extended along the undulating slopes which
descended towards the Allies' positions. There were other enemy
positions on the counter-slopes behind the ridge.

These positions took in the villages and small woods of the region,
all of which, fortified during the previous two years, bristled with
defence-works and machine-guns.

Some of these villages (Courcelette, Martinpuich, Longueval, Guillemont
and Combles), hidden away in hollows, were particularly deadly for
the Allies; the defenders, unseen, were able to snipe the assailants
as they appeared on the hill tops. The Allies had to encircle these
centres of resistance before they were able to enter them.

_South of the Somme._--The battle zone, bounded by the large circular
bend of the Somme at Péronne, formed a kind of arena. The vast, flat
table-lands of the Santerre district, separated by small valleys,
descend gently towards the large marshy valley of the Somme, in which
the canal runs parallel with the river.

Owing to the narrowness of this zone, the Germans were forced to
establish their positions close behind one another, and the latter
were therefore in danger of being carried in a single rush. On the
other hand, the assailants' rapid advance was first hampered, then held
by the marshy valley, which prevented them from following up their
brilliant initial success.

During the battle, the Germans, driven from their first positions,
hastily prepared new ones, and clung desperately to the counter-slopes
of the hills which descend to the valleys.


The Different Stages of the Offensive

The offensive of the Somme, the general direction of which was towards
Cambrai, aimed at reaching the main northern line of communications, by
opening a gap between Bapaume and Péronne.

The main sector of attack--between the Ancre and the Somme--was flanked
on either side by diversion sectors north of the Ancre and south of the
Somme.

[Illustration: ATTEMPTED BREAK-THROUGH.

_A breach was made south of the Somme, but the marshes prevented
development, while to the north, the offensive was held on the Ancre
lines._]

Putting to profit the German failure at Verdun, where the enemy masses,
after appalling sacrifice of human life, gradually became blocked in a
narrow sector (7½ miles in width), the Allies widened their front of
attack.

After an effective "pounding" by the guns which annihilated all
obstacles to a considerable depth, the assaulting waves went forward
simultaneously along a 24-mile front, feeling for a weak sector where
a breach could be made. The attack was a complete success in the
diversion sector, south of the Somme, thanks to the nature of the
ground, but, as previously stated, it was not possible to follow it up
immediately.

North of the Somme the British offensive was held.

Warned by the immense preparations, the Germans were not taken
unawares. Their reserves flowed in and resisted on new defensive
positions. The advance of the French 6th Army was slowed down to
correspond with that of the British.


The Battle of Attrition

              _(See the sketch-maps on pages 13, 18, 27.)_

This attempted break-through (July 1-12) soon changed into a battle of
attrition (July 14, 1916, to March, 1917).

The Allies' plan now was gradually to shatter the German resistance by
a continuous push along the whole line, and by vigorous action at the
various strong-points.

The gains of ground diminished, but the German reserves were gradually
used up. In spite of their hastily constructed system of new defences,
the Germans realised the precarious nature of their new lines, and were
forced, in March, 1917, to fall back and shorten their front.

[Illustration: THE PHASES OF THE BATTLE OF ATTRITION.

NORTH OF THE SOMME.

_The Franco-British troops enlarge the conquered positions and attack
the centres of resistance: Combles and Thiepval (July 14--September
1)._]

[Illustration: _Combles and Thiepval turned and conquered, after being
surrounded (September--November)._]

[Illustration: _The Allies advance toward their main objectives:
Bapaume and Péronne (November--March)._]

[Illustration: SOUTH OF THE SOMME.

_The 6th Army (French) held by the Somme Marshes, took up its
new position. The 10th Army (French) assembled on its right
(August--September)._]

[Illustration: _The 10th Army attacked, but was held in front of
Chaulnes (September--October)._]

[Illustration: _The 10th Army (French) failed to encircle Chaulnes, and
consolidated its new positions (October--November)._]

[Illustration: FIELD-MARSHAL HAIG.]


THE ATTEMPTED BREAK-THROUGH.


The British Attack

On July 1, the front of attack, about 21 miles long, extended from
Gommécourt to Maricourt.

The attack was made by the 4th Army (Gen. Rawlinson), comprising five
army corps, and by three divisions of the right wing of the 3rd Army
(Gen. Allenby).

The main sector of attack, lying between the Ancre and Maricourt, forms
a 90° salient; the summit of which encircled Fricourt.

The first German positions included Ovillers, La Boisselle, Fricourt,
Mametz and Montauban, and formed the objective of the attack.

The latter, directed generally towards Bapaume, was delivered against
both flanks of the salient.

From the start, the attack was held before the western side of the
salient, in spite of the great heroism of the British.

The right wing, on the southern side, succeeded in carrying the first
German position.

[Illustration:

                                               _Photo, Russell, London._

GENERAL RAWLINSON.]

[Illustration:

                                          _Photo, F. A. Swaine, London._

GENERAL ALLENBY.]

In face of this result, Field-Marshal Haig decided to push home the
attack on his right (three corps under Gen. Rawlinson), while his left
(two corps under Gen. Gough) would continue to press the enemy, and
thus form the pivot of the manœuvre.

[Illustration: THE DOTTED ZONES ON THIS AND THE FOLLOWING SKETCH-MAPS
REPRESENT THE GERMAN LINES OF RESISTANCE.]

The first assaults on July 1 gave the British Montauban and Mametz,
while Fricourt and La Boisselle wore encircled and carried on July 3.
Progress continued on the right, Contalmaison and Mametz Wood, reached
on the 5th, were carried on the 11th.

[Illustration:

_Photo, "Daily Mirror" Studios._

GENERAL GOUGH.]

On the extreme right, the British, in _liaison_ with the French,
reached the southern edges of Trônes Wood, and came into contact with
the second German positions. Over 6,000 prisoners were taken. The
Germane launched incessant counter-attacks without result.

In the diversion sector, north of the Ancre, the initial successes at
Gommécourt, Serre and on the Ancre could not be followed up.

The Germans continued to hold Beaumont-Hamel and Thiepval in force.


The French Attack

The French 6th Army (Gen. Fayolle) attacked along a ten-mile front,
astride of the Somme, from Maricourt to Soyécourt, in the general
direction of Péronne.

_North of the Somme._--The 20th Corps had to conquer the German first
position, consisting of three or four lines of trenches connected by
numerous _boyaux_ to the fortified woods and village of Curlu.

This position was carried in a single rush on July 1, and consolidated
on the three following days.

The second and third German positions were as strong as the first, and
included the villages of Hardecourt and Hem. On the 5th, Hem and the
plateau which dominates the village to the north were taken. On the
8th, the French, in _liaison_ with the British, first carried, then
progressed beyond, Hardecourt.

From July 1 to 8, the 20th Corps captured the first and second German
positions and consolidated their conquest on the following days.

[Illustration: GENERAL FAYOLLE.]

_South of the Somme._--The attack was launched on July 1, two hours
later than that on the northern bank. With fine dash, the 1st Colonial
Corps and a division of Brittany reserves carried the first German
position, including the villages of Dompierre, Becquincourt and Fay.

On the 2nd, the movement was continued on the left. Frise, outflanked
from the south, was captured, Méréaucourt Wood encircled, and
Herbécourt carried by a frontal attack, after being turned from the
north. The approaches to Assevillers and Estrées were reached. The
northern part of the second position was captured.

On the 3rd, the advance continued on the left. Flaucourt, in the third
position, was carried in the course of an extraordinarily daring
_coup-de-main_. Assevillers likewise fell.

Belloy was captured on the 4th; the divisional cavalry patrolled freely
as far as the Somme, between Biaches and Barleux.

Biaches village and La Maisonnette observation-post fell on the 9th and
10th. The horses of the African Mounted Chasseurs were watered in the
Somme, and the Zouaves gathered cherries in the suburban gardens of
Péronne.

During these ten days the French troops, by carrying out a vast turning
movement on the left, towards the south-east, had pierced all the
German positions. A breach had been made, but the marshy valley of the
Somme in this diversion sector made it very difficult to follow up the
success; moreover, the objectives assigned to these troops did not
provide for such exploitation.

The French attack had been carried out with great dash. In addition to
the many lines of defences, villages and fortified woods conquered,
85 guns, 100 machine-guns, and 26 minenwerfer were captured, and over
12,000 prisoners, including 235 officers, taken.

[Illustration]

The gallant troops, which had thus inflicted a stinging defeat on the
enemy, included the famous 20th Corps, which, a few months before, in a
veritable inferno, had barred the road to Verdun.

[Illustration: THE SITE OF MONACU FARM ON THE MAUREPAS ROAD NEAR HEM
WOOD.]


THE BATTLE OF ATTRITION (North of the Somme).

In the main sector of attack the German line had not been completely
broken. This attempt to break through was succeeded by a battle
of attrition, in the course of which the Allies, working in close
collaboration, dealt the enemy repeated blows.

_North of the Somme._--After July 11, the Allied front between the
Ancre and the Somme, held by the strong German positions of the
Thiepval Plateau, passed in front of Contalmaison and Montauban. On the
southern edges of Trônes Wood it turned southwards towards Hem.

This line formed a salient to the east of Trônes Wood--a narrow space
bristling with guns. From the high ground of their second position
in the north, and that of Longueval, Ginchy and Guillemont, the
German firing line formed a semi-circle round this salient, which was
threatened by incessant counter-attacks. While maintaining the pressure
on the west, it became necessary for the Allies to widen the angle and
enlarge the front, or, in other words, to obtain greater freedom of
movement.

This was the aim of the various Franco-British thrusts during the
second fortnight of July and in August.


1.--Widening the Front

                       _(July 14--September 1.)_

In order to support the forthcoming French thrust towards the east, a
British attack to the north-east was deemed necessary.

The German second positions from Contalmaison to Trônes Wood, and the
crests of the ridge of the plateau formed the objective.

On July 14, the 4th British Army, by a clever manœuvre, took up
positions in the dark at attacking distance. Trônes Wood was carried
on the first day. Longueval, stormed from east and west, was partly
captured. In the centre, Bazentin-le-Grand with its wood and
Bazentin-le-Petit were taken. To the left, the southern outskirts of
Pozières were reached.

[Illustration]

[Illustration: BRITISH GRAVES IN TRÔNES WOOD _(p. 85)_.]

On July 15-16, the British progressed beyond the German second
position--carried along a three-mile front--and established their
advance-posts in the vicinity of the German third position.

By this time the Germans had recovered from their set-back of the 14th
and offered an aggressive defence. Counter-attacking at the point of
the salient in the Allied lines at Delville Wood, they succeeded in
slipping through, but they were held in front of Longueval.

On the 20th and 23rd, the Allies delivered a general attack. The
British 4th Army was now confronted by the enemy in force all along the
line. However, the village of Pozières, one of the strong-points of
Thiepval Plateau, to the west, was carried by the Australians on July
25. The French advanced their lines as far as the ravine, in which runs
the light railway from Combles to Cléry.

Hidden in a hollow of the ground, Guillemont resisted the British
assaults of July 30 and August 7.

On August 12, the French 1st Corps continued its thrust eastwards,
turning Guillemont from the south. The Zouaves and 1st Cambrai Infantry
Regiment entered Maurepas.

More to the south, the 170th Infantry captured the fortified crest
lying 1 km. 500 m. west of Cléry.

The British hung on to the western outskirts of Guillemont.

[Illustration: DELVILLE WOOD NORTH OF LONGUEVAL _(p. 60)_.]


2.--The Surrounding and Capture of the Main Centres of Resistance

On September 1, the British lines, still hanging on to the southern
slopes of the Thiepval Plateau, followed the crest of the ridge north
of the villages of Thiepval, Bazentin-le-Petit and Longueval, in front
of the outskirts of Delville Wood, were then deflected south-east and
joined with the French lines in the ravine of the Combles railway. The
French lines surrounded Maurepas, then followed the road from Maurepas
to Cléry. Thiepval and Combles seemed impregnable.

Instead of making a frontal attack against these positions, the Allies
first turned and then surrounded them by a succession of thrusts.

In addition to their successive lines of defence-works, which included
a number of villages, the Germans had transformed the little town of
Combles, lying entirely hidden from view at the bottom of an immense
depression--into a redoubtable fortress. A large garrison was safely
sheltered in vast quarries connected by tunnels with the concrete
defence-works.


The Surrounding and Capture of Combles

In September, four Allied thrusts were necessary to encircle and
capture Combles _(see p. 80)_.


The Attack of September 3

Ginchy and Guillemont formed the British objective. On the 3rd, in
spite of machine-gun fire from Ginchy, the Irish carried Guillemont,
which had resisted for seven weeks. Progressing beyond the village they
reached and captured Leuze Wood, 1 km. 500 m. west of Combles. On the 9th,
they enlarged their gains by the conquest of Ginchy _(see p. 4)_.

The German positions connecting Combles with Le Forest and Cléry formed
the French objective.

This position--defended by four German divisions--was carried with
magnificent dash on the 3rd, from near Combles to the Somme.

On the 5th, the French progressed beyond the position and reached the
following line: Anderlu Wood, north-east of Le Forest, Marrières Wood,
and the crest north-east of Cléry; 2,500 prisoners were taken.

[Illustration]

[Illustration]


The French Attack of the 12th

Attacking again, the French were now confronted by two parallel lines
of defences. The first position (known as the Berlingots' trenches)
ran through Frégicourt, Le Priez Farm and Marrières Woods. The second
position, along the National road, 2 km. behind the first, rested on
Rancourt, Feuillancourt and the Canal du Nord, taking in Bouchavesnes.

Following close behind the creeping barrage, the attacking troops
carried the Berlingots' trenches in half an hour. From there, the
left wing attacked and captured Hill 145, and advanced as far as the
National road, between Rancourt and Bouchavesnes. The right wing
reached the Valley of the Tortille, opposite Feuillancourt.

Bouchavesnes, although not included in the objectives assigned to
the storming troops, was next attacked, and at 8 p.m. Bengal lights,
announcing its capture, were burning in the ruins of the village.

On the 13th, the French crossed the National road. The enemy showed
great nervousness, and brought up three new divisions.

[Illustration: THE CANAL DU NORD.]


The British Attack of September 15

[Illustration]

The German positions of Foureaux Wood, Hill 154 and Morval were the
objectives of the attack.

For the first time tanks accompanied the storming waves, giving the
enemy an unpleasant surprise, which contributed largely to the victory.

In the centre, the tanks entered Flers before noon; the troops advanced
beyond the village and established themselves. On the left, Foureaux
Wood, bristling with strong-points and redoubts, and on the right, Hill
154 were carried, and the Morval--Lesbœufs--Gueudecourt line reached.

In consequence of this brilliant success of the British right, the
attack was extended on the left; the tanks entered Martinpuich and
Courcelette. In a single day the British advanced 2 km. along a 10 km.
front, and captured 4,000 prisoners.

The enemy threw two more divisions into the battle, and fiercely
counter-attacked the salient formed by the French lines at the
Bapaume-Péronne road. After getting a footing in Bouchavesnes on
September 20, they were driven out at the point of the bayonet.


The General Attack of September 25, and Capture of Combles

The Allied front line moved forward again, to complete the investment
of Combles.

Rancourt and Frégicourt fell on the 25th, in the French attack; Morval
was captured by the British.

The encirclement of Combles was complete, and the enemy had already
partially evacuated the place. On the 26th, the British entered the
fortress from the north, the French from the south, and captured a
company of laggards.

[Illustration]

[Illustration]


The Turning and Capture of Thiepval Plateau

West of the lines of the 4th British Array, and dominating the valley
of the Ancre, the powerfully fortified Thiepval Plateau still remained
un-captured. This very strong system of defences comprised the village,
Mouquet Farm, and the Zollern, Schwaben and Stuff Redoubts.

In July, the British had gained a footing in the Leipzig Redoubt, which
formed the first enemy positions south of the Plateau. In August,
Pozières had been carried by the Australians. On September 15, the
British captured Martinpuich and Courcelette, and progressed beyond the
plateau to the east.


The Attack of September 26

On September 26, the day Combles was taken, an attack was made against
this formidable plateau. Mouquet Farm and Zollern Redoubt fell, and on
the 27th, Thiepval was captured _(see p. 48)_.

The British carried the trenches connecting the Schwaben and Stuff
Redoubts, but the enemy still clung to the northern slopes of the
plateau which descends towards the Ancre.


The Attack of November 13

The German lines now formed a sharp salient on the Ancre.

To reduce this salient and complete the capture of Thiepval Plateau,
the British attacked on both sides of the river.

The attack was delivered in a thick fog, on the 13th, when St.
Pierre-Divion and Beaumont-Hamel fell; the same evening Beaucourt
village was encircled, to be captured on the morrow. On the following
days, the assailants successfully resisted numerous counter-attacks.
From the 13th to the 19th, 7,000 prisoners were taken, and the whole of
Thiepval Plateau was captured.

[Illustration]

[Illustration]


The Advance towards the Main Objectives (Bapaume--Péronne)

_Towards Bapaume._--The British advance on the two wings--Thiepval to
the west and Gueudecourt to the east--forced the German centre back on
the Le Sars-Eaucourt line. Continuing to press the enemy, the British
carried Destremont Farm, in front of Le Sars, on September 29, while on
October 3, the village of Eaucourt-l'Abbaye was taken. On the 7th, a
further advance was made along the spur which forms a salient in front
of Le Transloy village, and Le Sars village was carried the same day.

A single line of heights only now separated the British Army from
Bapaume, 6 km. distant from Le Sars. This line consisted chiefly of
Warlencourt Ridge, which dominates the country all round, and which had
been turned by the Germans into an apparently impregnable fortress.

Although the bad weather and the mud now forced the Allies to suspend
their offensive, sharp fighting continued. From December to the end of
January the British raided the enemy's trenches unceasingly.

After that, operations were resumed to reduce the Ancre salient
completely. The improvement, realised since the previous summer, in
their offensive strength, at once became apparent. Their artillery,
reinforced, thoroughly "pounded" the whole terrain, making it possible
for the infantry to force a way through all obstacles, and to advance
continuously.

Advancing over the tops of the hills, which border the Upper Ancre, the
British directed their efforts alternately against both banks of the
river, and soon rendered untenable those positions still held by the
Germans at the bottom of the valleys. On February 7, 1917, Grandcourt
was captured, while the week following, Miraumont, Pys, Warlencourt
with its famous Ridge, and Ligny-Thilloy (within 3 km. of Bapaume) were
surrounded.

The Germans now fell back on a new line of defences close to the town,
and by strong counter-attacks sought to stay the British advance. Their
efforts were in vain, however, and the British hemmed them in more
closely each day. Irles was occupied on March 10; Louppart Wood and
Grévillers on the 13th. On the 14th, the British were at the gates of
Bapaume, which they entered three days later (the 17th), only to find
that the town had been burnt and methodically destroyed by the Germans.

_Towards Péronne._--On October 1, the French lines, in _liaison_ with
those of the British south of Morval, took in Rancourt, Bouchavesnes
and Labbé Farm, passed in front of Feuillancourt and reached the Somme
at Omiécourt.

After a halt, devoted to the consolidation of the ground, the French
resumed their advance, in spite of the bad weather. The objective was
now to widen the positions beyond the Bapaume-Péronne road, in order
to turn the town from the north, as the marshes of the Somme and the
defences of Mont-Saint-Quentin did not permit a frontal attack.

On October 7, the road was occupied from Rancourt to within about 200
yards of the first houses of Sailly-Saillisel, and the western and
south-western outskirts of Saint-Pierre-Vaast Wood were reached. During
the following weeks the fighting, which was furious, concentrated
around Sailly-Saillisel. On October 18, Sailly was carried, but
Saillisel held out until the beginning of November. Meanwhile, the
French made several unsuccessful attempts to carry the defence-works of
Saint-Pierre-Vaast Wood, and finally remained hanging on to the western
outskirts, in close contact with the enemy.

