Title: The Somme, Volume 2. The Second Battle of the Somme (1918)
Author: Cie, Michelin &
Language: English
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  ILLUSTRATED MICHELIN GUIDES
  TO THE BATTLE-FIELDS (1914-1918)


  THE
  SOMME

  VOLUME 2.
  THE SECOND BATTLE OF THE SOMME
  (1918)
  (AMIENS, MONTDIDIER, COMPIÈGNE)


  MICHELIN & C^{IE}--CLERMONT-FERRAND.
  MICHELIN TYRE C^O L^{TD}--81, FULHAM ROAD, LONDON, S. W
  MICHELIN TIRE C^O--MILLTOWN. N.J. U.S.A.



HOTELS


AMIENS

  Hôtel du Rhin, 4, _rue de Noyon_. Tel. 44.
  Belfort-Hôtel, 42, _rue de Noyon_. Tel. 649.
  Hôtel de l'Univers, 2, _rue de Noyon_. Tel. 2.51.
  Hôtel de la Paix, 15, _rue Duméril_. Tel. 9.21.
  Hôtel de l'Ecu de France, 51, _place René-Goblet_. Tel. 3.37.

[Illustration:

  Hôtel de la
  Paix

  H. de l'Ecu
  de France

  Hôtel de
  l'Univers

  Hôtel du
  Rhin

  Belfort
  Hôtel
]


COMPIÈGNE

  Hôtel du Rond-Royal, _av. Thiers_. I Rond-Royal. Tel. 4.15.
  Palace-Hôtel, _place du Palais_. I Palace, Tel. 1.15.
  Hôtel de la Cloche, 27, _place de l'Hôtel-de-Ville_. Tel. 0.85.
  Hôtel de Flandre, 2, _rue d'Amiens_. Tel. 36.

[Illustration:

  H. de Flandre
  Poste
  H. de la Cloche
  Palace-Hôtel
  H. du Rond-Royal
]


_The above information, extracted from the_ MICHELIN TOURIST GUIDE
(1920), _may no longer be exact when it meets the reader's eye.
Tourists are therefore recommended to consult the_ MICHELIN TOURING
OFFICES, _81, Fulham Rd., London. S.W. 3, or 99, Boulevard Pereire,
Paris, 17^e_.



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  IN MEMORY
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  WHO DIED GLORIOUSLY FOR THEIR COUNTRY.


  THE

  SOMME.

  VOLUME II.

  THE SECOND BATTLE OF THE SOMME

  (1918)

  AMIENS--MONTDIDIER--COMPIÈGNE.

  [Illustration]


  Compiled and published by
  MICHELIN & CIE., Clermont-Ferrand, France.


  _All rights of translation, adaptation or reproduction (in part or
  whole) reserved in all countries_


[Illustration: The Front Line, March 21, 1918.

THE BATTLEFIELD.]



THE SECOND BATTLE OF THE SOMME.


At different periods during the War, important events took place in the
Plains of Picardy, in the region which extends between Amiens and St.
Quentin, Bapaume and Noyon, between the valleys of the rivers Ancre,
Avre and Oise.

The Franco-British Offensive of July-September 1916, and the German
Retreat of March 1917, are described in the Michelin Guide "=The First
Battle of the Somme=, 1916-1917", which includes carefully prepared
itineraries, enabling the reader to cover the whole battlefield of that
period.

The present guide describes the operations which took place in Picardy
in March-April 1918 (=The German Offensive=), and in August 1918 (=The
Franco-British Offensive=); in a Word, the ebb and flow of the German
Armies in 1918, from St. Quentin to Montdidier.


THE BATTLEFIELD.

Driven from the banks of the Somme by the Franco-British Offensive of
1916, the Germans were compelled, in March 1917, to retreat, before the
menace of the Allied offensives on their flank.

They then established themselves on the Hindenburg Line, and in
1917, in consequence of British attacks in the Arras sector and
before Cambrai, they unceasingly increased the number of their
fortified lines. This redoubtable position stretched to the west of
the Cambrai-La Fère road, via Le Catelet and St. Quentin, utilising
a series of natural obstacles, the most important of which were the
Escaut, the St. Quentin Canal and the marshy valley of the Oise. (See
the Michelin Guide "=The Hindenburg Line=".)

But in the early days of 1918, having crushed Russia, Germany decided
to assume the offensive, using the Hindenburg positions as a kind of
spring-board, from which her mighty armies rushed forward to conquer
France.

In February 1918, the British positions extended in front of the
Hindenburg Line, as far as the village of Barisis, opposite the Forest
of St. Gobain, to the south of the Oise. Three successive positions,
widely separated from one another, had been actively strengthened.
Moreover, the water-lines of the marshy valley of the Oise, the Crozat
Canal, the loop in the Somme, and the North Canal, formed so many
natural obstacles.

The Picardian Plain, with its broad and gentle undulations, dotted here
and there with small woods, is closed, on the south, near the valley
of the Oise, by the wooded hills of Genlis, Frières and La Cave, and
to the west of the bend in the Oise, by the hills of Porquericourt
and the wooded _massif_ of Le Plémont, with its promontory, Mount
Renaud, to the south of Noyon. Further west, the high ground of
Boulogne-la-Grasse does not close the Plain of Santerre, which, between
the slopes of Le Plémont and Montdidier, communicates freely with the
Plain of Ile-de-France. The enclosed and wooded valleys of the rivers
Avre, Trois-Doms and Luce intersect the tablelands of Santerre. Further
north, stretches the old battlefield of 1916,--a chaotic waste of
winding trenches and barbed wire entanglements.

In the Picardian Plain, beyond the bounds of the old battlefield,
were numerous country villages, with their cottages grouped around
the church. The long, straight roads, bordered with fine elms or
fruit-trees, stretched as far as the eye could reach. This rich
and prosperous region, with its vast fields of corn and beet, was
completely ravaged by the War.


GENERAL VIEW OF THE SECOND BATTLE OF THE SOMME (1918).

The German Offensive: Formation of the Montdidier Pocket (March
21-April 24.)

[Illustration: _Disruption of the British Front (March 21-22.)._]

[Illustration: _Widening the Breach._]

[Illustration: _The fall of Montdidier (March 27.)._]

[Illustration: _The fixing of the new front-line._]

The Allied Offensive: Reducing the Pocket as far as the Hindenburg Line
(August 8-September 25.).

[Illustration: _The Offensive of August 8-12. Liberation of
Montdidier._]

[Illustration: _Combined Offensives on the Somme and Oise, August
18-29._]

[Illustration: _Combined Offensives on the Scarpe and Aisne, August
25-Sept. 8._]

[Illustration: _In contact with the Hindenburg Line (September
10-25)._]

[Illustration: GENERAL PÉTAIN.]

[Illustration: FIELD-MARSHAL HAIG.]

_In March 1918, the British and French Armies, under separate commands,
opposed the furious attacks of numerically superior and more powerfully
equipped enemy forces, grouped under the command of a single chief:
Ludendorff._



THE GERMAN OFFENSIVE OF MARCH 21.

The Opposing Forces--Their Material and Moral Strength.

Towards the end of 1917, the abandonment of the Allies, by Russia, was
consummated by the Russo-German Armistice of December 20, followed by
the Peace of Brest-Litowsk, of February 9, 1918. As early as November
1917, Germany began to transfer her legions from the eastern to the
western front. Arriving, via Belgium, in ever-increasing numbers,
sixty-four new divisions were thus added to her Western Armies, already
one hundred and forty-one divisions strong, giving a total strength of
205 German divisions against the Allies' 177 divisions.

The material resources, accumulated on the Russian front, were likewise
transferred to the western front. The enemy's artillery was reinforced
all along the line, the number of heavy batteries being doubled in many
of the sectors.

[Illustration: LUDENDORFF.

_From General Buat's_ "LUDENDORFF" (_Publishers: Payot. Paris._)]

Besides this numerical and material superiority, Germany possessed
the additional advantage of a unique commander: Ludendorff, master
of the hour, at once absolute military chief and political dictator.
On the other hand, whilst the Allies were closely united by cordial
friendship, sealed on the field of battle, their armies were
independant units, separately commanded, each having its own reserves
concentrated behind its particular front.

[Illustration: GENERAL PÉTAIN AMONG HIS "POILUS"]

On February 3, 1917, the United States of America ranged themselves on
the side of the Allies, but their eventually powerful effort could not
make itself seriously felt before the summer of 1918. In March 1918,
four American divisions were in France, and a million more men were
expected by the following Autumn, but the Germans were convinced that
they would have the Allies beaten before then.

The moral strength of the opposing forces constituted one of the most
important factors of victory.

During 1917, after the Allies' Spring Offensives, a wave of lassitude
had lowered the fighting spirit of certain units of the French Army.
However, the _morale_ of the French Army had fully regained its former
high level, when the great German offensive of March 1918 was launched.

The British Army had in the meantime perfected its training, and
acquired, in addition to experience, splendid fighting qualities.

The Germans, badly shaken in 1916 by their failure at Verdun and by
the Allies' Offensive on the Somme, had, in consequence of Russia's
collapse, recovered all their former arrogant confidence and pride.

But the Allies' blockade, despite Germany's ruthless submarine warfare,
tightened, and each day the menace of famine increased.

Triumphal announcements of victory, and promises of an early German
peace appeared periodically in their press, yet still the war dragged
on. Something had to be done to end it all, whatever the cost, and so
the "Peace Offensive" was decided on.

Although inferior in numbers and equipment, the Allies had acquired
moral superiority.

[Illustration: DRIVEN FROM HOME BY THE GERMAN PUSH. (_Photo Imperial
War Museum_).]


The German Strategy and Tactics.

In all the previous offensives, especially that of the Somme in 1916,
the artillery had been used, prior to the attack, to destroy the
adversary's defences. The great number of fortified works and their
ever increasing strength necessitated a proportionately longer and more
intense artillery preparation. Thus warned, the enemy were able to make
dispositions to counteract the effects of the attack, and to bring up
reinforcements.

Moreover, the tremendous pounding of the ground greatly hampered the
advance of the storming troops, who were hindered at every step by the
enormous shell-holes and craters.

Breaking away from past errors, and adopting and perfecting the methods
inaugurated the previous year before Riga, the German High Command
attacked by surprise, in March 1918, thereby securing a crushing
numerical superiority. The Allies were thrown into confusion, and
all attempts at resistance were unavailing, until the arrival of the
reserves. During this period of complete demoralisation, the enemy were
able to exploit their initial success to the full.

The method employed was that of a sudden, violent shock, preceded by a
short artillery preparation, mostly with smoke and gas shells, the aim
of which was to put the men out of action, rather than to crush the
defences. To this end, huge concentrations of troops were effected, in
such wise that the masses of men could be thrown quickly and secretly
at the presumed weak part of the Allies' front.

The semi-circular disposition of the front facilitated the enemy's
task, as the German reserves, grouped in the Hirson-Mézières region,
in the centre of the semi-circle, could be used with the same rapidity
against any part of the front-line from Flanders to Champagne.

The point chosen by Ludendorff was the junction of the Franco-British
Armies. To separate these two groups, by driving back the British, on
the right, and the French, on the left; to exploit the initial success
in the direction of the sea, isolating the British and forcing them
back upon their naval bases of Calais and Dunkirk; then, having crushed
the British, to concentrate the whole of his efforts against the
French, who, unsupported and demoralized, would soon be driven to their
knees,--such was apparently the strategical conception of the enemy's
"Kaiserschlacht" or "Emperor's Battle".


The Opposing Forces.

On March 21, three German armies attacked along a 54-mile front, from
the Scarpe to the Oise.

In the north, the XVIIth Army (von Below) and the IInd Army (von
Marwitz) attacked on either side of the Cambrai salient, but the main
effort was made by the XVIIIth Army (von Hutier), which stretched from
the north of St. Quentin to the Oise.

[Illustration]

Facing these armies were: the right of the British 3rd Army (Byng),
extending from the Scarpe to Gouzeaucourt, and the British 5th. Army
(Gough), from Gouzeaucourt to south of the Oise.

The British expected the brunt of the attack to fall between the river
Sensée and the Bapaume-Cambrai road, i.e. on the right of Byng's Army,
which was reinforced accordingly, whilst the sector in front of the
Oise, south of St. Quentin, against which von Hutier's huge army had
been concentrated, was only held by 4 divisions.

More than 500,000 Germans were about to attack the 160,000 British
under Gough and Byng, whilst from the outset of the battle, large enemy
reserves swelled the number of the attacking divisions to 64, i.e.,
more than the total number of British divisions in France. In all, no
less than 1,150,000 Germans were engaged in these tremendous onslaughts.

During the five nights which preceded the attack, the German divisions
had been brought up secretly, the artillery having previously taken up
its positions and corrected its range, without augmenting the volume of
firing, so that nothing revealed the increased number of the batteries.

The shock troops, after several weeks of intensive training, were
brought up by night marches to the points of attack. During the day,
they were kept out of sight in the woods or villages. At night, whether
on the march or bivouacking, lights and fires were strictly forbidden.
Aeroplanes hovered above the columns to see that these orders were
carried out. The ammunition parks and convoys were concealed in the
woods. Until the last moment, the troops and most of the officers were
kept in ignorance of their destination.

These huge forces moving silently under the cover of night,
symbolized the enemy's might and cunning. "_It is strange_", wrote a
German officer in his note-book, "_to think of these huge masses of
troops--all Germany on the march--moving westward to-night_".



THE BATTLE.


On March 21, during this, the "Einbruch" or piercing stage, the
enormous enemy mass crushed, in less than 48 hours, the three British
positions situated in front of St. Quentin. Carrying the battle into
the open country beyond, the enemy transformed the "piercing" into a
break-through ("Durchbruch").

This sudden, powerful thrust was followed by a "tidal wave" of German
infantry which at first submerged all before it, but which, dammed by
degrees, finally spent itself, a week later, against the Allies' new
front.


THE DISRUPTION OF THE BRITISH FRONT.

On March 21, at daybreak (4.40 a.m.) a violent cannonade broke out,
and for five hours the intensity of this drum-fire steadily increased.

First, a deluge of shells, mostly gas, pounded the British batteries,
some of which were silenced. Then the bombardment ploughed up the first
positions, spreading dense clouds of gas and fumes over a wide zone.


"Michael" hour.

Under cover of the smoke and fog, the German Infantry speedily crossed
No-Man's Land, and at 9.30 a.m. ("Michael" hour) penetrated the
British defences.

[Illustration: GENERAL GOUGH.

_Photo "Daily Mirror Studios"._]

[Illustration: GENERAL BYNG. _Photo Russell, London._]

The front assigned to each attacking division was only two kilometres
wide, the troops being formed into two storm columns of one regiment
each. The third regiment was kept as sector reserves, to develop
initial successes.

The storm-troops, led by large numbers of non-commissioned officers,
advanced in waves, shoulder-to-shoulder, preceded by a rolling barrage
some 300 yards ahead of the first line. This barrage afterwards moved
forward at the rate of about 200 yards every five minutes.

The waves advanced resolutely, protected first by the rolling barrage,
then by the accompanying artillery and _Minenwerfer_. Wherever the
resistance was too strong, a halt was made, allowing the neighbouring
waves to outflank the obstacle on either side, and crush it.

The Germans straightway threw the greatest possible mass of infantry
into the Allies' defences.

Amid clouds of gas, smoke and fog, the British in the advanced
positions were surrounded and overwhelmed, often before they had
realized what was happening.

Nearly all their machine-guns, posted to sweep the first zone, were put
out of action.


The First Day (March 21).

The first day of the attack, General Byng's Army from
Fontaine-les-Croisilles to Demicourt, withstood the shock steadily, the
Germans penetrating the first lines only.

In the centre, before St. Quentin, and to the south, in front of
Moy and La Fère, General Gough's Army, overwhelmed by numbers, and
notwithstanding the courage of the men, was broken early in the attack.

Opposite Le Catelet, the enemy storm divisions advanced 6 to 8
kilometres, penetrating at noon the second-line positions along the
Epéhy-Le Verguier line. Further south, in front of Moy, they reached
Essigny-Fargnières.

General Gough withdrew his right behind the water-line of the Crozat
and Somme Canals.

[Illustration: _The Disruption of the Front. March 21-22._]


The Second Day--March 22.

Tergnier fell, and the water-line was turned from the right. Still
favoured by the fog, the Germans crossed the Crozat Canal. Fresh
divisions harassed the British without respite, the losses, both in men
and material, being very heavy.

Their reserves, greatly outnumbered, were quickly submerged, and the
third positions were lost after a desperate but ineffectual resistance.

In spite of its stubborn resistance, the 3rd Army (Byng) was forced to
fall back, pivoting on its left, to line up with the retreating 5th
Army (Gough).

The enemy advance developed rapidly. Within forty-eight hours, over 60
German divisions (750,000 men) had been thrown into the battle, which
now raged in the open.


THE INTERVENTION OF THE FRENCH.

[Illustration: _Arrival of the first French Divisions. (March 22)._

_Humbert's Army barring the road to Paris. (March 24)._

_Debeney's Army holding the enemy on the west. (March 28)._

PHASES OF THE FRENCH INTERVENTION.]

The crushing of the right and centre of the British 5th Army opened a
large breach north of the Oise, through which, as early as March 21,
the Germans streamed south and west. The situation was critical, as the
enemy hordes, having broken through the fortified zone, threatened to
submerge all before them. Prompt intervention was imperative, in order
to retard the enemy at all cost.

[Illustration: GENERAL PELLÉ REVIEWING THE TROOPS OF THE 5TH CORPS IN
1917.]

As early as the evening of the 21st, General Pétain made dispositions
to support the British right. The 9th and 10th Div. (5th Corps) and the
1st Div. of unmounted Cuirassiers (Pellé), in reserve near Compiègne,
received orders to hold themselves in readiness. At the same time, the
staff of Gen. Fayolle's Army Group, and that of Gen. Humbert's Army,
prepared to take over the direction of the operations.

The 125th Inf. Div. was pushed forward to the Oise, whilst the
22nd, 62nd, and 1st. Cavalry. Divn. (Robillot's Group) were rapidly
despatched to the weak points of the battle line.

This newly formed group was placed under the command of Gen. Robillot
of the 2nd Cavalry Corps.

Rushed up in lorries, the first French divisions were thrown into the
thick of the battle without waiting for their artillery. Heroism often
made good the lack of equipment and munitions.


THE BATTLE OF DISRUPTION.

Once the fortified zone crossed, the German armies pushed westward
rapidly.

On March 23, the French Cavalry Divisions were engaged, with their
armoured cars and groups of cyclists. Thanks to their great mobility,
the situation was repeatedly saved. Galloping from breach to breach,
the Cavalry, dismounting, stayed the enemy advance until the arrival of
the infantry.

The armoured cars raided the enemy's lines unceasingly and harassed
their troops with machine-gun fire. They were also used for bringing
up supplies to the first-line troops and for maintaining the different
liaisons. Their splendid work, with that of the Cyclist Corps, greatly
helped to stay the enemy thrust.

The retreat of the British was also covered by detachments of cavalry,
mounted artillery, armoured cars and tanks, which vigorously attacked
the assaillants.

The Air Service likewise rendered invaluable aid.

On the evening of the 22nd, General Pétain gave orders for every
available bombing plane to be used to retard the enemy advance, until
reinforcements could be brought up. The air squadrons met a few hours
later at the assigned point, some of them having flown ninety miles. On
the way, they dropped their loads of bombs on German troops which were
crossing the Somme, north of Ham, thereby retarding the advance of two
enemy divisions which were preparing to outflank the British.

On the 23rd, at noon, a hundred aeroplanes, skimming just over the
Germans' heads, wrought indescribable havoc and confusion in their
ranks. Priceless hours were thus gained.

[Illustration: THE EFFECTS OF AERIAL BOMBARDMENT.

_Photographed in the Ardennes, in October 1918. A German munition
train, bombed by aeroplanes, blew up, destroying the line and the
artillery limbers which were being loaded. The dead horses and broken
limbers are plainly visible. One may imagine the ravage caused by the
Allies' aerial bombardments among the enemy concentrations in the
Somme._]


Crossing the Water-line of the Crozat Canal, Somme and Tortille (March
23-24).

[Illustration]

Whilst Byng's Army withstood the enemy's onslaughts, that commanded by
Gough was dislocated by the powerful thrust of von Hutier's Army.

On the =morning of the 23rd=, the remnants of the British 3rd and
18th Corps were thrown back across the Crozat Canal, among the French
divisions which were taking part in the battle between the Somme and
Oise, and with which they were assimilated.

