During August 27-28, 1918, the French continued to drive the Germans before them on the whole front from Chaulnes to the Oise. In less than twenty-four hours General Humbert's troops made an advance of eight miles through a difficult country of woods, hills, and ravines west of Noyon. Mont Renaud, a famous stronghold commanding the Oise Valley, was carried by storm. Pushing on to the gates of Noyon the French surrounded the last bastion, Poqueri-Court Hill.
The capture of Chaulnes further precipitated the German retreat north of the Avre River. The French engaged in close pursuit of the foe, whom they continued to harass with mustard-gas shells the Germans left behind, and which were being fired from German guns by French gunners. In the course of the night General Debeney's troops advanced four and a half miles, and by morning were on the outskirts of Nesle, close on the heels of the retreating foe.
After the fall of Chaulnes, Gomiecourt to the north and Sept Fours and a score of other villages were captured.
The territory abandoned by the Germans in the retreat presented scenes of desolation and ruin unsurpassed since the war began. The names of towns had no longer any significance but as geographical designations. As places of habitation they had ceased to exist, and even their sites were difficult to recognize. The cemeteries were blown up and ruined and the contents of the graves scattered. At Roye and other towns the Germans had carefully filled the ruins with mustard gas which for a time prevented the Allies from occupying these places.
Croisilles, the strong German position to the north of Bapaume, which had long held out against British attacks, was captured by a flanking movement by Haig's men on August 27, 1918. Further gains were made at all points on the battle line between Bapaume and the river Scarpe. North of the Arras-Cambrai road the Canadians captured the villages of Boiry and Pelves. On the north bank of the Somme British troops occupied Curly and Hardecourt, and drove forward in the direction of Maurepas. South of the river, Australians in an advance of between four and five miles were on their way to the crossings of the Somme at Péronne and Brie, encountering hard resistance from the Germans as they pushed on.
A large German force was brought up to attack the British positions east of Monchy. According to the statements of prisoners, some of the German companies at the last moment refused to fight, and the others were forced to go ahead without them. For tactical reasons the British withdrew a few hundred yards and then organized an attack that drove the Germans from the field, and they were seen no more that day. According to an eyewitness the ground in this region was in parts literally carpeted with bodies in field gray.
The total captures of the Allies on the western front since July 18, 1918, were now over 120,000 prisoners and over 2,000 guns. The British captured between August 21, 1918, and August 26, 1918, more than 21,000 prisoners of all ranks, and their own losses in killed, wounded, and missing during this period was only slightly in excess of this number. Since August 8, 1918, the British captures exceeded 47,000 officers and men, and over 600 guns.
It was evidently the purpose of the Germans at this stage to retire to a shorter line on the western front where they could obtain better defensive positions against the Allies' blows, and so economize their forces. The rapid advance of the British on both sides of the Scarpe, which threatened to flank the entire Hindenburg position, was a serious obstacle in the way of the Germans carrying out their plan.
THE FRENCH TAKE NOYON—THE BRITISH BAPAUME AND PÉRONNE—THE ALLIES CONQUER ON EVERY FRONT
Noyon, the important German stronghold at the peak of the Oise Canal du Nord salient, was captured by General Humbert's troops after heavy fighting on August 29, 1918. Continuing to drive forward, French forces obtained a grip on the southern slopes of Mont St. Simeon to the east, the strongest German position remaining in that sector. About the same time another French army under General Mangin had forced a crossing of the Oise at Morlincourt and captured Landrimont. North of Noyon a third French army under General Debeney took Quesnoy Wood, which narrowed the pocket from the western side and brought the French within shelling distance of the main road leading out of it in the direction of Ham.
The attempt of the Germans to stem the French pursuit by fighting rear-guard actions with machine-gun sections was only locally successful. On favorable ground it succeeded in delaying the advance, but the fast drive of the French advance guard forced the enemy to risk an engagement with strong forces, or hasten his retreat. The Germans chose the latter alternative and fled along the road leading to St. Quentin, La Fère, and the Hindenburg line.
The continued pressure of Humbert's army from the west, and Mangin's troops which crossed the Oise from the south and took Morlincourt while another French contingent was entering Noyon, further added to the difficulties of the enemy, and threatened General von Hutier's army with disaster.
Bapaume, which for several days had been surrounded by British forces, was occupied on August 29, 1918, and the Germans were in full retreat, trying to get away behind their rear guards before they were caught and annihilated. North of the Scarpe River, beyond Arras, and across the old Somme battle fields by Ginchy, Guillemont, and Morval, British troops were pushing on, and in the Australian fighting zone by Feuillières and Belloy above the Somme the enemy was fleeing in wild haste, leaving vast stores of guns and ammunition behind. The German rear guards maintained at times a fierce resistance to gain time for an orderly retreat and delay the capture of Péronne until the enormous stores there could be removed. From Bapaume and Bullecourt to the north of the Arras-Cambrai road the German army was swiftly disappearing from all the country west of the Somme and from the battle fields beyond Delville Wood. The same British soldiers now driving forward on the heels of the retreating foe were in March falling back over the same ground when the Germans had overwhelming numbers in their favor.
The French armies during August 29-30, 1918, continued to make important strategic gains. Among the most notable was the occupation of Mont St. Simeon, a height which protected the German flank, a great natural rampart on which the enemy relied for protection during his retreat before the attacks of Generals Debeney and Rawlinson.