[Illustration]

At the end of 1916, the front line in this sector extended from the
northern outskirts of Sailly-Saillisel, along the western edges of
Saint-Pierre-Vaast Wood, then took in Bouchavesnes and crossed the
Somme near Omiécourt.

The winter passed quietly, except in the region of Sailly-Saillisel and
Saint-Pierre-Vaast Wood, where skirmishing and grenade fighting were
incessant. The British took possession of the sector and fortified it
strongly, raiding from time to time the enemy trenches.

In March, 1917, the artillery duel increased in intensity, and the
Germans prepared to evacuate their positions.

Their retreat began on March 15, after the country had been
methodically devastated. The British occupied the whole wood of
Saint-Pierre-Vaast on the 15th and 16th, almost without striking a
blow. On the 17th, they held the Mont-Saint-Quentin--powerful advance
fortress of Péronne. On the 18th, they finally entered the town from
the north, while other detachments reached it from the south-east,
across the marshes of the Somme.

[Illustration: PRESIDENT POINCARÉ HANDING THE "COMMANDEUR DE LA LÉGION
D'HONNEUR" INSIGNIA TO GENERAL MICHELER.]


The Battle of Attrition, South of the Somme

In the early days of July, in the diversion section south of the
Somme, the French 1st Colonial Corps, having carried the three German
positions, faced south-east.

The French lines, resting on the western outskirts of Omiécourt,
followed the Somme Canal, encircled Biaches and La Maisonnette, turned
south-west, and passed in front of Barleux village, which, hidden in
a depression of the ground, had till then successfully resisted all
assaults. The lines ran towards Soyécourt (still held by the enemy),
then southwards _via_ Lihons and Maucourt.

From La Maisonnette to Maucourt, they formed the sides of an enormous
obtuse angle, the apex of which was Soyécourt.

The objective of the French 10th Army (General Micheler), disposed
along the sides of this angle, was to widen the latter by means of
continued thrusts in the direction of the southern end of the bend in
the Somme. Its advance being then stayed by the important stronghold
of Chaulnes, the latter was to be half-encircled, thereby seriously
threatening the rear of the German positions south of the town.

The French offensive was launched on September 4. The outskirts of
Deniécourt and Berny were reached in the first rush; in the centre,
Soyécourt was carried; on the left, Vermandovillers was partly captured
and Chilly passed by about half a mile.

On the 5th, the Germans counter-attacked unsuccessfully, and failed
to stay the French advance. On the 6th, half the village of Berny
was taken. In three days, 6,650 prisoners and 36 guns, including 28
heavies, were captured.

A fresh offensive was combined, with the attack of the 12th by the
Franco-British troops north of the Somme, and that of the 15th by the
British troops operating beyond Combles.

[Illustration]

On the 17th, the conquest of Vermandovillers and Berny was completed,
and on the 18th, the village of Deniécourt was encircled and captured.

On October 10th, the offensive was resumed after a heavy bombardment
between Berny and Chaulnes. The hamlet of Bovent, north of Ablaincourt,
was conquered, together with the western edge of Chaulnes Wood. Parts
of these woods were captured in October, and at the beginning of
November. The villages of Ablaincourt and Pressoire were also occupied.

Thanks to this slow but continuous advance, and to the capture of
these various villages, the fortress of Chaulnes was outflanked and
half-encircled.

However, the Germans managed to maintain themselves there, and the
French progress was held in this sector, as it had been further north,
by the stronghold of Barleux and the marshes of the Somme.

At the end of 1916, the front line of the sector south of the Somme
started from Omiécourt, left Barleux in German hands, and crossed the
Maisonnette Plateau. From there, it described a large circle _via_
Berny (French) and Chaulnes (German), skirting Roye and Lassigny _(see
sketch map, p. 29)_.


The German Retreat of March, 1917

Although the Somme offensive did not give immediate strategical
results, it nevertheless procured the Allies tactical advantages which
were one of the causes of the German retreat of March, 1917.

The capture of important points of support made the position of the
Germans a very precarious one, at all the points where they had so far
succeeded in maintaining themselves. They feared that if in 1917 the
Allies resumed their offensive--which the experience acquired in 1916
would render still more formidable--further retreat, resulting in the
piercing of their front line, might become necessary. They consequently
decided voluntarily to shorten their lines by falling back on new
positions in the rear, known as the "Hindenburg Line" (see the Michelin
Guide: +"The Hindenburg Line"+).

[Illustration: THE BAND OF THE AUSTRALIAN 5TH BRIGADE PASSING THROUGH
THE SMOKING RUINS OF BAPAUME ON MARCH 19, 1917, WHILE THE BATTLE STILL
RAGED NEAR BY, ON THE LINE BECQUINCOURT--NOVAINS.]

The formation of a new defensive front was only possible by evacuating
a large area, and the German retreat extended to the whole of the
region comprised between Arras and Soissons. It was very skilfully
carried out, unhampered by the Allies, who contented themselves with
following close behind the retreating enemy.

On March 15 and 16, 1917, the French, informed by their Air Service of
the enemy's imminent retirement, made numerous raids into the German
trenches between the Oise and the Avre, advancing in places as much
as 4 km. On the 17th, the cavalry, followed by the infantry, entered
Lassigny and Roye. Noyon was occupied early on the 18th.

On the same day (March 17) the British, having relieved the French as
far as south of Chaulnes during the winter, captured La Maisonnette,
Barleux, Villers-Carbonnel and all the villages still occupied by the
enemy within the loop of the Somme. On the 18th, they entered Péronne
and Chaulnes.

The whole region between the Somme and the Oise was liberated at
that time, after thirty months of German occupation, but only after
it had been systematically and totally devastated, according to
elaborate plans drawn up beforehand. These destructions were absolutely
unjustifiable from a military point of view. Towns and villages were
wiped out, houses plundered, industries ruined, factories destroyed,
land devastated, agricultural implements broken, farms burnt, trees
cut down--in a word, everything done to turn the place into "_a desert
incapable for a long time of producing the things necessary to life_"
(Berliner Tagblatt).

It was from these new lines that in the spring of the following year
the Germans launched their great offensive, designed to separate the
Allied armies and resume their march "_nach Paris_."

[Illustration: THE SHADED PORTION REPRESENTS THE GROUND CONQUERED
DURING THE 1916-1917 OFFENSIVE.]

The German offensive and the Allied counter-offensive of 1918 are dealt
with in the Michelin Guide: +"The Second Battle of the Somme (1918)."+

In addition to the pushing back of the enemy front, the Allies' three
immediate objectives had been attained.

Verdun was soon relieved of the German pressure, as the enemy "were
exhausted and compelled to use their reserves for the Russian front,
and especially in the Somme. Their activities on the Verdun front were
limited to making good their losses. However, they were finally obliged
to weaken this front to a point that they were unable to reply to the
French attacks." (See the Michelin Guide: +"Verdun, and the Battles for
its Possession."+)

The Allies' further aim to keep the maximum of the German forces on the
western front was likewise attained. According to Field-Marshal Haig's
report, the transfer of enemy troops from west to east, begun after
the Russian offensive of June, lasted a very little time after the
beginning of the Somme offensive. Afterwards, with one exception, the
enemy only sent exhausted battle-worn divisions to the eastern front,
which were always replaced by fresh divisions. In November, the number
of enemy divisions present on the western front was greater than in
July, in spite of the abandonment of the offensive against Verdun.

As regards the wearing down of the enemy's fighting strength, their
losses in men and material were much heavier than those of the Allies.

Half the German forces in France came out of the battle physically and
morally worn.

From July 1 to December 1, the enemy had more than 700,000 men put
out of action (killed, wounded or prisoners). More than 300 guns were
captured and many others destroyed.

The German nation, badly shaken by the violence and duration of the
battle, alarmed at the events on the eastern front, and cruelty
disappointed by their failure before Verdun, were on the point of suing
for peace at the end of the Battles of the Somme.

On the other hand, the British had gained full consciousness of their
strength, and had fought in closer union with their French comrades.

The Allies of all ranks had learned to know and appreciate one another
better, and future operations were destined to become more closely
co-ordinated. "To fight under such conditions unity of command is
generally essential, but in this case, the cordial good feeling of the
Allied Armies, and their sincere desire to help one another, served the
same purpose and removed all difficulties" (Field-Marshal Haig).

Among the French, the veterans and young classes vied with one another
in heroism. Many "_bleuets_" (twenty-year old youths) were under fire
for the first time. In contact with their seasoned Verdun comrades,
they fought with splendid dash. After scaling the craggy slopes east
of Curlu village, many of them waved their handkerchiefs to cries of
"_Vive la France!_"

Up to the middle in the foul Somme mud, which at times forced the men
out of the trenches into the open, in spite of the shells and bullets,
the Allied troops acquired the _morale_ of Victory, while the High
Command gained and kept the initiative.

[Illustration: GERMAN TANK CAPTURED BY THE NEW ZEALANDERS DURING THE
ALLIED OFFENSIVE OF 1918.

_Extracted from the Michelin Guide +"The Second Battle of the Somme
(1918)"+_]




A VISIT TO THE SOMME BATTLEFIELDS.




FIRST DAY.


AMIENS-ALBERT-THIEPVAL-BAPAUME.

[Illustration: ITINERARY FOR THE FIRST DAY.]

_Leave =Amiens= by the Boulevard d'Alsace-Lorraine, in front of the
station, on the left. Beyond the cemetery, take N. 29 to Albert, on the
right._

[Illustration: Exit from Amiens going towards Albert]

_Eleven kilometres beyond Amiens, =Pont-Noyelles= is passed through._
This village was made famous by the sanguinary, indecisive battle
fought there on December 23, 1870, between the French and Germans. To
the left of the road, just outside the village, a monument commemorates
the battle.

_Twenty-eight kilometres beyond Amiens, N. 29 enters =Albert=._


ALBERT.

The prosperous, industrial town of Albert, whose population before the
war numbered more than 7,000 inhabitants, is to-day entirely in ruins.

Lying at the foot of a hill, on both sides of the River Ancre, Albert
formerly went by the name of Ancre.

At the beginning of the seventeenth century Albert belonged to Concini,
the favourite minister of Marie de Medicis, but after his downfall in
1619 it became the property of Charles d'Albert, Duke of Luynes, who
gave it his name.


Albert during the War

When, after the first Battle of the Marne, the front advanced
northwards, the Germans tried on several occasions to break through the
French lines before Albert.

[Illustration: Passing through Albert]

[Illustration: PANORAMIC VIEW OF ALBERT, AS SEE ON ENTERING THE TOWN.
_(See sketch, p. 32.)_]

Fierce fighting took place in the immediate vicinity of the town at
the end of September, 1914, especially on the 29th, and in October and
November. The Germans were repulsed with heavy losses, but succeeded in
entrenching themselves strongly quite close to the city, and barred the
Albert-Bapaume road (N. 29) to the north-east, in front of La Boisselle
and the Albert-Péronne road, in front of Fricourt.

The shelling of the town began on September 29, 1914, and continued
unceasingly until it had been annihilated. The numerous iron and steel
works, mechanical workshops, sugar factories and brick-kilns, which had
contributed to the prosperity of the town, were specially singled out
by the enemy artillery. No public building, not excepting the civilian
hospital, was spared. In spite of the Red Cross flag which floated over
the hospital, the Germans, with the help of an aeroplane, directed a
violent artillery fire upon it on March 21, 1915, killing five aged
inmates and wounding several others, as well as the Superior.

In October, 1916, Albert was at last out of range of the German guns.

But in 1918 the British were unable to withstand the overwhelming
German thrust, except on the west of the town, and the latter fell into
the hands of the enemy on March 26, after desperate fighting. Albert
remained in the first enemy lines until August 22, when the British
counter-offensive, which was destined to clear the whole district--this
time definitely--was launched. The British entered the town in the
early morning of August 22.

[Illustration: ALBERT CHURCH IN APRIL, 1917.]


A Visit to the Ruins--The Basilica

_Arriving by the Rue d'Amiens, tourists will see the cascade, on the
right behind a_ ruined factory.

[Illustration: ALBERT CHURCH IN 1919.]

[Illustration: RUINED WORKS ON RIVER ANCRE, AND CASCADE.]

_Follow the Rue d'Amiens to the Place d'Armes, in which stand_ the
ruins of the =Church of Nôtre-Dame-de-Brebière=. Before the war as
many as 80,000 people made pilgrimages to this basilica yearly, to see
the ancient statue of the Virgin, discovered in the neighbourhood by a
shepherd, in the Middle-Ages.

The church--a brick-and-stone construction in the Roman-Byzantine
style--was built at the end of the nineteenth century. The brick
belfry, over 200 feet high, was surmounted by a copper dome, on which
stood a gilt statue of the Virgin, sixteen feet high, with the infant
Jesus in her outstretched arms. The body of the church measured 276
feet in length and 68 feet in height, and was very richly decorated.

The church was spared by the first bombardments, on account of two
spies who, hidden in the top of the tower, made signals to the Germans,
but as soon as they had been discovered and shot, the church became a
target for the enemy artillery. The walls of the façade soon showed
large gaps in many places. The roof fell in and the belfry was badly
damaged, especially on the south side. A shell struck the top of the
dome and burst against the socle of the statue of the Virgin. The base
gave way, but did not entirely collapse, and the statue overturning
remained suspended in mid-air _(photo, p. 34)_.

For several years the statue remained in this precarious position, and
there was a saying that "the war would end when the Virgin Statue of
Albert would fall."

The bombardments in the spring of 1918 completed the ruin of the
church. Not only did the belfry collapse, carrying in its fall the
statue of the Virgin, but all the upper structure which had until then
resisted, fell down, so that to-day the immense building is a shapeless
heap of stones, bricks and _débris_ of all kinds _(photo, p. 34)_.

[Illustration: LA BOISSELLE. THE SIGN IS ALL THAT REMAINS OF THE
VILLAGE.]

_Leave Albert by the Rue de Bapaume, then take N. 29 which_ climbs La
Boisselle Hill. _2 km. beyond Albert_ there is a large cemetery _on
the right_. The site of Boisselle village (completely destroyed) _is
reached 2 km. further on_.


The Mine Warfare at La Boisselle

In October, 1914, the front line became fixed, west of this village.
A fierce trench-to-trench struggle continued throughout 1915, when it
developed into ceaseless, desperate mine warfare.

At the end of December, 1914, the French captured that part of La
Boisselle which lies south of the church. German counter-attacks,
launched almost daily, failed to drive them out. On January 17, 1915,
after a violent bombardment, the French were compelled to withdraw
from that corner of the hamlet, but the next day they succeeded in
re-occupying the still smoking ruins.

These attacks and counter-attacks had brought the German and French
trenches so close together that it became impossible to fight in
the open. The struggle was therefore continued underground. On both
sides subterranean galleries were bored under the opposing trenches,
generally to a depth of 20 to 26 feet. Mine-chambers, filled with
cheddite, at the end of the galleries, were fired electrically. In
the ensuing upheaval the trenches entirely disappeared, giving place
to huge craters, for the possession of the edges of which bitter
hand-to-hand fighting followed.

[Illustration: BRITISH CEMETERY, BETWEEN ALBERT AND LA BOISSELLE, ON
THE RIGHT.]

During the night of February 6, 1915, the Germans fired three mines in
the southern part of La Boisselle occupied by the French, and captured
the craters, but were unable to debouch from them. The next day a
spirited French counter-attack drove them back.

The communiqués of 1915 mention many feats of this kind, and to-day the
traces which still remain of this ferocious struggle attest its extreme
violence.

On each side of the Albert-Bapaume road, opposite La Boisselle village,
huge craters form an almost continuous line.

[Illustration: BRITISH GRAVES IN THE GREAT MINE CRATER AT LA BOISSELLE.]

The largest crater lies on the right. It has a diameter of about 200
feet and a depth of 81 feet. British graves lie at the bottom _(photo
opposite)_.

This mine warfare procured no appreciable advantage to either side.

Fresh defences were immediately made on the edge of or near the new
craters, in place of those which had been wiped out, and the front line
remained practically unchanged until the offensive of the Somme.

On July 1, 1916, the British rushed the German trenches in front of
La Boisselle and Ovillers, giving rise to a fierce engagement. After
two days of incessant fighting the whole of La Boisselle village was
captured. A battalion of the Prussian Guard made a desperate resistance
at Ovillers, the survivors--124 men and 2 officers--surrendering only
on July 17.

[Illustration: MINE CRATER AT LA BOISSELLE.]

_Leave La Boisselle on the right, and take N. 29._

[Illustration]

_Ten yards from milestone "Albert 5 km. 4," take the left-hand road to
=Ovillers= (600 yards distant)._ Of this village not a wall remains
standing.

_The road turns to the left and crosses the village_, in which numerous
shelters and military works can still be seen.

_Outside Ovillers, on the right, there is_ a large cross, erected by
the British in memory of their fallen comrades of the 12th Division. _A
little further on, there is_ a British cemetery _on the same side of
the road_.

_The road turns to the right, then descends steeply to the Ancre
marshes. Cross these by the footbridge built by the Army Engineers, to
=Aveluy= village on the opposite side._

Of this village, only a few walls remain standing, among which are
numerous military works.

_On leaving Aveluy, the road crosses the railway. Take the road on the
right immediately after._

_Follow the marshy valley of the Ancre upstream._

[Illustration: PANORAMIC VIEW OF THE VALLEY OF THE ANCRE, AS SEEN ON
LEAVING HAMEL FOR BEAUCOURT-SUR-ANCRE.]

[Illustration: THE ANCRE MARSHES, IN FRONT OF THE RUINS OF AVELUY.]

_The road crosses =Aveluy Wood=_, the trees of which are cut to pieces.
_2 km. 500 beyond Aveluy, before the fork with the road to Mesnil,
there is a_ British cemetery _on the right_.

_On leaving the wood, follow the railway to the_ ruins of =Hamel=
village. _Before entering_, note the British cemetery _on the left_.

Opposite, on the crest of the hill, on the left bank of the Ancre, is
=Thiepval Wood=, cut to pieces by the shells. The view of the Ancre
Valley from here is most impressive _(photo below)_.


The British Operations in the Ancre Sector

During the first months of the offensive of 1916, the Germans,
installed on the top of the slopes which dominate both banks of the
river, resisted successfully in the Ancre sector. On the east, they
occupied the whole of the Thiepval Plateau (maximum altitude, 540
feet), which they transformed into a veritable fortress. To the west,
after crossing the Ancre below the hamlet of St.-Pierre-Divion, their
trenches ran in front of the high ground of Beaumont-Hamel (Hill
135) and Serre (Hills 143 and 141). From these elevated points they
dominated the British positions, which is why the British, before
attacking, were forced to take the Thiepval Ridge (end of September,
1916). This enabled them to take the German intrenchments in the rear.

On November 13, 1916, the attack was launched under very unfavourable
weather conditions. The ground was sodden, and a thick fog hid
everything from view. In spite, however, of the five successive lines
of trenches which protected the enemy positions, the British first
captured the hamlet of St.-Pierre-Divion, then, three hours afterwards,
the fortress of Beaumont.

[Illustration]

In 1918, the German thrust broke down, as in 1914, on the banks of
the Ancre. Caught in the swampy ground, they were unable to establish
themselves strongly on the heights of the western bank. Leaving
advanced posts only in the valley, with strong patrols, they reoccupied
their old entrenched positions; but with the ground in such a state of
upheaval, a prolonged resistance there was impossible.

The Germans were unable to prevent the British, on August 22, 1918,
from crossing the Ancre near Aveluy and carrying, within forty-eight
hours, the Thiepval and Beaumont Heights, against which their efforts
had so long been unsuccessful.

_The road passes the railway station of =Beaumont-Hamel=._ The
important market town of this name _(1 km. 500 beyond the station)_ is
now a mere heap of chaotic ruins.