Further north, his divisions heavily depleted, and reinforcements
coming up only slowly, General Gough abandoned the strong
Somme-Tortille line, and continued his retreat westward, towards his
reserves in the old battlefield of 1916.

The same day, the first French units to arrive were thrown between
Crozat Canal and the woods of Genlis and Frières, linking up, on their
right, with the 125th Division, detached from the left of the 6th Army,
and established astride of the Oise, in front of Viry. (_Sketch below_).

The 1st Division of dismounted Cuirassiers (Brécart) vigorously
attacked the enemy, and succeeded in staying their thrust towards the
Oise. The 9th Division (Gamelin) barred the Ham-Noyon road, along a ten
mile front. On their left, the 10th Division (Valdant) held the zone
north of Guiscard.

[Illustration: _The French Divisions were engaged from the Oise to
Nesle, before Noyon, which the British retreat left unprotected._]

On the evening of the 23rd, the situation was critical. General Pellé's
divisions retarded the German advance in front of the Chauny-Noyon
region, which they were covering, but the enemy held Ham. In their
retreat, the British constantly bore to the north-west.

The 1st Cavalry Division (Rascas), and the 22nd (Capdepont) and 62nd
(Margot) Divisions arrived, and were thrown into the battle between
Guiscard and Nesle, where they attempted to join hands with the French
10th Division on their right and with the British on their left.

[Illustration: _Converging on Noyon, the Germans effected a breach
north of Nesle._]

The same day, the German long range "Bertha" guns began to bombard
Paris, in the hope of spreading panic and disorder there.

[Illustration: GENERAL HUMBERT.]

On =March 24=, the crushing effect of the German thrust was further
accentuated by the arrival of new enemy divisions.

Favoured by the fog, which entirely hid the valleys of the Oise and
Somme, their advance-guards swept the plain with machine-gun fire, in
their search for gaps and weak places in the thin French line.

All the attacks converged towards Noyon. At 9 a.m., in the valley of
the Oise, the capture of Viry-Noureuil threatened Chauny, whilst in the
centre, Villequier-Aumont and Genlis Wood were taken. Overwhelmed by
numbers, the Cuirassiers, after firing their last cartridges, fell back
on Caillouel Hill. The divisions on the left took up positions south of
Guiscard. In spite of the unequal struggle, the fighting spirit of the
troops remained admirable.

On the left of General Pellé's group, between Nesle and Guiscard, the
situation was still more desperate, as, having crossed the Somme, the
Germans now greatly intensified their thrust. The depleted British
units continued their retreat westward, leaving a gap north of Nesle.
The French 22nd Div. was hurriedly despatched towards Nesle, and
elements of the 1st Cav. Div. to the east of Chaulnes.

On March 24, south of Péronne, the German IInd Army crossed with
difficulty the marshy valley of the Somme, then pushing on towards
Chaulnes, opened a gap at Pargny.

North of Péronne, the enemy reached Sailly-Saillisel, Rancourt and
Cléry in the morning, and pushed west with 3,000 cavalry. In danger of
being turned, Byng's Army, which had abandoned the Havrincourt Salient
during the night of the 22nd, evacuated Bertincourt and retreated
westward.

[Illustration: SHARPSHOOTERS AT THE SIDE OF THE ROAD.]

[Illustration: FRANCO-BRITISH LINE OF INFANTRY IN WHICH "TOMMIES"
MINGLED WITH "POILUS" (_Photo Imperial War Museum_).

_One of the gravest consequences of the retreat of Gough's Army was
the temporary severance of the French from the British. To restore and
consolidate the liaison was the constant aim of the French General
Staff._]

_These units coolly withdrew, whenever they found themselves outflanked
and in danger of being cut off, often fighting furious rearguard
actions, and repulsing the enemy with heavy loss, each time a frontal
attack was attempted. (Field-Marshal Haig)._

On the contrary, we read in Ludendorff's Memoirs that _the German
XVIIth Army was exhausted, having suffered too heavy losses before the
Cambrai Salient on March 21 and 22_.

[Illustration]

During the night, the enemy continued to press forward in the fog, in
an attempt to rout the precariously installed and ill-supplied French
units, and to harass Gough's Army, in retreat towards the Santerre
Plateau. On this, Palm Sunday evening, Holy Week opened tragically.


The Fall of Noyon and the Fighting on the old Battlefield of the Somme.

=The 25th, at daybreak=, fresh German divisions violently attacked the
exhausted French units, seeking to turn their left wing, and at the
same time crush General Pellé's group in the centre.

In face of the increasing danger, General Pellé received orders to
"check the enemy advance, whatever the condition of the men might be".

The 1st Inf. Div. (Grégoire), hastily brought up and reinforced by
the remnants of the British 18th Div. and of various French Divisions
picked up on the way, established itself on the hills which cover Noyon
to the north-east. They had scarcely taken up their positions, when
the Germans attacked, only to be repulsed. Further to the left, the
enemy were unable to debouch from Crisolles, but on the French right,
the 55th and 125th Div., which had been fighting incessantly since the
22nd, were forced back across the Oise, near Brétigny. Pushing on, the
Germans captured Babœuf, but a British counter-attack forced them to
fall back slightly.

[Illustration]

The battle continued to rage and the danger of being outflanked
became more and more acute. Catigny and Beaurains fell, leaving
Noyon unprotected on the north-west. In the course of a fierce
counter-attack, the 144th Inf. Reg. succeeded in recapturing these
villages, but the German hordes still pressed on, opening a gap
between Beaurains and Genvry, through which they poured, following the
little valley of the Verse which slopes down towards Noyon. The troops
defending the northern and north-eastern approaches to that town were
now threatened with being surrounded.

General Pellé endeavoured to stop this fresh gap with the few
units left at his disposal, and organized a new line of support on
Porquericourt Hill and Mont Renaud (_sketch, p. 18_), at the same time
urging the troops which were fighting to the north of Noyon to "hold
out a few hours longer, each hour being worth a day".

One French division, and units of a second division, comprising some
British remnants, were now fighting against odds of four to one.

[Illustration:

 _The enemy threatened Noyon, through the valleys of the Oise and
 Verse. To the north of Nesle, the Montdidier road was open._]

[Illustration:

 _Fall of Noyon. Gen. Pellé's Group organized positions on
 Porquericourt Hill and Mont-Renaud. Gen. Robillot's forces fell back
 on Roye._]

On the =evening of the 25th=, they fell back in good order, on Noyon.
The 57th Inf. Reg. resisted all night in the town, to enable the final
line of resistance to be organized.

At midnight, the front line passed in front of Porquericourt Hill
and Mont Renaud, at Pont-l'Évêque, thence following the Oise. It was
along this line that Gen. Pellé's Corps had orders to hold the German
advance, and bar the road to Paris.

General Humbert declared on the evening of the 25th: _The troops of the
5th A.C. and of the 2nd C. of unmounted Cavalry are defending the very
heart of France. The consciousness of the grandeur of their task will
point out the path of duty to them._

This day (25th) was still more tragical on General Humbert's left.
At daybreak, a violent battle broke out around Nesle, the town being
abandoned at 11 a.m.

Spread over a too wide front, from Nesle to Guiscard, the troops under
Gen. Robillot had orders to maintain the liaison on their right with
Gen. Pellé's forces (retreating southward) and on the left with the
depleted British units which were falling back to the north-west. The
gap widened, and the enemy pressed through. The situation was highly
critical, the road to Montdidier being now open.

[Illustration: GENERAL FAYOLLE, IN COMMAND OF THE HUMBERT-DEBENEY ARMY
GROUP]

Despite their desperate resistance and the untiring activity of the
1st Cav. Div. and 2nd Corps--units of which galloped from breach to
breach to re-establish the liaison and retard the enemy onrush--General
Robillot's group fell back towards Roye.

[Illustration: MARCH 25.

THE ROAD TO AMIENS OPEN TO THE ENEMY.]

South of the Somme, the situation was still more critical. The remains
of the British 18th and 19th Corps withdrew to the line Chaulnes-Frise,
which they were, however, unable to hold.

Their retreat continued to the line Proyart-Rosières. No more reserves
were expected for four days. Should the Germans succeed in crushing
these exhausted units the road to Amiens would be open.

About six miles behind the Proyart-Rosières front, there was an old
French line, partly filled in, on the Santerre Plateau, between the
Somme (at Sailly-le-Sec) and the Luce (at Demuin).

A battalion of Canadian Engineers was ordered to restore it. However,
there were no troops to hold it, and as its abandonment would have
imperilled Amiens, Gen. Gough decided to muster an emergency detachment
of engineers, miners, electricians, mechanics, staff personnel,
pupils and instructors from the schools of the 3rd and 5th Armies,
and American sappers, in all about 2,200 men. This detachment, under
Maj.-Gen. Carey, was ordered to hold an eight-mile front and bar the
road to Amiens.

North of the Somme, the Germans attacked from Ervillers to the river;
the British left stood firm, whilst on the right, the hinge formed by
Byng's Army, likewise resisted. Further south, the Germans captured
Maricourt, and broke through the curtain of British troops, which
lost contact with one another. The Ancre was crossed, and Byng's
right, pivoting on Boyelles, fell back on the line Bucquoy, Albert,
Bray-sur-Somme.

General Pétain issued a stirring appeal to the men:

_The enemy is attacking in a supreme effort to separate us from the
British, and open the road to Paris. At all cost, he must be held.
Stick to the ground, stand firm, reinforcements are at hand. United,
you will fling yourselves on the invader. Soldiers of the Marne, Yser
and Verdun, the fate of France is in your hands._

From all parts of the front, French divisions poured in. Long lines of
motor-lorries sped along all the roads converging towards Montdidier.
The high spirits and fine bearing of the men reassured the anxious
population, who, for several days past, had heard the guns drawing
nearer, and seen the endless stream of refugees fleeing before the
invader.

General Debeney arrived with his staff from Toul, to take command of
the 1st Army (in formation), divisions of which arrived each day.

[Illustration]

The 77th. Inf. Div. (d'Ambly) was added to the 3rd Army (Humbert). The
operations of these two armies, whose task it was to bar the road to
Paris and cover Amiens, were co-ordinated by Gen. Fayolle.


The Push towards Montdidier and Fall of Roye.

The Push towards Amiens and Fall of Albert.

On the =26th=, Gen. Pellé's group occupied Mont Renaud--a natural
rampart protecting the valley of the Oise.

Determined to force a passage at all cost, the enemy attacked with
fresh troops.

_The present positions must be held at all cost. The honour of each
commanding officer is at stake_, proclaimed Gen. Pellé. Trenches were
dug, and Mont Renaud organised. The road to Compiègne was barred and
the hills to the south and south-west of Noyon became the pivot of the
defences. Repeatedly attacked, Mont Renaud changed hands several times,
finally resting with the French. The exhausted 10th Div. fell back on
the _massif_ of Le Plémont, where the 77th Div. had just taken up its
positions.

However, although Gen. Humbert's right checked all enemy advance, Gen.
Robillot's group and the first units of Gen. Debeney's Army, on the
left, were unable to hold their ground in the Picardy Plain. Forming
but a thin line, the enemy's powerful thrust opened gaps in places.

Units of the 56th and 133rd Inf. Divns. and of the 4th and 5th Cav.
Divns. under Gen. de Mitry, were pushed forward, with orders to
establish the liaison, on their right, with the 22nd Div., and on their
left, with the British who were falling back on the Santerre Plateau.
This liaison was necessarily weak, as the troops had to be deployed.
Fighting day and night for every inch of ground given up, these
splendid troops succeeded in retarding the enemy's advance until the
arrival of reinforcements on the line of the Avre.

[Illustration: _The Germans attempted with their left to turn General
Humbert's Army, strongly established at Le Plémont. Roye fell._]

The exhausted 22nd Div. fell back, carrying with it the 62nd on its
right. Roye, outflanked from the south and attacked on the north, was
lost. A breach, opened between the 22nd and 62nd Div. was filled by
an emergency detachment hastily got together on the spot by General
Robillot.

On the evening of the 26th, the front was established on the line
Echelle-St.-Aurin, Dancourt, Plessis-Cacheleux.

[Illustration: ROYE. THE PLACE D'ARMES AT THE END OF THE WAR.]

General Humbert made a strong appeal to his men: _Let all commanding
officers firmly resolve to accomplish their duty to the extreme limit
of sacrifice, and imbue their men with the same spirit._

North of the Somme, the Germans took Albert--an important junction--but
were checked further north, by the left wing of Byng's Army.

[Illustration: THE MONT RENAUD.]


Allied Unity of Command.

Events had forcibly demonstrated the urgent necessity for Allied unity
of command. On March 26, a War Council, composed of M.M. Poincaré,
Clemenceau, Lord Milner, Haig, Pétain and Foch, empowered the latter to
_coordinate the action of the Allied Armies on the Western Front_.

"At the moment when Foch was to take precedence of Pétain and Haig,
what was the position of the armies, as regards the directives of the
High Command? In other words, how was the Anglo-French battle being
directed? The position is defined in the General Orders of Pétain and
Haig, the former of whom prescribed:

"To keep the French forces grouped, to protect the Capital; _essential
mission_;

"To ensure the liaison with the British; _secondary mission_;

"The latter prescribed that everything possible should be done to avoid
severance from the French;

"Should this be unavoidable, _to fall back slowly, covering the Channel
Ports_.

"If we place these two orders side by side, _their divergence strikes
us painfully_. It is patent that the instructions of the two great
chiefs had not the same object in view, and did not tend towards the
same end. One was thinking of Paris, the other of the Channel Ports.
Each would evidently consecrate the bulk of his forces and resources to
what he considered the essential task. To sum up: on the German side,
there was only one battle; _on the Allies' side, there were two: the
battle for Paris, and the battle for the ports_. Had this situation
continued, our defeat was certain.

[Illustration: BRITISH AND FRENCH REINFORCEMENTS IN A VILLAGE. (_Photo
imperial War Museum_).]

"Foch's first thought, from the moment he took over the direction,
was to cause this disastrous divergence to cease. To the two
commanders-in-chief he prescribed the maintenance, at all cost, of the
liaison between their armies. The accessory thus became the essential.
The vital point was to ensure the junction between the Allied Armies,
and to that end, to cover neither Paris, nor Calais, but Amiens. The
battle which, till then, had been double, became single, i.e. _the
Battle for Amiens_.

"Such was the strategical idea which, during the following days, Foch
strove to materialise. Motoring from G.H.Q. to G.H.Q., he impressed the
same thing upon all; on Haig, Pétain, Gough, the latter's successor,
Rawlinson, Fayolle, Debeney and Humbert. By dint of repetition, this
idea was to be deeply impressed into the minds of the executants.

"To ensure liaison, to keep the troops where they were, to prevent
voluntary retreat, above all, to avoid effecting relief during
the battle, to throw the divisions into the line of fire, as they
arrived--such were the orders which were constantly on his lips during
the days which followed". (_La bataille de Foch_, by Raymond Recouly).

On March 28, General Pershing offered Foch the direct and immediate
help of the American Forces: _I come to tell you that the American
people would consider it a great honour for our troops to take part in
the present battle. I ask this of you in my name and theirs. At this
time, the only question is to fight. Infantry, artillery, aviation, all
we have is yours._

Henceforth, the battle was directed from Foch's headquarters,
temporarily installed at Beauvais. Twice a day, couriers maintained
communications between Foch and the British and French G.H.Q's.

[Illustration: LINE OF BRITISH AND FRENCH SHARPSHOOTERS. (_Photo
Imperial War Museum_).]


The Fall of Montdidier.

The Growing Resistance on the Wings.

[Illustration]

By the =27th=, the German attacks had lost much of their earlier sting.
The French, whose resistance was stiffening steadily, harassed the
enemy unceasingly.

Their infantry, now thirty-six miles from their base, could only be
revictualled with great difficulty. The Allied airmen bombed their
convoys and the railway stations incessantly.

Their artillery had difficulty in keeping up with the infantry, and the
latter were not always efficiently supported.

Meanwhile, the Allies steadily organized their defences. Gen. Pellé's
group, with strong positions on the bastions of the Île de France,
repulsed the enemy's repeated assaults.

Five attacks on Mont Renaud were broken.

From Canny to the Oise, the Allies stood firm.

[Illustration: _Montdidier fell, but in face of the Allies' increasing
resistance, the enemy could advance no further._]

[Illustration: GENERAL DEBENEY.]

Held on this front, the enemy deviated towards Montdidier, overwhelming
Gen. Robillot's forces, which fell back on Rollot. The Germans reached
Montdidier, Piennes, Rubescourt and Rollot. A wide breach was thus
made between Gen. Humbert's left and the right of Gen. Debeney's Army,
then taking up its positions on the tablelands before the valley of the
Avre.

[Illustration: GENERAL RAWLINSON.

_Photo Russell, London._]

It was a tragic moment. Gen. Debeney telegraphed to Gen. Fayolle:
_There is a gap of nine miles between the two armies, with nobody
to fill it. I ask General Fayolle to have troops brought up in
motor-lorries and despatched north of Ployron, to resist at least the
passing of the Cavalry._

[Illustration: _March 26-27._

_British reinforcements arrived north of the Somme. The Germans
converged towards Montdidier._]

A few hours later, two divisions of Humbert's Army filled the breach.

Exhausted by their terrible losses, the enemy were brought to a stand.

East of Rollot, the essential portions of the massif of
Boulogne-la-Grasse were strongly held.

Behind the Avre, trains and lorries were bringing up the divisions of
Debeney's Army.

The British received reinforcements, and stayed their retreat in the
outskirts of Albert.

The thrust against their line was now less violent, the enemy forces
converging towards Montdidier.

Gen. Rawlinson replaced Gen. Gough.

[Illustration: THE ANCRE AT ALBERT.]


The Battle for Amiens. The Allies consolidate their front and
counter-attack.

[Illustration]

After the fall of Montdidier, the fourteen divisions of von Hutier's
army converged towards the pocket to the south-west.

Seven other divisions, marching against the British front between the
Somme and Arras, suddenly turned south. On the 28th, 80,000 Germans
made for the gap, through which 160,000 men of von Hutier's army
were already pressing. In all, 240,000 men were about to attack on a
seventeen-mile front.

General Humbert's left maintained an aggressive defensive.

On =March 28=, they counter-attacked. The 4th Zouaves captured
Orvillers and Boulogne-la-Grasse, threatening the enemy on the flank at
Montdidier. Seeing the danger, the Germans retook part of the conquered
positions. The moral effect was, however, considerable, indicative as
it was of the Allies' determination to re-act.

[Illustration: BARRICADE AT THE ENTRANCE TO MERVILLE-AU-BOIS.

(_6 kms. to the west of Moreuil_).]

On the 29th, these counter-attacks were continued, thus mobilising
many enemy units on this front, which were preparing to attack on the
Avre.

[Illustration: FRENCH ARTILLERY IN MOREUIL.]

During these two days, General Debeney, further north, was
concentrating his forces along the front of Le Quesnel, Hangest,
Pierrepont, Mesnil-Saint-Georges, Rubescourt. _There can be no
question,_ he declared, _of crossing to the left bank of the Avre_.

[Illustration: _On March 29, the Germans were firmly held at the bottom
of the pocket._]

The Germans attacked at dawn on the 28th. To the west of Montdidier,
Mesnil-St.-Georges was captured. The 166th Division, which had just
detrained, stayed the thrust at Grivesnes and Plessier. A battalion
of the 5th Cav. Div. fighting on foot, recaptured Mesnil and
Fontaine-sous-Montdidier.

At the junction with the British, the attack was more violent.
Capturing Hangest, the Germans slipped along the valley of the Luce,
driving back the British. The resistance of the latter stiffened,
however, and they maintained their positions on the right bank of the
Avre.

On the 29th, the enemy renewed the attack with fresh divisions,
especially at Demuin and Mézières, where the defenders were driven back
along the Avre. However, Gen. Debeney's Army was now completed by the
arrival of the 127th, 29th and 163rd Divisions. Its junction with the
British, was strongly reinforced.

Before Arras, astride the Scarpe, the British fell back into line with
Byng's Army, repulsing several violent attacks. (_Sketch, p. 26_).

On the evening of March 29, the enemy were firmly held at the bottom of
the pocket, the sides of which stood firm.


The General Attack at the bottom of the Pocket and the holding of the
German Advance.

[Illustration]

On =March 30=, the Germans launched a general attack along a
thirty-mile front, from Moreuil to Noyon, against the armies of Humbert
and Debeney. This was their last effort in the southward push.