East, and northeast of Bapaume, the British forces continued to go forward and gain ground. At Bullecourt on the Hindenburg Line and at Hendecourt to the east of the line the advance was held up by the strong German counterattacks. These places, which had been captured by the British on August 29, 1918, became untenable under the enemy assaults and Marshal Haig's troops were forced to withdraw to the west of them.
At other points good progress was made, the British capturing several villages on the Arras-Bapaume front while they advanced their line both on the Arras-Cambrai and the Bapaume-Cambrai roads. Farther to the south the British to the north of the Somme went forward in the direction of Péronne, taking Combles and Cléry. By these operations they had completely freed the country south and west of the Somme of the Germans. The last of the enemy were driven behind the river in the morning of August 30, 1918.
On the last day of the month Australian troops in a valorous charge stormed Mont St. Quentin and Feuilleucourt to the north of Péronne, capturing 1,500 Germans by the operation. The seizure of an important height near St. Quentin village gave the British a commanding position to threaten Péronne, and it was inevitable that the fall of that place could not be long delayed.
While the Australians were closely engaged near Péronne a contingent of English troops on the left captured Marrières Wood and high ground farther north of the Péronne-Bapaume road. At various points between Kemmel and Béthune the Germans were in retreat, and the British gained considerable ground. Bailleul was now in British hands, and their patrols had gained a foothold on Mont de Lille. Advances were also made to the east of La Couture and Vieille Chapelle, and on the Scherpenberg from southwest of Ypres the British crossed old enemy trenches without meeting any opposition.
Péronne, the German stronghold on the great bend of the Somme River, was captured in a brilliant attack made by the Australians on September 1, 1918. It was inevitable after the occupation of Mont St. Quentin on the day before by these same valorous troops that the town must soon be abandoned by the Germans, but it was owing to the quick action of the Australians that they were forced out so soon. Owing to the admirable work performed by English engineers at the river crossings the Australians were able to move their guns forward over the Somme and fire at close range on the enemy. Cooperating with the Australians, London troops captured Bouchavesnes, four miles to the north of Péronne, and Rancourt, both villages on the road to Bapaume. Over 2,000 prisoners were taken in these operations. Farther to the north the Germans fled before the British approach, evacuating several villages to the south of Bapaume.
To the northeast of this place, astride the Hindenburg line, the enemy offered strong opposition, but the British crushed every attack and won the much-fought-over ruins of Bullecourt and Hendecourt.
In the Lys salient it was much the same story, the Germans continuing to retreat and the British to pursue. In the course of twenty-four hours' fighting Haig's troops gained about two miles on a front of twenty miles. The British had now reached the outskirts of Lens, where large fires were seen burning, an indication of further German retirement.
The British had every reason to feel proud of their achievements in August, 1918, for in addition to the large territory won from the enemy they captured in that month 57,318 prisoners, 657 guns, more than 5,790 machine guns, and over 1,000 trench mortars, besides a vast quantity of stores and war material of every description.
North and south of the Aillette River, General Mangin's troops made further advances, on the first day of the month capturing Crécy-au-Mont on the southern bank, and gaining a firm hold west of Coucy-le-Château. A few miles to the south the French stormed the town of Leury and took more than 1,000 prisoners. Two miles northeast of Nesle, Rouy-le-Petit was occupied, and other French forces crossed the Somme Canal at Epénancourt seven miles south of Péronne.
One of the most notable achievements of the British advance was carrying the famous Queant-Drocourt "switch line" on September 1-2, 1918. This strongly fortified stretch of trenches was won by English, Scottish, and Canadian troops on a front of about six miles. The Germans considered this one of their strongest positions and made desperate efforts to hold it, but were unable to hold back the impetuous drive of the British forces, which were in high spirits over their almost continuous victories. The fighting became fast and furious, and the Germans rushed forward reenforcements, but it was a losing game for them from the first and their losses were appalling. The British captured thousands of prisoners; the roads to the rear of the fighting front were jammed with them. In parts of the battle field bodies in field-gray lay in piles.
The Canadians, whose attack was made astride the road from Arras to Cambrai, captured the villages of Dury, Cagnicourt, and Villers-les-Cagnicourt, the last place being four miles beyond the point from which the attack was launched.
The left wing of the attacking forces, composed of English troops, drove a wedge in the German defenses northeast of Eterpigny, while the right composed of English and Scottish troops driving forward in the direction of Quéant captured a string of strongly fortified positions including the village of Noreuil. Southward to a point beyond Péronne the tide of battle swept, the British capturing towns and villages and always advancing. On the Lys front it was the same story, the Germans in retreat, the British in close pursuit. They took Neuve Eglise, a place not forgotten in former fights, and pushed their line forward to the east of Estaires.
American troops after the capture of Voormezeele in Flanders advanced from that village and linked up with the British in close pursuit of the German rear guards. The French, pushing forward north of Soissons, noted great fires in the direction of Vauxaillon, indicating that the enemy was burning his supplies previous to retirement. They had now completed the conquest of the Soissons Plateau and the Germans were forced to retire to the Chemin-des-Dames, which was already threatened by the French advance toward Vauxaillon.