The report of the Enquiry Commission appointed by the French
Government, contains the following:--

_"On October 12, 1914, an aeroplane flew over Beaumont-Hamel. The
Germans pretended that two women (Mme. Roussel and Mme. Flament)
signalled to the aeroplane, the first-named by leading a red horse and
a white horse into her yard, the second woman by displaying a large
piece of cloth-stuff. The facts are: Mme. Flament had simply used
her handkerchief, and Mme. Roussel, in the absence of her mobilised
husband, having to attend to their large farm, had led two horses into
the yard, to facilitate the cleaning of the stable._

_"Together with other inhabitants of the village who were under
arrest for similar futile motives, Mme. Roussel and Mme. Flament were
questioned by the officer attached to the Colonel commanding the 110th
Infantry Regiment. After having ordered them to confess their guilt,
this officer was particularly infuriated against Mme. Flament, and
promised the others that their lives should be spared if they would
denounce her. He had a personal grievance against the woman. A few days
before he had asked her for champagne wine, and she had replied that
she had not any, but, on leaving the house, he noticed that some of his
men had wine and, believing that she had mocked him, he had indulged in
violent reproaches._

[Illustration: BEAUMONT-HAMEL, WHERE THE CHURCH USED TO STAND.]

_"In spite of the danger, the brave women replied that they preferred
to die rather than accuse an innocent person. Exasperated by their
resistance, the German allowed them three minutes for reflection, and
then had them placed against the wall of the church. While his soldiers
covered the women with their rifles, he counted, 'one, two ----,' then,
in the belief that this sham execution had terrorized the defenceless
women, he allowed them half an hour's respite and sent them back to
the Town Hall. At the expiration of this delay he again pressed them
with questions, seized two sums of money (one of 776 francs, the other
of 1,345 francs, which Mme. Roussel and Mme. Flament, believing that
their last hour had come, had requested a friend to hand over to their
families), threatened in a fit of rage to have Mme. Flament buried
alive, and ordered all the persons under arrest to swear that they were
innocent. At the last moment, the courage to carry out this abomination
failed him, and he sent the unfortunate women back to Mme. Roussel's
house. Here they were watched until October 28, and were then sent
to Cambrai with the other inhabitants who had been held as hostages,
because they were unable to pay the whole of the war contribution
of 8,000 francs which had been set upon the district."_--_Report of
December 8, 1915, page 22, Vol. V._

_One kilometre beyond the station of Beaucourt-Hamel the road crosses
the village of =Beaucourt=_, where not a single wall remains standing
_(see sketch-map, p. 40)_.

It was on November 13, 1910, that the British, after capturing
Beaumont-Hamel, carried Hill No. 135, between Beaumont and Beaucourt,
and reached the outskirts of Beaucourt. The entire village was occupied
the next day.

But the approaching winter and continuous bad weather did not allow
them to exploit their success. In the operations of the previous two
days, they had been greatly hampered by the deep sticky mud through
which, in places, the men had had to advance up to their waists. It was
therefore decided to make the new positions their winter quarters.

The cessation of the offensive did not, however, mean inaction. From
November, 1916, to the end of January, 1917, raids were incessantly
carried out in the enemy trenches.

Early in February, 1917, a violent and incessant bombardment was the
forerunner of fresh attacks. From February 8 onwards, the British made
considerable progress along the Beaucourt-Miraumont road.

_After leaving Beaucourt, keep along this road._ A great heap of red
bricks, on the right, by the side of the river Ancre, is all that
remains of Baillescourt Farm, the defence-works of which were captured
on February 8, 1917.

A few days later, the British reached the outskirts of the important
position of =Miraumont=.

[Illustration: MIRAUMONT. RUINED CHURCH ON THE LEFT.]

This large village was divided by the Ancre and the Albert-Arras
railway, the village proper being situated on the north bank. The
smaller agglomeration of houses lying on the south bank, known as
Petit-Miraumont, was the first to fall into the hands of the British,
after desperate fighting. The approaches to Petit-Miraumont had been
covered with successive lines of trenches, bristling with barbed wire
entanglements, redoubts and concrete blockhouses for machine-guns. All
these positions had to be carried one by one. The village itself was
only captured on February 24, 1917.

Two days later, Miraumont-le-Grand, defended only by a rearguard
company and a section of machine-gunners, was easily carried by the
British. This marked the beginning of the "strategical withdrawal"
which, the following month, ended with the capture of Bapaume,
Miraumont (7 km. to the west) being one of its advance fortresses.

Lost again in the following year, Miraumont was one of the few
positions which the Germans fiercely defended at the time of the
British counter-offensive of August, 1918. They tried all they knew
to stop the British advance on Bapaume at this point. The fight
lasted all day on August 24, and the German retirement began only
after the capture of Grandcourt and Thiepval (on the south) and of
Irles and Loupart Wood (on the north-east) threatened them with
complete encirclement. That night, a strong detachment of British
troops slipped into the fortified ruins of the village, held by picked
machine-gunners. A fierce struggle followed in the dark. At daybreak
the German garrison attempted a sortie, and succeeded in encircling the
British detachments. However, a British aeroplane, which was hovering
over the scene of the struggle, signalled that reinforcements were
coming, and finally the Germans were encircled, and several hundreds of
them taken prisoners.

[Illustration: GERMAN MONUMENT IN FRONT OF MIRAUMONT CHURCH (1917).]

After the fights of 1916, Miraumont was one of the least damaged of
the reconquered villages. Many of the houses retained parts of their
walls, and some their frame-work, though in a dislocated condition.
To-day nothing remains. Of the modern church which used to stand on the
highest point of the village, only a fragment of wall remains _(photo,
p. 42)_. On the right, in the devastated cemetery which surrounds the
church, stands a massive stone monument, erected by the Germans before
their retreat of 1917 _(photos, above and below)_.

_At the entrance to Miraumont, take the Courcelette road on the right,
which crosses the marshes, then passes under the railway bridge and
afterwards traverses the site of Petit-Miraumont_ (now razed). _It next
climbs the hill on the left bank of the Ancre. Leave the road to Pys on
the left, and keep straight on to =Courcelette=._ Numerous shelters,
trenches and British and German graves may be seen along the road.

The village of Courcelette was taken by the British during the
offensive of September 15, 1916.

[Illustration: MIRAUMONT. RUINS OF CHURCH AND GERMAN MONUMENT
_(1918--see above)_.]


THE BRITISH OFFENSIVE OF SEPTEMBER 15, 1916.


The First Tanks

The British objective was Courcelette, Martinpuich and the neighbouring
heights which protected the Bapaume Plateau _(see p. 22)_.

[Illustration: MIRAUMONT. BRITISH GRAVES IN FRONT OF CHURCH.]

The offensive began on September 15, along a front of about six miles,
from the neighbourhood of Combles to the trenches before Pozières.

In a few hours, the infantry, preceded in its advance by impassable
artillery barrages, carried Martinpuich and the small hills which
dominate it. Other detachments captured Courcelette on the left.

[Illustration]

The fighting was particularly desperate before Courcelette. The first
two assaulting waves broke against the double line of enemy trenches,
flanked by redoubts and salients armed with mortars and machine-guns.
Further artillery preparation was necessary, and it was only at
nightfall that the Canadians were able to enter the village. A tank
immediately set about clearing the streets.

It was in this offensive that tanks were used for the first time, to
the great disturbance of the enemy's _morale_.

At Martinpuich they crushed down the walls which were still standing,
and behind which machine-guns were hidden.

[Illustration: COURCELETTE. ALL THAT IS LEFT OF THE CHURCH.]

[Illustration: MARTINPUICH. THE CHURCH USED TO STAND HERE.]

One tank went for the fortified sugar factory in front of Courcelette
village, knocked down the walls, crushed the numerous machine-guns
hidden behind them, destroyed all the defence-works and quickly
overcame the enemy's resistance.

_On leaving Courcelette, take N. 29 on the right towards Pozières and
Thiepval (see sketch-map, p. 44)._

[Illustration: BRITISH TANK BETWEEN COURCELETTE AND N. 29.]

_On the right of the road stand_ the ruins of a large sugar factory
with a concrete observation-post. _Further on, also to the right_,
there is a cross erected by the British.

[Illustration: THE SUGAR REFINERY BETWEEN COURCELETTE AND POZIÈRES.

GERMAN OBSERVATION-POST OF CONCRETE, IN THE ENGINE-ROOM.]

_Before reaching Pozières, N. 29 passes over Hill 160._ The windmill
which formerly stood there has disappeared.

From the top of Hill 160, which dominates the whole district, there
is an extensive view in the direction of Bapaume. To keep this
observation-post, the Germans transformed Pozières into a fortress
defended by more than 200 machine-guns.

After capturing Ovillers-la-Boisselle and advancing little by little
along the National road as far as the outskirts of Pozières, the
British attacked on July 23, 1916, but only at midnight were they able
to get a footing in the village. Throughout the night and the two
following days, the fighting went on with unabated fury. It was only
on July 26 that the Germans were definitively driven from the northern
part of the village, and the fortified cemetery, and a few days later
from the windmill on Hill 160.

[Illustration: +BRITISH CROSS.+ _In front: +OVERTURNED TANK+._]

[Illustration: POZIÈRES. GERMAN OBSERVATION-POST.]

Violent counter-attacks were made in August, liquid fire being used in
some cases. These attacks were particularly fierce to the north-west of
the village and in the vicinity of the windmill, on the night of August
16, when six assaulting waves were broken by the British artillery
barrage-fire.

When this furious struggle died down, nothing was left of the village.
Its site, completely levelled and upturned, is now indistinguishable
from the surrounding country--formerly fruitful fields of corn and
beet, to-day a chaotic waste of shell-holes.

A German observation-post of concrete _is seen on the right_, and
another, less damaged, with very deep shelters _(photo below), also on
the right. On leaving the village, 300 yards further on, to the right_,
there is a large British cemetery.

_In the village of Pozières, the road, to Thiepval, which branches off
to the right, is only passable for about 1 km. 500. From this point the
tourist should go on foot to Thiepval._

[Illustration: POZIÈRES. GERMAN OBSERVATION-POST.]

[Illustration]


The Capture of Thiepval by the British

Situated on a plateau surrounded by hills, Thiepval had been
transformed into a veritable fortress. Since September, 1914, the
Wurtemburger 180th Regiment had been garrisoned there, and made it
a point of honour to hold the place at all cost. For twenty months,
formidable defence-works had been made; redoubts, blockhouses and
concrete vaulted shelters, built on the surrounding high ground, formed
a continuous, fortified line around the village. Inside, a labyrinth
of trenches, connected by subterranean passages, linked up with strong
points and to bombardment-proof shelters.

The British were forced to lay siege to the place. The operations,
begun on July 3, 1916, lasted till October.

On July 7, the British carried the greater part of the Leipzig Redoubt
(Hill 141), a powerful stronghold which protected Thiepval from the
south, and consisting of a system of small blockhouses connected up by
a network of trenches. A wide breach opened by the artillery, enabled
the troops to gain a footing in the position and conquer it trench by
trench.

Throughout the months of July and August the struggle went on, with
unabated fury, around the fortress. Fighting with grenades, the British
advanced inch by inch, so to speak, and eventually gained a footing
in the village, to the east and south. Each advance was immediately
followed by a violent counter-attack, as the Germans looked on Thiepval
as the key of the Bapaume position.

On August 26, in particular, the Prussian Guard attacked the British
lines of the Leipzig Salient. The struggle was one of "giants." After
furious hand-to-hand fighting, the Wiltshire and Worcestershire
Regiments broke the assaulting waves and inflicted "frightful" losses
on the enemy. At no point were the British positions pierced; on the
contrary, progress continued to the south and south-east.

On September 15, the Australians captured Mouquet Farm which, on the
right, formed the advance-bastion of the fortress.

Thiepval was now completely surrounded from south to east, and after a
last artillery preparation of extreme violence, the final assault was
made.

At 12.30 a.m., on September 25, the Canadians attacked the castle and
southern part of the village, one of the strongholds of the fortress.
After fierce fighting, which lasted two hours, they captured the
defence-works, being helped by the tanks which, crushing everything
before them, destroyed the nests of machine-guns hidden on all sides.

The battle went on throughout the following day in the village, the
cellars of which were connected with one another and fortified, forming
so many nests of machine-guns. Detachments of Wurtembergers who, by
means of underground passages, had slipped behind the Canadians, were
either exterminated or captured. In the evening, the cemetery, which
formed the centre of resistance in the northern part of the village,
was carried. Thiepval was thus entirely conquered, as well as the
Zollern Redoubt, which dominates it on the east.

The British followed up their success by attacking the fortified
positions to the north and north-east, on the line of hills which
dominate the Valley of the Ancre near Grandcourt, where the Germans
had also made formidable entrenchments, comprising the Stuff Redoubt
(to the north-east), the Schwaben Redoubt (to the north), and between
the two, astride of the Thiepval-Grandcourt road (G.C. 151), the Hesse
Trench. Behind these, in the direction of Grandcourt, the Shiff and
Regina Trenches, likewise powerfully organised, formed a second line of
entrenchments.

From September 27 to October 1, the fighting was bitter and incessant,
both redoubts and the Hesse Trench changing hands several times.
Finally, the British remained masters of these positions, but were
afterwards held by the following trenches--the Shiff and Regina--to
which they had to lay siege. Progress was very slow, in spite of
incessant grenade fighting, and when winter arrived, they had not yet
conquered the whole of these trenches.

[Illustration: THE RUINS OF THIEPVAL.]

[Illustration: WHERE THE CHÂTEAU OF THIEPVAL USED TO STAND.]

The recapture of the Thiepval Plateau by the Germans at the end of
March, 1918, did not give rise to any important engagement, no special
effort being made to defend it. In the same way, it is said that when
the British finally drove out the Germans a few months later (August
24, 1918), they did not lose a single man.

Everything was pounded to bits by the shells. Of the one-time
flourishing village, nothing remains. A shapeless mass of broken stones
marks the site of the Castle _(photo above)_. The place has become a
desolate waste overrun with weeds and grass. Here and there traces of
the defence-works: redoubts, trenches, etc., and the graves of British
and German soldiers, conjure up visions of the bloody struggle which
took place there.

_Return to Pozières, take again N. 29 on the left, towards Bapaume._

[Illustration: RUINS OF SARS VILLAGE. N. 29 NEAR BAPAUME.]

[Illustration: SARS. RUINS OF GERMAN MONUMENT IN CEMETERY ON THE RIGHT
OF N. 29.]

_Five kilometres beyond Pozières, =Sars=, which stood on both sides of
the high road, is reached (photo, p. 50)._ It was taken on October 7,
1916, by the British, who advanced beyond it, but were then held, as in
spite of repeated assaults the Germans had maintained themselves on the
Warlencourt Ridge (Hill 122), to the east, which dominates the whole
district.

Sars is the nearest village to Bapaume, taken by the British in the
course of their offensive of 1916. It was about 9 km. from their
trenches (in front of La Boisselle), and 6 km. this side of the first
houses of Bapaume. In 1918, on the contrary, it took the British only
three days to cross the strip of ground, 7 km. wide, which separated
their starting trenches from Le Sars village, captured on August 25.

Sars was wiped out. At the entrance, in a small shell-torn wood on the
right, are the remains of a German cemetery, completely devastated. The
base of a German monument can still be seen _(photo above)_.

_Continue along N. 29 for about 1 km. beyond Sars; 150 yards to the
right, =Warlencourt Ridge=_ stands out. _Go there on foot._

[Illustration: SARS. A CHINESE CAMP.]

[Illustration: WARLENCOURT RIDGE, SEEN FROM N. 29.]


Warlencourt Ridge

Warlencourt Ridge is as tragically famous in the British Army as the
Mort-Homme is for their French comrades-in-arms.

From the top of Hill 122, the last before Bapaume, the view embraces
the whole region, renowned for the battles fought before the town
first in the Franco-German War (1871) and then forty-six years later
(1917-18). At the foot of the ridge lies the ruined village of
Ligny-Thilloy; to the right, on the sky-line, accumulations of stones
and rubbish, the suburbs of Bapaume; on the left, the remains of
Loupart Wood, and, behind, a few broken walls, all that is left of the
village of Grévillers.

The ground was everywhere cut up with trenches and defence-works, to
destroy which a terrific pounding by the artillery was necessary. Not
a single square yard escaped the deluge of shells, the destruction
being as complete as it was methodical. Of the trenches, which were
levelled before the fighting proper began, practically only traces
remain. The woods, turned into fortresses, have likewise vanished, only
shapeless tree-stumps being left. The villages were razed to their very
foundations.

As far as the eye can reach, nothing is seen but a chaotic waste
patched here and there with weeds and rank grass. In places, vestiges
of the ancient barbed wire entanglements, which overran the ground in
all directions, are met with. These were so numerous that the guns
could not entirely destroy them, but wide gaps were made through which
the attacking waves forced their way.

[Illustration: ENTRANCE TO THE UNDERGROUND DEFENCES.]

The Warlencourt Ridge proper consists of two superimposed eminences:
a bare plateau about two-thirds of a mile in width--now covered with
graves--and a chalky shell-torn hillock, which was the centre of the
German position.

[Illustration: WARLENCOURT RIDGE, SOUTH SIDE.]

Pierced with subterranean galleries, furrowed with several successive
lines of trenches, surrounded by a triple belt of entrenchments
bristling with barbed wire entanglements and flanked at every angle
by redoubts with innumerable mortars and machine-guns, such was the
ridge which, like an impregnable fortress, faced the British trenches
throughout the winter of 1916-17.

Several times in October and November, 1916, the British endeavoured
to carry the position, but each time their attacks failed against
the formidable defences. Only on February 25, 1917, did they succeed
in taking it, after a feint attack on the rear-guards, which were
protecting the withdrawal of the German main forces.

In 1917, the British erected five large crosses on the top of the ridge
in memory of the units which took part in the assaults of 1916.

_After visiting Warlencourt Ridge, return to N. 29, along which
continue to =Bapaume= (5 km.)._

[Illustration: THE TOP OF THE RIDGE.]

[Illustration: BAPAUME. BRITISH TANKS IN THE SUBURB OF ARRAS.]


BAPAUME.

Situated on the road of invasion, at the intersection of the highways
leading to Amiens, Arras, Cambrai and Soissons, Bapaume, in the course
of past centuries, was several times besieged, destroyed or plundered.
The town dates from the early Middle-Ages, and owes its origin to a
fortified Castle built at the exit of the immense Arrouaise Forest,
which at that time extended from the Ancre to the Sambre, and was
infested by robbers and cut-throats. Mention of this particularity
is found in an eleventh century heroic poem "En Aroaise a mauvaise
ripaille."

[Illustration: BAPAUME. THE RUE D'ARRAS, SEEN FROM THE PLACE
FAIDHERBE.]

Under the protection of the Castle, the town grew rapidly, and soon
became an important city, made wealthy by the trading between France
and Flanders. Conquered by Louis XI., it afterwards fell into the hands
of the Spaniards, and was transformed into a fortified town by Charles
Quint. Recaptured by Francis I., it was lost again, and retaken only in
1641. Several years later, the Treaty of the Pyrenees (1659) ceded it
definitely to France.


Bapaume in 1917

Utilising the ruins around and inside the town, the Germans had built
very strong lines of defences at short distances, one behind the
other, and preceded by deep barbed wire entanglements. But after the
capture on March 11-13, 1917, of Louppart Wood and Grévillers, west of
Bapaume--the only village in the district, whose houses and roofs were
practically intact--the British were masters of all the crests of the
Bapaume Plateau, and encircled the town so closely from north to south,
that the Germans decided not to defend the latter, in spite of the
powerful defences which they had accumulated. Before withdrawing, they
destroyed the trenches, devastated the entire district, set death-traps
everywhere, stretched chains, connected with mines, across the roads
and paths, and set fire to the shelters, etc.

Neither the destructions nor the companies of machine-gunners which
were left behind as rear-guards could stop the British, who occupied
Bapaume on March 17, 1917, while the fires lighted in the town by the
Germans were still burning.

[Illustration: BAPAUME. THE PLACE FAIDHERBE.]