In many places, the French heavy artillery had not yet taken up its new
positions. The battle was therefore mainly one of infantry. To the Air
Service fell the task of making good the deficiency, and throughout
the battle, bombs were rained upon the railway-stations, columns of
German infantry, and enemy supply convoys, whilst the fighting section,
skimming over the enemy masses, riddled them with machine-gun fire.

In front of Humbert's Army, the French lines were practically intact.
Homeric combats were delivered at Le Plémont, Plessis-de-Roye and
before Orvillers.

In the region of Orvillers-Sorel, the 38th Div. repulsed four assaults
delivered by the 4th Div. of the Prussian Guards.

The attack against the front of Debeney's Army was delivered with equal
fury.

[Illustration: THE ENEMY'S FINAL EFFORT SOUTHWARDS.

_March 30-April 5._]

On its right, not an inch of ground was lost. All assaults on
Mesnil-Saint-Georges were repulsed. The 6th Corps maintained
practically all its positions intact, except before Hill 104, where a
slight withdrawal was necessary.

On the left wing, the 36th Corps (Nollet) was forced to give way, and
fell back on the Avre. Moreuil was lost in the evening of the 30th.

=March 31= was marked by extremely violent local actions, especially at
Mesnil-St-Georges and Grivesnes, without appreciable result for either
side.

[Illustration: MONTDIDIER IN GERMAN HANDS.

_The Palais de Justice (see p. 99). Across the street a German
Notice-Board._]

On the evening of the 31st, the French front, practically intact,
passed west of Moreuil, skirted the high ground on the left bank of
the Avre, running thence west of Cantigny, round Montdidier, along the
suburbs of Orvillers, through Roye-sur-Matz, Le Plémont and the hills
to the south of Noyon, where the Germans had been unable to gain a
footing.

=April 1st.= The enemy sounded the French lines at Rollot, south-east
of Montdidier, but were smartly checked by a vigorous counter-attack.
Three attacks in front of Grivesnes were likewise repulsed.

April 2 and 3 were fairly quiet, being the prelude to the final effort
against Debeney's Army.

=April 4th.= At daybreak, an intense artillery preparation began,
extending from the north of Hangard to the south of Grivesnes. At 7.30
a.m., the attack was launched with unheard-of violence.

Against this front, only nine miles wide, fifteen divisions--seven of
which were composed of fresh troops--attacked ten times in the course
of the day.

Before Grivesnes, four attacks were repulsed, whilst all the enemy's
efforts against Cantigny and Hill 104 broke down. Further north the
Germans captured Mailly-Raineval, Morisel and Castel.

The next day (=April 5th=), counter-attacks checked the Germans,
prevented them exploiting their success north of Montdidier, and drove
them back into Mailly-Raineval and Cantigny.

On the following days, fighting took place at different points, which
changed hands several times, but these actions were of a local nature
only.


The Results of the German Offensive of March 21.

The great German attack was over. The roads to the south-west were
barred, as those to the south, at Noyon, had been, and Gen. Debeney was
able to address the following order to his troops:

  _Soldiers of the 1st Army_,

_You have carried out your arduous task well._

_Your tenacious resistance and vigorous counter-attacks have broken the
onrush of the invader, and ensured the liaison with our brave Allies,
the British. The great battle has begun. At this solemn hour, the whole
country is with us. The soul of the Mother-land uplifts our hearts._

On April 4, the great battle--of which the battles for Amiens,
Montdidier and Compiègne were only episodes--came virtually to an end.

For ten days, after breaking the Allies' front, the Germans were
able to change the war of positions into one of movement, but by a
tremendous effort the French Army threw itself across their path and,
as at Verdun in 1916, checkmated them.

This warfare in the open did not give the results expected by the
enemy, who failed either to separate the Allies, or to rout them.
On the contrary, by bringing about Allied unity of command, they
strengthened the hands of their adversaries, to their own undoing.

Although the Germans captured Montdidier, they failed to reach either
Amiens or Compiègne, and whereas the British, at first severely shaken,
fully recovered, whilst only a portion of the French reserves were
engaged, the enemy used up a considerable part of their finest troops
and shock divisions, mown down in tens of thousands along the road to
Paris, by the Allies' machine-guns and field artillery.

By March 31, ninety enemy divisions had been engaged, twenty-five of
which had to be withdrawn on account of excessive casualties, some of
them (e. g. the 45th Reserve, certain units of the 2nd Guards and 5th
Infantry) having lost 50% of their effective strength. The casualties
of the 6th, 195th, 4th, and 119th divisions attained 75%. At the very
lowest estimation, the Germans lost at least 250,000 men.

The Kronprinz had promised his men that the Easter bells would ring
in the long-expected peace, but Easter Sunday found the Allies more
closely united than ever, awaiting with confidence the end of the
battle, and determined to win through to victory.

The check of April 4 saw the end of von Hutier's reserves. All the
divisions of the XVIIIth Army had been engaged, most of them with heavy
casualties. Unwilling to take any of the divisions from the army group
under the Bavarian Crown Prince--reserved for the proposed offensive in
Flanders--or the inferior and less trained troops on the Champagne and
Lorraine fronts, the German High Command, realising that the struggle
must develop into one of attrition, like the first battle of the Somme,
gave up for the time being all idea of an offensive on the Somme-Oise
front.

A document of the German XVIIIth Army refers to the operations prior to
April 6 under the name of "The Battle of Disruption" and to those which
followed, under the name of "The Fighting on the Avre and in the region
of Montdidier-Noyon."

The divisions forming von Hutier's shock troops were withdrawn fairly
quickly. By the end of May, only two out of the twenty-three divisions
which, on March 21, had formed the XVIIIth Army, were still in line on
the Moreuil-Oise front.

[Illustration: BRITISH BATTERIES IN ACTION IN THE OPEN. (_Photo
Imperial War Museum_).]

[Illustration: BRITISH TROOPS GOING UP THE LINE NEAR ALBERT. (_Photo
Imperial War Museum_).]

[Illustration: AMIENS. SHELL BURSTING IN THE RUE DE BEAUVAIS.

(_Photo Imperial War Museum_).]


The Trench Warfare Period.

From April onwards, trench warfare began again. The Allied front was
reformed, consisting of a continuous line of hastily dug trenches and
rapidly constructed works, held by resolute troops, whose _morale_ was
intact and whose fighting spirit had never been better.

Once more the heavy artillery came into requisition, for the
preparatory pounding of the adversaries' positions.

In April-May, sharp engagements frequently took place at certain
points. On the Luce, in the region of Hangard, on the Avre, from
Thennes to Mailly-Raineval, at Grivesnes, on the west bank of the Matz,
and around Orvillers-Sorel. Of these, the attack of April 24, by its
violence and scope, constituted a veritable offensive against Amiens.


The Attack of April 24 on Villers-Bretonneux.

_See sketch below._

[Illustration]

The plateau of Villers-Bretonneux dominates the ground between the Avre
and the Somme.

It was held by the British. Slightly to the south, in Hangard Woods,
close to Hill 99, was the point of junction of the Allied Armies.

[Illustration: ONE OF THE 11IN. GUNS WHICH BOMBARDED AMIENS.]

The enemy's main effort was made at this point, as being the weakest.

The French line started at Anchin Farm, west of Moreuil, followed the
western and northern outskirts of Castel, joined up with Hill 63 on the
right bank of the Avre, took in Hangard, and linked up with the British
near Hill 99, to the south of Hangard Wood. From this point the British
line crossed the plateau between the Avre and the Somme, between
Marcelcave and Villers-Bretonneux, and passed the eastern outskirts of
Hamel.

At 5 a.m., after an artillery preparation lasting an hour, the German
infantry attacked.

After a desperate struggle, the enemy captured Villers-Bretonneux.
Hangard fell during the night and Cachy was threatened.

The next day, a Franco-British counter-attack won back the most
important part of the lost ground. Villers-Bretonneux, Hangard and
Hangard Wood were recaptured and held, in spite of all the subsequent
efforts of the enemy, who finally abandoned this sector in favour of
Flanders.

[Illustration: FRENCH TRENCHES IN THE SUBURBS OF CACHY (_see p. 59_).]


Ludendorff's Opinion.

In his "Memoirs", Ludendorff wrote: _The battle ended on April 4.
It was a brilliant feat of arms and will always be so considered
in history. What the British and French had been unable to do, we
accomplished in the fourth year of the war._

_Strategically, we did not attain what the events of March 23, 24 and
25 justified our hoping for._

_That we failed to take Amiens, which would have rendered the
communications of the enemy forces astride the Somme extremely
difficult, was especially disappointing._

_Long distance bombardment of the railways could not be considered an
equivalent._

[Illustration: FRENCH 6IN. BATTERY IN ACTION AT ROCQUENCOURT.

(_7 miles to the west of Montdidier_).]

[Illustration: GERMAN HEAVY GUN AT FAVEROLLES (_2 miles east of
Montdidier_).

_Captured on August 9, 1918, during the offensive of General Debeney's
Army. (See p. 42)._]

[Illustration: CLEMENCEAU AT THE G.H.Q. OF A BRITISH DIVISION IN 1918.

(_Photo Imperial War Museum_).]

[Illustration: A GERMAN TANK TRAP. _Australian and American soldiers
examine the charges of explosive with which this trap was fitted. One
of them is looking through a German periscope. (July 11, 1918)._]



THE ALLIES' OFFENSIVES IN PICARDY.

August-September 1918.


After the German Offensive of March.

After the check of their offensive in Picardy, the Germans attempted,
by means of secondary offensives, to attain those results which they
had failed to obtain in the first instance.

On April 9, they attacked in Flanders, from Béthune to the north of
Ypres, in the direction of the Channel Ports, but failed to take Ypres,
or to reach Hazebrouck. (_See the Guide_: =Ypres=.)

On May 27, the front of the Chemin des Dames was attacked by surprise,
the enemy reaching the banks of the Marne. (_See the Guide_: =The
Second Battle of the Marne=).

From June 9 to 18, their efforts were turned against the salients
of the Aisne and Rheims. On June 11, they captured the _massif_ of
Thiescourt, but were held before Compiègne. In front of Rheims the road
was barred by the French Colonial troops. (_See the Guide_: =Rheims=.)

Lastly, seeking a prompt decision at all cost, and hypnotised by
Paris, the Germans planned a still more formidable offensive: the
"Friedensturm" or Peace Battle. However, the French High Command were
not taken unawares. The scope and time of the offensive were known, and
the Germans failed.


The Strategy and Tactics of the Allies.

The hour of the counter-offensive was about to strike. The Allies had
overcome the crisis due to the shortage of men. The British Army had
been reorganized. The American forces had greatly increased in numbers.
The fighting spirit of the French was higher than ever. The material
strength of the Allies was satisfactory, and included large numbers of
the new offensive arm: the tank, destined to relieve and support the
infantry, and combat the German shock troops.

Lastly, the Allies were now grouped under a single chief: Foch, who
knew where and when to strike.

_The Allied Armies_, he declared, _have arrived at the turning of the
ways; in the thick of battle they have regained the initiative, and
their strength enables them to retain it; the principles of war command
them to do so. The time has come to abandon the defensive attitude
necessitated till now by numerical inferiority, and to take the
offensive._

_The action of the Commander-in-chief of the Allied Armies will, in
future, aim at maintaining his hold on the German Commandment, giving
him no respite which would allow him to recover and reconstitute
his forces. To that end, separate surprise attacks will be made
successively, as rapidly as possible, so as to augment progressively
the disorganization of the enemy's armies and the confusion of the
German Commandment, until the day of the general offensive, and of the
final attack which will crumble up the whole of the adversary's front._

A comparison of this conception of Foch's with that of Ludendorff
brings out all its suppleness and power.

The counter-offensive by the armies of Mangin and Degoutte in the
Château-Thierry pocket, begun on July 18, was scarcely over, when the
Second Battle of the Somme broke out.

[Illustration: THE ALLIED MILITARY CHIEFS.

_From left to right: PÉTAIN, HAIG, FOCH and PERSHING._]

In this new battle of the Somme, the retreat of the German armies on
the Hindenburg Line, in August-September 1918, was effected under the
pressure of four successive thrusts:

I.--The operations carried out simultaneously by the British 4th Army
and the French 1st and 3rd Armies against the Albert, Montdidier,
Lassigny salient, to clear the Paris-Amiens railway. (_Pages 38-45._)

II.--The British offensive north of the Somme, coinciding with the
French offensive between the Oise and the Aisne. (_Pages 46-49._)

III.--The British offensive on the Scarpe and the French offensive on
the Ailette. (_Page 50._)

IV.--The Franco-British offensive against the advanced defences of the
Hindenburg line. (_Page 51._)



I.--THE ATTACK ON THE SALIENT OF ALBERT-MONTDIDIER-LASSIGNY.

August 8-13, 1918.

Preliminary Operations of July.

Throughout July, the Allies carried out different local operations, in
order to improve their positions and prepare for the coming offensive.

As early as July 4, Australians supported by Americans, had begun to
advance between Villers-Bretonneux and the Somme, by capturing the
village and wood of Hamel.

On July 9, after a brilliant attack between Castel and the north
of Mailly-Raineval, the French captured Castel, and on the 23rd,
Mailly-Raineval, which brought them nearer the Avre.

These different actions, and the flattening of the Cantigny salient by
the American 1st Div. on May 28, had warned the enemy.

On August 2, the Germans fell back on the Ancre, and on the 3rd to the
Avre. The bulk of their forces were withdrawn east of these rivers,
leaving only light forces on the west bank.

On the Marne, Ludendorff had just suffered a severe defeat. From
July 18 to August 4, his armies had been driven back from the Marne
to the Vesle, where they organized new positions. (_See the Guide_:
=The Second Battle of the Marne=.) In the belief that this effort
had temporarily exhausted the Allies, Ludendorff was planning new
operations in Flanders, when he was surprised by a new and powerful
Allied Offensive. From that point, the initiative remained with Foch.


The Front Line and the Opposing Forces.

[Illustration: _The Front Line on August 8, and the Opposing Forces._]

On August 8, the front line passed west of Albert, east of
Villers-Bretonneux, then followed the left bank of the Avre, and the
Doms stream, west of Montdidier, running thence towards the Matz and
the Oise, via Assainvillers, west of Cuvilly and Chevincourt.

From north to south, the enemy front was held by the IInd Army (von
Marwitz) (10 Divns. in line from Albert to Moreuil), and by the XVIIIth
Army (von Hutier) (11 Divns. from Moreuil to the Oise).

These two armies, with 21 divisions in line, engaged 17 other divisions
during the course of the battle, i.e. 38 divisions in all.

[Illustration: THE AMERICANS ATTACKING CANTIGNY (MAY 28, 1918).

 _Photographed from, an accompanying aeroplane. At the top of photo:
 Cantigny village. At bottom of photo: Tank tracks. The white dots and
 dashes spread over the photo are the American Infantry. Two larger
 dashes about three-quarters of an inch below Cantigny, on the right,
 are tanks._]

The undermentioned forces were grouped under the command of
Field-Marshal Haig:

The British 4th Army (Rawlinson), comprising the 3rd Corps (3
divisions), the Australian Corps (4 divisions), the Canadian Corps (4
divisions), and 3 divisions of British Cavalry, 2 brigades of armoured
cars and 1 battalion of Canadian Cyclists in reserve.

The French 1st Army (Debeney), comprising the 31st Corps (4 divisions),
9th Corps (2 divisions), 10th Corps (3 divisions), 35th Corps (4
divisions), and the 2nd Cavalry Corps in reserve.


The Franco-British Attack of August 8, 1918.

These armies attacked on August 8, along a 15-mile front, from the
Ancre to the Avre.

"_At 4.20 a.m., after three formidable cannon-shots,--the signal for
the opening of the attack,--the rolling barrage broke out before the
Australian and Canadian troops, who immediately dashed forward. At the
same time, the heavy and light tanks, armoured cars and motor-lorries,
loaded with supplies and ammunition, set out. At certain points, the
cavalry, followed by the artillery and the aeroplanes, guarded or
speeded up the advance. The enemy were taken completely by surprise.
The troops and staffs were taken prisoners before they realized what
had happened. One after another, the villages were surrounded and
captured. Forging ahead of the infantry, the cavalry and tanks spread
panic everywhere._"

The British advanced rapidly in the direction of Rosières, along both
sides of the Amiens-Chaulnes railway.

Towards evening, the advanced line passed through Mézières, Caix and
Cerisy. Everywhere, except at Morlancourt, north of the Somme, where
the enemy resisted desperately, the Germans were routed.

More than 13,000 prisoners, a general and the staff of an army corps,
and 300 guns had fallen into the hands of the British by 9 a.m.

[Illustration: _August 8._]

Along the front of Debeney's Army, the artillery preparation was short
but violent, (45 minutes). The infantry attacked about five o'clock
i.e. after the British. The ground, divided for the greater part by the
valley of the Avre, was more difficult, and General Debeney counted
rather on manœuvering, than on surprise.

The attack began on a front of 2½ miles, south of the Amiens-Roye
road, debouching from the valley of the Luce towards ground suitable
for the tanks, the troops being gradually engaged on their right, along
the Avre.

At 8 a.m., two divisions turned Moreuil Wood, from the north-east and
south-west. On the Avre, another division captured Morisel, whilst to
the south of Moreuil a battalion crossed the river. Moreuil, turned
from the north and south, fell. South of Moreuil, two fresh divisions
crossed the Avre, opposite Braches, opening up a way for the troops who
had to fight on the plateaux.

At the end of the day, after an advance of about five miles, the
French reached the line Braches, La Neuville-Sire-Bernard, and joined
hands with the British near Mézières. 3,300 prisoners, including three
regimental commandants, were taken.

[Illustration: GERMAN BATTERY CAPTURED BY THE BRITISH, WHO IMMEDIATELY
TURNED IT ON THE ENEMY.

_The third gun is still pointing towards the Allies' lines. (Photo Imp.
War Museum)._]

"_It was a black day for the German Army_" wrote Ludendorff, "_the
blackest of all the war, except September 15, which saw the defection
of Bulgaria, and sealed the destinies of the Quadruple Alliance_".

[Illustration: GERMAN ARTILLERY POSITION IN SUNKEN ROAD. (_Photo Imp.
War Museum_).]


From August 9 to 12.

On =August 9-10=, the British thrust and the French manœuvre developed.


THE BRITISH ADVANCE.

Between Albert and the Amiens-Roye road, the Canadians and Australians
harassed the enemy without respite, and advanced several kilometres,
capturing Bouchoir, Méharicourt, Rosières, Lihons and Proyart.

North of the Somme, in co-operation with American troops, they captured
Morlancourt village and plateau to the south-east, where the enemy
resisted desperately.

On the =11th=, in spite of stubborn resistance, the British reached the
Dernancourt crossroads, about a mile west of Bray, Chilly, Fouquescourt
and the western suburbs of Villers-les-Roye.

On the =12th=, they drove the enemy for good out of Proyart. On the
=13th=, they reached the suburbs of Bray-sur-Somme and the crossroads
of Chuignolles. The front now ran along the old German lines of the
Somme Battlefield of 1916, where the enemy, thanks to a number of
strong points of support, succeeded in staying the advance. In five
days, the British had scored a fine victory, their forces (13 infantry
divisions, one regiment of the American 33rd Division, 3 divisions of
cavalry, and 400 tanks) defeating 20 German divisions, advancing 12
miles, and capturing 22,000 prisoners and 400 guns.

[Illustration:

 _The Allies Advance from the morning of August 8 (dash line) to the
 evening of the same day (dot-and-dash line). The thick full line shows
 the front on August 12._]


The French Manœuvre. Liberating Montdidier.

Meanwhile, General Debeney, by a series of turning movements, brought
about the fall of important sections of the German front, without
frontal attacks.

Constantly extending his attacks along the Avre, the approaches to the
river on the north and north-east, as far as the confluence with the
Doms stream, were cleared, whilst his hold on Montdidier, from the
north-east, gradually tightened.

[Illustration: BRITISH CAVALRY NEAR ALBERT. (_Photo Imperial War
Museum_).]

On =August 9=, the French line was advanced as far as the station of
Hangest-en-Santerre, on the Albert-Rosières-Montdidier railway.

In order to force the enemy to abandon Montdidier, without a frontal
attack, General Debeney began a turning movement at about 4 p.m.
A secondary attack was launched in the direction of Roye, between
Domelieu and Le Ployron. The station of Montdidier and Faverolles
Village on the Montdidier-Roye line, were reached that evening.

Throughout the day, the French airmen bombed Roye undisturbed by the
enemy's planes or air-defence guns.

By =evening=, the 1st Army had taken 5,000 prisoners. From Faverolles,
they threatened to join up with the men who had advanced north, via
Davenescourt, and to cut off the Germans in Montdidier.