Field Marshal Haig's troops continued their victorious advance on September 3, 1918, gaining Baralle, eight miles from Cambrai, crossing the Drocourt-Queant line and forcing the Germans to retire in haste to the Canal du Nord. They carried by storm Quéant, and thirteen other villages were taken on a twenty-mile front, which attained a maximum depth of six miles. In the course of these operations the British took over 10,000 prisoners. Their outposts had now been pushed forward to the outskirts of Lens.
On the following day the eastward sweep of British troops north of Péronne continued. On a front of about fifteen miles northward from Moislains they forced a crossing of the Canal du Nord and made substantial progress eastward.
Meanwhile north of the Vesle on a front of nearly twenty miles the German armies were in full retreat before the advance of Franco-American armies.
Simultaneously the French were making important gains northeast of Noyon, and were driving the Germans before them in the territory between the Canal du Nord and the Oise.
French armies continued to drive the Germans before them in southern Picardy, cooperating with the Americans in the territory between the Vesle and Aisne Rivers. At some points the French advanced their line seven miles and captured on the way some thirty villages. They crossed the Somme Canal and pressed forward in the direction of Ham with its roads leading to St. Quentin and La Fère. By the capture of Coucy-le-Château to the south and neighboring towns they threatened the German defenses of the Chemin-des-Dames. North of the Vesle, where the Americans were taking part in the advance, the Allied line was pushed to the southern bank of the Aisne on a front of more than eight miles.
On September 5-6, 1918, the French, with the Americans cooperating, continued to press on at the heels of the retreating Germans. From the posts of the Americans on the Aisne to the breaches in the Hindenburg line north of Cambrai, on a front of more than ninety miles, the Allies pushed the advance. The drive southeast from the Somme resulted in the capture of the important juncture point of Ham and Chauny. North of the Aisne they occupied all the old trenches along the front and threatened the German hold on the Chemin-des-Dames.
The British armies, linking up with the French advancing on Ham, and into the territory to the south, continued their forward movement eastward from the Somme. From this river, south of Péronne, the troops of Field Marshal Haig had penetrated German positions about seven miles on a twelve-mile front and occupied six important villages.
Vast supplies of coal and road-building material were captured during this advance, which offered conclusive proof that the Germans had planned to hold all winter the line from which they had been driven.
Sporadic attempts were made by the enemy to hold up the British drive, but their troops developed no staying power and their attacks generally broke down after the failure of the first fierce onslaught. Haig's warriors had now entered the old defense system which they had held before the beginning of the great German offensive in March, 1918.
The French continued to make good progress in their advance along the banks of the St. Quentin Canal north of the Somme, capturing Hamel and three other villages to the west of it. South of the Somme they encountered heavy resistance. The village of Avesnes which they had won was retaken by the Germans, but after a hard struggle it remained in French hands.
Progress was also made on both sides of the Oise, the French advancing within two miles of La Fère to the northern edge of the forest of St. Gobain, which forms the western defense of the Laon region. The Massif of St. Gobain formed the pivot of the German system, whose importance was only comparable to that of Cambrai for British operations.
One great factor which aided materially in the advance of the Allies was the great increase in their engines of offense, whether in armored cars, tanks, Stokes guns, or great cannon, that could smash whole blocks of defense at one shot. The French were now supplied with howitzers of twenty-one inch caliber whose shell, over six feet long, could wreck a dozen batteries in a protected ravine, or wipe out an entire regiment hidden in an apparently impenetrable cave.
So far the first part of Marshal Foch's program had been accomplished. The Germans had been driven back along the whole line from Arras to Rheims, and had practically lost all ground won in their four great drives which began on March 21, 1918, and ended on July 18, 1918, when Foch dealt a smashing blow on their flank between the Marne and the Aisne.
During September 9-10, 1918, in spite of heavy rainstorms which halted Haig's men to provide shelters on recovered ground, the British advanced their line nearer Cambrai, fighting off strong German attacks in that region. Meanwhile the French gained three and a half miles, and occupied positions near St. Quentin on three sides. This new dash brought them nearer the flanking of La Fère on the north and south.
September 12, 1918, was a memorable day in the history of the American Army in France when under command of General Pershing they launched an attack from all sides of the St. Mihiel salient that resulted in the capture of the town of that name and over 13,000 prisoners. The American army was now operating under its own command instead of fighting as part of a British or French army. All day and far into the night the fight was continuous on the British front, when the heights of Avrincourt were stormed and positions won that overlooked the German defenses for many miles. Further progress was made in the Havrincourt region during September 13-14, 1918, where to the southeast of Cambrai the British established posts east and north of the village of Havrincourt. General Pétain meanwhile had launched an attack on an eleven-mile front on both sides of the Ailette River between the Aisne and the Vesle, advancing his line to a distance of two miles at the farthest point and capturing over 1,000 prisoners. This French drive was of special importance, for it threatened to turn the flank of the German defensive positions on the Chemin-des-Dames, and weakened the enemy's hold on Laon. South of the Ailette the French won the famous Mont des Singes, and the villages of Allemant and Sanoy.
In the morning of September 14, 1918, General Mangin's troops struck a new blow at the German salient north of Soissons. The French advance was so rapid that at one point a German colonel and his entire staff were captured. The taking of Laffaux Mill, a point of vital importance to the enemy, meant the gain of a valuable portion of the Hindenburg line. The Germans made a desperate effort to maintain their hold on this position, but in spite of their employment of strong reserves they were unable to delay more than a short time the French advance. On General Mangin's right, the Mennejean Farm was the scene of the most stubborn fighting during the day. The Germans had transformed every shell crater into miniature forts and machine-gun nests which had to be overcome one by one by grenade fighting of the fiercest description. But the Germans failed everywhere to check the French, who by noon had carried the entire position and bagged over 2,500 prisoners.