Bapaume in 1918

Whereas, in 1917, the British captured Bapaume by a frontal attack,
they retook the town in August, 1918, by a wide turning movement.

As early as August 24, the New Zealanders of General Byng's Army, after
carrying Louppart Wood, reached Avesnes-les-Bapaume, one of the suburbs
of the town. The next day they advanced beyond the Bapaume-Arras road,
and on the 27th conquered Beugnâtre (5 km. north-east of Bapaume).
The town was furthermore surrounded on the south by the capture of
Warlencourt Ridge. Unable to hold out any longer, the Germans evacuated
or set fire to the immense stores in the town.

[Illustration: THE HÔTEL-DE-VILLE, BEFORE THE WAR.]

On the 29th, the Welsh and New Zealand troops fought their way across
the suburbs before nightfall, and hoisted the British and French flags
on the ruins of the Town Hall.


Destruction of Bapaume

Bapaume, whose population numbered about 3,000 inhabitants before the
war, was systematically and totally destroyed in 1917. Not a house was
spared. Those which were not hit by the shells, were either mined or
burnt. All the works, factories, sugar-refineries, tanneries and public
buildings were ruined. When the British entered the town, the streets
were blocked with rubbish of all kinds. Traces of the tar, by means
of which the fires had been lit, were still visible on the partially
burnt timber-work. Here, as everywhere else, the destructions had been
preceded by methodical pillaging.

The bombardments and fighting of 1918 completed the destruction of the
town, which, to-day, is entirely in ruins.

[Illustration: ST. NICOLAS CHURCH, BEFORE THE WAR.]

[Illustration: BAPAUME. RUINS OF ST. NICOLAS CHURCH AND BARRACKS.]


VISIT TO BAPAUME.

_Tourists arriving by the N. 29, enter Bapaume through the suburb of
Arras, where turn to the right. Cross the railway (l.c.), coming out
at the Place Faidherbe, via the Rue d'Arras._

To commemorate General Faidherbe's victory over the Germans near
Bapaume on January 3, 1871, a bronze statue was erected in the Place
Faidherbe. This statue was carried off by the Germans, and when the
British entered the town in 1917, they found it had mockingly been
replaced by an enormous stove-pipe.

In the Place Faidherbe, at the corner of the Rue d'Arras, stood the
Hôtel-de-Ville, an interesting building dating from the fifteenth,
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, on the ground-floor of which was a
porch formed by a series of arcades.

In 1917, the Germans set fire to it, previous to evacuating the town.
On March 25, one week later, a formidable explosion, caused by a bomb
with retarded fuse, destroyed all that had been spared by the fire. Two
members of the French Parliament were found dead under the ruins of the
building.

_Take the Rue de Péronne, on the right of the Place, then the Rue de
l'Eglise, on the right, which leads to St. Nicholas Church._

The Church of St. Nicholas was a large fifteenth and sixteenth century
pile, with three naves, whose ruins to-day are most impressive. The
belfry has completely disappeared, while all that remains of the body
are broken, gaping fragments of the outside walls, a few pillars of the
nave and several vaulted bays of the aisles.

_Return to the Rue de Péronne, at the end of which are_ The Promenades.
On the right are the ancient ramparts; a fairly high eminence, near by,
was used as an observation-post for the artillery (pretty view over the
town).

[Illustration: _See photo below._]

_At the end of The Promenades take the G.C. 10, on the right._ The road
passes through the villages of =Thilloy= and =Ligny-Thilloy=--a single
"_commune_," which likewise includes the village of =Barque=.

It was at and around Ligny-Thilloy that on January 3, 1871, was fought
the battle of Bapaume. This unavailing victory of General Faidherbe's
forced the Germans to evacuate Bapaume and begin their retreat towards
the Somme. In October, 1914, during the fighting which took place near
Thilloy, the Germans "compelled a group of some ten women and children
to stand before them and face the French positions, then, kneeling
behind them, they opened fire on the French troops" _(Report of the
Commission of Enquiry)_.

In 1917, the fighting in this region was again in favour of the Allies,
as on February 27-28, after a feeble resistance, the villages of
Barque, Ligny and Thilloy were captured by the British.

The industrial and agricultural "_Commune_" of Ligny-Thilloy, which had
already suffered severely during the war of 1871, was completely ruined
by the late War.

_One kilometre beyond Ligny, there is a mine-crater on the right of the
road._

At the crossing with the Gueudecourt road stands a large cross, erected
to the memory of the New Zealanders who fell around there. _Keep
straight on to =Flers=_--completely ruined. In May, 1919, two damaged
tanks were still to be seen at the entrance to the village.

[Illustration: BRITISH CROSS.

_See above sketch-map._]

This was one of the villages captured by the British during their
offensive of September 15, 1916.

_The Report of the Commission of Enquiry contains the following_:--

[Illustration: RUINS OF FLERS VILLAGE.]

[Illustration: BRITISH TANKS AT ENTRANCE TO FLERS VILLAGE, MAY, 1919.]

"During the first month of the German occupation, M. Delmotte, baker,
was ordered to supply the enemy with bread. He complied with their
demands, without, however, receiving anything in exchange, except
requisition forms. Some time afterwards, his stock of flour having run
out, he was forced to procure some from Bapaume at his own expense.
The Germans having meanwhile taken possession of the mill, it was they
who sold him the flour. Finding this arrangement unsatisfactory, he
subsequently refused to work any longer for the German soldiers unless
at least the flour which he had to buy were paid for. The Germans,
displeased at this, sought an opportunity to revenge themselves. On
October 14, they ordered Delmotte to hand over his fowling-piece, which
he did without protesting. Two days later they directed him to deliver
up his ammunition. Again complying with their request, he handed over
a box containing a few cartridges, shell splinters, and two cartridge
clips which his son had picked up in the fields. He was immediately
arrested for detaining arms and locked up in his cellar, where he was
closely watched. The next day he was shot in his garden, beside a grave
which his murderers had dug beforehand."

[Illustration: DELVILLE WOOD.]

_Beyond Flers, G.C. 197--which forms the continuation of G.C.
10--although in bad condition, is passable with careful driving._ It
crosses a devastated, shell-torn region, in which are numerous graves,
shelters and gun-emplacements. _Before reaching Longueval, it skirts
the western edge of =Delville Wood=_, the skeleton remains of which are
to be seen on the left.

[Illustration: THE DEVIL'S TRENCH, DELVILLE WOOD.]

[Illustration: GERMAN CEMETERY, BETWEEN DELVILLE WOOD AND LONGUEVAL.]

_Beyond the wood, before entering Longueval_, a German cemetery with
200 graves _is seen on the left, near the railway (photo above)_.

Delville Wood and Longueval were the scene of desperate fighting during
the latter part of July, 1916.

These two positions had been brilliantly carried by the British on
July 14 and 15, in spite of their powerful defences, but German
counter-attacks with lachrymatory and asphyxiating gas shells, forced
the British to fall back a few days later. However, the latter soon
returned to the attack, and a terrible struggle began, which lasted
five days and nights without intermission (July 23 to 28).

One South African Brigade gave proof of marvellous courage and
endurance in Delville Wood, where, attacked by nine and a half
battalions, supported by an overwhelming artillery, it did not yield an
inch of ground. One group of machine-gunners was reduced to one man,
who continued to fire, until his gun jammed, when he coolly took it to
pieces, set it right and resumed firing. Only after he had emptied all
his cartridge belts did he withdraw. In another corner of the wood,
Scottish units, on the point of being surrounded, charged with bayonet
and grenades, and in spite of the enemy's numerical superiority,
succeeded in cutting their way through, after a furious hand-to-hand
struggle. On July 28, the wood was finally cleared of its last German
occupants. On both sides the losses were very heavy. Three German
regiments were completely annihilated.

[Illustration: WHERE LONGUEVAL CHURCH USED TO STAND.

_At the back_: DELVILLE WOOD]

The desperate nature of the struggle is attested by the present aspect
of Longueval village and Delville Wood. It is almost impossible, even
with the help of a map, to locate the site of this once pleasant spot
amid this chaos of stones and bricks, tree-stumps and shell-torn ground.

_In Longueval, take the Contalmaison road, on the right._

_Two kilometres beyond Longueval, turn to the left towards
=Bazentin-le-Grand=._

Bazentin-le-Grand was a small hamlet, belonging to a large
agglomeration of houses (now razed to the ground), of which
Bazentin-le-Petit was the continuation.

After capturing Contalmaison and Mametz Wood in July, 1916, the British
soon reached and carried Bazentin-le-Grand.

A desperate struggle then began on July 14, 1916, before
Bazentin-le-Petit. To the strains of the _Marseillaise_ the British
attacked the German entrenchments, captured and lost the village
several times, and finally remained masters of it. To consolidate the
conquered ground they immediately advanced beyond it.

Penetrating into the German third line, they gained a footing in
Foureaux Wood (High Wood), and on the slopes of Hill 155.

[Illustration]

A squadron of British Dragoon Guards--the first appearance of British
cavalry in the trench warfare--charged the wood, spreading panic in the
enemy ranks.

Foureaux Wood, literally covered with formidable defences, was only
captured after two months of incessant fighting. Finally, the last
defenders, surrounded on all sides, were forced to surrender on
September 15.

In August, 1918, the British, after piercing the lines on the Ancre
and Thiepval Plateau, attacked the German forces, not, as in 1916,
parallelly to the Albert-Bapaume road, but at right-angles to it. In
two days (August 25-26) they captured Contalmaison village, Mametz
Wood, Bazentin, Foureaux Wood and Martinpuich, to the east of the road.

_Pass through Bazentin-le-Grand. The road crosses_ Hill 144, _then
descends to a quarry on the left_, in which several hundred British
soldiers were buried. _It next climbs up to =Montauban=_--a village
rising tier upon tier on the slope of an eminence, the top of which,
slightly further to the west (Hill 136), is one of the highest spots in
the whole region between Albert and Péronne.

[Illustration: MONTAUBAN. WAYSIDE CROSS AT ENTRANCE TO VILLAGE.]

_The road passes a cross (photo above)_ in the village, _at the
junction of two ways. Take the one on the right, which leads to the
site of the late church._ Of the latter, nothing remains but a few iron
crosses in the surrounding cemetery (_photo below_).

Montauban was captured by the British on the first day of their
offensive (July 1, 1916). The struggle was short, but fierce and
sanguinary. Numerous machine-guns posted in the cellars of the
houses directed a continuous and murderous fire upon the assailants
through the vent-holes, and had to be destroyed one by one, by means
of grenades. The enemy losses were very heavy. During the artillery
preparation, and on the day of the attack, the Bavarian 6th Regiment
lost 3,000 men out of 3,500; the casualties of another of their
Infantry Regiments (the 190th) amounted to half its total strength.

Since the third month of the war, Montauban had remained quite close to
the front line, and was reduced to ruins. The few houses spared by the
Allies' artillery were destroyed later by the German guns.

It is utterly impossible to locate the site of a street or house. The
only remaining landmarks are the pond and the cemetery--the latter
considerably enlarged by the addition of numerous German graves.
Everywhere else nothing is to be seen, except heaps of stones and
rubbish, beams, scrap-iron, and débris of all kinds.

[Illustration: MONTAUBAN. WHERE THE CHURCH STOOD.]

[Illustration]

_At Montauban Church turn to the right. On leaving the village take the
road on the left to =Carnoy=._

It was to the north of Carnoy that from September, 1914, to July, 1916,
the front line became fixed.

On July 1, 1916, the British set out from Carnoy to attack Montauban,
in _liaison_ on their right with the French.

_Outside Carnoy the road crosses a ravine_, in which runs the short
Albert-Péronne railway, and passes a large cemetery on the left. _It
next rises sharply to the Albert-Péronne road, which take on the right._

_Two kilometres beyond the fork, take the road to =Mametz=, on the
right._

The village of Mametz (completely destroyed) was captured by the
British on July 1, 1916, in spite of a desperate resistance.

_In the village, take the road to =Fricourt= (1 km.), on the left._

Fricourt village was fortified by the Germans and formed part of their
front line until July 1, 1916.

[Illustration: CONTALMAISON. SITE OF THE DESTROYED CHURCH.]

Rising in tiers on the brow of a hill, this village consisted of
a continuous series of blockhouses and redoubts, with numerous
machine-guns. Underneath the houses were deep, comfortable shelters,
some of which were 45 feet deep. As was the case throughout the whole
of the sector before Albert, Fricourt was the scene of violent mine
warfare for many months. On various occasions sanguinary encounters
took place for the possession of the mine-craters, but the front line
trenches continued to occupy the same positions. The Germans kept the
village, while the French clung to its south-western outskirts.

[Illustration: CONTALMAISON. ENTRANCE TO THE CHÂTEAU.

_The cellars were used as dressing stations._]

It took the British no less than thirty-six hours of incessant fighting
to carry it on July 2, 1916. 1,500 prisoners were taken.

_Take the road to =Contalmaison= (3 km.), which branches off to the
right at Fricourt._ Before entering the village notice the British
cemetery on the left.

The ancient market-town of Contalmaison was important, on account of
its dominating position at the junction of several roads. Surrounded
with redoubts and defended by the Prussian Guard, it was taken, then
lost, on July 7, 1916. Attacked again from the south and west, it was
finally carried on July 11, together with Mametz Wood, lying to the
east. Contalmaison was completely destroyed.

A few crosses mark the site of the church and cemetery.

_Take the Boisselle road on the left, and, return to Amiens, via
Albert, a short distance further on._

[Illustration: CONTALMAISON. BRITISH CEMETERY NEAR THE CHÂTEAU.]

[Illustration]




SECOND DAY.


THE VALLEY OF THE SOMME-COMBLES-PÉRONNE.

_Leave Amiens by the Rue Jules Barmi (continuation of the Rue de
Noyon), then, after passing the station, by the Chaussée Périgord and
N. 35._

_After passing through Longueau, the road forms a double fork. Take the
left-hand road in both cases. At =Petit Blangy=_ there is an important
Australian cemetery on the left. _After twice crossing the railway the
road enters =Abbé Wood=._

_On leaving the road, at the foot of a descent (15 km. from Amiens),
take the =Corbie= road on the left, via =Fouilloy=._

There is a fine 16th-18th century church at Corbie. Restored in the
19th century, it is the remains of a famous abbey. The town suffered
severely from the bombardments.

[Illustration: CORBIE. RUE HERSANT AND THE CHURCH.]

[Illustration: SAILLY-LE-SEC.]

_Take the Rue Faidherbe as far as a house with brick turrets, where
turn to the right into the Rue Victor Hugo._

_Beyond Corbie, the road follows the marshy valley of the Somme to
=Vaux-sur-Somme=._

On leaving this village there is a British-American graveyard on the
right, by the side of the parish cemetery.

_The road next passes through =Sailly-le-Sec=_, whose church is in
ruins. _At the end of the village take the road on the left, then at
the wayside cross, that on the right up Hill 108_, past two British
cemeteries. _2 km. beyond Sailly-le-Sec, the Corbie-Bray road (G.C. 1)
is joined, which take on the right_, past a large British cemetery on
the right.

_Having crossed =Tailles Wood=_ (notice the gun-emplacements) _G.C.
1 descends alongside_ a quarry which sheltered a large German
ammunition dump _(photo below). 2 km. beyond the quarry, the village of
=Bray-sur-Somme= is reached._

[Illustration: NEAR TAILLES WOOD. GERMAN AMMUNITION DUMP.]


Bray-sur-Somme

Throughout the offensive of 1916, Bray was an important revictualling
centre, and as such, frequently bombed by German aeroplanes. Troops and
convoys were constantly passing through.

In 1918, the Germans, having driven back the British beyond the old
front line of 1914-1916, occupied Bray on March 26, six days after
launching their offensive. Immediately progressing beyond the town,
they advanced along the Somme to the vicinity of Sailly-le-Sec, where
the front line became fixed at the end of March.

The Franco-British offensive of August 8, the objective of which was
to reduce the Amiens Salient, cleared the Somme Valley as far as the
outskirts of Bray, where the Germans resisted strongly.

However, on August 22, General Rawlinson's Army, in a fresh effort,
succeeded in carrying Hill 107--an observation-post which dominated the
country to the north-east. On the night of the 23rd, Australian troops,
slipping along the river, entered Bray and captured a large number of
prisoners.

[Illustration: BRAY-SUR-SOMME. CHURCH AND PLACE DE LA LIBERTÉ.]

The town which, until 1918, had practically escaped damage, suffered
severely in the subsequent bombardments, and was moreover thoroughly
pillaged by the German troops during their occupation. In this they
complied with the instructions of the High Command, who ordered all
the churches and chapels in the region of the Somme to be carefully
searched, not excepting the "_altars, confessionals and other parts
of the church, access to which is reserved by ecclesiastical rules to
the priests only_." In pursuance of this decree, dated May 20, 1918,
the church of Bray-sur-Somme was despoiled of its furnishings. A
magistrate-member of the Enquiry Commission, visiting the church a few
days after the Germans had left, reported: _"A large number of bottles
were lying on the floor. The baptismal font was fouled with urine. The
door of the Holy of Holies, which bore traces of having been forced,
was twisted and the iron-work torn off."_

The church itself _(Hist. Mon.)_, dated from the 13th and 15th
centuries. It was greatly damaged by the bombardments. The spire
collapsed, the façade was pierced with numerous shell-holes, while the
timber work and roofing were partly destroyed.

The church is reached by the Rue des Massacres.

_After visiting the church, proceed to the bottom of the square,
where, on the right, turn to the left into the Rue de Cappy. Pass a
Merovingian cemetery, then follow the marshy Valley of the Somme to
=Cappy= (3 km. from Bray)._

[Illustration: CAPPY. THE VILLAGE AND BRIDGE OVER THE CANAL.]

Cappy, lost on March 26, 1918, was reconquered exactly five months
later by the British. The Germans had a dump in the village for all the
sacred articles stolen in the district. This depôt was installed in the
yard of the billet occupied by the "_officer in charge of the booty_,"
opposite a building which, according to a notice posted up by the
Germans, was the meeting-place of the "_detachments for the collection
of the booty_." The sudden arrival of the British did not leave them
time to carry away the booty, which included three bells, a quantity
of metallic objects, chandeliers, candlesticks, crucifixes, and "six
greatly damaged ecclesiastical ornaments."

[Illustration: THE CANAL NEAR THE LOCK. WOUNDED ON THEIR WAY TO THE
DRESSING-STATION.]

The church has a massive fourteenth century fortified belfry, the
upper story of which comprises four watch-towers resting on the corner
abutments. Two of these towers were destroyed by the bombardment.

[Illustration: FRISE CHURCH IN JULY, 1916 _(see pp. 71-72)_.]

_Near the Church, take the road which runs parallel to the Somme canal.
On leaving Cappy there is a large_ Franco-British cemetery _on the
left_.

_=Eclusier= (3 km. beyond Cappy) is next reached_; it is the principal
portion of the "_commune_" of Vaux-Eclusier. =Vaux=, which forms the
other portion of it, lies on the northern bank.

On July 1, 1916, the French first lines, passing through the eastern
outskirts of Vaux-Eclusier, barred the Valley of the Somme with a
continuous line of small posts established in the middle of marshes,
thus connecting the organisations on solid ground on the northern bank
with those of the southern bank.

There is a French military cemetery on the right, before entering
Eclusier.

In spite of numerous bombardments, Eclusier has retained the appearance
of a village. Most of the damage is repairable.

It was only in January, 1916, that Vaux-Eclusier became the last
village occupied by the French in the Valley of the Somme. Previous to
that date the advanced lines ran beyond the village of =Frise=, 2 km.
further to the east.

[Illustration: FRISE CHURCH IN SEPTEMBER, 1917 _(see pp. 70-72)_.]