The latter was evacuated in great disorder the same night and on the
following morning, only a few machine-gunners being left behind to
retard the French advance as long as possible.

On =August 10=, at noon, the French entered the ruined town, and
advanced rapidly eastward, beyond Fescamps, on both sides of the road
to Roye. In the evening, they reached the line Villers-les-Roye (where
they joined hands with the British) and Grivillers.

On the =11th=, they captured the park and village of Tilloloy. By
the evening of the =12th=, the 1st Army had taken 8,500 prisoners
(including 181 officers), 250 guns, numerous minenwerfer, 1,600
machines-guns, and huge quantities of stores.

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

PHOTOS, _p. 44_:

[Illustration: (1) _Australian Sergeant examining a German
Machine-gun captured by the 15th Brigade._] [Illustration: (2) _Near
Warfusée-Abancourt, August 8. Infantry of the Australian 1st Division
advancing on Harbonnières, after a tank had cleaned up a line of German
Machine-guns which was holding them._]

[Illustration: (3) _The Shelters of the above line of
machine-guns--light constructions compared with the powerful trench
organisations, yet strong enough to require tank treatment._]

PHOTOS ABOVE:

[Illustration: (1) _Australians in German trench, with field-guns just
captured (August 1918)._]

[Illustration: (2) _British lorries in Villers-Bretonneux (August 17,
1918)._]



II.--THE BRITISH OFFENSIVE NORTH OF THE SOMME AND THE FRENCH OFFENSIVE
BETWEEN THE OISE AND AISNE.

August 18-29.


The first phase of the Battle of Picardy was ended, but a great new
effort, between the Somme and the Scarpe, was being prepared.

Between the Aisne and the Oise, Mangin's Army attacked the plateaux on
August 18th, advancing to the Ailette on the 23rd. (_Sketch above_).

[Illustration:

 _The Attack between the Oise and Aisne by the Armies of Generals
 Mangin and Humbert, August 18-23._]

Following up this advance, Humbert's Army continued its offensive
vigorously on the 21st, conquered the northern slopes of Le Plémont,
crossed the Divette, and occupied Lassigny. (_Sketch above_).

By their advance, these two armies threatened the right of the German
XVIIIth Army, established on the Chaulnes-Roye line.

At the same time, Byng's Army attacked between the Ancre and
Croisilles, whilst Rawlinson's left attacked north of the Somme.
(_Sketch above_).

At dawn, on =August 21=, the 4th and 6th Corps of Byng's Army attacked
between Miraumont and Moyenneville.

Supported by tanks, they captured the advance defences in brilliant
style.

The fighting was particularly severe around Achiet-le-Grand and Logeast
Wood, where, however, the advance continued steadily. The Arras-Albert
railway which was the enemy's principal line of defence, was reached,
2,000 prisoners being taken.

After this preparatory attack, the offensive was launched on =August
22=, along a thirty-two mile front, between Lihons and Mercatel.

South of the Somme, the Australians captured Herleville and Chuignes,
with 2,000 prisoners. Rawlinson's left crossed the Ancre, took Albert,
and advanced its front to the hills east of the Albert-Braye road,
capturing 2,400 prisoners.

[Illustration: _The Attack between the Somme and Scarpe by Byng and
Rawlinson, August 21-29._]

But the hardest blow was struck further north by Byng's Army. Advancing
beyond the principal line of defence (the Arras-Albert railway), the
4th and 6th Corps took Gomiécourt, Ervillers, Boyelles, many guns,
and more than 5,000 prisoners, then pushed on towards Bapaume and
Croisilles. The 6th Corps, astride the Arras-Bapaume road, marched on
Bapaume, threatening to cut off the Germans who were hanging on to the
Heights of Thiepval. The latter, attacked at the same time further
south, fell. Bray-sur-Somme was also captured.

The battle continued from the 25th to the 29th, the enemy's resistance
stiffening steadily.

Counter-attacking, the Germans defended this old battlefield of 1916,
strewn with obstacles, with great desperation.

On the =29th=, Bapaume fell, and the Germans retreated from the north
of that town to the Somme, on the line Cléry, Combles, Frémicourt,
Bullecourt, and Heudecourt.

[Illustration:

 _The German Retreat, south of the Somme, under the double menace of
 the British and French Advance._]

Threatened by the British to the north of the Somme, and by the French
on the banks of the Oise, the Germans began their retreat in the bend
of the Somme. Closely pursued by the British 4th Army and the French
1st and 3rd Armies, they withdrew to the river, from Péronne to Ham.

Chaulnes and Nesle were occupied by the Allies.

"_On the same ground which had seen their stubborn defence, the British
troops went up to the attack with untiring vigour and unshakeable
determination, which neither the difficulty of the ground, nor the
obstinate resistance of the enemy could break or diminish_." (Haig).

[Illustration: GERMAN LONG-RANGE GUN CAPTURED BY THE AUSTRALIANS AT
PROYART.]

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

[Illustration: _Photo Imperial War Museum._]

PHOTOS, p. 48:

[Illustration: (1) _The 2nd German line near Albert, occupied by the
British._]

[Illustration: (2) _The Railway Station at Albert, a few minutes after
the German retreat._]

[Illustration: (3) _Railway destroyed by the British artillery, during
the advance on Bapaume._]

PHOTO ABOVE:

[Illustration: _Albert, seen from the interior of the Church, the day
the town was liberated (Photo Imp. War Museum)._]



III.--THE OFFENSIVES ON THE SCARPE AND AILETTE.
August 25-September 8, 1918.


Pursuing his plan of offensive, Foch extended the field of operations.
Writing to Field-Marshal Haig, he said: _Continue your operations,
leaving the enemy no respite, and developing the scope of your actions.
It is this increasing breadth of the offensive, fed from the rear and
strongly pressed in front, without limitation of objective, without
consideration for the alignment and too close liaison, which will give
us the greatest results with the least losses.... The armies of General
Pétain are going forward again in the same manner._

[Illustration]

At the time Mangin's Army was preparing to crush the enemy's front
between the Aisne and St. Gobain, Horne's Army, on the Scarpe, attacked
the salient east of Arras.

On =August 25=, the Canadians, astride the Scarpe, and the left of
Byng's Army captured the difficult positions of Monchy-le-Preux,
Guémappe and Rœux, bringing their line into contact with the
redoubtable position of Quéant-Drocourt, a ramification of the
Hindenburg Line.

On =September 2=, the Canadians attacked, progressing rapidly along the
Arras-Cambrai road. Penetrating the German lines to a depth of 6 miles,
they reached Buissy.

[Illustration]

On the night of August 30, the Australians, in the centre, furiously
attacked and captured the formidable bastion of Mont-St-Quentin. On
=September 1=, they entered Péronne, after desperate fighting. To flank
this attack on the north, Bouchavesnes and Frégicourt were captured.

Further south, on the Oise, Humbert's Army, in spite of the enemy's
resistance, took Noyon and the high ground dominating the town.
Advancing from the Ailette, towards Chauny, Mangin's left reached the
outskirts of St. Gobain Forest, in the old lines of March 1918.

Outflanked on the north, towards Cambrai, and on the south along
the Oise, in the direction of La Fère, and violently attacked at the
same time in the centre at Péronne, the Germans retreated towards the
Hindenburg positions. The British and French forces drove back the
enemy rear-guards, which were unable to hold the line of the Tortille
and the Canal du Nord.

On =Sept. 8=, the Allied front ran west of Arleux and Marquion, through
Havrincourt, Épéhy and Vermand, then followed the Crozat Canal.



IV.--THE OFFENSIVES AGAINST THE OUTWORKS OF THE HINDENBURG LINE.
September 10-25.


The Germans had reached the advanced defences of their famous
Hindenburg Line, consisting of the old British lines lost in March.
These formidable positions protected the ramparts of the Hindenburg
Line, said to be impregnable.

On =September 10=, the British 3rd and 4th Armies (Byng and Rawlinson)
attacked between Havrincourt and Holnon.

[Illustration]

The 4th Army took Vermand, the western outskirts of Holnon Woods, and
gained a footing in Épéhy and Jeancourt. On the 13th, after desperate
fighting, it captured the woods and village of Holnon.

The 3rd Army crossed the Canal du Nord, south of the Bapaume-Cambrai
road, turned the positions from Havrincourt to Gouzeaucourt, and
captured the greater part of them, the enemy resisting desperately.

The same day (Sept. 12), the American 1st Army captured the whole of
the St. Mihiel Salient, with 15,000 prisoners and 200 guns. (_See the
Guide_: =The Battle of St. Mihiel=.)

On the =18th=, a general attack was launched by the British 3rd and 4th
Armies, in liaison with the French 1st Army. All the enemy's positions
between Gouzeaucourt and Holnon were captured, with 10,000 prisoners
and 150 guns.

To the south, Debeney's Army took over the front of Humbert's
Army--transferred to the sector of the 10th Army--the latter, due
to the shortening of the front, being sent to Lorraine, for a new
offensive.

Debeney's Army, extending south of the Oise, attacked, and after
capturing Dallon Spur, Castres and Essigny-le-Grand, reached the valley
of the Oise, from Vendeuil to La Fère.

[Illustration: PEACE AFTER STRIFE. LIFE IN THE RUINS.

_Méharicourt, between Chaulnes and Caix, in 1919._]

Disorganized and exhausted, their ranks depleted, the enemy were now
incapable of attempting a counter-offensive.

To avoid this continuous, exhaustive battle, the Germans sought refuge
in positions which they believed to be impregnable, and where they
hoped to rest, reorganize and reconstitute their reserves.

This was an imperious necessity, as from July 15 to September 25, 163
of their divisions had been engaged, 75 of them two or three times.

On September 26, despite a reduction of 120 miles in the length of the
front, they were forced to maintain practically the same number of
divisions in line as on July 15, owing to their decreased effective
strength and fighting value.

Moreover, to keep these forces effective, ten divisions had to be
dissolved, and the battalions of fifty others reduced from four to
three companies. Large numbers of men were called up from the works, in
order to husband their last resources--the 1920 recruits.

Everywhere, the Allied armies were in contact with the Hindenburg Line,
ready for the grand assault against the formidable positions from which
the enemy had set out on March 21 for Paris and victory.

[Illustration: _The above photograph represents an assemblage of the
maps on which the Staff of the French 20th Corps traced the front from
day to day._

_By bringing out the two lines of July 15 and November 2 (exactly
reproduced), and by adding a few unimportant touches inside and the
spike of the helmet, one of the Staff draughtsmen obtained this curious
figure of Germania on her knees._

_With the help of the inset sketch-map, it is easy to trace the
salients of Ypres, Arras, Montdidier, Château-Thierry (crossed by the
Vesle), Rheims, Verdun, and St. Mihiel._]

In six weeks, by repeated, inter-related attacks, vigorously executed
without respite, the Allies had flattened out the salient from St.
Quentin to beyond Montdidier and Albert, produced by the German push.

The end was near. To avoid a military disaster without precedent in the
world's history, the enemy soon afterwards sued for an armistice and
peace.

[Illustration: _Ginchy (between Bapaume and Péronne) bombarded by the
British (July 11, 1916)._]

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

[Illustration: _Ginchy, two days before its capture by the British
(Sept. 7, 1916)._]

ILLUSTRATING THE PROGRESSIVE DESTRUCTION OF A VILLAGE BY ARTILLERY.

_Taken from the Michelin Guide_: "THE FIRST BATTLE OF THE SOMME."

[Illustration: MODERN WAR WEAPONS.

_A heavy trench-mortar of the 3rd Australian Medium Trench-Mortar
Battery in action at Ville-sur-Ancre, on May 29, 1918, when the German
front line was only 400 yards beyond this farm-house._]

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

_Taken from the Guide_: THE FIRST BATTLE OF THE SOMME.]

[Illustration: AMIENS, DURING THE GERMAN OFFENSIVES OF 1918.

(1) _Fire at the Saint-Frères Works, April 23, 1918._

(2) _Platforms at the Gare du Nord, May, 1918._

(3) _One of the Warehouses at the Goods Station._

(4) _One of the buildings at the Saint-Frères Works._

(5) _The Rue de la Hotoie._

(6) _The Rue des Jacobins and the Passage du Commerce connecting it
with the Rue des Trois Cailloux._]


_To visit AMIENS_,

centre of the itineraries for BAPAUME and PÉRONNE ("THE FIRST BATTLE
OF THE SOMME") and MONTDIDIER and COMPIÈGNE ("THE SECOND BATTLE OF THE
SOMME"), see the MICHELIN Illustrated Guide:

"=AMIENS, before and during the War.="

[Illustration: FROM AMIENS TO COMPIÈGNE

Lunch at Montdidier.

_The roads to be followed are shown by heavy lines. Detailed sketch
maps are incorporated in the text._]



AMIENS TO COMPIÈGNE

_See route-map, p. 57._

From Amiens to Villers-Bretonneux

=via Longueau, Gentelles and Cachy=.


_Leave Amiens by Exit V_ (Michelin Tourist Guide) (_Rue Jules-Barni,
Chaussée Périgord and N. 35_). _Cross the railway twice (l.c.) or if
preferred, take the road on the right under the railway._ =Longueau=
_is soon reached._

The road from Amiens to the crossing over the river Avre, before
reaching Longueau, follows the left bank of the Somme. Market-gardens
famous for their fertility and known locally as "_hortillonnages_"
lie in the valley, especially around Camon. Formerly, the river-side
_seigneurs_ above Amiens, met once a year for wild swan-shooting in the
valley of the Somme. The custom died out in the 18th century, poaching
having by then exterminated the swans.

[Illustration]

It was at Longueau that the Roman roads from Amiens to Rheims and
to St. Quentin crossed the river Avre. Gallo-Roman tombstones were
discovered in 1848, while excavating near the first bridge at Longueau.
In 1590, the Leaguers held the village to ransom, and the Spaniards
burnt it in 1636.

_Beyond Longueau, leave the Montdidier road on the right, and keep
straight along the road to Roye for 4½ kms. Take the second road on
the left, to_ =Gentelles=. Gun emplacements, shelters and trenches are
met with on both sides of the road. Gentelles Wood is on the right.
(_See sketch-map, p. 59_).

_Pass through Gentelles village_, entirely destroyed. _1½ kms.
beyond Gentelles stands_ a partly destroyed monument to the memory of
the French who fell in the Franco-German War of 1870 (_photo below_).

[Illustration: MONUMENT TO THE FRENCH DEAD OF 1870, AT ENTRANCE TO
CACHY.]

_Leave the monument on the right, and enter_ =Cachy= (completely
ruined).

[Illustration: RUINS OF CACHY CHURCH.]

_At the fork beyond Cachy, take the middle road, between the Woods
of Aquenne and Abbé, in which are_ trenches, wire entanglements
and shelters. _Coming out into the main road from Amiens to
Villers-Bretonneux_ (G.C. 201), _take same on the right. (See
sketch-map, p. 62)._

[Illustration]

_After passing over the railway_, =Villers-Bretonneux= _is reached_.

[Illustration: VILLERS-BRETONNEUX.--RUINS OF THE VILLAGE AND CHURCH.]

[Illustration: VILLERS-BRETONNEUX. THE CHURCH, IN MAY 1918.]

Formerly a country village, the cotton-spinning industry later
transformed it into a small town. The war has left it in ruins. (_See
p. 61._)

[Illustration: VILLERS-BRETONNEUX. CHURCH IN NOV. 1918.]

[Illustration: STREET IN VILLERS-BRETONNEUX AFTER RECAPTURE OF THE
VILLAGE.]


From Villers-Bretonneux to Moreuil,
via Demuin, Hill 104, Mézières and Villers-aux-Érables.

_Leave Villers-Bretonneux by the road to Demuin, on the right_ (G.C.
23).

_See route-map, p. 62._

_From Hill 98, 1 km. beyond the railway, near the junction with the
road leading to Cachy, and close to a Franco-British cemetery, there
is_ an extensive view of the battlefield around Villers-Bretonneux.

[Illustration: FRANCO-BRITISH CEMETERY NEAR HILL 98. _In the
background_: VILLERS-BRETONNEUX.]

[Illustration]


The Battle of 1870.

It was around Villers-Bretonneux that on November 27, 1870, part of
the battle known as the "Battle of Amiens", was fought between the
Prussians and the French Army of the North.

The French troops, about 10,000 in number, under the command of General
Farre, were deployed from the railway (between Villers-Bretonneux and
Marcelcave) to Cachy and Gentelles (on the Boves road), and on the
high ground dominating the valleys of the Somme, Luce and Avre. The
Prussians, under General Manteuffel, far more numerous and better
equipped with artillery than the French, debouched from the valley of
the Luce and the roads from Péronne and Roye to Amiens, the battle
opening on the two wings.

The enemy partly took Cachy and approached Gentelles, but were driven
back towards the river Luce, after the brilliant capture of Domart Wood
by the French. Cachy, partly abandoned by the French after desperate
resistance and heavy losses, was afterwards cleared of the enemy with
great dash.

Unfortunately the French line from Cachy to Villers-Bretonneux was
too weakly held to stay the Prussians, who got the upper hand in the
afternoon and forced the French back. To the enemy's forty guns the
French could only oppose sixteen (four batteries), and they were,
moreover, short of ammunition.

A Prussian battery, which had succeeded in taking up a position near
Cachy, enfiladed the French line. In Villers-Bretonneux, detachments
of French Marines fought a violent engagement in the streets, giving
ground only step-by-step. The enemy sustained heavy losses and were
unable seriously to hamper the French withdrawal towards Corbie and
Amiens.

A monument was erected at Villers-Bretonneux, south of the railway, to
the memory of the French soldiers who fell in this battle.

Fierce fighting took place in 1918 around the monument, which was
completely destroyed.

[Illustration: GERMAN PRISONERS ENTERING VILLERS-BRETONNEUX. (_August
1918._)]


The Battles of 1918.

Prolonged and violent engagements were fought from March to August,
1918, in the vicinity of Villers-Bretonneux, for the possession
of Amiens. The battlefield consisted of a plateau occupied, from
north-east to south-west, by Villers-Bretonneux, Abbé Wood, Cachy and
Gentelles. This plateau was the last dominating position in front of
Amiens. From Villers-Bretonneux, situated on the main road from St.
Quentin to Amiens, and ten miles from the latter, the ground slopes
gradually down towards the great Picardian City and the confluence of
the rivers Avre and Somme.

[Illustration: FRANCO-BRITISH CEMETERY AT "CRUCIFIX CORNER" ON THE
VILLERS-BRETONNEUX-DEMUIN ROAD.]

From March 28 onwards, this plateau was held by Australian divisions,
the famous Anzacs, who covered themselves with glory there by staying
the Germans. At the beginning of April, the latter attempted to
outflank Villers from the north and south, with but little success.
On the 24th, after a bombardment with high explosive and gas shells,
lasting the whole of the previous night, they threw four divisions
(50,000 men), supported by five tanks each fitted with three guns and
a central turret, against the Fouilloy-Cachy front, barely three miles
wide. From 7 to 10 a.m., the attacking waves went forward unceasingly
in the morning mists. At about 11 a.m., the British had to give way,
under an intensely fierce onslaught, and the Germans entered Villers
from the north and south.

Clinging to the western approaches of the village, the British,
throughout the afternoon and night of the 24th, prevented the enemy
from debouching, while their artillery fire made the position
practically untenable. Two German battalions only were able to maintain
themselves in the cellars and ruins of the houses. In the evening
of the 25th, while troops of the Moroccan Division recaptured the
monument south of the Villers railway, British units debouched from
Abbé Wood, and advancing via the ravine north of Villers, Aquenne Wood
and the station to the south, surrounded and recaptured the village
after a hand-to-hand fight lasting all night. A 3-gun tank and over 700
prisoners were taken. To the south-west, in the vicinity of Cachy and
Gentelles, the enemy check was equally severe. On the 24th, a regular
battle of tanks took place near Cachy, in which the Germans were routed
and Cachy re-occupied. The four German divisions lost the battle, and
left the ground covered with their dead.

[Illustration: Domart.

Demuin.

Gentelles Wood.

Hangard.

Hangard Wood.

PANORAMA SEEN FROM HILL 102.]

On May 2, there was again sharp fighting near the Monument, but
during the following weeks, the enemy ceased their attacks. The
Australians, by local operations, enlarged their positions north-east
of Villers-Bretonneux and between Villers and the Somme. On the night
of May 23, the enemy violently bombarded Villers, and on the 25th made
another powerful effort south of the village, but without success.