After the capture of Havrincourt and neighboring towns by the British, followed by counterattacks which were everywhere repulsed, there was no important infantry action attempted and the Germans settled down to shelling the line.
British and French troops in coordinated operations on a twenty-two-mile front advanced their lines on the outlying defenses of St. Quentin on September 18, 1918. The British attack was made by English, Irish, Scottish, and Australian troops on a sixteen-mile front to the northwest of the city and resulted in the capture of over 6,000 prisoners and the occupation of ten villages and outer defenses of the Hindenburg line in wide sectors. The push was made in the midst of a pouring rain and the Germans offered strong resistance, but the British, elated with victory, drove forward and crushed all opposition.
While the British were driving ahead, the French on their immediate right attacked and advanced their lines a mile and a quarter on a six-mile front, reaching the western outskirts of Francilly-Silency, three miles west of St. Quentin, and the southern edge of Contescourt, four miles southwest of that city, marking their nearest approaches to the German base. During the night of September 18, 1918, the British continued to drive forward into the Hindenburg outposts northwest of St. Quentin, capturing the village of Lempire and Gauche Wood. In the course of two days' fighting in this region the British captured 10,000 prisoners and over sixty guns.
Late in the day of September 18, 1918, the Germans counterattacked on a wide front west of Cambrai between Gouzeaucourt and the Arras-Cambrai road. Starting off with a bombardment of great intensity they launched an infantry attack northward from Trescault, but were repulsed at all points with heavy losses. North of Mœuvres, the Sixth German Division, under cover of a heavy barrage, and while forty German batteries were at work, made a determined attack on the British positions. Though their lines were torn and formations shattered by the British field batteries and the steady machine-gun and rifle fire, they still pressed forward, climbing over the bodies of their dead. At a tragic cost of life a few of the advanced British positions were penetrated, but before the end of the day after a stubborn struggle they were expelled and the British reoccupied the positions.
The fighting here had been costly for the British as well as for the foe. The Germans displayed complete disregard for life and demonstrated a spirit of initiative that was quite unusual. German machine gunners established themselves in some derelict British tanks which they transformed into forts, sweeping the area around with machine-gun bullets that wrought considerable destruction. Groups of German machine gunners in other parts of the field, and aided by some infantry, established themselves in wrecked villages, in woods, and earth-works, and in old trench systems, where the British line of advance passed just beyond them. Other British troops following the first waves suffered considerably from the attacks of these independent fighters. It was necessary to mop up each isolated post before the advance could be continued.
The French meanwhile had been pushing their lines closer to St. Quentin from the south and the southwest. During the night of September 18-19, 1918, they fought their way into Contescourt, which lies four miles to the southwest of St. Quentin, and in the morning occupied Castres, about half a mile to the northeast. Farther east and south they advanced to the outskirts of Benay, a town six miles south of the city.
The strongly fortified village of Mœuvres, seven miles west of Cambrai, which had been the scene of intense fighting for some days, was captured by the British in the morning of September 20, 1918. The Germans fought stubbornly to hold the village, which with its covering positions consisted of a solid mass of trenches and dugouts covering a square mile of ground. It was the junction of the main and support Hindenburg line and the most formidable obstacle that the British encountered anywhere in that defensive system.
The occupation by the British of a series of redoubts around the Malassise Farm brought their line nearer to the St. Quentin Canal at Vendhuile. Only three fortified villages now remained in German hands on the battle front between Villers-Guislain and the defenses of St. Quentin. With the capture of Ronssoy by English County troops, Lempire, a village one mile to the north, was completely cleared of the enemy. The Germans were now clinging to strong positions in ravines, quarries, and ditches between Lempire and Villers-Guislain, but they had suffered so severely in recent counterattacks that they attempted no more.
In the course of operations on September 21 and 22, 1918, advances were made by English troops east of Epihy, and the Australians near Hargicourt made new inroads into the outer defenses of the Hindenburg line northwest of St. Quentin. The most extensive gain was made north of the Scarpe River, where the Germans were thrown back on a two-mile front.
South of Villers-Guislain, and to the right of this sector, the Germans launched a powerful counterattack which was crushed by the British, who flung the enemy back and took advantage of the opportunity to carry forward their line.
On the French front in spite of increased enemy resistance substantial gains were made daily. By the capture of the woods north of Lys-Fontaine the Germans were forced to evacuate Vendhuile to escape being cornered there with their backs to the river Oise. General Debeney's troops now held all the west bank of the Oise for more than half the distance from La Fère to Moy. The French had now reached the heavy, marshy country south of the valley of the Oise, which offered great difficulties to any troops that might attempt a crossing north of La Fère.
Debeney's men continued to advance all day September 22, 1918, toward the La Fère road south of St. Quentin, and as they approached nearer the Hindenburg line around that place the Germans made determined efforts to keep them from it. North of the Somme they were hurriedly organizing a defensive system on a line of heights running parallel to the Hindenburg positions from east of Holnon to Hill 23, and thence through Hill 138 east of Savy Wood to Dallon Height on the road from Ham to St. Quentin.