_To reach Frise, keep straight along the Somme Canal._

[Illustration]

Standing on a picturesque site dominated by a hill on the north, the
village lies on the left bank of the Somme, opposite the marshes,
at the end of a large bend in the river. This bend measures 7 km.
round, whereas the isthmus which separates the two arms of the river,
opposite Frise, is scarcely 1 km. in width. These conditions made it
very difficult to defend the village, which was accordingly used only
as an advance-post. The Germans attempted to capture the place on
several occasions by local surprise-attacks and mining. In January,
1916, a powerful attack with large forces succeeded, after a violent
bombardment, in occupying the position, but the Germans were unable to
debouch from it.

[Illustration: FRISE CHURCH in 1919 _(see pp. 40-42)_.

_Only the two trees are left._]

The French retook Frise on the morning of July 2, 1916. In the course
of a brilliant attack, the successive lines of trenches which defended
the southern and eastern parts of the village, were carried, and the
latter was evacuated by the Germans at noon. Giving the enemy no time
to reform, the French followed up their success by attacking the German
second line, and before nightfall carried that part of Méréaucourt Wood
which lies to the east, on a crest about 340 feet high, overlooking the
Valley of the Somme.

Frise was completely destroyed. Here and there fragments of walls
and half-burnt beams mark the site of the old houses. Some of the
inhabitants have returned and are being housed in huts erected in the
Place de l'Eglise.

The large modern church has disappeared, the tottering ruins having
been pulled down.

[Illustration: VAUX VILLAGE AND THE VALLEY OF THE SOMME.]

_On leaving Frise, return to Eclusier by the same road. Beyond the
church take the road on the right which crosses first the canal, then
the marshes by means of three bridges. At the fork, take the right-hand
road to =Vaux=._

There is a fine view of the River Somme and the marshes, including part
of the battlefield of July 1, 1916. In the valley, walled in by high
chalky cliffs, the Somme, bordered with high poplar-trees, follows its
winding course among marshes and peat-bogs, intersected with patches of
rushes and reed-grass. The half-hidden ruins of Frise are on the right.
On the left fragments of walls are all that remain of Fargny Mill and
the buildings which surrounded it. The French first line ran close by
on July, 1, 1916 _(photo, p. 74)_.

[Illustration: FARGNY MILL, JULY, 1916.]

[Illustration: FARGNY MILL DAM AND THE "GENDARME'S HAT."

_In 1919 the mill had disappeared._]

Behind, the edge of a once wooded ravine, the chalky substratum of
which, laid bare by shell-fire, was christened ="Gendarme's Hat"= by
the Poilus, formed the Germans' first line. Further away, in the hollow
of the valley, appear the ruins of =Curlu= village.

_The road runs alongside the Somme. At the site of Fargny Mill go
round the "Gendarme's Hat"_--from which the attack of July 1, 1916,
debouched--_to reach =Curlu=_.

Curlu had been transformed into a stronghold by the Germans.

[Illustration: THE "GENDARME'S HAT," JULY, 1916.]

Debouching from Fargny Mill, on the morning of July 1, a regiment of
the French 20th Corps carried all the German advance-positions with
great dash, notably the "Gendarme's Hat." However, at the outskirts of
Curlu, further advance was stayed by machine-gun fire, making fresh
artillery preparation necessary, which destroyed most of the houses.
Rushing again to the assault in the evening, the French, in a few
minutes, drove the Bavarians from all their positions, and the enemy's
numerous attempts during the night and throughout the next day to
regain a footing in the village broke down before the French barrage
fire.

[Illustration: CURLU CHURCH.

_Fragment of 13th century wall--all that is left of the village._]

The day after the capture of Curlu, the French resumed their advance,
and soon reached the village of =Hem=, which they carried on July 5,
after fierce fighting lasting the whole day.

The road follows the line of the advance, from Fargny Mill to Hem. _At
Curlu leave the church on the left._ Numerous shelters, graves and
cemeteries are seen along the road, which passes near _=Hem-Monacu= (2
km. beyond Curlu)_; a few broken walls, 300 yards to the right of the
road, are all that remain of the village _(photo below)_.

[Illustration: HEM-MONACU. RUINS OF THE CHURCH.]

[Illustration: CLERY CHURCH AND VILLAGE.]

The French were held to the east of Hem _(see sketch-map, p. 71)_, by
the strong defences around the village. These positions consisted of: a
wood full of barbed-wire entanglements, situated to the north, near the
station of the Albert-Péronne light railway; to the north-east, other
strongly organised small woods and a quarry.

Further to the east, on the Combles-Feuillères road (G.C. 146), =Monacu
Farm=--a veritable fortress with numerous strong-points--was connected
with other defences which had been organised in the slag-heaps of the
phosphate of lime works belonging to the St. Gobain Glass Manufactory.
These defences extended as far as the Somme marshes, where the long
reeds hid the numerous machine-guns.

The French carried all these centres of resistance at the end of July
and beginning of August, and kept them in spite of fierce German
counter-attacks, some of which lasted thirty-six hours. At Monacu Farm
the German efforts assumed a particularly violent character. The French
artillery, posted on the top of the cliffs, enfiladed the attacking
waves, which were each time forced to fall back in disorder with very
heavy losses, without being able to reach the French lines.

These successful operations, while enabling the French to secure the
whole second line of the German defences, also gave them an outlet, on
the north, into Combles Valley--the long, dry and sinuous ravine along
which runs the Albert-Péronne light railway. On the south, they also
commanded the bridges and roads leading to Feuillères, on the left bank
of the Somme.

The bridges were immediately rebuilt, and direct communication ensured
between the troops engaged north and south of the river.

_Three kilometres from Curlu, take the Feuillères-Maurepas road (G.C.
146) on the left, to =Hem Wood= (500 yards further on). Here take the
G.C. 213, on the right, to =Cléry-sur-Somme=_--an important village
on the north of a bend in the river. Fine view of the Somme, towards
Péronne.

In the Middle-Ages, Cléry was a fortified town commanding the valley of
the Somme. Here the Dukes of Créquy, then lords of the district, built
a fortified castle in front of the river marshes, to which the family
device: "_Nul s'y frotte_" ("Meddle not with me") was given. Before the
war some fourteenth century vestiges of the castle were still to be
seen.

[Illustration: CLERY. CEMETERY IN MADAME WOOD.]

In fortifying Cléry, the Germans took full advantage of its favourable
position; powerful defences were made in the outskirts of the village,
and in the surrounding woods and ravines, while many of the houses
were transformed into centres of resistance. However, in spite of
the strength of its defences, Cléry was entirely carried in a single
assault on September 3, 1916, after a terrific bombardment which the
German _communiqués_ qualified as "ferocious."

The success was an important one, as Cléry commanded the various roads
leading to Maurepas, Combles and Bouchavesnes on the north, another
road on the east leading to Feuillancourt and some bridges across the
Somme. The capture of the hamlet of =Omiécourt= at the other end of the
bridges, two days after that of Cléry, enabled the French to connect up
their positions north of the Somme with those on the left bank of the
river. The Germans counter-attacked in force several times, but were
unable to retake the position, in spite of very heavy losses.

Cléry was completely destroyed; only a few broken walls and shattered
roofs remain, and even these few traces of the formerly prosperous
village are crumbling away and disappearing. A few unrecognisable
fragments of ruins, standing amid an accumulation of stones and
rubbish, are all that is left of the fifteenth century church.

There are numerous soldiers' graves in the village, and also many
military defence-works.

To the east of Cléry the turbid waters of the Somme spread themselves
out, forming immense marshes, intersected by a labyrinth-like network
of channels. The French advance was directed from this side in 1916,
while on the east they were likewise blocked by the Mont-Saint-Quentin
Hill, which rises nearly 200 feet above the Somme Valley, from Cléry
to Péronne, and which the Germans, by powerful defences, had converted
into a second "Warlencourt Ridge." Although within sight of Péronne,
scarcely three miles distant, the French could get no farther. Cléry,
on the right bank of the Somme, was the nearest village to Péronne
conquered by the French in 1916.

[Illustration: MAUREPAS VILLAGE--COMPLETELY RAZED.]

In March, 1918, no important engagements were fought on the old Somme
battlefields. On March 24 the Germans crossed the Somme, south of
Péronne, and forced the Tortille line north of the town. Overwhelmed
and in danger of being surrounded, the British had to fall back
hurriedly, under the protection of rear-guards, who were unable to
check the enemy's advance.

In the following month of August the valley of the Somme was cleared
of the enemy almost without firing a shot. In accordance with Marshal
Foch's general plan, the British attack of August 21 was limited to the
north of the Somme. The Germans had just been driven back, south of the
river, from the district of Montdidier to the outskirts of Roye, as a
result of the Franco-British offensive of August 8. The Allied plan
provided for the withdrawal of the enemy's right wing from the banks of
the Ancre to Bapaume, thereby necessitating the immediate evacuation
of the whole bend in the Somme by their centre, and this is what
actually happened. As soon as Bapaume was invested, the Germans hastily
retreated, and whereas, on August 28, the British were still hanging on
to the western outskirts of Curlu, on the morning of the 29th they were
in Hem, and in the evening of the same day had progressed beyond Cléry.

_On leaving Cléry, return by the same road to Hem Wood, where take the
Feuillères-Maurepas road (G.C. 146), on the right towards Maurepas. The
road runs alongside Hem Wood (cut to pieces), crosses a ravine in which
ran the Albert-Péronne railway, and then rises towards a crest from
which starts, on the left, a road (500 yards from the fork) leading to
=Maurepas=_ (completely destroyed).

The Germans strongly fortified the village of Maurepas which protected
Combles from the south-west and formed the junction of six roads coming
from all directions. It was an agglomeration of large farms, each of
which possessed a meadow surrounded with trees. These farms had to be
carried almost one at a time, and the advance was therefore very slow.

[Illustration: MAUREPAS POND.]

The first assault against the village was launched on August 12 by
troops coming from Hardecourt-aux-Bois; only the southern and western
parts of the village--including the fortified cemetery and the
church--could be carried. The northern part fell a few days later.
Finally, on August 24, the last centres of resistance--notably the
houses alongside of the roads leading to Combles and to Forest--were
captured.

_In the village, near a cross, take the road to =Combles=, on the
right, crossing the north-west part of the village_. The site of
the church is on the right, while on the left is a small German
redoubt _(photo below)_, from which there is a line view of
=Hardecourt-aux-Bois=.

Hardecourt, which cannot be reached by road, stood at the
junction-point of the French and British forces during the offensives
which aimed at the investment of Combles. It had been captured in less
than three hours by the French on July 8, 1916, together with the
eminence which protects it on the north. A few scattered ruins are all
that remain to-day of the village.

_The road runs straight from Maurepas to =Combles= (3 km.)._

[Illustration: MAUREPAS. GRAVES AROUND A GERMAN REDOUBT.]

[Illustration: PANORAMIC VIEW OF COMBLES AND THE SURROUNDING COUNTRY.

A.--_Trônes Wood_; B.--_Guillemont_; C.--_Ruins of Church_;
D.--_Entrance to the Underground Shelters_; E.--_Combles-Guillemont
road_; F.--_Bouleaux Wood_; G.--_Quarry used as howitzer emplacement_;
H.--_Morval_; I.--_Combles. Morval road_; J.--_Maurepas-Combles road_.]


Investment and Capture of Combles by the Franco-British Troops in
September, 1916

Combles formed the last redoubt in the German defences until September,
1916.

Nature had made the position an exceedingly strong one. Enclosed at
the bottom of a small valley and completely surrounded by a girdle
of hills, Combles was out of reach of the artillery. For two and a
half years the Germans had been fortifying this position, building
formidable entrenchments and extensive subterranean defences in and
around the village.

The systematic conquest by the Allies during the first half of
September, 1916, of the whole region, including the villages of Forest,
Maurepas, Guillemont and Ginchy, had brought about the fall of the
whole of the defences of the stronghold, on the south and west.

A fresh Franco-British attack was launched on September 25, after a
terrific bombardment, with the object of encircling the fortress, by
the capture of the strong points which still protected it on the east
and north _(see sketch-map, p. 81)_.

[Illustration]

On the south-east, the French, starting from their trenches in the
old German positions of Le Priez Farm--a powerful redoubt protected
by six lines of defences which they had carried by assault on
September 14--captured the hamlet of Frégicourt. On the east, they
carried Rancourt village, and all intermediary positions between
these two points, advancing as far as the north-western corner of St.
Pierre-Vaast Wood.

[Illustration: ONE OF THE ENTRANCES TO THE UNDERGROUND SHELTERS OF
LAMOTTE CHÂTEAU.

_(Stretcher-bearers taking a meal.)_]

On the north, the British took the fortified villages of Morval and
Lesbœufs, and nearly joined hands with the French.

The Germans had now only one line of communication with their rear,
consisting of a hollow road which, winding towards Sailly-Saillisel
to the north-east, through La Haie Wood, was under the fire of the
Franco-British artillery. The Germans therefore decided to evacuate
their positions, but the Allies did not give them time to withdraw
in good order. On the morning of September 26 they attacked again,
the objective being this time the defences of the village itself.
Their junction was to be the centre of the village and "London" the
pass-word. The plan of attack was carried out to the letter. The French
110th Infantry Regiment, debouching from the south-east, carried all
that part of Combles lying east and south of the railway, including
the cemetery and railway-station. The 73rd Infantry Regiment captured
and consolidated the western part of the village, in spite of stubborn
resistance. The City of London Regiment cleared the north-western
portion of the village.

The streets and the road leading to Sailly-Saillisel, along which
the Germans retreated, were filled with their dead; 1,200 prisoners
and important quantities of material and supplies, both food and
ammunition, were captured.

Lying partly at the bottom of the valley and rising partly in tiers on
the slopes of the surrounding hills, Combles (1,150 inhabitants, mostly
engaged in silk and wool weaving) had suffered less from this fierce
fighting than might have been expected. Although damaged (shattered
walls, disjointed timber-work and tile-less roofs) many of its houses
were still standing at the end of 1916. The village had, however,
been thoroughly pillaged by the Germans, and traces of their long
occupation were everywhere to be seen, including concrete shelters,
strong-points, for machine-guns, underground passages, chambers, etc.

[Illustration: IN THE UNDERGROUND SHELTERS OF LAMOTTE CHÂTEAU.

_(German Officers' room.)_]

The tunnels, excavated out of the solid rock under the Lamotte Castle,
which already existed before the war, were the most important of
these subterranean organisations. The Germans utilised them as posts
of commandment, dressing-stations, mustering-places, etc. They were
large enough to shelter several companies at a time and sufficiently
deep to be proof against the heaviest projectiles. There were separate
entrances and exits, ventilating shafts, electric light, etc., and they
were comfortably fitted up. Beds were installed in the walls, and there
were tables, chairs, armchairs, tapestries, etc.--all stolen from the
houses in the village.


Combles in 1918

In 1918, the British attacked the Combles positions, only after the
fall of Bapaume. Gen. Rawlinson's Army remained till August 29,
1918--when Bapaume was taken--on the line reached on the 26th, which
ran west of Ginchy, Guillemont and Hardecourt-aux-Bois. Resuming their
advance on the 29th and pressing hard upon the heels of the retreating
enemy, they carried these three villages the same day, then Maurepas,
and finally Combles itself, advancing beyond in the evening.

The ruin of the village was completed during these operations.

Very few houses retained their four walls and roofs. Of the Town Hall
a piece of broken wall only remains. The church was almost entirely
destroyed, only a few fragments of the façade remain standing amid a
heap of stones and rubbish.

_On reaching Combles turn to the left and cross the village as far as
the ruined church_, opposite which is the entrance to the underground
passages and chambers of =Lamotte Castle=.

The church stands at the junction of two roads. _Take the right-hand
one (G.C. 20) which rises towards Guillemont village_, built on
the top of a hill (altitude 462 feet). The road runs between two
small woods--=Bouleaux Wood= (on the right) and =Leuze Wood= (on the
left)--both cut to pieces by the shells.

[Illustration: COMBLES CHURCH.

_On the right: Guillemont road; on the left: impassable road to
Hardecourt._]

Bouleaux Wood was carried by the British on September 15, 1916. The
attack coinciding with a German counter-attack, gave rise to an
exceedingly violent encounter. After capturing an important redoubt,
east of the wood, the British gradually outflanked the enemy on the
wings, and pressing hard from all sides, forcing them to retreat one
kilometre northwards at the end of the day.

Leuze Wood was also carried by assault.

_The village of =Guillemont= (2 km. beyond Combles) is next reached._

Guillemont (razed to the ground) was entirely captured by the British
on September 3, 1916. No trace whatever remains of the houses, the
sites of which are now indistinguishable from the surrounding fields.
The whole area was devastated and is now overrun with rank vegetation.
After its capture it was strewn with wreckage of all kinds--stones,
bricks, beams, agricultural implements, and household furniture
from the shattered farms and houses. The fine modern church, Gothic
in style, which stood in the centre of the village, has entirely
disappeared.

_1 km. 500 beyond Guillemont is =Trônes Wood=, to reach which, take the
Montauban road (G.C. 64) on the left at the fork of the village._

[Illustration: GUILLEMONT. SITE OF THE DESTROYED VILLAGE.]

[Illustration: MONUMENT TO THE DEAD OF THE BRITISH 18TH DIVISION.]

=Trônes Wood= was the scene of much desperate fighting between the
British and the Germans during the first fortnight of July, 1916.

The struggle was almost incessant from July 8 to July 14, the wood
changing hands seven times (the Germans say they lost and retook
it eighteen times running). On both sides the greatest bravery was
displayed, despite terrible losses. British progress was long stayed
by a concrete blockhouse (still existent) in the middle of the wood,
from which, through slits in the walls, enemy machine-guns rained death
unceasingly on the assaulting columns.

A battalion of the Royal West Kents remained forty-eight hours cut off
in a corner of the wood to the north-east, and repulsed many furious
assaults without loss of ground.

The trees were hacked to pieces by the shells. Among the stumps may be
seen trenches, shelters, blockhouses and small forts. In the middle,
to the right of the road, is a =pyramid= erected to the memory of the
officers and men of the British 18th Division, killed in 1916-1918 in
the Battle of the Somme _(photo above)_.

_At the end of the wood, near a rail track on the right, and fifty
yards from the road, is a concrete blockhouse (photo below)._

[Illustration: TRÔNES WOOD. MACHINE-GUN BLOCKHOUSE.]

[Illustration]

_Return by the same road to the fork at Guillemont, and take the road
on the left (leaving that going to Combles on the right). 50 yards
farther on, take the road to =Ginchy= on the right_. This little
village _(1 km. from Guillemont)_ lies on the western slope of the high
"Ancien Télégraphe," plateau formerly chosen by Chappe as a telegraph
post.

Situated at the crossing of six roads, Ginchy defended Combles (4 km.
to the south-east) on the north-west. Partly conquered on September 3,
1916, Ginchy was only completely occupied by the British on September
9, after a terrible struggle lasting three days, in the ruins of the
village (entirely destroyed). The Irish troops (Connaught, Leinster and
Munster Regiments) particularly distinguished themselves.

_Follow the road through Ginchy, leaving on the left the roads to
Longueval (passable) and Flers, and, on the right, the road to Morval._
There is a British cemetery in Ginchy, on the left. _Keep straight on
to Lesbœufs._

[Illustration: GINCHY. WHERE THE CHURCH USED TO STAND.]

[Illustration: LOG ROAD OVER HILL 154.]

_Beyond Ginchy, the road is made of logs for several kilometres (photo
above). It crosses a shell-torn plateau_ (Hill 154), on which numerous
graves convey an idea of the violence of the struggle. In May, 1919,
a large German material and ammunition dump, also a rail-track, were
still to be seen there.

There is a German cemetery _on the left, this side of Lesbœufs_.

_=Lesbœufs= village, next reached_, was entirely destroyed; only a few
shell-torn trees and (on the right) a mound of stones and rubbish (the
church) remain.

_Cross the village and keep straight onto =Le Transloy=_, noticing the
numerous graves on the right and left.

Of this important village only a few broken walls remain.

_After crossing the village N. 37 is picked up; 100 yards farther on_,
the ruins of a large sugar factory are seen on the left.