_Follow G.C. 23, which runs close to_ Hangard Wood, the trees of which
were devastated by the shells. (_See map, p. 62._)

_Descend from the plateau to_ =Demuin=, _visible at the bottom of the
valley of the Luce. There is_ a large British cemetery _on the right.
Tourists may here turn to the right as far as_ =Hangard=. (_See p. 66._)

[Illustration: HANGARD VILLAGE, IN RUINS. THE CHURCH IS ON THE RIGHT.]

[Illustration: ENTRANCE TO DEMUIN VILLAGE.]

[Illustration]

_After visiting the village_ (completely devastated), _return to
Demuin. Take the main street, then the last street of the village and
the uphill road indicated in the sketch-map above, to_ =Hill 102=,
_from which there is_ a fine view of Demuin, the valley of the Luce,
Hangard, Domart and Gentelles Wood (_photo above_).

_Return to Demuin, and take G.C. 23 to_ =Hill 104= (_See map, p. 62_).


Hill 104.

Hill 104, at the crossing of the Demuin-Moreuil road with the
Roye-Amiens road, commands the valleys of the Luce and the Avre.

Hangard and Hangard Wood, seen to the north, were the scene of furious
fighting in 1918. This vital position enabled the Germans to hold the
river Luce, which they needed to consolidate the Montdidier-Moreuil
salient, and for their advance south-east of Amiens.

As early as March 27, units of Debeney's Army, under the command of
General Mesple, were pushed south of the Luce in support of the British
who were holding the line: Le Quesnel, Beaucourt, Cayeux, Guillaucourt
and Proyart. However, on the 28th, the Germans carried Guillaucourt,
north of Cayeux, descended to the woods in the Luce Valley, and drove
back the British in the neighbourhood of Cayeux. Meanwhile, General
Mesple's detachment, in accordance with instructions, stubbornly held
their positions on the Caix-Le Quesnel plateau, although unprotected
on their left. The first battalions of the French 22nd Division were
despatched immediately on arrival to Hangard and Domart, in support of
the British. On the 29th, the Germans attacked Demuin on the Luce and
forced the Allies to abandon Mézières and to fall back on Moreuil and
the Avre.

[Illustration]

[Illustration: Amiens Road.

Gentelles Wood.

Domart.

Trench.

Cachy.

Aquenne Wood.

Hangard.

Hangard Wood.

Villers-Bretonneux.

Demuin.

Marcelcave.

Corner of Wood, South of Demuin.

PANORAMA OF THE LUCE VALLEY SEEN FROM HILL 104.]

On the 31st, they gained a footing in Hangard after prolonged efforts.
In the evening and throughout the night they vainly attempted to
enlarge their gains to the west. The Franco-British troops repulsed all
assaults and prevented the enemy debouching from the village, which the
French soon afterwards recaptured in a dashing counter-attack. On April
4, the Germans attempted to turn Hangard from the south and attacked
Hill 104. After getting to within 50 yards of it, they were checked at
the foot of the hill, and fell back in disorder. They then attempted
to slip in along the ravines, but the Allied artillery drove them back
with very heavy losses.

On the 6th and 8th, fighting was resumed in the vicinity of Hangard,
where the French 29th Division held their ground. On the 9th, Hangard
was lost and retaken, together with the cemetery situated about 200
yards east of the village. On the 11th, a fresh German attack was made
against the Hangard-Hourges front. The enemy, held before Hourges,
gained a footing in Hangard, where the fighting was desperate. On the
morning of the 12th, the Germans surrounded the château and occupied
the whole of the wood on Hill 104. A single French battalion in the
village held out against four German battalions. In the direction of
Hourges the enemy was held.

In Hangard Château, the French battalion, although surrounded since
10 a.m., was still holding out at 6.30 p.m., in spite of repeated
attacks. At nightfall, a counter-attack by one French and one British
battalions recaptured the village and castle, and drove back the enemy
to the cemetery. 127 men, 3 officers and 15 machine-guns were captured,
and 35 Allied prisoners released. On April 15, before it was relieved,
the 29th Division, which had performed prodigies of valour in its
efforts to save Hangard, made it a point of honour to clear the village
entirely before leaving. One company carried the cemetery in brilliant
style. On the 19th, a German effort against the village and wood
failed. On the 24th, the fighting was again fiercest around Hangard,
which was defended by only one battalion. A whole German division
attacked and after carrying the wood boarded the village from the
north. At the same time they attacked Hill 104 from the south, at the
foot of which they had been held on the 4th. Enfiladed by machine-guns
posted in front of Thennes, the Germans failed to reach that village,
but persisted in their efforts against Hangard. After seven furious
onslaughts, from 6.30 a.m. to 4.30 p.m., they occupied the cemetery,
in which a single company, entirely cut off from all support, held out
all that day. Units of the battalion, hard pressed from the north, east
and south, shut themselves up with their Commandant in the Château,
and made a vigorous defence. Between 3 and 5 p.m., the following
message was signalled three times: "_Surrounded in Hangard but still
holding out_". At 6 p.m. the Château was stormed, and the commandant
taken prisoner with the remaining survivors. Taking advantage of the
confusion caused by the French bombardment among his captors, he
escaped with his men and re-entered the castle, where he continued to
hold out until nightfall. He was finally captured in the course of
another attack.

[Illustration: MAISON BLANCHE.--BRITISH TANKS GOING INTO ACTION.]

In spite of their strenuous efforts, the Germans were unable to
debouch from Hangard during the night. On the 25th, the French
counter-attacked, and after crossing the Luce at various points,
re-occupied Verger hamlet, Hangard village, and part of Hangard Wood,
repulsing all German counter-attacks.

On the 26th, the 4th Regiment of the Moroccan Division completed the
clearing of the wood. Although the British attack on their right was
unsuccessful, a battalion of "Légionnaires" succeeded in outflanking
the north-eastern corner of the wood, in which they gained a footing.
They were followed soon afterwards by a second battalion supported
by British tanks which undertook the destruction of the German
machine-guns nests. Driven from the wood, the Germans bombarded it
heavily with 6in. and 8in. shells, but could not drive out the French.
Finally the Germans retreated 2 kms, two of their divisions being
thrown into disorder. One of them, which had just relieved the other,
suffered such heavy losses that it had to be sent to the rear two days
after coming into line. On the 28th, the Germans launched unsuccessful
counter-attacks against the wood, which was finally cleared by French
Infantry and British tanks. Thereafter, the enemy were unable to make
any advance in this region.

_At Hill 104, take on the left the road to Roye_ (G.C. 203), _and
cross_ =Maison Blanche=. _Take the first road on the left_ (G.C. 28),
_and skirt the Château of Beaucourt, in the park of which there is_ a
French cemetery. _Go through_ =Beaucourt=, _and keep along the road
to_ =Caix= (_See map, p. 66_). Saps, battery positions, and a German
cemetery are to be seen along the road. Caix is an ancient market-town.
Objects dating from the Bronze Age have been discovered there. The
15th-16th century Sainte-Croix Church (_Hist. Mon._), standing halfway
up the hill, is of archæological interest. The famous square belfry on
the left is flanked to the top by buttresses surmounted by four low,
massive corbel-turrets with bell-shaped roofs. A door in the western
front forms a low overhanging arch with accolade-shaped archivolts,
ornamented with inset pinnacles.

A large doorway in the façade, comprising two elliptical leaves, is
surmounted by high, pointed arcading forming a tympanum. On the first
story, a delicate, open-work balustrade recalls that of Tilloloy;
above is a fine rose window. The roof was rebuilt on modified lines
after the terrible fire of April 1768, which practically destroyed the
whole village. The south front doorway dates from 1530. Its arch is
ornamented with delicately carved vine-foliage.

The 16th century pillars, without capitals, in the nave, are decorated
with finely carved canopies, several of which are mutilated. The
present consoles and statues standing against the pillars are
unfortunately not the original ones. In the aisles, the brackets on
which the springing of the pointed arches rests, are ornamented with
figures of persons, lizards and dæmons... The pillars of the choir
with their foliate capitals, and the transept and chancel are 14th
century. The high altar comprises a reredos. The carved pulpit and
confessional are in the Renaissance style. The richly ornamented font
has disappeared. A large holy-water basin of unusual shape (truncated
cone) is adorned with several black circles.

All the zinc and lead-work was stripped off and taken away by the
Germans during the occupation of 1918. The wooden leaves of the
entrance door were removed. The building suffered severely from the
bombardments. The upper part of the belfry fell down and the stained
glass was destroyed. Part of the cornice and the frame-work of the
chevet were ruined.

The fortified château of Caix, vestiges of which still remain, was
destroyed by fire in 1400.

[Illustration: CAIX CHURCH.]

The village did not suffer greatly from the bombardments.

Caix was captured by the Germans on March 28, 1918, and retaken by the
British at the same time as Beaucourt-en-Santerre, on the evening of
August 8, i.e. the first day of the British offensive in Picardy.

_Leave the village by the road taken on entering. Beyond Beaucourt,
keep straight on as far as_ =Mézières=, _where take the second road on
the right to the church (See map, p. 66)_.

[Illustration: MÉZIÈRES CHURCH.]

The village of Mézières was attacked by the Germans, on March 28, 1918,
after the withdrawal of the British. On the 29th, units of the French
133rd Division, which were defending Mézières, were unable to hold the
overwhelming numbers of the enemy, who captured the village. On August
8, at the beginning of the offensive by Debeney's Army, the village was
recaptured by the 42nd Division, while the 37th Division progressed
east of Genonville Wood.

_At the church, take the street on the left, then the first on the
right_ (G.C. 28), _to_ =Villers-aux-Érables=. The village was almost
entirely destroyed; its Château is in ruins.

[Illustration: VILLERS-AUX-ERABLES.--THE RUINED CHATEAU.]

_The road, along which are numerous graves, trenches and shelters,
next crosses the plateau_, where the 133rd Infantry and 4th Cavalry
Divisions so heroically retarded the German onrush of March 26-28, 1918.


Moreuil.

Moreuil, _next reached_, was fortified in the Middle-Ages, but to-day
nothing remains of the former ramparts. The Château alone is still
existent, and is reached by taking _the third turning on the left (See
sketch-map below)_.

[Illustration]

[Illustration: THE AVRE AT MOREUIL.]

The Château, comprising the ruins of four bastions with very thick
walls, was rebuilt in the 14th or 15th century on the site of a
previous castle which probably stood near the church. In 1434, it
was besieged and captured by the Anglo-Burgundians. In 1588, it was
occupied by the Leaguers. In 1636, during the disastrous "Corbie year",
it was taken by the Spaniards, from whom the French wrested it shortly
afterwards. In 1791, it was pillaged by the people, like the Château of
Mailly-Raineval. Ancient cannon from the Château are now in the Museum
of Picardy at Amiens. The modern portion, which served as a living
apartment, stood between the two western towers, and was built under
Louis XVIII. It is now in ruins (_photo p. 28_). A large stone cross,
which formerly stood before the doorway of the parish church, was
removed and erected near the chapel of the Château. This 14th century
monument comprised a pedestal of three superimposed stories, and a
columnar shaft and cross, slightly more modern than the pedestal. The
cross has disappeared, and only part of the pedestal remains.

[Illustration: MOREUIL.--THE CHURCH BEFORE THE WAR.]

_Turn back and follow the street straight to_ the church.

[Illustration: MOREUIL.--THE CHURCH IN 1919.]

Formerly the old abbey church of a Benedictine Monastery which stood
within the castle walls, it was rebuilt in modern times in 15th century
style--except the façade which dates from the latter part of the 16th
century--when the place belonged to the Créqui family. The façade
(_Hist. Mon._) bears a great likeness to that of St. Peter's Church
at Montdidier. It comprises two large porches, above which rose the
square tower of the belfry and the gable of the nave.

[Illustration: MOREUIL CHURCH.]

The left-hand doorway comprises six pointed arches, the third one from
the inside being the most richly ornamented. This arch comprises a
series of ten carved subjects, each under a canopy.

The right-hand doorway is a replica on a larger scale of the left-hand
one.

A Flamboyant gallery runs above the doors. At the base of the belfry,
on the northern front, is a beautiful pointed window with rich 16th
century ornamentation.

The church was severely damaged during the battles of 1918. The tower
was destroyed and the porches were badly mutilated.

The interior collapsed; the pillars alone remain standing.

_Turn left into the road which descends to the Avre._ The bridge was
destroyed in 1918, and replaced by two wooden ones.

[Illustration: BUILDING A BRIDGE ACROSS THE AVRE, NEAR MOREUIL.]

=Morisel= _is next reached, which pass through. (See sketch-map, p.
71.)_


From Moreuil to Montdidier,

via Mailly-Raineval, Grivesnes and Cantigny.

Mailly-Raineval and Hill 103

_On leaving Morisel, there is_ a large German cemetery, from which a
very fine view of Moreuil and the valley of the Avre may be had. _Take
the_ G.C. 14, _on the left, as far as_ =Mailly-Raineval=, _entering the
village by the road on the left. (See sketch-map, p. 77.)_

[Illustration: MAILLY-RAINEVAL, SEEN FROM THE ROAD TO HILL 103.]

[Illustration: MAILLY-RAINEVAL.--RUINS OF THE CHATEAU.]

This village, first known as Raineval, took the name of
Mailly-Raineval in 1744, when it became the property of the
illustrious house of Mailly. The Château, in ruins since 1879, was
mostly built in the 16th century, on the site of the former castle,
destroyed at the time of the _Jacquerie_. The ruins of the Château
include a broken tower dating from the end of the 14th century, and
substructures still measuring 250 feet in length. The latter, which
were severely damaged by the bombardments, used to support the three
stories of the imposing Château (_photo above_). The village is now
a complete ruin.

[Illustration: MAILLY-RAINEVAL, SEEN FROM THE WEST SIDE OF HILL 103.

_On the right_: THE CHURCH AND CHATEAU; _in the background_:
ARRIÈRE-COUR WOOD.]

_200 yards further on, the road leads to the foot of_ =Hill 103= _which
can be ascended on foot_.

From this hill, there is a fine view of Moreuil Village and Wood,
Sauvillers (_to the south-east_) and Arrière-Cour Wood. (_See map, p.
77._)

On March 26, 1918, the French 133rd Division, brought up in lorries,
and the 4th Cavalry Division, had orders to protect the approaches to
Moreuil and the Avre, and to join hands with the British, but were
forced to give way under the pressure of the enemy's overwhelming
numbers. On the 29th, the French 163rd Division had scarcely detrained
when it received orders to defend Moreuil, under the direction of the
General commanding the 36th Corps, forming the left of Debeney's Army.
The attack, led by two German divisions, began on the night of the
29th. Moreuil, as the nearest point to Amiens, was particularly aimed
at by the enemy, but the Canadians and French repulsed all assaults.
Finally, after changing hands several times, the village was occupied
by the Germans who were, however, unable to debouch, although they lost
half of their effective strength in their attempts to do so. On April
1st the British, supported by the French, counter-attacked in the woods
north of Moreuil.

[Illustration: MAILLY-RAINEVAL IN FLAMES.]

On April 4th, a violent German effort on the left bank of the Avre,
against the 36th Corps, was twice checked, but the enemy finally
succeeded, at very heavy cost, in capturing Mailly-Raineval,
Arrière-Cour Wood, Morisel and Castel. On April 5, under the command
of General Robillot, the French counter-attacked: the 127th, 166th
and 59th divisions towards Mailly-Raineval, and the 17th division in
the direction of Moreuil. After driving the enemy from Arrière-Cour
Wood, they returned to the outskirts of Mailly-Raineval. In front of
Sauvillers, where the tanks did good work, they advanced along the
plateau. To the west of Castel, in Sénecat Wood, a furious engagement
took place, in the course of which the enemy were driven back with a
loss of 100 prisoners. On April 17, the French attacked from Mailly to
Castel, captured the greater part of Sénecat Wood, gained a footing
in Gros Hêtre Wood, reached the outskirts of Castel--bristling with
machine-guns--and on the south attained the heights which dominate
the Avre, after taking over 650 prisoners, including 20 officers.
The same day, a single French battalion thrown against the village
of Castel--held by five companies of infantry and two companies of
machine-gunners, of the German 389th regiment of shock troops--advanced
1,400 yards, capturing several redoubts, 254 prisoners (including 10
officers), and 31 machine-guns. On this day also, the tanks played a
great part in the capture of Sénecat Wood. The commanding officer of a
company of tanks personally took over one of the machines, the crew of
which had been put out of action. Making straight for Castel, he swept
the streets of the village with his machine-gun, then returned safely
to the French lines. Another tank, in hot pursuit of a retreating
German battery of 77's, penetrated over 600 yards into the enemy's
lines, where it broke down. The gallant crew thereupon got out their
machine guns and held off the enemy until their ammunition ran out. On
April 24, an enemy attack on Sénecat Wood failed. On May 11, during a
violent attack, the Germans temporarily gained a footing in the woods
to the south-west of Mailly, but counter-attacks drove them out. On
July 12, the French attacked near Castel and to the south-east of
Rouvrel, capturing Castel and 500 prisoners. On the 23rd they took
Mailly, Sauvillers, and Aubvillers, capturing 1,800 men, 54 officers,
four 77's, 45 minenwerfer, and 300 machine-guns. On August 8, Debeney's
offensive cleared Morisel, and the 66th Division captured Moreuil.

[Illustration]

_Return to and keep along the road._

Trenches, saps and battery positions are met with. _After crossing the
Louvrechy-Thory road, the Ailly-sur-Noye-Montdidier road is reached. At
the crossing, and before taking_ G.C. 26, _on the left, to Grivesnes,
tourists interested in archæology should take it on the right to visit
the church of_ =Ailly-sur-Noye= _(5½ kms.) Otherwise, keep straight
on to_ =Folleville= _(4½ kms.) (See sketch-map, p. 79.)_

[Illustration: AILLY-SUR-NOYE.--THE PRÉVOTÉ.]

[Illustration: AILLY-SUR-NOYE. INTERIOR OR THE CHURCH IN 1918.]


Ailly-sur-Noye.

[Illustration: AILLY-SUR-NOYE.--THE TOMB OF THE "BASTARD OF ST. POL".]

The village of Ailly-sur-Noye used to possess a 13th century church,
replaced a few years ago by a new edifice, in which the following
portions of the ancient building were retained (under the first window
of the right-hand aisle):

1. A bas-relief crowned with pointed trefoil arcading, divided into
three compartments, depicting from right to left: _St. Martin cutting
his mantle_, _The Crucifixion_, and _The presentation of the donor to
Christ, by John-the-Baptist_.

2. The tomb of Jean de Luxembourg, known as the _Bastard of St. Pol_.
This tomb (_Hist. Mon._), comprises a bluestone sarcophagus, the front
of which is ornamented with five mourners, and each end with three
other mourners sheltered under arcades. The covering stone is carved
with the statues of Jean de Luxembourg and his wife, Catherine de la
Tremouille, in demi-relief. Unfortunately, the upper part of these
statues is damaged.


Folleville.

[Illustration]

Folleville, with the ruins of its Château and its church, is one of
the most interesting places in Picardy, for archæologists. The ruins
of the Château (late 14th and early 15th century), situated on a hill,
from which there is a very extensive view, are most imposing. The
corner towers are round; that in the middle of the northern curtain
is over 80 feet high, and is first round, then hexagonal, and finally
twelve-sided. In proportion as it rises, it overhangs by means of
moulded corbels, which bold design gives it a larger diameter at the
top than at the base.

[Illustration: FOLLEVILLE CHATEAU]

The castle, which began to fall into ruins in the 17th century,
was further damaged at the time of the Revolution. It is rich in
historical memories. In 1440, it was taken by the English, under
Counts Somerset and Talbot, and served for a long time as their
headquarters. Under Charles IX, the castle served as a meeting-place
for the Protestants. Later, the Leaguers had a garrison there. In
February 1592, Henri IV fought a battle in the neighbourhood, against
the troops of the Duke of Parma. St. Vincent-de-Paul lived there as
tutor to M. de Bondi's children, and it was at Folleville that he
inaugurated the missions which were the chief aim of the Congregation
founded by him.

[Illustration: TOMB OF RAOUL DE LANNOY AND HIS WIFE.]

[Illustration: TOMB OF FRANÇOIS DE LANNOY AND HIS WIFE.]

[Illustration: FOLLEVILLE CHURCH.]