South of the Somme the French advanced into a defense line parallel to the Hindenburg positions, by winning a height northeast of Castres, the line of ridges connecting Urvillers and Cerizy and the spur that dominates Mayot from the west.
British and French troops on September 24, 1918, attacking on adjacent fronts totaling about seven miles, made advances that tightened their grip on St. Quentin from the northwest, west, and southwest.
By the capture of Pontruet, Marshal Haig's troops had now advanced within three-quarters of a mile of important defenses of the Hindenburg line at the bend of St. Quentin Canal. On the right wing of the British, the French took Francilly-Silency, Dallon, and other villages which, with the British occupation of the high ground west of Fayot, gave the Allies a line of positions lying in a five-mile arc of a circle with a radius of less than three miles from the center at St. Quentin.
General Gouraud's troops attacking the German positions in the Champagne on September 26, 1918, won their first objectives within a few hours, and took Serven which had been in the hands of the enemy since 1914. Gouraud's troops also occupied the high ground positions of the Butte de Mesnil and the Navarin Farm. The abandonment by the Germans of strong positions which they had held for a long time, and had made as impregnable as human ingenuity could devise, demonstrated that they were in a panicky and nervous state of mind.
The Third and Fourth British Armies under General Sir Henry Horne and Sir Julian Byng made an attack before daybreak on September 27, 1918, on a wide front toward Cambrai, and were successful in carrying all their objectives. The principal attack was on a front of fourteen miles, and resulted in the winning of German positions of great strength. On the north of the main attack the British captured Beaucamp, and drove the enemy from the ridge toward Marcoing. Arleux-en-Gohelle on the extreme left was occupied, and in operations north and south of the Sensee and Scarpe Rivers the towns of Sauchy-Lestrées and Sauchy-Cauchy were captured.
The troops of General Haldane on the right center carried out a successful operation, breaking through the German defenses east of Havrincourt, capturing Flesquières and a long spur running eastward from that village toward Marcoing. In the direction of Fontaine Notre Dame the British in this region had pushed forward to within three miles of Cambrai. In the course of these operations over 6,000 prisoners were captured. The Germans had engaged on this battle front nine divisions, or about 122,000 men.
The British were now in a good position to capture Cambrai. Even at this stage of the struggle the Germans could not use the town, for the roads, railway, and junction were all under the fire of the British guns.
French troops on the battle line east of Rheims continued their advance on September 27, 1918. In the two days' fighting on this front they took over 10,000 prisoners, enormous quantities of war material, and had moved their line ahead at some points a distance of five miles.
On the first day of the battle Gouraud's men recaptured all the positions abandoned July 15, 1918, and then stormed the Hindenburg line on a length of nineteen miles. They were now on the front of the second Hindenburg line along the Py River, marking the successful termination of the first phase of the attack which the French continued to press with irresistible valor despite the frantic efforts of the enemy to check their advance.
THE BRITISH CLOSE IN ON CAMBRAI—FRENCH OCCUPY ST. QUENTIN—THE GERMANS FIRE CAMBRAI AND RETIRE—THE ALLIES' GREAT VICTORY IN FLANDERS
The Allies continued to strike on every front on September 27-28, 1918. Between the sea and St. Quentin, Champagne, and Verdun the whole German military machine was tottering and nearing the breaking point.
Belgian and British troops attacking on a front of about ten miles between Dixmude to a point north of Ypres made an advance of three and a half miles, the Belgians alone capturing over 4,000 prisoners. The occupied territory included the first and the second line of the German defenses.
Field Marshal Haig's troops operating in the Cambrai region continued their advance on the town whose fall was imminent. With the capture of Sailly the British were now within two miles of Cambrai, and still forging forward. To the northwest a number of villages including Epinoy and Oisy-le-Verger were occupied and to the north of the Sensee Canal the village of Arleux.
During the night of September 27, 1918, the Germans made a desperate counterattack southwest of Marcoing, and near Beaucamp, but they were thrown back with heavy losses and the British pressed on two miles beyond Beaucamp Ridge, where they occupied high ground known as the Highland and Welsh Ridges.
Between the Ailette and the Aisne General Mangin's troops continued their irresistible advance, penetrating the ravine between Jouy and Aizy and capturing these villages. The principal victory of the day was the winning of Fort Malmaison, one of the strongholds southeast of Laon. Here the Germans had prepared a deadly trap for the French troops, but owing to the precautions taken the explosion did no damage.
In the Champagne General Gouraud's forces continued to operate with the accuracy of a finely adjusted piece of mechanism. At Somme-Py, where the German defensive works were of the most elaborate description and included a system of trenches and underground works to an extent of five miles, after hot fighting in the streets with grenade and bayonet the French took the entire system and advanced their line to the north of the town.
There was no harder struggle on any Allied front at this time than the French were engaged in north of Grateuil and Fontaine-en-Dormois. The Germans in this region displayed intense energy in the defense of the valleys, bringing up reserves and employing countless machine guns in their determination to stem the tide of the French advance which was constantly hurling them backward. Again and again the Germans counterattacked, only to be crushed by Gouraud's troops, who immediately proceeded to press onward. The German infantry fought well at times, but there was something lacking; they displayed nervousness and had no staying powers. And their gunners too showed that their nerves were shaken, wasting ammunition without reason and laying down barrages where they could serve no possible purpose.