_Take N. 37 on the right to Péronne_, passing through
_=Sailly-Saillisel=, 4 km. beyond Transloy_.

[Illustration: LE TRANSLOY. SITE AND RUINS OF CHURCH.]

[Illustration: SAILLY-SAILLISEL.

_As seen when looking towards Péronne._]


The Capture of Sailly-Saillisel by the French

                       (October-November, 1916.)

Having taken Combles, the French hastened to consolidate their gains by
carrying the height of Sailly-Saillisel (in October, 1916)--the last of
the hills from which the Germans dominated the hollow of Combles. On
this hill (altitude, 455-488 ft.) stood an extensive village formed by
two agglomerations--=Sailly=, grouped around the Bapaume-Péronne road
(N. 37) and =Saillisel=, built to the south-east and along G.C. 184.

       *       *       *       *       *

Daily progress by means of grenade fighting having enabled the
French gradually to encircle Sailly-Saillisel from the north-west
to south-west during the first half of October, an attack was then
launched against the defences proper of the village. This attack
developed into one of the hardest and bloodiest battles in the whole of
the Somme offensive, which, begun on October 15, lasted till November
11, 1916.

       *       *       *       *       *

Sailly was captured first (October 15), the French attacking the
defences of the castle, park and old church which flanked Sailly on the
west. After desperate fighting, the Germans were forced to retreat.
Following up their success, the French pursued the retreating enemy
into their second lines and entered the village, reducing the fortified
houses one by one, and occupying the whole of the village west of the
Bapaume-Péronne road. By nightfall, the central cross-roads of Sailly
was reached. On the 16th, a new block of houses was carried. On the
17th, the Germans counter-attacked furiously several times in force,
and succeeded in regaining a footing in the defences lost the day
before, to which they clung desperately. The capture of the village was
only completed on the 18th, when the French consolidated their gains by
carrying the ridges which dominate Sailly from the west and north.

The honour of taking Sailly fell to the 152nd Infantry Regiment of the
Vosges, already famous by the capture, in Alsace, of the village of
Steinbach and the Hartmannsweillerkopf. For eight days, this gallant
unit _"fully maintained its gains, in spite of the most intense
bombardment, and as many as three violent counter-attacks daily"_
(Order of the Day of December 4, 1916, being the third Citation "à
l'ordre de l'Armée" of this regiment).

[Illustration: GRAVES IN THE PARK OF SAILLY-SAILLISEL CHÂTEAU]

The battle was soon resumed with the same violence for the possession
of Saillisel. At the end of October, the French reached the
church--about 200 yards from the first houses of the hamlet--and
continued to advance on the following days, occupying Saillisel almost
entirely on November 5.

They were, however, unable to maintain themselves there, and the
Germans, after extremely violent fighting, reoccupied the ruins of the
hamlet. Saillisel was finally and totally conquered on November 11-12.
A party of German machine-gunners in a block of houses refused to
surrender, and had to be overpowered with bombs.

Sailly-Saillisel must be added to the long list of the villages which
have totally vanished. The old castle is now a shapeless mass of
ruins. The park was so badly cut up by the shells that there remain
practically no vestiges of the trenches and fortifications which
the Germans had accumulated there. All the trees were more or less
shattered, and rank vegetation now overruns the whole place. Groups of
graves scattered here and there, recall the terrible battles which were
fought there.

Of the church, only the bases of a few pillars remain. The graves in
the churchyard were torn open by the bombardments, and the village was
almost entirely levelled.

_To visit Saillisel, take, opposite a large pool, a road--at right
angles to N. 37--which runs past the ruins of the church: follow it as
far as the cross-roads._ The sight is impressive, on account of the
large number of French graves and shell-holes; some of the latter are
of enormous size.

_Return to and follow N. 37 to =Rancourt= (3 km.). The road crosses
Hill 148_, whence there is an extensive view, which explains why the
Germans clung so stubbornly to this ground.

_On the left of the road, at this point, lies Saint-Pierre-Vaast Wood_,
a visit to which is both impressive and interesting. _Access to it is
gained by a road which branches off N. 37 at the entrance to Rancourt
(see sketch-map, p. 90)._


St. Pierre-Vaast Wood

St. Pierre-Vaast Wood, of which nothing remains but shattered, burnt
tree-stumps, was the most important vestige of the immense Arrouaise
Forest that covered the whole of this region in the Middle-Ages.

From November, 1916, till March, 1917, this wood was often mentioned
in the French and, later, in the British communiqués. The Germans had
powerfully entrenched themselves there, and it was here that they had
their reserves and artillery. In the thickets was a maze of trenches
and fortified redoubts, surrounded by minor defence-works of all kinds.

The French partly occupied the wood at the beginning of November,
but violent counter-attacks by three enemy army corps forced them to
evacuate the conquered ground. Driven back to the western edge of the
wood, they were subsequently unable, in spite of renewed efforts,
to get beyond it. Throughout the whole winter of 1916-17, the front
line remained fixed in front of this wood, which, transformed into an
immense stronghold, protected Péronne from the north. This sector,
occupied by the British, was never quiet. Grenade fighting from trench
to trench was incessant, whilst the artillery gradually annihilated
all the defences and levelled the wood almost entirely. Finally, on
March 16, 1917, at the beginning of the German retreat on the Somme,
the British captured the whole wood, without encountering serious
resistance.

[Illustration]

_After visiting the wood, return to N. 37, and go on to =Rancourt=._
This village (entirely destroyed, _photo, p. 91_) was carried by the
French on September 25, 1916, in the course of their turning movement
which preceded the capture of Combles.

_On leaving Rancourt, N. 37 crosses Hill 145, where, on the right, the
Combles--Guillemont--Montauban--Albert road begins_ (passable). This
area is thickly strewn with graves.

_N. 37 next descends to the beginning of the road to =Bouchavesnes=,
the site of which is seen 300 yards to the left._

The conquest of Bouchavesnes was a stirring episode in the battle of
the Somme.

On September 12, 1916, a French detachment, composed of Alpine
Chasseurs and infantry, carried the position within two hours, after an
intense artillery preparation. In spite of a most stubborn resistance,
all the entrenchments and strong points among the ruins of the houses
were carried one after the other, in a single rush. 400 men, the only
survivors of the two German battalions which held the village, were
taken prisoners; 10 guns and 40 machine-guns were likewise captured.

[Illustration: RANCOURT.]

The success was so complete and crushing that for a short time
there was a gap in the German front line. Scattered units hastily
got together were thrown into the breach where, crouching in the
shell-holes, they resisted desperately with rifle and machine-gun, and
held their ground for a whole day, without any reserve support.

On March 24, 1918, the German columns forced the line of the Tortille
stream and entered Bouchavesnes, thereby bringing about the fall of
Péronne--outflanked from the north--and the retreat of the British
towards the Ancre. The village was reconquered on September 1
following, after sharp fighting.

[Illustration: BOUCHAVESNES.]

_After passing by Bouchavesnes, N. 37 ascends another crest_ (see
fortified quarry on the left), from the top of which there is a
magnificent panorama: _on the left_, the Valley of the Tortille (a
small tributary of the Somme); _in the valley_, the Northern Canal and
Village of Allaines; _opposite_, the Mont-St.-Quentin; _on the right_,
the Valley of the Somme.

The portion of the National road which is now followed was the scene of
furious, bloody fighting in 1916. In their attempt to outflank Péronne,
the French encountered strong German forces which stubbornly held their
ground. Traces of the desperate fighting are seen all along the way:
stumps of shattered trees, mine-craters and shell-holes in the fields,
soldiers' graves, etc.

[Illustration: NEAR PÉRONNE. RUINS OF BRIDGE OVER THE CANAL DU NORD, ON
THE N. 37.]

_Cross the Northern Canal by temporary bridge._

[Illustration: THE CANAL DU NORD FORMED A BITTERLY DISPUTED LINE OF
RESISTANCE.]

This canal, which connects the Somme with the rivers of northern
France, was not quite finished when the war broke out. Its bed was
excavated, but not yet filled with water, so that it formed a
ready-made line of resistance. The Germans were unable to hold it in
1916, and the British were likewise driven from it by the German thrust
in 1918.

[Illustration: WHAT THE GERMANS SAW FROM THEIR OBSERVATION-POST ON THE
MONT-ST.-QUENTIN.]

_Immediately beyond the canal, the small, ruined village of
=Feuillancourt= is crossed_. On September 12, 1916, the French gained a
footing on Hill 76, west of the village. This was the nearest position
to Péronne reached in 1916, to the north of the town.

_Follow N. 37 to =Mont-St.-Quentin=._


Mont-Saint-Quentin

Built along the National road, 2 km. north of Péronne, on a hill having
an altitude of 325-390 ft., the village of Mont-St.-Quentin possessed,
until the Revolution, an important abbey, which was founded in the
early Middle Ages.

The hill, now famous, rises in front of Péronne, and forms the
immediate defence of the town. The Germans had, prior to the
Franco-British offensive of 1916, posted their heavy artillery there
and built powerful entrenchments.

From 1914 to 1917 the German pioneers consolidated the position.
The hill was pierced from all sides by subterranean timber-propped
galleries, some leading to immense and comfortable shelters, others
to numerous invisible observation-posts, so placed as to command an
extensive view in all directions.

A large number of camouflaged heavy guns were posted on the slopes of
the hill, the neighbouring observation-posts ensuring great accuracy of
fire.

Trenches had been dug all about, in the chalky soil. At the foot of
the slopes, two first-lines completely surrounded the hill, and two
similar lines ran round half-way up. Communication-trenches zig-zagged
transversely, connecting the various lines of main trenches, while the
intervening empty spaces were covered with deep entanglements of barbed
wire and _chevaux-de-frise_. Lines of barbed wire protected the winding
communicating trenches. At the corners, at regular intervals, concrete
observation and special posts, all strongly fortified, were built for
the machine-gunners and sharp-shooters.

[Illustration: GERMAN OBSERVATION-POST ON MONT-ST.-QUENTIN (IN THE
CHÂTEAU PARK).

_Péronne and Maisonnette Hill are in the background._]

[Illustration: SPY-HOLE OF THE OBSERVATION-POST.]

The village itself was powerfully fortified. An intricate system of
trenches entirely covered the place, the castle forming the main
strong-point. A maze of communication trenches and entrenchments ran
throughout the park. A concrete observation-post on the terrace, near
the enclosing wall, hidden among the lime-trees, commanded a view of
the whole battlefield north and south of the Valley of the Somme.
A subterranean shelter beneath this observation-post connected the
defences of the castle with those in the cellars of the village houses.

[Illustration: MONT-ST.-QUENTIN. RUINED HOUSES.]

These powerful entrenchments have almost completely disappeared.
Before evacuating the position in March, 1917, the Germans mined the
defence-works of the hill, blocking up the entrance to the underground
passages. They also set fire to the timber props which supported the
roof and walls of the galleries and shelters; an immense fire was thus
lighted inside the hill, which, for several days, had the appearance of
a volcano in eruption.

[Illustration: MONT-ST.-QUENTIN. GERMAN DEFENCES.]

Whilst in 1917 the Germans voluntarily evacuated Mont-Saint-Quentin,
they were driven from it by main force in 1918. During the night
of August 30, Australian units, slipping through the brushwood and
barbed-wire entanglements which covered the steep slopes of the hill,
succeeded in reaching the top, and quickly bombed the surprised
garrison into submission, about a third of the defenders being taken
prisoners. In spite of fierce counter-attacks, the Australians held
their ground the next day. Several assaulting waves, composed of
soldiers from the Prussian Guard, were successively launched against
the hurriedly consolidated positions, but were each time mowed down by
artillery barrages.

[Illustration: MONT-ST.-QUENTIN. VILLAGE IN RUINS.]

Of the village of Mont-Saint-Quentin, nothing remains but the basements
of the houses, with here and there bits of broken walls, tottering
beams and heaps of rubbish. The church, a favourite pilgrimage, in
memory of the former abbey, was totally destroyed, as was also the
castle.

The ruins of the castle, and a German observation-post of concrete,
with underground passages and shelters, are at the entrance to the
village, on the left, about 50 yards from N. 37.

There is a fine panoramic view over the Somme Valley and Péronne.

_On leaving Mont-Saint-Quentin, N. 37 descends to =Péronne=. Enter the
town by the Faubourg de Bretagne._

[Illustration: MONT-ST.-QUENTIN. RUINS OF THE CHÂTEAU.]

[Illustration: GERMAN SIGNS IN THE GRANDE PLACE.]


PÉRONNE.

Péronne, a sub-prefecture of the "Département" of the Somme, was one
of the centres of the sugar and hosiery industries in France, with a
pre-war population of about 5,000 inhabitants.

Built at the junction of the Rivers Somme and Cologne, which form a
picturesque girdle of marshes and ponds before the walls of the town,
Péronne was formerly a fortified city. Its brick ramparts and moats
were being dismantled when the late war broke out.


Origin and Chief Historical Events

Péronne, whose origin goes back to a Merovingian villa built there in
the seventh century, became, in the Middle-Ages, an important fortified
city, under the rule of the Counts de Vermandois. One of them kept
Charles-le-Simple imprisoned there until his death (929). Philippe
I. annexed Péronne to the Crown lands, but in 1435 Charles VII.
gave the city to Philippe-le-Bon, Duke of Burgundy. In 1483, during
the rebellion of the Liégois, Louis XI., who was then the guest of
Charles-le-Téméraire, was kept a prisoner in the castle and compelled
to sign a humiliating treaty--called the Péronne Peace--which he
afterwards refused to fulfil.

In 1536, the Spaniards, under the leadership of the Prince of Orange,
besieged the town for thirty consecutive days, but thanks to the
bravery of the inhabitants, and the heroism of a woman named Catherine
de Poix, or Marie Fouché, who was the soul of the resistance _(photo,
p. 104)_, Péronne was saved.

The "Holy League," which marked the commencement of the Religious Wars,
was founded at Péronne in 1577 by the nobility and clergy.

In 1870-71, the Germans besieged the town for thirteen days (December
28 to January 9), and subjected it to a violent bombardment, which
caused considerable damage, though insignificant in comparison with the
depredations of the late war. The church, especially the belfry, was
greatly damaged, part of it collapsing, and a number of houses were
either burnt or destroyed. During the occupation the enemy committed no
excesses.

Péronne--whose arms bear the following device, "Urbs nescia vinci" (the
undefeated city)--was decorated in 1913 for its gallant conduct in 1536
and 1870-1871.


Péronne during the Great War

In 1914, during their rapid advance on Paris, the Germans entered
Péronne (August 28), but were driven out on September 15. They
reoccupied the town ten days later (September 24), and remained there
until March 17, 1917. A year later (March 25, 1918) the British were
compelled to evacuate the town, outflanked as they were from the north
and south by the ever-increasing numbers of the German columns marching
on Amiens. They re-entered the town on September 1, after a series of
very fierce engagements which lasted the whole day.

Péronne was totally destroyed, partly by the Franco-British artillery,
but especially by the systematic destructions on the part of the
Germans.

[Illustration: SAFE DYNAMITED BY THE GERMANS.]

Before retreating in 1917, the Germans set fire to or blew up a large
number of houses. Special detachments in charge of the destructions
made large rents in the masonry-work, before firing the mines, to
ensure total destruction.

The fighting in 1918 completed the ruin of the city, which will have to
be entirely rebuilt. A few name-plates on the broken walls, and broken
shop-signs alone made it possible to identify the heaps of ruins which
lined the streets.

The streets leading from the castle to the southern part of Péronne,
and thence to the suburb of Paris (completely ruined), were devastated.
The long Rue Saint-Fursy, especially, was almost entirely destroyed.

To the east of the town, the railway-station--connected with Péronne by
an embankment across the marshes of the Somme--has retained a portion
of its shell-torn frame-work, but the bridges across the marshes, as
well as the railway-bridge, were broken.

The cemetery _(about 1 km. 800 beyond the town)_ was devastated. Many
graves were desecrated, and trenches dug among the violated sepulchres.
A battery of artillery was even posted on the site of ancient vaults.
These profanations did not prevent the Germans from burying their dead
in a corner of the cemetery, or erecting funeral monuments to their
memory.

[Illustration: PÉRONNE. TRENCH IN CEMETERY.]

Everywhere pillage preceded destruction. The houses, whose walls (more
or less damaged) still remain standing, were completely emptied. The
doors, partition-walls, windows and wood-work were taken out and
burnt. All the safes, including those of the Banque de France, were
broken open. All articles of any value were carried away, and the rest
destroyed. In 1917, mattresses ripped open, battered perambulators
and cradles, broken furniture, dislocated pianos, even books and
family photographs, torn to pieces, were found among the ruins. In the
gardens, the fruit-trees were either cut down or hacked at their roots.

[Illustration: PÉRONNE IN 1918. THE GRANDE PLACE. CAPTURED GERMAN
GUNS.]

[Illustration: Passing through Péronne]


VISIT TO PÉRONNE.

_On reaching the town by N. 37, cross the Faubourg de Bretagne_, the
roadway of which was, in places, destroyed by mines. In 1917 this
suburb had suffered less than the other parts of the town. Many of the
houses could easily have been repaired, had they not sustained in 1918
new and much more important damage.

At the end of the suburb stands the Bretagne Gate, built of brick and
stone. This interesting specimen of late sixteenth century military
architecture--although the vaulting bears the date of 1602--is preceded
by another eighteenth century gate, and surrounded by remains of the
old fortifications. Although struck by shells several times, and rather
severely damaged, its vital structure is still standing _(photos, p.
101)_.

_Follow the Avenue Danicourt, which leads to the Rue Saint-Sauveur._

[Illustration: BRETAGNE GATE. EXTERIOR FAÇADE.]

The Rue Saint-Sauveur and the Grande Place which prolongs it, formed
the centre of the town, and there the finest shops were to be found.
This part of the town was the most completely destroyed of all.

Some half-burnt, dilapidated house-fronts without roofs are still
standing; the other buildings were destroyed by fire or explosions. The
adjacent streets are in the same pitiable condition.

[Illustration: BRETAGNE GATE. INTERIOR FAÇADE.]


The Grande Place and Hôtel-de-Ville

The Hôtel-de-Ville, in which the Museum was installed, was built in
the sixteenth century, but was restored and enlarged in the eighteenth
century.

Of its Renaissance west front, facing the Grande Place, only the lower
part--in ruins--remains, forming a porch with balcony _(photos, p.
103)_.

The carved salamanders which ornamented it were smashed with blows from
hammers.

Two of the arcades of the porch collapsed in 1918 _(see second photo on
p. 103)_.

The Louis XVI. south front, facing the Rue Saint-Sauveur, was less
damaged _(photo below)_.

[Illustration: PÉRONNE. THE HÔTEL-DE-VILLE.

_The front facing the Rue Saint-Sauveur._]

The roof and the modern belfry which surmounted the building were
blown up in 1917. An unexploded bomb with connecting wires was found
in the broken frame-work, fixed to a beam. Before evacuating the town,
the Germans fixed a large wooden board on the west front, bearing the
following inscription: _Nicht ärger, nur wundern_ (Don't be angry, only
admire).

The roof fell in, breaking the ceiling of the rooms in which the Museum
and Library were installed. Some statues were decapitated, and other
works of art mutilated. Books, manuscripts, documents and municipal
records were destroyed by the rain which fell through the gaping
ceilings.

However, the most valuable works in the Museum were saved, as they had
been carried off to Germany. A few famous paintings may be mentioned,
including, "_The Attack of the Railway Station at Strying_," an episode
in the battle of Forbach (Alphonse Neuville), another by the same
artist, "_Hunting in St. Pierre-Vaast Wood_," in which De Neuville is
shown surrounded by the notables of Péronne; and a painting attributed
to Breughel Junior, representing a _Conference at the house of an
attorney, at Cambrai_; objects connected with the local history, an
important collection of numismatics, and Gallic, Gallo-Roman and
Merovingian antiquities were among the collection.