The church (_Hist. Mon._) standing near the ruined Château, comprises
a late 14th century nave and an early 16th century choir. The latter,
intended as a burial chapel for the owners of the castle, is the
more richly decorated. Its buttresses are surmounted with pinnacles,
on one of which is a niche containing a statue of the Virgin. The
pointed timber-work vaulting of the nave is among the finest in the
_Département_ of the Somme, and is decorated with satirical and
chimerical carvings. The pulpit is the one from which, on January
25, 1671, St. Vincent-de-Paul preached the sermon which was the
starting-point of his Missions. The wooden seats in the nave are
ancient. The white marble font is girt with the historical chain of
the de Lannoy family, connected by four shields bearing the arms of
Folleville, Lannoy, Broix and Hangest. It stands on a small pedestal of
grey stone, ornamented at the corners with four carved acanthus leaves.
The arches of the stone vaulting of the choir rest on small brackets
carved with various _motifs_.

Of the two chapels on either side of the choir, that on the left,
known as the Virgin Chapel, was used by the owners of the castle. The
right-hand one (St. Vincent-de-Paul), is modern in its fittings and
decoration (1868).

The choir contains several very famous monuments, the finest being the
mausoleum of Raoul de Lannoy and Jeanne de Broix; the white marble
sarcophagus is the work of Italian artists (the _de Portas_); the stone
niche which shelters the sarcophagus contains delicate French carvings.
The whole forms one of the most remarkable works of the Renaissance
period. The neighbouring tomb is that of François de Lannoy and Marie
de Hangest; some of the carvings greatly resemble those of Cardinal
Hémard de Denonville's tomb in the Cathedral of Amiens.

An ancient stained-glass window near the tomb of Raoul de Lannoy is
dedicated to St. Anthony and St. John-the-Evangelist. Above the door of
the sacristy are carved marble medallions. The church used to possess a
very ancient pall, now in the Museum at Amiens.

[Illustration: FRENCH LINES IN THE QUARRIES AT GRIVESNES.]


Grivesnes.

_Return to the crossing of the Grivesnes, Folleville and Ailly-sur-Noye
roads, and take the road leading to_ GRIVESNES. (_See sketch-map p.
84._)

_Before reaching the latter, note the_ cemetery of the French 114th
Infantry Regiment, _on the right, and a little further on, on the other
side_, a quarry containing shelters.

[Illustration: GRIVESNES CHATEAU.]

_On entering_ =Grivesnes=, _take the first road on the left to_ the
CHATEAU--a 17th century pile, comprising a central main building
and two wings--in the yard of which are a large shelter and several
graves. The church _is a little farther on_. Both buildings were
severely damaged. _Return to the road, and proceed towards_ CANTIGNY,
past the ruins of a mill which was blown up by the Germans, and the
CHAPELLE DE ST. AIGNAN, near which is a large Franco-German cemetery.
(_See map p. 84._)

[Illustration: GRIVESNES CHURCH.]

The chapel is now a heap of ruins.

The village, château and park of Grivesnes now come into view. The
latter lies to the north-east of the village.

[Illustration: FRANCO-GERMAN CEMETERY ON THE GRIVESNES-CANTIGNY ROAD.]

On March 28, 1918, the first units of the French 166th Division, on
detraining, took up positions along the Coullemelle-Thory line, while
their artillery was posted on the Grivesnes-Coullemelle line. On the
29th, the 4th and 5th battalions of the 350th Regiment, which had
already been fighting the two previous days, occupied Grivesnes, one of
them having lost two-thirds of its effective strength. Reinforced by a
few units of Chasseurs and a company of Engineers, this handful of men
repulsed five successive assaults next day (March 30), after the fall
of Malpart.

[Illustration]

On the 31st (Easter Sunday), the enemy attacked with the 1st Division
of the famous Prussian Guards. At 7 a.m., French observers saw the
storm-waves assembling in the shell-holes to the east and north-east
of the park. From 10.30 to 11.30 a.m., the German artillery pounded
the French lines with _rafale_ fire from 6 in. guns. The German
foot-grenadiers advanced by companies, in aligned platoon columns.
The first French line was decimated, and broke under the repeated
onslaughts. The Germans turned the park from the north and east,
and contenting themselves for the time being with surrounding the
castle--from which a murderous fire was poured on them--entered the
village.

The commanding officer, who had shut himself up in the castle, was
using a rifle with his men. At noon, he despatched a cyclist with a
report on the situation, to the officer in command of the Divisional
Infantry at Plessier. The report ended with the words: _I am in the
castle, and shall hold on till death_. The cyclist managed to get
through the German lines, crossed Grivesnes--already occupied by the
Germans--and delivered the report. All available units were immediately
got together and despatched to Grivesnes.

Meanwhile, a reserve battalion at the crossing of the Montdidier and
Plessier roads counter-attacked the German Grenadiers who were entering
the Rue de Montdidier. While the men were clearing the houses one by
one and freeing a number of prisoners, the battalion commander and
his cyclist went forward, with two armoured cars, the machine-guns of
which scattered the German columns. The Rue de Montdidier was quickly
cleared of the enemy and the French entered the Château. At 2.30 p.
m., the detachment from Plessier arrived, and the German Grenadiers
were quickly driven out of the park. In spite of counter-attacks, the
French, with the help of a battalion from a neighbouring regiment,
debouched from Coullemelle Wood and fully maintained their positions.
The Prussian Guard was thus not only soundly beaten, but also suffered
very heavy losses.

The enemy attacked again on April 1 and 3, but without success. On the
4th, the French 67th Infantry Regiment captured St. Aignan in the
course of a dashing counter-attack, and, in spite of repeated enemy
attempts to reconquer the village, maintained themselves there. On
the 5th the Germans made another powerful but futile effort against
Grivesnes. The 67th Regiment of the line stubbornly held its own at St.
Aignan, while to the east of Grivesnes, the 25th battalion of Chasseurs
repulsed four attacks by two regiments of the Guard, who were decimated
by barrage and machine-gun fire. Later, the same battalion succeeded
in clearing the eastern approaches to the village. On May 9 the French
captured the park, taking 258 prisoners and a large quantity of stores,
and beating off all enemy counter-attacks.

[Illustration: A FEW OF THE HEROES OF THE 350TH LINE REGIMENT AND THEIR
COMMANDANT, LIEUT.-COL. LAGARDE.]

[Illustration: GRIVESNES.--BATTERY OF 8½ IN. MORTARS TAKING UP
POSITION.]

[Illustration: THE WEATHER-COCK OF THE CHURCH STEEPLE AT GRIVESNES.]

[Illustration: WAYSIDE CROSS AT GRIVESNES.]

_Continue along_ G.C. 26 _to_ =Cantigny=.

The village and its surroundings were attacked by the Germans at
the end of March 1918. Sharp fighting occurred there on the night
of the 29th and the whole of the following day. Cantigny fell in
the evening of the 30th. On April 4 and 5, a counter-attack in this
region by the French 45th Division, drove back the enemy and gave the
French the northern and western outskirts of the village, which they
were, however, unable to hold. On May 28, the American 1st Division,
supported by a regiment of the French 60th Division and a group of
tanks, brilliantly carried the village and salient of Cantigny along a
2 kms. front, capturing 170 prisoners and a large quantity of stores.

[Illustration: THE AMERICAN ATTACK ON CANTIGNY, _May 28, 1918_. (_See
p. 39._)]

[Illustration: CANTIGNY ENTRANCE TO THE CHATEAU PARK.]

The village was razed to the ground. The ruins of the church and
Château may be reached by taking _the street on the left, in the middle
of the village_.

FONTAINE-SOUS-MONTDIDIER, in ruins, _is next reached. 3 kms. further
on, take the left-hand road to_ =Montdidier=. _Skirt the foot of the
hill, as far as the Montdidier-Amiens road (N. 35), which take on the
right. On entering Montdidier, turn into Rue du Collège which leads to
the Esplanade du Prieuré_ (_See p. 98_).

[Illustration]



MONTDIDIER

 _Valiant City, martyrised by the War. After sustaining the fire of the
 enemy's guns for more than two years, experienced in turn the joys
 of deliverance and the horrors of a brutal occupation. An important
 position, bitterly disputed, it suffered total destruction, paying
 with its ruins the Victory of the Mother-land._

  (Croix de Guerre.)


The town stands at the extremity of the Plateau of Santerre, halfway
between Amiens and Compiègne, in the valleys of the Somme and Oise.
Rising in tiers, from south to north, on the limestone cliffs, its
highest point is occupied by the Palais-de-Justice.

The town probably first grew up around a farm in which, according to
tradition, the monks of the Abbey of Corbie kept Didier, King of the
Lombards, whose name was given to the town. The first houses sprang
up in the fertile valley, whilst a _castrum_ was built on the hill.
Owing to its situation on an oft-disputed frontier, Montdidier was
destined to have a stirring history. Of the fortifications which
Philippe-Auguste caused to be erected there, and which were terminated
in 1210, nothing remains but a few fragments of walls covered by the
gardens. At various periods the town was besieged, pillaged and burnt.

Under Charles VIII and Louis XII the walls were rebuilt and the city's
life began anew, only to be disturbed again by war under François I.
After repulsing a band of adventurers in 1522, it was besieged in 1523
by 30,000 English and Germans, led by the Duke of Norfolk and Count de
Bure. Although a breach was opened in the city's walls, the burghers
refused to capitulate. The place had therefore to be carried by storm,
and the enemy burnt it on October 29.

[Illustration: MONTDIDIER.--THE ST. MÉDARD QUARTER.]

[Illustration: MONTDIDIER, SEEN FROM THE MOREUIL ROAD.]

After the town had been rebuilt, the Reform quickly gained ground, in
spite of persecutions and the burning of Pastor Michel de la Grange.

In 1636, a powerful Spanish army, under the command of Jean de Werth
and Piccolomini, captured Roye and summoned Montdidier to surrender.
The burghers refused and, almost unsupported, kept the enemy at bay and
made a number of successful sorties. A narrow valley on the road to
Breteuil has retained the name of "cut-throat", in remembrance of one
of these sorties, during which 200 Spaniards were slain. After a siege
lasting 34 days, the approach of the Royal Army compelled the Spaniards
to retreat, and Louis XIII thanked the burghers in person for their
courage and loyalty.

From that time forward the town lived in peace. Louis XIV often stayed
there on his way to Flanders.

On March 19, 1814, the Cossacks, coming from Roye, entered the town.

The next day a large detachment of Cossacks and Prussian Hussars,
infantry and artillery, under the Russian Baron de Geismar, took
possession and exacted heavy requisitions in kind.

The Cossacks bivouacked in the streets, with their horses in full
harness, and cooked their food in the open. An attack by the combined
garrisons of Amiens and Beauvais on March 24 drove out the Cossacks,
but the latter returned on the 27th, with the intention of plundering
and burning the town. In response to a petition from the chief
citizens, Baron de Geismar consented not to burn the town, but allowed
his soldiers to pillage it for one hour. On the 28th, the Cossacks
withdrew towards Compiègne, to join the Allies in their march
on Paris.

[Illustration: MONTDIDIER, PHOTOGRAPHED FROM AN AEROPLANE.

_On the left_: _The Three-Doms Stream, crossed by the road followed by
the itinerary_ (_see p. 98_);

_In the middle_: _Place de l'Hôtel-de-Ville_;

_On the right_: _Place Faidherbe and the Compiègne road._]

[Illustration:

  The Station.
  Royaucourt.
  Morlière Wood.
  Mesnil-St. Georges.
  Wood, south of Fontaine.
  Cantigny.
  Courtemanche.
  Grivesnes.


PANORAMIC VIEW TO THE WEST AND SOUTH OF MONTDIDIER SEEN FROM THE
ESPLANADE DU PRIEURÉ.]

After Easter, the Prussians held the garrison at Montdidier and in 1815
a Prussian garrison occupied the town for three months.

On October 15, 1870, the Prussians again appeared before Montdidier,
held only by a few regular troops and some National Guards.

After a short bombardment, which caused the death of several citizens,
the Prussians entered the town.

[Illustration: CHAPEL BUILT BY THE SOLDIERS IN THE RUINS OF
MONTDIDIER.]

[Illustration: SAVING THE TOWN RECORDS OF MONTDIDIER.]

[Illustration: THE ROADS TO BE FOLLOWED ARE SHOWN BY THICK LINES.]


MONTDIDIER IN 1918.

Of Montdidier, hardly anything remains but ruins, caused by the
terrible battles fought around the town in March-August 1918.

From the end of Rue du Collège, there is a fine view of the whole
battlefield: Mesnil-St-Georges and Fontaine-sous-Montdidier _to the
west_; Courtemanche and Framicourt _to the north-west_; Gratibus,
Pierrepont and Contoire _to the north_, and Ayencourt and Monchel _to
the south_.


The German offensive--March 27.

On March 27, the German hordes were held on the French right, but
overran the plain on the left, where the lack of natural defences made
resistance more difficult. The front-line there was very thin, and the
Germans captured Cessier and Tilloloy.

The French 22nd I.D. fell back on Bus, then lost this village and the
neighbouring woods. For two hours, the enemy were unable to debouch,
being held in check mainly by the fire of batteries in Marotin Wood.
Near by, the 22nd Territorials, with a squadron of divisional artillery
and two companies of engineers, were thrown into the battle. Fighting
stubbornly against odds of ten to one, they retreated only step by
step. The Germans advanced only with very heavy loss, and they had
scarcely entered Marotin Wood when a concentration of artillery fire
scattered them.

Held before the _massif_ of Boulogne-la-Grasse, they wedged themselves
in between the latter and Montdidier. There was a gap here between the
left of Humbert's Army and Debeney's right, then being brought up,
and of which only a part, i.e. the 56th Division (Demetz) had taken
up its positions. This division, with the 5th Cavalry Division (De la
Tour) and two battalions of the 97th Territorials, had to defend a
twelve-mile front, extending from Pierrepont to the outskirts of Roye.
Attacks by three German Divisions, supported by a powerful artillery,
were repulsed.

Throughout the morning, the 69th Battalion of Chasseurs fought along
the Echelle-St.-Aurin-Dancourt-Grivillers line. The latter village only
fell at 12.45 p.m.

After the capture of Erches and Saulchoy the 65th Battalion of
Chasseurs held the enemy in check for some time on the Guerbigny line,
but on being attacked on the flank by enemy forces which had crossed
the Avre beyond Guerbigny, they were compelled to fall back, but only
after inflicting very heavy losses on the enemy. This withdrawal
brought about that of the 49th Battalion, above Becquigny.

Before Marquivillers, two battalions of the 105th line Regt. held their
ground for a long time, and withdrew only after being overwhelmed.
Fighting rearguard actions, they fell back on the crest south of
Lignières, then to the plateau east of Etelfay. A battalion of the
132nd line Regt., which had been unable to reach Fescamps, fought with
the Territorials of the 97th between Piennes and Forestil Farm. At 3 p.
m., a battalion of the 132nd was thrown against Etelfay which had been
captured by the Germans, thus enabling two battalions of the 106th and
one of the 132nd to reform on the plateau to the west, where they kept
the enemy in check until 6.30 p.m.

South of Montdidier, the enemy advanced rapidly towards Rollot and
Rubescourt.

The defence of Montdidier was abandoned, and the enemy entered the town
at 6.30 p.m. The 56th I.D. and the 5th Cav. Div. reformed to the west
of Montdidier and the Avre, without losing a single gun.


The Enemy's Advance held.

In the evening, the French held the line: Ayencourt,
Mesnil-St.-Georges, Gratibus, Pierrepont and Contoire. General de
Mitry (6th Corps) gave orders to hold at all costs the line of hills
which dominate the Three-Doms stream on the west, between Pierrepont
and Domfront. The 56th Div. defended the line Framicourt, north of
Courtemanche and Domfront.


March 28.

On the morning of the 28th, the German 9th Div. entered Courtemanche,
Framicourt and Fontaine-sous-Montdidier, scattered the units of
Engineers who were holding the road to Mesnil, then occupied Mesnil,
Ayencourt and Monchel.

[Illustration]

The 56th Div. immediately counter-attacked. While a battalion of the
132nd Regt. recaptured Fontaine-sous-Montdidier, and the 65th Batn. of
Chasseurs advanced in the wood and on the hill near Mesnil, the 3rd
Batn. of the 132nd, supported by a Batn. of the 350th, drove back the
enemy to Mesnil and Monchel, and carried these villages. On the right,
General Humbert's Army recaptured Assainvillers.


March 29.

On the 29th, the 56th Div. received orders to advance as far as the
railway, between Courtemanche and Monchel. The attack was launched at
6 p.m., at the very moment chosen by the enemy for their own attack.
The fighting at once became very desperate. On the left, a company
of the 69th Batn. of Chasseurs succeeded in entering Framicourt,
but was overwhelmed and partly taken prisoners. The 49th Batn. of
Chasseurs, after advancing as far as the Chapelle de St. Pierre,
west of Courtemanche, was outflanked and forced to withdraw beyond
Fontaine-sous-Montdidier. The 65th Batn. of Chasseurs and the 3rd Batn.
of the 132nd Regt. progressed to the east of Mesnil, as far as Hill 97,
but were decimated by a violent artillery and machine-gun barrage, and
had to fall back.


March 30.

At dawn, on the 30th, after a violent artillery preparation,
a fresh German attack was launched. To the north, in front of
Fontaine-sous-Montdidier and Hill 104, the 49th Batn. of Chasseurs,
supported by units of the 54th Regt., repulsed seven assaults.

Two German air-squadrons having swept the French lines with machine-gun
fire, the attack was renewed with fresh troops, but without result. At
3.45 p.m., a new attack by strong enemy columns succeeded in turning
the exhausted French forces on both flanks. To avoid being surrounded,
the French fell back on the crest east of Villers-Tournelle, and clung
desperately to their new positions. On that day, they threw over 1,500
grenades and fired over 50,000 cartridges. From Mesnil to Royaucourt,
the battle was equally desperate. The German 9th Division had orders to
push forward as far as Elevation 136, i.e. 2½ kms. south-west of
Royaucourt.

In front of Mesnil, the French 106th Regt. broke four attacks in the
morning, but at about 5 p.m., the French left having given way under
a terrific bombardment, the Germans reached the northern outskirts of
the village. The French only abandoned the village, in flames, at 6.30
p.m., taking up fresh positions 200-300 yards in the rear.

[Illustration: MONTDIDIER. RUE BECQUEREL. (_See p. 98._)]

On the right, the Germans took Monchel and Ayencourt, but were unable
to debouch, which prevented them from reaching the south-western
outskirts of Mesnil and the approaches to Royaucourt.

At 7 p.m., a counter-attack by units of the 153rd Regt., a batn. of
cavalry on foot, a section of armoured-cars, and a group of artillery
took the enemy by surprise. Ayencourt and Monchel were recaptured, and
the French line advanced from Monchel to Hill 98.

Exhausted by their efforts and heavy losses, the enemy now consolidated
their slight gains.

The French 56th Div. had fought unceasingly for five days and lost the
greater part of its effective strength, but had fixed the enemy.

[Illustration: MONTDIDIER. RUE BECQUEREL IN 1919.]

[Illustration: LIBERATING MONTDIDIER.

_The front on August_ 8th. (_morning_) _and_ 10th (_evening_).]


The Liberation on Montdidier. (_August 8-10, 1918._).

During the following months the enemy remained on their positions, the
sector being disturbed only by local attacks and raids on either side.
In the region of Mesnil-St.-Georges, held mainly by the 60th Div., the
extreme German right broke down during the offensive of June 9 against
the resistance of the French. In front of a single company of the 248th
line Regiment, over 200 German dead were counted.

On August 1, the enemy made many unsuccessful efforts in the
neighbourhood of Mesnil. From August 3, the French progressed slowly to
the east of the village, and prepared starting positions for Debeney's
offensive of August 8. On the 4th the Germans, sensing the coming
attack, abandoned part of their positions. The French occupied Braches,
gained a footing in Hargicourt, and reached Courtemanche.

On August 8, the 3rd Div. of the 9th Corps crossed the Avre to the
north, captured and enlarged the bridgehead of Neuville-Sire-Bernard
and occupied the western outskirts of Contoire and Hamel. The 9th Corps
was then replaced by the 10th, the three divisions of which were in
the line: the 152nd and 166th behind the Doms stream, and the 60th in
front of Montdidier. On the morning of the 9th the 152nd Div., instead
of attempting to cross the marshy stream, inclined to the left, crossed
at Neuville-Sire-Bernard, and thus enabled the 166th Div. to force the
passage by a frontal attack opposite Gratibus. While the 126th and
153rd Div. carried Hangest village and plateau, the 152nd Div. advanced
to Contoire and Pierrepont. The 166th Div., which had met with great
difficulty in crossing the Doms stream, was unable to gain a footing
on the plateau to the east. Montdidier, already outflanked from the
north, was now being turned from the south. General Debeney rapidly
transferred his artillery from his left to his right, and began a new
attack. The 60th Div. advanced against Montdidier, and the 169th made
a north-easterly thrust towards Faverolles, to cut the Montdidier-Roye
road, the enemy's main line of retreat. The 133rd Div. attacked
eastwards, to mask the _massif_ of Boulogne-la-Grasse and cover the
flank of the offensive. Behind followed the 46th Div. and 2nd Cavalry
Corps, in readiness to exploit any gains.