September 29, 1918, was a big day for the British and American troops when Field Marshal Haig launched a new offensive movement on the thirty-mile front from St. Quentin to the Sensee River. The Americans attacking the Hindenburg line on a front of nearly three miles captured Bellicourt and Nauroy.
On the extreme British right the Twentieth Corps struck across the Scheldt Canal from Bellenglise northward. The Forty-sixth Midland Division, equipped with mats, life belts, rafts, and bridging material, stormed the main Hindenburg defenses running along the eastern bank of the canal. In spite of the depth of the water, and the width of the canal, and the strong German defenses, consisting of numerous tunnels and concrete works, this division captured the entire enemy position opposed to them. After this master stroke the division with great bravery drove ahead up the slopes beyond the canal, capturing many prisoners on the way. Bellenglise, Lehaucourt, and Magny-la-Fosse were now in British hands.
In the center of the attack English troops captured Villers-Guislain while New Zealand troops broke up a hostile attack, and pressing on took La Vacquerie and high ground in the neighborhood.
Meanwhile the Sixty-ninth Division, having forced the crossing of the Scheldt at several points, continued to advance. After stiff fighting in the western outskirts of Masnières and Les Rues Vertes they took both of these villages and carried the defensive system covering Rumilly, driving on to the western outskirts of the village. North of the Bapaume-Cambrai road Canadian troops gained possession of the defense system known as the Marcoing-Masnières line as far north as Sailly.
On the French front as the result of General Mangin's advance on this date the entire Malmaison Plateau and the western end of the Chemin-des-Dames were won. For weeks the Germans had been fighting to hold the approaches to the massif of St. Gobain and Laon which they were now forced to abandon. For four years this group of heights formed the central pillar of the German line in France. Marshal Foch's strategy forced the enemy, as on the Marne, to withdraw his center before the Allied attack to the north and the east and compelled him to move back on the wings. This retreat was one of the first direct results of the French, American, and British offensive of the past three days.
On the last day of September, 1918, the British continued to drive forward into the outskirts of Cambrai, capturing the suburbs on three sides of the city. Toward St. Quentin the villages of Thorigny and Le Tronquoy to the north and east of that town were won. In the course of the fighting north of St. Quentin the British captured over 4,000 prisoners and forty guns.
In Flanders the Belgian and British advance was pushed to an average depth of five and a maximum depth of eight miles. The British had won the famous Messines Ridge and Cheluwe, while the Belgians had advanced beyond Dixmude and taken Roulers.
Fighting of the fiercest description continued throughout October 1, 1918, all along the Cambrai-St. Quentin front, the British winning positions on the greater part of the line. The Germans, anticipating the speedy capture of Cambrai, had fired the city at different points. The British, continuing to close in, stormed in the night Proville to the west and Tilloy on the north. Farther south toward St. Quentin they captured the villages of Vendhuile and Lavergies. To the north of Cambrai they made notable progress in spite of the presence in the enemy fighting line of fresh German reserves thrown in between the city and the Sensee River.
During the month of September, 1918, the British had captured on the western front 66,000 prisoners and 700 guns. In four days' fighting up to October 1, 1918, General Haig's troops had engaged and defeated thirty-six German divisions, or approximately 432,000 men.
French troops entered St. Quentin in the afternoon of October 1, 1918. Heavy fighting continued along the whole Franco-American front from St. Quentin to the Meuse. The British on the north and the French on the south drew an arc around St. Quentin well to the rear of the city. Toward the Aisne the French had pushed on beyond Revillon. In the center the Germans continued to cling stubbornly to the wooded height of St. Thierry, where they had established a line of positions stretching from Cormicy to the Vesle, flanking Rheims on the northwest and enabling them to maintain their hold on a semicircle of strong points around Rheims.
Cambrai having been mined by the Germans, the occupation of the city was delayed by the British, but their patrols penetrated the burning city. Canadian troops held the suburbs of Neuville St. Remy on the north and Crèvecœur and Rumilly on the south.
The rapid advance of the Allies in Belgium on the north and the British thrust past Cambrai on the south forced the Germans to begin a retreat on a wide front on both sides of the La Bassée Canal.
In the night of October 1-2, 1918, General Berthelot's forces on the French front completed their conquest of the St. Thierry Massif, the important height west of Rheims, occupying Pouillon and the fort of St. Thierry.
These great gains enabled the French to dominate the plain from the east and threaten all the German positions along the Aisne-Marne Canal from Bethany to the north, including the fort of Brimont, where the guns were posted that wrought most of the destruction to Rheims. General Gouraud and Berthelot by their advances threatened to make of the Rheims salient another pocket from which the Germans would have great difficulty in extricating themselves.
In the Champagne desperate efforts were made by the enemy to hold back Gouraud's forces on the line of Monthers-Orfeuil-Liry. Steep cliffs and deep ravines furnished the Germans with excellent positions for defense, but the French crushed every counterattack and drove ahead. South of Orfeuil and Liry General Gouraud broke through heavy wire defenses, and won a powerful position by assault.
East of Liry in the wooded valley of the Aisne there was hard fighting which ended in the occupation of the most important positions by General Gouraud's men. Farther east where the Germans had flooded the region of Challerange the French displayed the same intrepidity as at other points on the battle front, gaining ground and occupying the railroad at Autry.