[Illustration: PÉRONNE. THE HÔTEL-DE-VILLE BEFORE THE WAR.

_The Renaissance Façade overlooking the Grande Place, and modern
Belfry. On the right: The Rue Saint-Sauveur._]

Before the war an old fifteenth century house with statues stood in
the Grande Place, at the corner of the Rue du Vert Muguet, near the
Hôtel-de-Ville.

[Illustration: PÉRONNE. THE HÔTEL-DE-VILLE IN 1917.

_Note the German inscription on the ruined building which the enemy had
deliberately blown up. (See text.)_]

In the Place du Marché-aux-Herbes which adjoins the Grande Place stood
a statue of Catherine de Poix, known as Marie Fouché, the heroine of
the siege of 1536. This statue--like that of General Faidherbe at
Bapaume--was stolen by the Germans during the first occupation of the
town. When the 1st Warwickshire Regiment entered Péronne on March 17,
1917, they found a grotesque dummy figure on the pedestal _(photo, p.
105)_.

[Illustration: PÉRONNE. THE PLACE DU MARCHÉ-AUX-HERBES BEFORE THE WAR.

_In the background, on the right: Rue St. Fursy and the old house seen
in the photograph on p. 75. In the background: Statue of Catherine de
Poix, heroine of the Siege of 1536._]

_At the end of the Place, near the entrance to the Rue St. Fursy_,
a late fifteenth century wood-panelled house _(photo, p. 105)_,
ornamented with curious statues of saints and bishops, was burnt down.

[Illustration: THE PLACE DU MARCHÉ-AUX-HERBES IN 1919.

_In the foreground: Pedestal of Statue (see above) carried off by the
Germans._]

[Illustration: PÉRONNE. THE PLACE DU MARCHÉ-AUX-HERBES BEFORE THE WAR.

_Seen from the Rue St. Fursy. The 15th Century wooden house on the
right, in the foreground, was burnt down. In the background: Church of
St. Jean._]

There is a fine charcoal drawing of it by Alphonse de Neuville in the
Museum.

_On the other side of the Grande Place, at the entrance to the Rue St.
Jean, stands the =St. Jean Church= (Hist. Mon.)_, in fifteenth century
flamboyant style, with three naves terminated by a rectangular apse,
to-day in ruins.


The Church of St. Jean

Of the St. Jean Church only the gaping, crumbling walls of the main
front remain. The northern front collapsed entirely.

[Illustration: PEDESTAL OF THE STOLEN STATUE OF CATHERINE DE POIX _(see
p. 104)_.

_On the left: Part of the ruins of the St. Jean Church._]

[Illustration: PÉRONNE. THE FAÇADE OF ST. JEAN CHURCH, BEFORE THE WAR.]

The sixteenth century square tower, flanked by a round turret _(photo
above)_ has vanished.

The western portal with its three doors, decorated with fine fifteenth
century carvings, was greatly mutilated _(photo below)_.

The roof, frame-work, and interior vaulting, which was ornamented with
very fine pendentives, collapsed.

Some of the pillars fell down, and most of the dislocated arches have
gradually crumbled away under the action of the weather.

[Illustration: THE FAÇADE OF ST. JEAN CHURCH IN 1919.]

The grand organ was greatly damaged; all the pipes were removed
and sent to Germany. On the other hand, the seventeenth century,
multi-coloured marble reredos of the high and Virgin altars were not
severely damaged.

[Illustration: PÉRONNE. THE PLACE DU MARCHÉ-AUX-HERBES, AND THE RUE ST.
GEORGES.

_In the background: One of the towers of the Château (see below.)_]

_The Rue Saint-Georges, at the south-west end of the Place, leads to
the Château._

The four large sandstone towers with conical roofs, which faced the
town, used to form part of the enceinte of Péronne.

One of the towers was destroyed; the other three are still standing,
although in a greatly damaged condition.

The pointed door between the middle towers was mutilated.

[Illustration: PÉRONNE. THE FAÇADE OF THE CHÂTEAU AT THE END OF THE
WAR.]

[Illustration: THE DESTROYED BRIDGE ON THE OLD RAMPARTS.

_On the right is the end of the Rue St. Fursy._]

The other parts of the castle, posterior to the Middle-Ages, were
either burnt or destroyed by explosions.

[Illustration: THE OLD RAMPARTS IN THE FAUBOURG DE PARIS.

_In the foreground: The destroyed bridge: In the background:
The temporary bridge: On the right: The N. 17 going towards
Villers-Carbonnel._]

_Return to the Place du Marché aux Herbes and take on the right the Rue
St. Fursy, which, after crossing the bridges over the old ramparts,
leads to the Faubourg de Paris._

[Illustration]

_At the end of the Faubourg de Paris, take the road to Biaches (G.C. 1)
on the right of N. 17_; then, _100 yards from N. 17, on the left, the
G.C. 79, which_ climbs the slopes of a hill dominating the valley.

_Follow this road for about 1 km._, when the top will be reached,
from which there is a fine panoramic view of the valley of the Somme,
Péronne and Mont-Saint-Quentin _(photo, pp. 110-111)_.

_Take on foot the path which starts from there, and leads_ to the ruins
of La Maisonnette Château, _about 250 yards from the road_.


La Maisonnette

The estate of La Maisonnette occupied the summit of a limestone
eminence which dominates the battlefield south of the Somme (highest
point, 320 feet).

[Illustration: THE BATTLEFIELD AT LA MAISONNETTE.]

[Illustration: THE VALLEY OF THE SOMME. PÉRONNE AND MONT-ST.-QUENTIN
SEEN FROM LA MAISONNETTE.]

In 1870, the German batteries shelled Péronne from this hill. In 1916,
they were determined to hold it at all costs, knowing by experience
that the town would soon be untenable with French artillery posted
there.

The fighting which took place for the possession of La Maisonnette was
of the bloodiest, and made the ruins of the place famous.

The estate comprised a modern château and a park, a second residence
close by, about a dozen houses in the vicinity, and some fine trees and
orchards. All the houses, thickets and woods--including Blaise Wood,
to the north--had been strongly fortified. A maze of entrenchments
covered the whole park. A second continuous line of trenches ran round
the castle. Loop-holes had been made in the ivy-covered walls of the
château. At the corners, and at intervals, in the foundations of the
castle, machine-guns were posted. The outbuildings of the estate were
similarly fortified. The cellars, some 50 feet deep, were turned into
armoured shelters, capable of successfully withstanding the most
violent bombardments, and connected with one another and with the
defence-works of Blaise Wood by a subterranean passage, which enabled
the Germans either to fall back unseen towards the canal or approach
for counter-attacks.

However, this did not prevent a French Colonial Regiment from carrying
the whole position in an hour and a half on July 9. The cellars were
cleared out with grenades, and the Germans, unable to withstand the
impetuous charge of the "Marsouins," surrendered in large numbers.
The fiercest fighting took place at Blaise Wood, the defence works of
which connected La Maisonnette with Biaches. At this point a German
detachment in serried ranks raised their rifles in sign of surrender.
As the French advanced to disarm them, the German ranks opened, a
hidden machine-gun fired on the French, killing two officers and about
fifty soldiers. The French retired, but the lost ground was won back
the same day.

On July 15, the Germans counter-attacked furiously, and attempted
by means of liquid fire and asphyxiating grenades to slip into La
Maisonnette through Blaise Wood. They succeeded in gaining a footing in
the northern part of the wood, but were driven out the next day.

On the 17th, six successive assaults were made by the enemy on La
Maisonnette hill, but each time the Germans were repulsed with
sanguinary losses.

Renewing their attacks, they finally succeeded, first, in gaining a
footing in the outskirts of Blaise Wood, and, later, with the help of
liquid fire, in penetrating further into the French first lines, where
they established themselves in the ruins of the farm.

But, in spite of all their efforts, they were unable to establish
themselves securely on Hill 97, to the west of the estate, which
dominates the whole valley of the Somme, before and beyond Péronne.

Throughout the winter of 1916-17 constant bombardments, grenade
fighting from trench to trench, local attacks with alternating success
and failure, made the position on the crest untenable to both sides.
Finally, on March 17, 1917, Maisonnette Hill was entirely captured
by the Allies, and the Germans fell back on the Hindenburg line,
abandoning without striking a blow the few trenches which they had
managed to keep on the left bank of the Somme and which they had until
then so fiercely defended.

The British, who, early in 1917, had taken over this sector from the
French, entered the village, now completely destroyed. The pretty
Maisonnette Château had been reduced to a shapeless mass of ruins,
while the beautiful park in which it stood was so devastated as to be
unrecognisable. The orchards were destroyed, the woods hacked to pieces
by shell-fire. Only a portion of the organisations which surrounded the
Maisonnette position, and those which connected the hill with Biaches,
had withstood the bombardments.

The picture of desolation which met the British soldiers' eyes from the
top of Hill 97 was such as no cataclysm could have caused. Nothing was
to be seen but devastated lands, destroyed villages and felled trees,
while beyond the inundations which had been spread over the Somme
marshes, the smoke could be seen rising from the ruins of Péronne, set
on fire by the Germans.

_Return by the same road to G.C. 1, which take on the left. Follow
the Somme for a short distance to_ the ruins of =Biaches=. This small
village formerly nestled in the bottom of a verdant nook near the Canal
of the Somme, less than 1 km. from the ancient ramparts of Péronne, and
separated from it only by the marshes and the wide and sinuous river.

[Illustration: BIACHES CHURCH AS THE WAR LEFT IT.

_In the background: The Marshes of the Somme; On the right, behind the
trees: The beginning of Péronne._]

[Illustration: BIACHES. THE SUGAR REFINERY IN 1916.]


The Fighting at Biaches

The fighting at Biaches, like that at La Maisonnette, gave rise to some
of the most famous episodes in the Offensive south of the Somme.

The French advance had been so rapid that as early as July 8 General
Fayolle's troops, having broken through the German front to a depth of
8 kilometres, occupied the outskirts of Biaches. The next day, after
an intense bombardment, the system of trenches which protected the
outskirts of the village was carried in a few minutes.

[Illustration: BIACHES. THE SUGAR REFINERY IN 1919.

_Seen from the same view-point._]

A desperate struggle which lasted all day took place in the village,
where every street and crossing was protected by defence-works.
Machine-guns were posted in all the houses, while buildings like the
town-hall, sugar refinery, railway-station, etc., had been turned into
powerful centres of resistance.

A block of houses to the south-east resisted till the evening, when it
was reduced. At the entrance to the village, close to the Herbécourt
road, a strong point, passed in the course of the advance, was still in
enemy hands.

This position, which subsequently acquired fame under the official name
of Herbécourt Redoubt, enabled its occupants to take the French in the
rear, and rendered the occupation of the village very difficult and
uncertain.

[Illustration: BIACHES. DEFENCE-WORKS IN THE PLACE DE LA MAIRIE (1916).]

It was absolutely necessary to carry it. Frontal attacks were stopped
short by a murderous machine-gun fire; a concentration of fire with
trench-mortars gave no better results. Finally, in the afternoon of
July 10, a captain and eight men, with "extraordinary daring," crept
up to and entered the redoubt. The garrison, which still numbered 112
men and 2 officers, lost their presence of mind and surrendered without
offering any resistance.

The loss of Biaches, which formed the last advanced defences
of Péronne, was a particularly hard blow for the Germans, who
attempted, on several occasions to reconquer the position by fierce
counter-attacks.

On July 15, a terrific bombardment was opened on the village. The
ruined houses collapsed, fires broke out, and most of the shelters,
including those under the cellars, were smashed in. The attack followed
in the evening. Leaving Péronne by the Faubourg de Paris, the Germans,
favoured by fog, slipped along the banks of the canal and reached the
French first lines, which they attacked with liquid fire.

One section, surrounded with flames, gave way. Taking advantage
of this, the enemy slipped into the village and, after a violent
engagement, conquered the greater part of it, only to be driven out
again the next day by a counter-attack, during which the French won
back all the lost ground.

[Illustration: BIACHES. THE PLACE DE LA MAIRIE IN 1916.]

In the evening of July 17, the enemy made another powerful effort.
Supported by heavy batteries posted above Péronne on Mont-Saint-Quentin
Hill, which kept up an uninterrupted fire, the Germans again entered
Biaches and captured it. The struggle continued throughout the next day
in the ruins of the village with varying fortune, and it was only on
the 19th that the enemy were definitely driven out.

Further counter-attacks were launched afterwards, but met with no
better success. From July 17, 1916, till March, 1917, the French and,
later, the British maintained their lines intact in front of Péronne,
on the edge of the Somme Marshes.

On leaving Biaches, G.C. 1 rises towards Herbécourt. Looking back,
there is a very fine view of Biaches, Péronne and the valley
_(Panorama, pp. 116-117)_.

_3 km. 500 beyond Biaches, leave, on the left, the village of
=Flaucourt=_ (completely destroyed), which was carried by storm on July
3, 1916. _=Herbécourt= is 1 km. 500 farther on._

[Illustration: BIACHES. THE PLACE DE LA MAIRIE IN 1919.]

[Illustration: PANORAMA OF BIACHES AND PÉRONNE,

_as seen from the Biaches Herbécourt road_.]

At the entrance to the village, on the left, is a large German
cemetery, and on the right a house (almost intact) in which a German
dressing-station was installed. German frescoes may still be seen on
the walls _(photo, p. 117)_.

[Illustration: TRENCH ON THE HERBÉCOURT PLATEAU.]

After capturing Dompierre on July 1, 1916, the French advanced so
rapidly on Herbécourt that the Germans were unable to make use of
the numerous defence-works which had been accumulated between the
two villages. The hill overlooking Herbécourt was carried in a few
minutes, and on July 2, the village itself was entirely conquered.

[Illustration: HERBÉCOURT. HOUSE, PRACTICALLY UNDAMAGED, DECORATED BY
THE GERMANS WITH FRESCOES.

_It was used as a dressing-station._]

The French had thus advanced about 4 km. in depth, and the German
second line of resistance was broken into in front of Péronne (6 km.
to the east), _i.e._, at its weakest point.

[Illustration: HERBÉCOURT. RUINS OF THE CHURCH.]

Herbécourt commands a crossing of roads which branch off in various
directions. Rapid communication with the south of the plateau was now
possible by the road leading to the village of Assevillers (carried on
July 3) on the one hand, and with the Somme valley by the road which
ends at the bridges and highway of Feuillères (also captured on July 3).

[Illustration: ON LEAVING HERBÉCOURT--GERMAN BLOCKHOUSE AT THE CORNER
OF THE ROADS TO CAPPY _(on the right)_ AND DOMPIERRE _(on the left)_.]

[Illustration: GERMAN TRENCHES ON THE HERBÉCOURT PLATEAU.]

[Illustration: +FEUILLÈRES CHURCH AND VILLAGE+ _(not in Itinerary)_.

_On the canal between Frise and Biaches, they were violently bombarded
in 1916._]

The brick and rubble houses of Herbécourt stood at this cross-roads.
Nothing remains of them now, except a few walls, beams and fragments of
the timber frameworks of the battered farm-houses.

The façade, steeple and roofing of the church were destroyed. Only
a few battered fragments of the sides, walls, and choir are still
standing.

_Leave Herbécourt by the G.C. 71._ A blockhouse for machine-guns is
seen on the left, near the last ruins.

_The road runs across a bare plateau, then passes through the destroyed
hamlet of =Becquincourt=, after which =Dompierre= is reached._

Dompierre was the central point in the zone of attack on July 1, 1916.
It was carried on the first day, after a brilliant assault, together
with the neighbouring hamlet of Becquincourt and Bussus farm, to the
south. The German system of defence-works comprised three successive
lines of trenches connected with one another by communication trenches,
and reinforced with redoubts and concrete shelters for machine-guns.
Here were to be found the "Gatz" trench, and the "Misery" and "Thirst"
communication-trenches. The bombardment which preceded the attack was
terrific, the whole area being upturned by the shells; not a single
square yard of the ground was left intact.

[Illustration]

The village was not spared by the bombardments; most of the houses were
reduced to shapeless heaps of bricks and broken beams. The site of the
church is marked by a heap of white stones, higher than the others.

_After passing through Dompierre, take the road to Fay, on the left._

The ruined =sugar-refinery= of Dompierre _is on the right, 200 yards
farther on (photos, p. 121)_.

The Dompierre Sugar Refinery was within the French first lines, but
the village itself, although close by, was still in enemy hands. The
Germans attacked the refinery for two years, without being able to
capture it. It was, however, cut to pieces by the shells. The brick
walls crumbled away, but the steel frame-work resisted. Numbers of
twisted and rusty pipes, iron plates, cocks and vats, all disjointed,
broken, and out of shape, are still to be seen.

_Quite close to, at a crossroad, stands_ a calvary which is now famous.
The ground all around was churned up by the shells; only one hit the
calvary, carrying away an arm of Christ. The cross remained intact,
and supported the mutilated statue to the last.

[Illustration: DOMPIERRE. THE SUGAR REFINERY IN 1916.]

_Pass through =Fay=, 2 km. 500 farther on._

In the neighbouring sector of Dompierre, mine explosions succeeded one
another almost incessantly at Fay, during the trench warfare period,
especially in 1915-1916; the official communiqués often mentioned this
fighting as being extremely violent.

The French and German trenches ran along the western outskirts of the
village and were protected by very powerful defence-works, difficult to
approach in the open. Recourse was, therefore, to mines.

The Somme offensive put an end to these sanguinary engagements, which
had brought about no great change in the French or German positions.
Fay, completely razed, was carried on July 1.

_Among the ruins, the road turns at right-angles to the left (leave the
Estrées road to the right). 3 km. beyond Fay, =Assevillers=, built on a
hill_ and entirely destroyed, _is reached_.

[Illustration: DOMPIERRE. THE SUGAR REFINERY IN 1919.

_On the left: Road to Faucancourt; On the right: Road to Chuignes._]

_Pass through Assevillers, turning to the right, on entering. On
leaving, take the road to =Belloy-en-Santerre=, on the right._

Before reaching Belloy, the road descends into a hollow (see
defence-works and shelters), and skirts =Belloy Wood=, the trees of
which were cut to pieces by shell-fire. The wood lies on an eminence,
from the top of which are seen the ruins of a castle. Fine view towards
Biaches.


Capture of Belloy-en-Santerre

Debouching from Assevillers (carried on July 3, 1916) and progressing
north of Estrées, a number of French units reached the outskirts of
Belloy-en-Santerre on July 4; this village was powerfully fortified and
formed an important strong-point in the German second line defences.

[Illustration: +FAY VILLAGE, AS THE WAR LEFT IT, SEEN FROM THE
ASSEVILLERS ROAD+ _(Itinerary)_.

_On the left: Road to Estrées; In front: Road from Dompierre._]

That famous regiment, the Foreign Legion, whose flag is decorated with
the _Legion d'Honneur_, and whose innumerable exploits have won for it
many mentions in the Orders of the Army, was ordered on July 4, at 6
p.m., to carry the position immediately at the point of the bayonet.

Deployed in battle formation, they charged across a flat meadow 900
yards broad. When 300 yards from their objective, machine-guns hidden
in the path from Estrées to Belloy were suddenly unmasked, and a
deadly fire mowed down the French ranks. The 9th and 11th Companies
sustained particularly heavy losses, all the officers falling. One of
these companies reached the objective under the command of the mess
corporal. Belloy was captured and 750 Germans were taken prisoners.

[Illustration: BELLOY-EN-SANTERRE, SEEN FROM THE SITE OF THE CHURCH.

_In the middle: Road from Assevillers; At the back: Belloy Wood._]

The enemy immediately launched counter-attack upon counter-attack.
Terrible fighting went on throughout the night. In the early morning,
the Germans regained a footing in Belloy, and entered the park of the
Castle, where three sections of the Legion were surrounded.