[Illustration: GERMAN PRISONERS PASSING THROUGH MONTDIDIER (1918).]

[Illustration: MONTDIDIER. BUILDING A BRIDGE IN FRONT OF THE STATION.]

The attack was a complete success. In the evening, from Faverolles
to Piennes, Montdidier was turned from the south. Assainvillers,
Piennes and Faverolles were recaptured, and the enemy fell back
along the Montdidier-Andechy road, which their desperate resistance
before Gratibus had enabled them to keep open. During the night they
evacuated Montdidier in the greatest confusion. While the French were
entering the town, which was entirely in their possession by noon on
the 10th, the whole of Debeney's forces thrust eastwards: the 47th and
56th Div. advanced to the east of Villers-les-Roye, the 166th from
Gratibus to Lignières, the 60th to the outskirts of Dancourt, the 46th
to the east of Tilloloy, the 133rd to the north-east of Fescamps, and
the 169th to before Cessier. Montdidier was now largely cleared.

[Illustration: _The roads to be followed are indicated by thick lines
and arrows._]


A VISIT TO MONTDIDIER.

_Abutting on the Esplanade du Prieuré is_ the BENEDICTINES'
PRIORY which, before the war, was a college. _Opposite is_ the
PALAIS-DE-JUSTICE. These two buildings suffered severely from the
bombardments.

The =Palais-de-Justice= was built on the site of the old Château of
the Counts of Montdidier. The entrance was all that remained of the
Château at the beginning of the 14th century. The remains of this door
were used in the construction of the building known as the SALLE DU ROY.

[Illustration: MONTDIDIER. THE PALAIS-DE-JUSTICE. (1919.)]

The Salle du Roy is built over a vaulted passage, situated opposite
the Esplanade du Prieuré. To the west, an imposing gable rises above
the cliffs, its thick walls reinforced in the centre by an enormous
buttress, at the northern corner by a smaller buttress, and at the
southern corner by an octagonal turret.

[Illustration: THE PALAIS-DE-JUSTICE IN 1917.]

The entrance to the Palais-de-Justice is below the vaulted passage.
On the first story, the Entrance Hall and the corridor leading
to the Audience Chamber were decorated with six large Brussels
tapestries, believed to be work of Henry Reydams (17th century). Made
originally for the town of Douai, they were taken from the Château
of Ferrières--pulled down in 1809--in the Department of Oise. The
subjects, taken from the Book of Exodus, depicted: _The Crossing of
the Red Sea_; _the Hebrews glorifying God_; _Gathering Manna_; _Moses
striking the Rock_; _Making the Golden Calf_; _Worshipping the Golden
Calf_. The 1st, 3rd and 4th were faithful reproductions of tapestries
in the Cathedral of Chartres, said to have been made after drawings by
Raphael.

[Illustration: THE TOMB OF RAOUL DE CRÉPY.]

The other public buildings of Montdidier stood in the main road which
divides the town from north to south into two unequal parts. The first
of these was the =Church of St. Pierre= (_Hist. Mon._) _reached by
passing under the archway of the Palais-de-Justice and following Rue
St. Pierre_.

[Illustration: THE INTERIOR OF ST. PETER'S CHURCH.]

Of this church hardly anything remains except the walls and débris.
Portions of the building were 14th century, but most of it dated from
the 16th century. The tower, now in ruins, was added in 1742. The
doorway was the most remarkable part of the building. The plans were
the work of Chaperon (1538), the master-mason of Beauvais Cathedral.
The style is a combination of flamboyant Gothic (central dividing
pillar, archways, springing of the archways, and niches with socle
and canopy at the base of the main pillars), and Renaissance (voluted
niches and trefoiled bell-turrets, at the top of the pillars). At
the top of the accolade-shaped arch was a shield bearing the arms of
France, surrounded by St. Michael's collar, the three crescents of
Henri II, and a monogram combining the "H" of Henri II, the double "D"
of Diane de Poitiers, and the double "C" of Catherine de Médicis. The
side-walls of the church are sustained by buttresses. In accordance
with a custom fairly common in Picardy, each bay of the side-aisles
had its own separate roof forming a right-angle with that of the
great nave. The interior, with its three naves, massive pillars and
low 15th century vaulting--lower at the choir end than near the
doorway--appeared somewhat heavy in style.

[Illustration: MONTDIDIER CEMETERY (_north-east of the town_). _See
Itinerary, p. 98._]

[Illustration: PLACE FAIDHERBE.

(_At the end of Rue de Roye, which comes out into Place de
l'Hôtel-de-Ville. See p. 98_).]

At the bottom of the left aisle, a reclining statue was said to depict
Count Raoul de Crépy, and to have formed part of the tomb which the
Count had built in the 11th century, while still alive. This statue
escaped destruction during the Revolution, and was deposited in the
church in 1862. As a matter of fact, it probably dates from the 13th or
14th century, and does not represent Raoul de Crépy.

In the adjoining chapel is a _Burial Scene_ comprising seven figures
grouped around that of Christ. As in the Tomb of St. Germain-les-Fossés
at Amiens, Mary Magdalene occupies the centre of the group, whereas
this place is usually reserved for the Virgin.

The font (probably 11th. century) is the oldest known specimen of the
type used in Picardy between the 11th and 16th centuries. The low,
square basin rests on five supports, the principal one being in the
centre, the other four lesser columns at the corners. The columns,
originally in stone, were replaced in the course of time by wooden
ones. A belt ornamented with eight heads of rather primitive design
runs round the basin. The rest of the decoration, much defaced,
includes two entwined heads, grapes, and doves drinking out of a vase.

The tomb, said to be that of Raoul de Crépy, the "Burial Scene" and the
font are believed to lie buried under the débris.

The organ loft, composed of the remains of fine Renaissance wood
carving of uncertain origin, was destroyed.

_Keep along Rue St. Pierre to Place de la Croix-Bleue, in which stood_
the STATUE OF PARMENTIER (by Malknecht), erected in 1848. Only the
pedestal remains. Parmentier, who introduced and popularized potato
growing in France, was a native of Montdidier.

[Illustration: THE STATUE OF PARMENTIER (1914).]

[Illustration: THE STATUE OF PARMENTIER AND A CORNER OF THE TOWN, IN
1919 _looking towards St. Peter's Church, seen behind. Tourists follow the
road on the left_.]

_Rue de la Croix-Bleue leads to Place de l'Hôtel-de-Ville. On the
right stands_ the modern =Hôtel-de-Ville= which replaced the old Louis
XIII building and a Renaissance house on its right. The automaton
bell-striker of the old tower, known as JEAN DUQUESNE, which used to
strike the hours with a hammer, was erected on the top of the new
belfry.

[Illustration: MONTDIDIER.--THE HOTEL-DE-VILLE.]

_Rue Parmentier is next reached, at the entrance to which is_ the 16th
century =Church of the Holy Sepulchre=.

[Illustration: MONTDIDIER.--RUE PARMENTIER AND THE CHURCH OF ST.
SEPULCHRE (1914).]

Its modern flamboyant Gothic doorway replaced the old portal which,
jutting out in front of the church, was ornamented with a hanging
garden. On this side, the square tower of the belfry only is ancient.
The five-sided chevet overlooks the small court of the presbytery.

The interior comprises a central and two side naves. Only the vaulting
of the choir remains.

[Illustration: THE CHURCH OF ST. SEPULCHRE IN 1919.]

[Illustration: CHURCH OF ST. SEPULCHRE, THE CHANCEL.]

[Illustration: THE INTERIOR OF THE CHURCH OF ST. SEPULCHRE.

(_Seen from the Chancel, near the Porch_).]

At the end of the right aisle is an _Entombment_ (1549-1582), a gift
of the De Baillon family. The Tomb, which was protected during the
war, comprises _The Burial Scene_ and an _Ecce Homo_ at the top of
the arch over the former. The latter group was finished long before the
other one, and is more natural and of finer finish than that of the
Tomb. The figures kneeling at the praying-desks on the front of the
Tomb represent Pierre de Baillon and his wife, Marguerite de la
Morlière. At the other end of the right aisle stood the baptismal font
(1539), mutilated and covered with whitewash in 1870. The church
of La Boissière possesses an identical font dating from the same
period, but much better preserved. The font probably lies buried under
the débris. In the font chapel there is a stone bas-relief (protected
during the war), said to have come from the old church. It was
consecrated to the Virgin, who is seen receiving the benediction of
the Eternal Father. The carvings and inscriptions around the Virgin,
symbolically recalling the principal episodes in her life, are taken
from the Song of Solomon. Unfortunately, this bas-relief was daubed
over in 1870, and some of the carvings, particularly _Les trois enfants
qui pissent_, were mutilated because of their realism.

[Illustration: MONTDIDIER.--THE LOWER TOWN, SEEN THROUGH A SHELL-HOLE
IN THE CHURCH OF ST. SEPULCHRE.]

_Go down Rue Parmentier, then turn left into Boulevard Béjot, in the
direction of Compiègne._


From Montdidier to Cuvilly,

=via Assainvillers, Piennes, Rollot, Boulogne-la-Grasse,
Conchy-les-Pots and Orvillers-Sorel=.

_Follow Boulevard Béjot, then take Boulevard de Compiègne, on
the right, and a little further on, N. 35, also on the right, to_
=Assainvillers=, entirely razed. _Take the second road on the left and
cross the light railway, 0 km. 700 beyond which are_ several lines
of trenches. _Take the left-hand street, which leads straight to the
church and village of_ =Piennes=. (_See sketch-map below._)

[Illustration: ASSAINVILLERS IN RUINS.]


Piennes.

[Illustration]

The church of Piennes (_Hist. Mon._) dating from the end of the 15th or
beginning of the 16th century, was a remarkable structure.

The tierce-point doorway comprised two round-arched bays, with a blind
Flamboyant tympanum. The dividing pillar was surmounted by a statue of
the Virgin resting on a crescent.

[Illustration: ASSAINVILLERS CHURCH.]

Between the doorway and the buttresses framing it, an elaborate Gothic
canopy sheltered an empty niche on either side. The front of each
buttress was ornamented with a niche under a Gothic canopy containing
mutilated statues of St. Catherine and St. Marguerite.

[Illustration: PIENNES CHURCH.]

The side-aisles were very picturesque with their live gables and five
separate roofs at right-angles to that of the great nave.

The vaulting is said to have been designed by Jean Vaast, one of
the architects of Beauvais Cathedral. The pretty 16th century font
was ornamented with angels' heads and fantastic figures arranged
alternately and linked together by festoons of leaves. The remarkable
churchwardens' bench of carved wood in Renaissance style was one of the
finest in the _Département_ of the Somme. The wood-work of the pulpit
dated from the same period and was in the same style.

The church was almost entirely destroyed in 1918, but a portion of the
doorway and a buttress with a niche still remain. The gables of the
side-aisles, three of which have retained their roofing, are still
standing. The font near the entrance, on the left, is partly hidden
under the débris. The pulpit was destroyed by the falling tower and
vaulting.

_Leave Piennes and pass through the hamlet of_ =Le Lundi=. Trenches may
be seen alongside the railway. _Take the Montdidier-Compiègne road on
the left to_ =Rollot=, where Antoine Gallant, the Oriental writer and
translator of the French version of "The Arabian Nights", was born in
1646. Of the monument erected to his memory in the village, only the
pedestal remains.

[Illustration: ROLLOT.--RUE DE L'ÉGLISE.]

[Illustration: THE ROAD FROM ROLLOT TO BOULOGNE-LA-GRASSE.]

_On leaving Rollot, take_ G.C. 27 _on the left_; the CHATEAU OF BAINS,
in the woods skirting the road on the left, was greatly damaged during
the fighting. _Keep straight on to_ the church of =Boulogne-la-Grasse=.

[Illustration: CHATEAU OF BAINS.]


Boulogne-la-Grasse.

Boulogne-la-Grasse is situated on the top and along the middle
slopes of a kind of small broken _massif_. Before the War, the
village consisted of a number of independant quarters intersected by
picturesque, winding streets, the whole hidden from view by gardens and
orchards.

[Illustration: BOULOGNE-LA-GRASSE.--THE RUINED CHURCH.]

[Illustration: THE CHOIR OF THE ABOVE CHURCH.]

The church, access to which is gained by a flight of 34 steps,
overlooks the main street. The choir alone is ancient.

_Take the street on the left of the church, then the first on the left
which leads to the top of the massif overlooking the village._

The moats surrounding the site of the old fortified Château are still
visible. The latter was replaced by a modern Château, now in ruins.

The telegraph-station, which used to stand on the top of the hill, to
the west of the village, was destroyed by the Prussians in 1814.

[Illustration: BOULOGNE-LA-GRASSE CHATEAU (1914).]

[Illustration: THE COURTYARD OF THE CHATEAU (1918).]

From here, there is a fine panorama of the battlefield. On March 27,
1918, the Germans attacked Boulogne and the villages to the east, i.
e. Conchy-les-Pots, Roye-sur-Matz, and Canny-sur-Matz, held by part
of the French 38th Division which had been brought up to reinforce
the 62nd Division, seriously depleted by several days' fighting. The
Germans captured Boulogne and Conchy, but the next day (28th), the
French counter-attacked and retook both villages. Having, after two
unsuccessful assaults, gained a footing in Canny-sur-Matz, the enemy
launched repeated violent counter-attacks against Conchy and Boulogne,
reoccupying the former, but recapturing only part of the latter. On
the 29th, the French progressed beyond Boulogne and again reached the
outskirts of Conchy without, however, being able to capture Canny or
dislodge the Germans from the eastern part of Boulogne. That night,
Boulogne was crushed by the French artillery and made practically
untenable, but on the 30th, the German offensive, debouching from
Conchy, drove back the French who were occupying the _massif_. During
the following months, the Germans organized a line of support in this
region known as the "Rheinlandstellung". General Humbert's offensive
of August 10, freed the entire _massif_. The same evening the line
ran through Orvillers, Boulogne-la-Grasse, La Poste, north of Conchy,
through Conchy-les-Pots and the railway-station of Roye-sur-Matz. On
the 11th, in spite of fierce counter-attacks, the French reached the
wood north of La Poste, Hill 81 to the east of Roye-sur-Matz, and
the outskirts of Canny and La Berlière. On the following days, their
advance definitely freed the region. Canny was re-occupied on the 17th.

[Illustration]

_Return to the church, keeping straight on as far as the first road
on the left_ (G.C. 27) _which leads to_ =Conchy-les-Pots=. _Before
reaching this village_, a Franco-German cemetery _will be seen on the
right_. _A little further on, turn left. At the fork, the left-hand
road leads to_ the ruins of the parish church dating from the 11th
(square choir), 12th and 15th centuries. The church was practically
razed. _The road on the right leads to the_ St. Nicaise Chapel,
_situated immediately beyond the light railway_. This chapel contained
fine 15th or 16th century stained-glass windows, depicting the story
of St. Nicaise, which were placed in safety during the War.

[Illustration: CONCHY-LES-POTS, AT THE CROSSROADS OF
BOULOGNE-LA-GRASSE.]

[Illustration: CONCHY-LES-POTS, A CORNER OF THE RUINS.]

_Return to the entrance to the village. By G.C. 27, on the left,
tourists may proceed to_ =Roye-sur-Matz=, whose church (_Hist. Mon._)
was partly 12th century. It was rebuilt in the 16th-17th centuries,
except the doorway, nave, northern transept and tower which were in a
remarkably good state of preservation. Previous to the offensives of
1918, the church had been for three years in the firing line, and was
seriously damaged between 1914 and 1917. Its ruin was completed in
1918. A few fragments of walls belonging to the chevet are all that
remain.

[Illustration: ROYE-SUR-MATZ.--THE CHURCH.]

_From Roye-sur-Matz return to Conchy-les-Pots, where take the
left-hand (paved) N. 17 to_ =Orvillers-Sorel=. _On the left, between
Conchy-les-Pots and Orvillers-Sorel, is_ the village of BIERMONT, which
was desperately defended by the French 62nd Division on March 30, 1918.

[Illustration]

[Illustration: ORVILLERS-SOREL CHURCH IN RUINS.]

This district suffered severely from the fierce fighting of
March-August 1918. On March 30 two German divisions, including one
of the Guard, attacked Orvillers-Sorel, defended by a portion of
the French 38th Div., the 4th Regt. of Zouaves and the 8th Regt. of
Tirailleurs, the heroes of Douaumont, Hurtebise and La Malmaison.
These two regiments, overwhelmed by numbers, were forced to fall back,
but only after desperate fighting. Units of the 4th Regt. of Zouaves,
greatly outnumbered and cut off, fought to the last man. Others
managed to cut their way through, falling back only to reform and
counter-attack, sometimes without an officer. As far as the northern
outskirts of Orvillers, the ground was defended, inch by inch, and
the enemy were unable to enter the village. During the night, the 4th
Regt. of Zouaves reformed in the ruins, and on the following day (31st)
counter-attacked between 1.30 and 2.30 p.m., reconquering Epinette
Wood and taking a number of prisoners. Until May 3, when they were
relieved, they maintained their positions. On April 12 and May 11, the
French delivered two local attacks and progressed to the north-west of
Orvillers. On May 12 and 14, a German attack against the new positions
failed with heavy losses. On August 10, the 34th Corps of Humbert's
Army cleared Orvillers-Sorel, and captured the "Gothenstellung", which
formed the third main fighting line of the German defences.

[Illustration: ORVILLERS-SOREL. VIEW OF THE VILLAGE.]

_Beyond the village, a small chapel is passed, on the right, the
tourist coming out opposite_ =Sorel Château= (late 17th century),
_which stands_ in a closed park. The Château was seriously damaged
during the attacks.

[Illustration: SOREL CHATEAU.]

_Take the avenue facing the Château_, which was bordered with trenches,
_then N. 17 on the left, to_ =Cuvilly=.

This village is situated on the old Flanders road, formerly used by
the stage-coaches. The latter used to stop at the Post-House, the old
buildings of which were still standing before the War. The church,
heavy in style, probably dates in part from the end of the 16th
century. Only the walls and tower remain.

[Illustration: CUVILLY.

THE CHURCH, SOUTH-WEST FAÇADE.]

_To reach the church take Rue de Matz, on the right, and on reaching
the square, bear to the left._


Belloy Plateau.

_To reach_ Belloy Plateau, on which violent fighting took place in June
1918, _keep straight on the road from Cuvilly to_ =Lataule=.

The church of Lataule, although modern, has retained some of the
windows of the 15th century edifice. Opposite, stands the Château,
built at the end of the 17th century, after the Spanish wars. Of the
old Château, destroyed in the 17th century, traces still remain near to
the road.

_Turn to the right, skirting the park of the Château, to reach_ =Hill
132=, on which are a cemetery, an observation-post, and some trenches.

[Illustration: STATUES IN CUVILLY CHURCH.]

From there, the view extends over Belloy and Méry to the west, Cuvilly
to the north, Lataule and Lataule Wood to the east, Genlis Wood to the
south, and St. Maur to the south-east. The Germans gained a footing on
this bare plateau on June 10, 1918, capturing the villages of Lataule,
Méry, Belloy, St. Maur and Cuvilly, after a fierce battle lasting
two days, in which they engaged large forces. Méry especially, was
fiercely disputed and changed hands twice that day. On the following
day (11th), the Germans had scarcely installed themselves on the newly
conquered ground, when they were thrown into confusion and defeated
by the sudden counter-attack of a group of divisions under General
Mangin. All available tanks had been assembled within twelve hours, in
support of this counter-attack, and thanks to their clearly visible
line, the French aviators were able, throughout the battle, to follow
the advance of the infantry with accuracy. The tanks attacked and cut
off the villages of Méry and Belloy, enabling the infantry to capture
the entire German garrisons without striking a blow. On the 12th they
reformed, and went forward again with the infantry, advancing east of
Méry and Genlis Wood, before Belloy, and as far as the outskirts of
St. Maur. The line was advanced 2 kms., east of Méry, as a consequence
of this thrust, and German counter-attacks failed to win back the
lost ground. Cuvilly remained in the possession of the enemy, who
consolidated it. On August 10, when the offensive by Humbert's Army
began, the German line of support known as the "Vandalenstellung",
which passed south of the village, was carried by the French in a
single rush.