On October 3, 1918, Field Marshal Haig's forces shattered vital German defenses between St. Quentin and Cambrai. Attacking with infantry and tanks on the eight-mile front from Sequehart to the Scheldt Canal the British broke through the strong Beaurevoir-Fonsomme line west and southwest of Beaurevoir.
On the left of the attack English and Irish troops forced the passage of the Scheldt Canal at Gouy and Le Catelet and captured both villages. At the farthest point of this advance the British penetrated German positions to a depth of about five miles. Over 5,000 prisoners were taken by the British during the drive.
In Flanders the Germans were in retreat on the twenty-mile front between Armentières and Lens, which the British now occupied. Between these strongholds the British had advanced their line three miles eastward through Avion, Vendin, Wieres, and Herlies.
St. Quentin was completely cleared of German troops by October 2, 1918. Not one of its original 56,000 inhabitants remained. All were carried away by the Germans. As it was believed the enemy had mined the town with time fuses the French did not occupy the town, but remained outside waiting for developments.
From St. Quentin to the Argonne the French armies continued to gain ground all along the line. They were closing the only avenue of escape for the Germans on the west side of the Argonne Forest, and clearing the region north and west of Rheims.
General Gouraud on the eastern side of the line by the occupation of the important railway town of Challerange now controlled the western exit from the Grand Pré Gap through the forest. Southeast of Orfeuil the French held a wooded area, their guns dominating the only railway which was available to the Germans north of that position. The French also enlarged their gains north of Somme-Py in the Champagne, capturing Mont Blanc with the Americans and the Medeah Farm.
Around Rheims the Germans had been forced back so far that the city must soon be freed from the menace of bombardment. Cormicy, northwest of the city, was captured by the French and Loivre to the north, while the Aisne Canal was reached between Concevreux and La Neuvillette.
Debeney's indomitable troops north and east of St. Quentin continued to drive forward. He broke the Hindenburg line from Le Tronquoy to Lesdins and gained a hold on the railway east of St. Quentin. Progress was also made at Neuville St. Armand and Itancourt. Continuing their pressure on the Germans seeking to repair the gap torn in the Hindenburg defenses northeast of St. Quentin, British troops on October 4-5, 1918, pushed on toward Fresnoy-le-Grand in the face of determined and powerful enemy counterattacks.
The Germans continued to retreat on the Lens-Armentières front. The British lines were advanced over two miles to Erquinghem and Wavrin west and southwest of Lille.
In the Champagne the entire enemy front was crumbling before the hammer blows of the French army under Berthelot and the Franco-American legions under Gouraud. North of Rheims the capture of Fort Brimont and strong mountain positions to the east gave the French enormous advantage over the enemy, of which they were not slow to avail themselves. The entire massif of Moronvilliers was conquered; by the afternoon of October 5, 1918, the French had reached Bethenville, three miles to the north. In the course of the advance the Germans were forced to evacuate many positions which they had held since 1914.
Threatened by the British thrust toward Lille the enemy began the evacuation of the city. Farther south, in the crucial area north of St. Quentin, British forces again broke through the Hindenburg system of defenses. They crossed the Scheldt Canal on the eight-mile front between Crèvecœur and Le Catelet and won a section of the famous line on the plateau of La Terrière in this sector, the Germans hurriedly retiring from the high ground east of the canal.
French victories in the Champagne continued with clockwork regularity every day, and it might be said with truth every few hours of the day. German resistance was broken on a front of about twenty-eight miles in the Rheims salient, where as the result of pressure east and west the enemy was compelled to surrender his strongest positions.
The French continued in pursuit through the night of October 5-6, 1918, the whole front along the river Suippe. Other French troops having crossed the Aisne Canal had advanced to the outskirts of Aiguilcourt and pressing on north of Rheims captured a number of villages to the northeast of the city, reaching the Suippe River at Pont Faverger, which was conquered and occupied.
In the fighting on the British front on October 6, 1918, the village of Fresnoy, ten miles west of Douai, was won. Between Cambrai and St. Quentin after the capture of Abencheul-au-Bois the British established themselves in strong positions on the high ground toward Lesdain. Montbregain and Beaurevoir, villages to the northeast of St. Quentin which had changed hands several times in the recent fighting, were won by the British at a late hour in the day.
During the night Marshal Haig's troops established a post at the crossing of the Scheldt Canal, five miles northwest of Cambrai, and advanced their lines south on the west and southwest. By the advance north of Wez Maquart the British were now within about five miles west of the city.
At times during the British pursuit the enemy's rear guards attempted to make a stand, but in every instance they were annihilated. The Germans seemed to have become panic-stricken, for, while they could maintain a stubborn defense, there was no method in their fighting; it was the desperate struggle of men who know they are playing a losing game.
The continued French pressure in the Champagne yielded daily results. On October 7, 1918, Berry-au-Bac at the junction of the river Aisne and the Aisne Canal on the left wing of the offensive was captured. On the rest of the Champagne front the French held their gains, and pushed on to the north and east of the Arnes River.
Early in the morning of October 8, 1918, British and American troops with the French cooperating on the right launched an attack on a twenty-mile front from Cambrai southward, shattering the remains of the Hindenburg system to a large extent, and advancing along the whole fighting line a distance of three miles.