A second-lieutenant received orders to restore the situation with the
remnants of a company. Posting his men along the Belloy-Barleux road
(G.C. 79), he cut the line of retreat of the Germans, who had entered
the park. The latter endeavoured to break through, with a detachment of
disarmed prisoners in their midst.

The lieutenant shouted to the prisoners to lie down, then ordered his
men to fire on the standing Germans. The latter surrendered, with the
exception of a handful who attempted to carry away a wounded French
officer. The newly-released prisoners, although unarmed, dashed to the
rescue of the commander and brought him back in triumph.

Belloy was almost entirely reconquered, and when in the evening a new
counter-attack was launched, their assaulting waves were literally
mowed down.

The terrific bombardments which took place before and after the capture
of Belloy-en-Santerre entirely annihilated the village.

The road at Belloy passes by a large French cemetery and, a little
further on, the ruins of the church. _Take a newly-made road leading
to the Amiens-St. Quentin road. Turn to the right, towards Estrées
(3 km.)_ and pass _(on the right)_, a British then a large French
cemetery. _=Estrées= is next reached._

[Illustration: MILITARY CEMETERY TO THE EAST OF ESTRÉES.]


Estrées

This village was built along the wide road (an old Roman causeway)
which runs from Amiens to Vermand, and thence to Saint-Quentin (G.C.
201). This absolutely straight road formed the separation line between
the Chaulnes sector and the Somme battlefield properly so-called, where
the Franco-British attack began on July 1, 1916, and which extended
along both banks of the Somme, as far as the small river Ancre.

Estrées was one of the points where the fighting, begun on July 1, was
most violent.

The French, whose first-lines at the time ran east of Foucourt,
carried the advance trenches which covered Estrées, along the
Amiens--St.-Quentin road, after most desperate fighting, and finally
gained a footing in the village.

The photograph opposite shows the condition of the road after its
capture by the French; the causeway had disappeared and, on the
shell-torn ground there were hardly any traces left of the German
trenches which had everywhere fallen in.

[Illustration: ESTRÉES. SITE OF THE CEMETERY IN AUGUST, 1916.]

Estrées village had to be captured house by house. On the evening of
July 4, after three days' fighting, the Germans held only the eastern
part of the village. For the next twenty days, about 200 of them hung
on desperately to it, holding back the assailants with machine-guns
posted in the cellars, which fired through the narrow vent-holes. To
overcome this resistance, which prevented all advance north or south,
it was necessary to sacrifice these houses, and for six consecutive
hours 9-in., 11-in., and 15-in. shells pounded this small area. Only
fifteen survivors were found in the ruined foundations; the rest of the
German garrison had been wiped out.

[Illustration: THE AMIENS ST. QUENTIN ROAD IN SATYRES WOOD, WEST OF
ESTRÉES (1916).]

This terrible struggle utterly destroyed the village. Its site and
the surrounding land form a chaotic waste; all traces of the former
landmarks have disappeared.

_Keep along G.C. 201, towards Amiens._ The remains of =Satyres Wood=
are in a hollow of the road, about 1 km. beyond Estrées.


Satyres Wood

The remains of this once fine wood extend from this point of the road
to the village of Fay, 1,500 yards to the right. From 1914 to 1916 it
formed part of the German first-line defence-works, and was covered
with entrenchments of all kinds.

On July 1, 1916, the French carried the whole wood, promptly
re-organised the defence-works, and used them against their former
occupants.

[Illustration: A CORNER OF SATYRES WOOD.]

[Illustration: SATYRES WOOD.

_The German Post of Commandment seen in the photograph below, is under
this road._]

Numerous cottages and shelters hidden by the trees were used as billets
by the enemy troops in this sector. The officers occupied a special
quarter. A large signboard with the inscription, "Durchgang nur für
Offiziere," interdicted its access to the common soldiers. All the
shelters were spacious and comfortably furnished with beds, tables,
armchairs, hangings, chandeliers, and even pianos--all taken from the
neighbouring villages. Some of the cottages were decorated outside, and
sometimes bore inscriptions like the following, carved on the door of a
post of commandment:--

    "Macht Joffre auch ein böses Gesicht
    Hier treffen uns seine Granaten nicht."

    (Joffre may roll his eyes: his shells cannot reach us here.)

Tho French soldiers called this wood "Satyres Wood," as they found
women's clothing in various places.

[Illustration: SATYRES WOOD. GERMAN POST OF COMMANDMENT UNDER THE ROAD
_(see above)_.]

[Illustration: DENIÉCOURT WOOD AT SUNSET.]

_Return to the entrance to Estrées, and take the road on the right to
=Deniécourt=. On entering the village, take on foot the small road
on the right to =the ruins of Deniécourt Château=_, situated in a
devastated park.

Deniécourt village lies about 2 km. (by road) east of =Soyécourt=.
Across the fields, the distance is shorter, and it was covered in
a single rush on the day Soyécourt was captured, after which the
advance was stayed. The second German line ran through Deniécourt,
which was fortified accordingly. The most important defence-works were
those around the château, which latter formed the key of the whole
position. Deep shelters had been made under the château itself and
also in the surrounding park. The whole formed an inextricable maze of
trenches, fortified works, machine-gun posts, traps and barbed-wire
entanglements, which had to be reduced by shell-fire. The castle was
razed to the ground, the defences in the park destroyed and the ground
levelled.

On the day of attack, the fighting was none the less desperate in the
neighbourhood, and afterwards inside the village. The French advance
was several times held by furious counter-attacks, and it was only on
September 18 that the whole position could be surrounded and carried,
after several days of bitter fighting. Of Deniécourt village, château
and park, not a stone or a tree remained.

_Return to the car and take the road already followed (G.C. 164)
back to the fork (300 yards north of the village), then the road to
=Soyécourt= (G.C. 79), on the left._ At the entrance to Soyécourt the
ruins of a château--of which only the base of one tower remains--will
be seen on the left.

[Illustration: SOYÉCOURT CHURCH IN 1916.]

For nearly two years the French first lines ran close to the western
outskirts of this village, which lies at the bottom of a ravine. On
several occasions the communiqués mentioned sharp fighting around here,
which was, however, merely of local importance.

It was only on September 4, 1916, that decisive fighting took place
here, when the French, after a long and terrific bombardment, carried
the village in a single rush, and progressed beyond it in the direction
of Deniécourt.

_Leaving Soyécourt, keep along G.C. 79 to =Vermandovillers= (2 km.)._

On September 4, 1916, the village was attacked from the east and north.
Progress was slow, and marked by fierce fighting from house to house.
Vermandovillers was only captured in its entirety on September 17.

_At the fork in the village, take the left-hand road (G.C. 143) to
=Chaulnes=._

[Illustration: VERMANDOVILLERS.]

[Illustration: CHAULNES WOOD. GERMAN BLOCKHOUSE.]


Chaulnes

=Chaulnes Wood= is crossed 1 km. this side of Chaulnes. Violent
attacks were delivered by the French in the vicinity of this wood. The
large number of soldiers' graves along both sides of the road form an
impressive sight.

_Several hundred yards beyond the fork formed in the road by the
junction with G.C. 206 coming from Lihons, turn to the left, and
enter =Chaulnes=_ in front of the ruins of the large eighteenth
century church. A few fragments of crumbling walls are all that remain
_(photos, p. 130)_.

Chaulnes, the chief town of one of the "cantons" in the "Département"
of the Somme, was situated at the junction of several railroads. In
1914, the Germans turned the place into a fortress, and made it the
chief strong-point of their system of defence-works south of the Somme.
Traces of the powerful fortifications--the first lines of which were
only carried in 1916--may still be seen along and near G.C. 206, amidst
the churned-up ground.

[Illustration: CHAULNES WOOD. FRENCH MILITARY GRAVES.]

[Illustration: CHAULNES CHURCH.]

The village was flanked on the north and north-west by dense woods,
which were entirely destroyed by the bombardments. These woods were
full of fortified works, trenches and posts for machine-guns, protected
by wire entanglements.

On September 4, 1916, the French reached the outskirts of these woods,
but failed in their attempts to carry them entirely. The Germans
maintained themselves there till March, 1917, on positions sufficiently
strong to allow them to hold Chaulnes, this village being outflanked
everywhere else.

Chaulnes was occupied only when the Germans fell back upon the
Hindenburg Line. The British having relieved the French troops during
the winter of 1916, from the Somme to the Avre, entered the place
almost without striking a blow on March 18, 1917.

[Illustration: CHAULNES. GENERAL VIEW OF THE TOWN.]

The Germans recaptured Chaulnes in March, 1918. On August 8 of the same
year--their front having been pierced before Amiens--they were forced
to evacuate the Montdidier "pocket" and to retreat to the outskirts of
Chaulnes. They reoccupied their positions of the trench warfare period,
and the remains of their ancient defence-works were still strong enough
to enable them to hold up the British pursuit. The town was only
carried on August 28, after being surrounded.

[Illustration: CHAULNES. THE CHÂTEAU.]

Chaulnes was razed to the ground. The low brick-and-rubble houses which
lined the wide straight streets sheltered a population of about 1,250
inhabitants. Very few of them escaped total destruction.

_Return along the same road by which Chaulnes was entered and follow it
to the junction of G.C. 143 with G.C. 206, at the exit of the town._
The ruins of the =château= are seen on the left, near the fork.

This sumptuous château was built in the seventeenth century by the de
Luynes family, for whose benefit Chaulnes was raised to the rank of
a duchy-peerage in 1621. Madame de Sévigné stayed there in 1689, and
extolled its magnificence and grandeur. It was surrounded by a vast
park, which she compared to that of Versailles.

[Illustration: CHAULNES. THE CHÂTEAU PARK.

_In the foreground: Fragment of the entrance gate between the graves of
two German officers._]

The outbuildings were still standing when the late war broke out;
to-day they form a shapeless accumulation of _débris_. The park was
entirely cut up with German entrenchments, of which only a few concrete
machine-gun posts and underground shelters with concrete entrances
remain. The fine old trees of the park were reduced by the shells to
mutilated stumps.

Near the entrance-gate of the château is a powerful system
of defence-works, consisting of a machine-gun blockhouse and
inter-communicating underground shelters, the entrances to which may be
seen near the side of the road.

_After visiting the château, keep along G.C. 206, towards Lihons._

_Skirt the southern end of Chaulnes Wood_, near which, on either side
of the road, are two powerful concrete blockhouses and other German
defence-works.

_=Lihons= (3 km. beyond Chaulnes) is next reached._

Lying at an important junction of several roads, Lihons was already in
enemy hands when the front-line trenches were made.

Starting from Rosières-en-Santerre at the end of October, 1914,
the French first reached and carried Lihons after a series of
fierce engagements, then progressed beyond it, in the direction of
Chaulnes (only 3 km. distant). For more than a month the Germans
counter-attacked almost daily, in an endeavour to reconquer the lost
trenches, but were each time repulsed.

Exasperated by their failure, they then bombarded the town without
respite, and when the Allied Offensive of 1916 began this shelling was
further intensified.

[Illustration: ENTRANCE TO GERMAN SHELTER AND BLOCKHOUSE IN THE CHÂTEAU
PARK.]

Lihons, a small country town, the streets of which--bordered with low
houses--ran in all directions from a large, central square, was quickly
reduced to ruins. The houses fell down one after the other, and the
church suffered irreparable damage.

The church was one of considerable interest. The choir, transept and
lower part of the tower, built at the intersection of the transept,
were finely proportioned and dated from the thirteenth century. The
other parts of the building were fifteenth century.

In July, 1916, the church had already lost its tower, roof and
vaulting, but the outside walls, the pillars separating the three naves
and the three gables of the main façade were still standing. Three
months later nothing was left but fragments of broken walls, amidst a
shapeless accumulation of _débris (photos, p. 133)_.

[Illustration: LIHONS CHURCH BEFORE THE WAR.]

[Illustration: LIHONS CHURCH IN 1916.]

[Illustration: LIHONS CHURCH IN 1919.

_On the left: The road to Vermandovillers._]

Further fighting took place in the ruins of Lihons in 1918.
On August 8, British troops, starting from the region of
Villers-Bretonneux--Hangard, reached Lihons on the 10th. Preceded
by light tanks, armoured cars and cavalry patrols, the Australians
immediately entered the village, drove out the enemy and captured a
complete Divisional staff. It was in vain that the Germans launched
numerous counter-attacks in an endeavour to recapture the village and
clear the approaches to Chaulnes, where they attempted to establish
their lines of resistance. They could only delay the British advance
for a few days.

_At Lihons, leave the Vermandovillers road (G.C. 79) on the right and
take that on the left. Turn to the right, in the village, leave the
church on the right, and take the Vauvillers road (G.C. 206) on the
left._

_At the fork, about 500 yards beyond Lihons, leave the left-hand
road to Rosières, and take that on the right (still G.C. 206)._ This
road skirts a small wood, on the right, in which are many graves and
gun-emplacements. _The village of =Rosières-en-Santerre= comes into
view, on the left._

_At the crossing of several roads, 3 km. beyond Lihons, take the
newly-made road on the right to Herleville._ The large French "Camp des
Chasseurs" cemetery _(photo below) is on the left, about 1 km. this
side of the village of =Herleville=_ (completely devastated), _which is
next reached_.

_At the entrance to the village_, a "calvary" is passed, of which
nothing remains but the stumps of four large trees. _Keep straight on
through the ruined village to the G.C. 201_ (main road from Amiens
to Péronne), _1 km. beyond it. Turn to the left and return direct to
Amiens via =Lamotte-en-Santerre= and =Villers-Bretonneux=_, both of
which villages were badly damaged during the fighting of 1918.

_A short distance before Longueau, G.C. 201 joins N. 35, which take to
the right. Amiens is entered by the Chaussée Périgord._

[Illustration: THE CAMP DES CHASSEURS CEMETERY.]




ALPHABETICAL LIST OF THE PLACES MENTIONED IN THIS WORK.

    The figures in heavy type indicate the pages on which there are
                            illustrations.

        PAGES

  Ablaincourt      27
  Albert      31, =32=, =33=, =34=, =35=
  Amiens      31, 66
  Anderlu Wood      20
  Assevillers      16, 118, 121
  Aveluy      38, =39=
  Avesnes-les-Bapaume      56


  Baillescourt Farm      42
  Bapaume      14, 24, =28=, =54-57=
  Barleux      16, 26, 27, 28
  Bazentin le-Grand      18, 62
  Bazentin-le-Petit      18, 20, 62
  Beaucourt      23, 41, 42
  Beaumont-Hamel      15, 23, 40, =41=
  Becquincourt      16, 120
  Belloy      16, 122, =123=
  Berny      26, 27
  Beugnâtre      56
  Biaches      16, 26, =112=, =113-116=
  Bouchavesnes      21, 22, 25, 90, =91=
  Bouleaux Wood      84
  Bovent      27
  Bray      67, =68=
  Bussus Farm      120


  Cappy      =69=
  Carnoy      64
  Chaulnes      26, 27, 28, 128, =129-131=
  Chilly      26
  Cléry      19, 20, =76=, =77=
  Combles      11, 20, 22, 79, =80=, =81=, =82=, =83=, =84=
  Contalmaison      15, 18, 62, =64=, =65=
  Corbie      =66=
  Courcelette      11, 22, 23, 43, =44=
  Curlu      16, 74, =75=


  Delville Wood      =19=, 20, =60=
  Deniécourt      26, 27, =127=
  Destremont Farm      24
  Dompierre      16, 116, 120, =121=


  Eaucourt      24
  Eclusier      70
  Estrées       16, 123, =124-125=


  Fargny Mill      =73=, =74=
  Fay      16, 121, =122=
  Feuillancourt      21, 24, 93
  Feuillères      118, =119=
  Flaucourt      16, 115
  Flers      22, 58, =59=
  Foucourt      124
  Fouilloy      60
  Foureaux Wood      22, 62
  Frégicourt      21, 22, 81
  Fricourt      14, 15, 64, 65
  Frise      16, =70=, =71=, =72=


  Gendarme's Hat      =74=
  Ginchy      =4=, 18, 20, 83, =86=
  Gommécourt      14, 15
  Grandcourt       24
  Grévillers      24, 55
  Gueudecourt      22
  Guillemont      11, 18, 19, 20, 83, =84=


  Hamel      39
  Hardecourt      16, 79, 83
  Hem      16, 18, =75=
  Herbécourt      16, 115, =116-119=
  Herleville      134
  Hill 107      68


  Irles      24


  Labbé Farm      24
  La Boisselle      14, 15, =36=, =37=
  La Maisonnette      10, 26, 27, 28, =109=
  Lamotte-en-Santerre      134
  Lassigny      23, 28
  Le Forest      20
  Leipzig Redoubt      23, 48
  Le Priez Farm      21
  Le Sars      24, 50, 51
  Lesbœufs      22, 82, 87
  Le Transloy      24, =87=
  Leuze Wood      20, 84
  Ligny-Thilloy      24, 58
  Lihons      20, 132, =133=
  Longueau      66, 134
  Longueval      11, 18, 19, 60, =61=
  Loupart Wood      24, 54, 56


  Mametz      14, 15, 62, 64
  Maricourt      14, 16
  Marrières Wood      20, 21
  Martinpuich      11, 22, 23, 44, =45=, 62
  Maurepas      19, 20, =78=, =79=
  Méréaucourt Wood      16, 72
  Miraumont      24, =42=, =43=, =44=
  Monacu Farm      17, 76
  Mont St. Quentin      25, =93=, =94=, =95=, =96=
  Montauban      14, 15, 18, 62, =63=
  Morval      22, 24, 82
  Mouquet Farm      23, 48


  Noyon      28


  Omiécourt      24, 25, 26, 27
  Ovillers      14, 37, 38, =136=


  Péronne      16, 25, 28, 96, =97=, =99=, =108=, =136=
  Petit-Blangy      66
  Pont-Noyelles      31
  Pozières      18, 19, 23, 46, =47=
  Pressoire      27
  Pys      24, 43


  Rancourt      21, 22, 25, 81, 90, =91=
  Roye      27, 28


  Sailly-le-Sec      =67=
  Sailly-Saillisel      25, =88=, =89=
  St. Pierre-Divion      23, 40
  St. Pierre-Vaast      25, 82, 90
  Sars      =50=, =51=
  Satyres Wood      125, =126=
  Schwaben Redoubt      23, 49
  Serre      15, 40
  Soyécourt      16, 26, =128=
  Stuff Redoubt      23, 49


  Thiepval      15, 18, 20, 23, 40, 48, =49=, =50=
  Thilloy      58
  Tortille Valley      21
  Trônes Wood      15, 18, =19=, 84, =85=


  Vaux      70, =73=
  Villers-Bretonneux      135
  Villers-Carbonnel      28
  Vermandovillers      =6=, 26, 27, =128=


  Warlencourt      24, 51, =52=, =53=


  Zollern Redoubt      23, 49

[Illustration: OVILLERS-LA-BOISSELLE, THE CHURCH _(p. 38)_.]




CONTENTS


                                                                     PAGES

  +The Franco-British Offensive+                                         2

  +The Somme Battlefields+                                           10-30


  A VISIT TO THE BATTLEFIELDS.

  +First Day+                                                        31-65

  Albert                                                                32
  Thiepval                                                              48
  Bapaume                                                               54
  Contalmaison                                                          65

  +Second Day+                                                      66-134

  Corbie                                                                66
  Frise                                                                 70
  Vaux                                                                  73
  Combles                                                               80
  Trônes Wood                                                           84
  Mont St. Quentin                                                      93
  Péronne                                                               97
  Biaches                                                              113
  Belloy-en-Santerre                                                   122
  Estrées                                                              124
  Chaulnes                                                             129

[Illustration: PÉRONNE CHÂTEAU _(p. 107)_.]

       *       *       *       *       *

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                        XXI Bis, 1-2,133-3-2020.

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    Transcriber's Notes:


    Silently corrected simple spelling, grammar, and typographical
    errors.

    Retained anachronistic and non-standard spellings as printed.

    Enclosed italics markup in _underscores_.

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