[Illustration:
LATAULE. THE CHATEAU IN RUINS.]

[Illustration: RUINS OF BELLOY CHURCH.]

[Illustration: BARRICADE IN MÉRY VILLAGE.]

[Illustration: MÉRY. A CORNER OF THE VILLAGE.]

_The road leads to_ =Belloy=, _which pass through, leaving the pond on
the left. Just outside the village, there is_ a "Calvary", _whilst a
little further on, are_ battery positions with shelters. =Méry=, whose
church is in _the third street on the left, is next reached_.

The oldest parts of the church (choir, left transept and tower) date
from the 16th century. The rest is 18th century. There are underground
shelters in the village and surroundings, the entrances to which are
nearly all blocked up. As in the other villages on this plateau,
ancient _sarcophagi_ have been discovered at Méry.

_Turn back and take G.C. 146 to_ RESSONS-SUR-MATZ. Trenches with wire
entanglements are to be seen along the road.

[Illustration: ARTILLERY PASSING THROUGH RESSONS-SUR-MATZ.]


From Belloy Plateau to Compiègne,

=via Ressons-sur-Matz, Marquéglise, Margny-sur-Matz, Élincourt-St.
Marguerite, Marest-sur-Matz, Coudun and Bienville.=

_At the crossing of the road with N. 17, on the left, is_ the CHATEAU
OF SÉCHELLES. _Continue along G.C. 146; 2 kms. further on, there is a
very bad level-crossing over a narrow-gauge railway. After crossing
a normal gauge railway (l. c.) and another narrow-gauge line_,
=Ressons-sur-Matz= _is reached. Turn left to reach the church._

[Illustration: RESSONS-SUR-MATZ.--THE MAIN STREET.]

Ressons is a very ancient market-town. St. Amand, bishop of Maestricht,
preached the Gospel there about the year 632. It was formerly a fairly
important place, especially in the 16th century. A fortified castle,
standing at the end of the village on the road to Séchelles, was taken
by the Burgundians in 1430, and afterwards recaptured by the French.
The church (_Hist. Mon._) dates from various periods: the nave and
side-aisle with their richly ornamented buttresses were rebuilt in the
middle of the 16th century; the most ancient parts (cornices of the
nave, and the northern transept and choir) are 12th century; fragments
of the stained-glass windows bear the date "1561". The building was
considerably damaged in 1918: the stained-glass windows were destroyed
and the bell disappeared.

_Turn back, and beyond Place du Marché take G.C. 41 on the left. On
leaving Ressons, there is a bad level-crossing over a narrow-gauge
railway, another in very bad condition beyond Bayencourt Farm, and a
third 1 km. further on, after which_ =Marquéglise= _is reached. (See
sketch-map, p. 114.)_

[Illustration: MARQUÉGLISE.--A CORNER OF THE VILLAGE.]

The old Château opposite the church is in ruins; the surrounding walls
and outlying pavilions alone remain standing.

The church is mainly 16th century. The choir vaulting contains several
keystones bearing coats-of-arms. A pretty 15th or 16th century cross
with a Virgin on one of its sides, which used to stand in the cemetery,
was destroyed.

[Illustration: MARQUÉGLISE.

THE CHURCH AND FRENCH MILITARY GRAVES.]

_A foot-path nearly opposite the church leads to_ =Hill 77=. From there
a fine panoramic view may be had of the battlefield on both sides
of the Amiens-Compiègne road, as far as the Aronde, particularly to
the south-west, where the view takes in Antheuil, Loges Farm (an old
dependency of Ourscamps Abbey), and Porte Farm, formerly belonging to
Élincourt-St.-Marguerite Priory. This region was the scene of desperate
fighting during the German offensive of June 9-11, 1918.

[Illustration: THE BATTLEFIELD TO THE SOUTH-WEST OF HILL 77.]

On the night of the 10th, the Germans captured Antheuil and the
two farms, advancing as far as the Aronde. They were already
shouting victory, in the belief they were outflanking Compiègne from
the north-west and would soon reach Estrées-St.-Denis, when the
counter-attack of June 11 drove them back. Antheuil was retaken and
held; the two farms were likewise recaptured, but the French were
unable to hold them.

On the 14th, although the enemy failed in front of Antheuil, they
resumed their advance towards Les Loges and Porte Farm.

During the rest of the month this sector remained agitated. On several
occasions the Germans attempted to retake Antheuil, but were each time
repulsed.

A surprise attack by the French on July 9 resulted in the capture of
the two farms in the early morning, with 500 prisoners. On the 13th,
they improved their positions and advanced 500 yards to the north of
Porte Farm. On August 10, the whole district was cleared by the advance
of Humbert's Army.

_Return to the car and after turning it round, take the first road on
the left to_ =Margny-sur-Matz=. (_See map, p. 124._)

[Illustration: MARGNY-SUR-MATZ.--INTERIOR OF THE CHURCH.

_Note the "Glory Beam"._]

The door and choir of the church are Norman. Some of the capitals in
the choir (those behind the altar) attest to the primitive Norman
style. A stone _Pieta_ and a small ovoid stoup dating from 1603 have
disappeared. A "glory beam" depicts Jesus-Christ, the Virgin and St.
John.

_Continue along the road. On leaving Margny, there is a bad
level-crossing over a narrow-gauge railway. Take the first road on the
left to_ =Élincourt-St.-Marguerite=.

[Illustration: ELINCOURT-ST.-MARGUERITE. THE CHURCH.]

This is a very old village, in the neighbourhood of which are several
tombs dating from a very remote period. The country was occupied by the
Romans. Gallo-Roman remains have been discovered around the Château of
Bellinglise. Under Charles-le-Simple, the village and chapel of St.
Marguerite were given to the Abbey of St. Corneille at Compiègne. The
Priory of St. Marguerite, founded by the Benedictines at the end of the
11th or beginning of the 12th century, was rebuilt in the 13th century.
The district hereabouts suffered severely during the Hundred Years War.
According to a local tradition, the old Château of Beauvoir, on the
left of the Thiescourt road and now entirely overrun with vegetation,
gave shelter one night to Joan of Arc, then a prisoner. This is not
improbable, but the tablet in the church, bearing the following
inscription: _Joan of Arc, before shutting herself up in Compiègne, in
MCCCCXXX, made a pilgrimage to St. Marguerite and communicated in the
church of Élincourt_, is not borne out by history, as she could not
have gone to Élincourt--occupied by the English--seeing that she left
Crépy to go to Compiègne.

Parts of the church are early 12th century, the aisles and belfry 18th.
The doorway includes three accoladed windows, with two other windows
above surmounted by diamond-pointed moulding. In the interior, there
is an 18th century marble altar. A marble statue of St. Marguerite was
placed in safety during the war, but another of St. John (15th century)
also in marble, has disappeared, together with the two shrines of St.
Barbe and St. Marguerite.

The church was seriously damaged, most of the vaulting being destroyed.
At the eastern termination, the partial collapse of two buttresses
laid bare some small 12th century columns which formerly ornamented
the choir and which were walled in at the time the buttresses were
reconstructed, probably in the 15th century.

_Leaving the church on the left, follow the road as far as the first
crossing. Leave the car and climb the hill-side on foot, as far as_ the
=Monastery of St. Marguerite=, which dominates the whole valley of the
Matz, and from which there is a fine view extending from Ressons Wood
to the Soissonnais hills. Only fragments of the surrounding walls, a
deep well, some cellars (which were transformed into shelters), and a
number of old yew-trees remain.

[Illustration: ELINCOURT-ST.-MARGUERITE AND THE VALLEY OF THE MATZ,
SEEN FROM THE MONASTERY OF ST. MARGUERITE.]

_On the way back, take the left-hand road, which joins G.C. 142. At the
fork, take the right-hand road to_ =Marfontaine Manor=--practically
intact--built in the 13th century on a Gallo-Roman mound, to the north
of the Priory Garden. The great hall has low vaulting, the central
springing of which rests on a round pillar; the keystones represent
three entwined fishes. The =Château of Bellinglise=, abutting on
Marfontaine Manor, was built in the 16th century.

[Illustration: BELLINGLISE CHATEAU.]

_The left-hand road passes near_ =St. Claude Farm=, _at the crossing
of G.C. 142 (from Élincourt to Lassigny) with G.C. 82 (from Mareuil to
Thiescourt_). From here, there is a fine view over the battlefield from
the Matz to the Oise: Gury (_to the north_), the valley of the Matz and
Ressons (_to the west_), Mareuil-la-Motte, Marquéglise and Vignemont
(_to the south_), Élincourt, Chevincourt, Mélicocq and Ribécourt (_to
the south-east_), and the Thiescourt Woods (_to the east_).

[Illustration: THE MASSIF OF THIESCOURT.

_The eastern portion of the massif and the fighting which took place
there, are described in the Michelin Guide: Noyon, Roye, Lassigny._]

During the battle of March 30, 1918, the headquarters of General
d'Ambly (77th Division) were at Élincourt, while those of General
Guillemin (53rd Division) were at Chevincourt. At that time, these
divisions were barring the road from Plessis-de-Roye to the Oise.
Until June 9, the enemy attempted local operations only. On June 9,
they attacked in massed formation, capturing Gury Heights, Ricquebourg
Wood, and Mareuil-la-Motte. The village of Ressons-sur-Matz, in which
they gained a footing, was disputed foot by foot. St. Claude Farm,
which also fell, was in the thick of the battle. It was an important
position overlooking the plateau, from which the enemy, from the outset
of the attack, had an extensive view over a large part of the French
rear positions, and its loss meant the withdrawal of the artillery. The
brunt of the German attack was directed against this observation-post,
which had to be abandoned, the French being overwhelmed. On the 10th
the Germans reached Ressons Wood and Bellinglise Plateau, gained a
footing in Marquéglise, and captured the farms of Attiche, Monolithe,
Ribécourt and Antoval. On the 12th, after repeated attempts, they
gained a footing in Mélicocq, carried the heights of Croix-Ricard, and
crossed the Matz. However, on June 13, a French counter-attack drove
them back across the river; Mélicocq and Croix-Ricard were recaptured,
together with a hundred prisoners and a number of guns. In spite of
several violent counter-attacks, the enemy were held.

On August 10, an offensive by Humbert's Army began to clear the whole
region. At 4.20 a.m., the 129th, 165th, 6th, 121st, 74th, 123rd,
67th, 38th and 15th Divs. attacked from Courcelles to Antheuil and from
Antheuil to the Oise. At 7 a.m. the first objectives were reached.
Ressons, through which ran the enemy's main line (the "Gothenstellung")
was passed, whilst Marquéglise, the Château of Séchelles, Chevincourt
and Bourmont were captured. The whole of a Regimental Staff was
captured at the Château of Séchelles. At Ressons the tanks threw the
Germans into confusion. On the 11th, Vignemont, Margny, Le Plessier,
Hill 179, Mareuil-la-Motte, Bellinglise Château and Élincourt were
captured. The French advanced in the direction of Gury and St. Claude
Farm, which formed the key of the "Gothenstellung" position, and by
evening had reached the western outskirts of Gury, a point south of
La Berlière and Hill 143, and approached St. Claude Farm, Hill 166,
Samson, Cense Farm and the quarries of Montigny and Antoval. On the
12th, they captured and progressed beyond Gury and St. Claude Farm, and
took Écouvillon and Loges Wood, the latter being, however, lost again
in the afternoon. On the 13th, they advanced along the plateau, gained
a footing in Plessis Park, reached the eastern outskirts of Belval, and
attained a point 800 yards north-east of Gury. Entering Ribécourt on
the 14th, they re-occupied the Attiche and Monolithe Farms on the 15th,
as well as the quarries situated 2 kms. north-west of Ribécourt. On the
17th, the Germans delivered several powerful attacks near Monolithe and
Attiche Farms, but failed to drive back the French, who strongly held
the newly conquered ground.

[Illustration: ST. CLAUDE FARM.]

_From St. Claude Farm, return to Élincourt. Near the church, take Rue
de l'Escalier_ (G.C. 142) _and the road on the left of the Calvary. 1
km. further on, near a block of houses, follow the right-hand road,
passing through_ =Marest-sur-Matz=. _The road skirts the_ CHATEAU
OF RIMBERLIEU, _opposite which is_ a tower--all that remains of an
old fortified castle. =Villers-sur-Coudun= _is next reached_, whose
church is situated on the left, near the end of the village. The end
of the chancel is 12th-13th century, the façade and vaulting 15th-16th
century, the remainder modern.

_Continue along the road to_ =Coudun=, formerly the Head-Quarters of
the Training Camp built in 1698 for the Duke of Burgundy, grandson of
Louis XIV. The king, accompanied by James II of England, paid a visit
to this camp in August, to attend the military manœuvres. The camp,
under the command of Marshal de Boufflers, extended along the plateau
which dominates the right bank of the Oise from Lachelle to Margny and
from Baugy to the Château of Bienville. 50 battalions of Infantry, 52
squadrons of Cavalry and 40 guns were stationed there.

[Illustration: VILLERS-SUR-COUDUN.--THE MAIN STREET.]

Although the nave and aisles of ST. HILAIRE CHURCH are modern,
the façade, arched doorway and choir date from the Norman period
(11th or 12th century). The doorway is ornamented with an archivolt
formed by raftered and counter-raftered _tori_ with a tympanum of
diamond-moulding. One of the cornices of the choir is supported by
Norman arcading with figured modillions. Inside the church are a
stoup and a 7-branched chandelier (both made out of a single piece
of wrought-iron), and a 17th century painting above the high altar
depicting: _The Crowning of the Virgin_. The bronze bell (761) was
saved.

_Keep along G.C. 142_ to =Bienville=, situated to the west of a
long hill--the Ganelon--which stretches from the south-east to the
north-west, and whose south-western side is sharply indented. From
the top of this hill (altitude: 480 feet) consisting of a plateau
which dips slightly down towards the Oise, there is a fine view over
the whole of the surrounding country: Laigue Forest, Aisne Valley,
Compiègne Forest, Oise Valley as far as Verberie, and the hills of
Liancourt, between Creil and Clermont. At the north-western end of
Ganelon Hill, many Roman medals and antiquities have been discovered,
and it is believed that a Roman camp formerly occupied this site.
Tradition has it that a fortified castle stood there in the Middle-Ages.

[Illustration]

_C.G. 142 first skirts, then crosses the railway (l. c.), afterwards
joining N. 32, at which point turn to right._ =Compiègne= _is entered
by the Avenue de Clairoix and Rue de Noyon. At the end of the latter,
take Rue d'Amiens on the left, cross the Oise, and follow Rue de
Solférino which leads to Place de l'Hôtel-de-Ville._

[Illustration: THE FRENCH G.H.Q. AT COMPIÈGNE, IN 1917. GENERAL PÉTAIN
MAKING HIS REPORT IN A ROOM OF THE CHATEAU.

_To visit Compiègne, use the Michelin Guide_: Compiègne, before and
during the War.]

[Illustration: COMPIÈGNE.--FIRE AT THE CORNER OF RUE DES TROIS-BARBEAUX
AND PLACE DU MARCHÉ AUX HERBES.

_Extracted from the Michelin Guide_: Compiègne before and during the
War.]



ALPHABETICAL INDEX

of the places mentioned in this Guide.


  A

  Ailly-sur-Noye, 78, 79

  Aquenne Wood, 59, 65

  Arrière-Cour Wood, 75, 76

  Assainvillers, 94-97, 107


  B

  Bains (Château), 109

  Beaucourt, 66, 68, 69

  Bellinglise (Château), 123

  Belloy, 116, 117, 118

  Bienville, 126

  Boulogne-la-Grasse, 110-112

  Boves, 62


  C

  Cachy, 58, 59, 62, 64

  Caix, 66, 69, 70

  Canny-sur-Matz, 111, 112

  Cantigny, 86, 87

  Conchy-les Pots, 111, 113

  Coudun, 125

  Cuvilly, 115, 116


  D

  Demuin, 64, 65, 66

  Domart, 65, 66


  E

  Élincourt-Ste-Marg., 122, 125

  Erches, 93

  Etelfay, 93


  F

  Folleville, 79, 80, 81

  Fontaine-sous-Montdidier, 87, 94


  G

  Genlis Wood, 116, 117

  Gentelles, 58, 62, 65

  Grivesnes, 82-86

  Grivillers, 92

  Guillaucourt, 66


  H

  Hangard, 64-68


  L

  La Neuville-Sire-Bernard, 96, 97

  Lataule, 116, 117

  L'Echelle St-Aurin, 93

  Le Lundi, 109

  Longueau, 58


  M

  Mailly-Raineval, 74-77

  Maison-Blanche, 68

  Marfontaine Manor-House, 123

  Margny-sur-Matz, 121

  Marquéglise, 120, 123, 125

  Méry, 116, 118

  Mézières, 66, 70

  Montdidier, 88-106

  Moreuil, 66, 71, 72, 77

  Morisel, 73, 76, 77


  O

  Orvillers-Sorel, 112, 114, 115


  P

  Piennes, 93, 97, 107, 108

  Pierrepont, 93, 97

  Plessier, 84


  R

  Ressons-sur-Matz, 119, 124, 125

  Rimberlieu (Château), 125

  Rollot, 93, 108, 109

  Royaucourt, 94, 95

  Roye-sur-Matz, 111, 113


  S

  St-Aignan Chapel, 83, 85

  St-Claude Farm, 123, 125

  Séchelles (Château), 119, 125

  Sénecat Wood, 76

  Sorel (Château), 115


  T

  Thennes, 68

  Thory, 77, 83


  V

  Villers-aux-Érables, 70, 71

  Villers-Bretonneux, 59-65

  Villers-sur-Coudun, 125, 126

[Illustration: GERMAN TANK CAPTURED NEAR VILLERS-BRETONNEUX IN 1918.]



MICHELIN DURING THE WAR


THE MICHELIN HOSPITAL

 When the Great War broke out, Michelin at once converted an immense
 new four-storied warehouse into an up-to-date Hospital, with Operating
 Theatre, X-Ray, Bacteriological Laboratory, etc. Seven weeks later
 (September 22, 1914) Doctors, Dispensers, Nurses, Sisters of Mercy,
 and auxiliaries were all at their posts. The first wounded arrived the
 same night. In all, 2,993 wounded were received.

 All expenses were paid by Michelin.

 The story of how Michelin did "his bit" during the war is told briefly
 and simply in the illustrated booklet, "The Michelin Hospital", sent
 post free on application.

[Illustration: A VIEW OF ONE OF THE WARDS]


MICHELIN & Cie., Clermont-Ferrand, France.

MICHELIN TYRE Co., Ltd., 81, Fulham Road, London, S.W.3.



THE

_MICHELIN_

TOURING OFFICE


[Illustration: A VIEW OF THE MICHELIN TOURING OFFICE]

Open to all Motorists seeking information and advice regarding Tours

 The MICHELIN Touring Office saves the intending Tourist time and
 trouble, and generally assists him in mapping out his Tour free of
 charge, and irrespective of the make of Tyres he uses.

 Send us a rough draft of your next proposed Tour and we will prepare a
 complete and detailed itinerary and forward it on to you, within three
 or four days.


MICHELIN TOURING OFFICE

  81, FULHAM ROAD, LONDON, S.W.3. and
  99, BOULEVARD PEREIRE, PARIS, XVII.

  Telephone: Kensington 4400.      Telegrams: "Pneumiclin, London."



_Copies of any of the_

IMPERIAL WAR MUSEUM PHOTOGRAPHS

reproduced in this guide

_by permission of the_

IMPERIAL WAR MUSEUM

can be purchased from the

Photographic Section of the Museum

_at the Crystal-Palace, London S.E.19_.



MICHELIN TOURING MAPS,

_as under, can be obtained from Michelin Stockists and booksellers in
Great Britain, France, Belgium, Switzerland and Spain_:

  MAP OF GREAT BRITAIN      31 sheets
    --   FRANCE             48   --
    --   BELGIUM             3   --
    --   SWITZERLAND         4   --
    --   SPAIN              13   --


       *       *       *       *       *



Transcriber's Notes.
1. Italic text is denoted by _underscores_ and bold text by
    =equal signs=.
2. Silently corrected simple spelling, grammar, and typographical
    errors.
3. Page 24: Illustration caption should read "General Rawlinson".
    Caption corrected.
4. Page 96: The original reads "The Liberation [on] Montdidier.
    (_August 8-10, 1918._)." This is probably an error and should read
    "The Liberation [of] Montdidier. (_August 8-10, 1918._)."
    Text not changed.
5. Page 123: (_from Mareuil to Thiescourt_). Missing bracket added.





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