The British artillery fire, which began to shell the enemy through the night and in the morning, was of the most unprecedented violence, the guns being massed wheel to wheel. Such a destructive fire was poured into the enemy lines that when the attack was made the Germans were generally too panic-stricken to fight with either courage or method.
Americans on the British front were concerned at this time in the brilliant operations northeast of St. Quentin.
South of the American fighting line the French, starting from Rouvroy, captured the hills to the eastward and the villages of Essigny and Fontaine. South of Cambrai, where the Germans counterattacked heavily with reserves, they made temporary gains of ground from which they were afterward driven out. Large numbers of German gunners who attempted to check the Allied onslaught were killed.
On the following day the Allies struck again on a front of more than thirty miles from north of Cambrai to the south of St. Quentin and completed the breaking through of the entire Hindenburg defensive system from Arras to St. Quentin. The German retreat now became almost a rout, involving thirty divisions.
At 4 o'clock in the morning with only the light of the stars and flares to guide them Canadian and English troops pressing forward from the north and south joined up in the chief square of Cambrai. The Germans were in retreat behind their rear guards, and the whole city was in Allied hands, but the enemy had mined it, and there were constant explosions that reduced many fine buildings to ruins. It was a great day for the Allies, and especially for the British, for in exactly two months they had fought their way back to their old front lines and were now far into the country beyond, which they had never penetrated before. Cambrai, a prize, was won, and the Germans, defeated and broken, were scuttling away with all the speed they could muster.
During October 8-9, 1918, the battle in Champagne continued with increasing violence from the Aisne in the region of Vaux-le-Mouron, which the French captured, to the Suippe River at Bazancourt, which was also won. North of St. Etienne on the Arnes River the Germans made powerful attacks on the positions won by General Gouraud's men, but were unable to regain a foot of ground, while their casualties were enormous. The determined fighting here and on the Suippe River by the Germans was evidently for the purpose of gaining time for a wide retreat. For the persistence and vigor of the Allied pressure had evidently disarranged all their plans, as up to this time they had been unable to prepare a stable position to which their shattered formations could retire in security.
In the Cambrai-St. Quentin sector the Anglo-American forces continued to advance during October 9-10, 1918, the greatest progress being made east and southeast of Cambrai, where Marshal Haig had pushed his lines to the banks of the Selle River, capturing the important German base of Le Cateau. This marked an advance of about ten miles east and fifteen miles southeast of Cambrai in the face of determined resistance by the enemy's rear guards. During this forward sweep many French civilians were found in the captured villages, 2,500 being liberated in Caudry alone.
Farther to the north several villages southeast of Lens were occupied. The French, on the south of the British and Americans, continued to carry out dashing attacks and wrested from the enemy a number of villages northeast of St. Quentin. North of the Aisne they gained possession of the Croix-sans-Tête plateau. In Champagne Liry was occupied.
The Germans began on October 10-11, 1918, the withdrawal from their strong positions north of the Sensee River before the far-reaching advance of the British south of that stream. North of the Scarpe the British pressed on in the direction of Douai, which the Germans were preparing to abandon. From every front came the same story of German retirement, though here and there they continued to hold on to a strong position to hinder the advance of the Allies and secure the safety of their fleeing forces. On the whole front from the Soissons-Laon road to Grand Pré north of the Argonne Forest their hosts were on the backward move. In Champagne, where General Gouraud's army captured Machault after a four-mile advance, they were retreating toward Vouziers, and under pressure of the converging attack west and south of the Chemin-des-Dames were gradually forced off of that famous height, relinquishing some of their strongest positions. In the Laon area the Germans were facing the utmost difficulties, where the Hunding line between the rivers Serre and Sissonne had been turned by the French.
In the night of October 11, 1918, French advance guards occupied Vouziers, which the Germans had burned and looted before retiring. The highroad running west from Vouziers to Pauvres was now entirely in French hands, and German resistance seemed weakening through this sector. West of Pauvres the French held the slopes above the marshy wooded valley of the Retourne.
On the left, General Berthelot's army captured the dominating height of Cæsar's Camp and advanced beyond Mauchamp Farm to the north. Still more important progress was made in the loop of the Aisne River, where French cavalry aided by armored cars took Asfeld-La-Ville, thus creating a new salient between them and the advance to the westward which occupied the greater part of the Chemin-des-Dames.
General Mangin's troops meanwhile were encountering strong opposition as they forced their way forward into the wooded heights that constituted the outer bastion of the St. Gobain Forest. This operation, taken in conjunction with the advance of Generals Debeney and Gouraud on the flanks, rendered the position of the German forces holding the Laon salient increasingly dangerous.
On October 12, 1918, General Mangin seized the greater part of the St. Gobain Massif. La Fère, the outpost to the north on the Oise, was also won. Laon, the last of the great natural obstacles forming the keystone of the German defenses in France, yielded without a fight.
The British had now invested Douai, and the fall of that place was only a question of hours.
All these important achievements were less spectacular than the great battle in Flanders which began on October 14, 1918, and was fought by the combined Belgian, French, and British troops under the command of King Albert. The whole Allied line advanced on an irregular front of about twenty-five miles from the region of Courtemarck to that of Courtrai, penetrating enemy positions six and seven miles.
The British Second Army under General Sir Herbert Plumer captured the villages of Gulleghem and Heule and advanced as far as the outskirts of Courtrai, having taken nearly 4,000 prisoners and fifty guns. The Belgians and French bagged over 7,000 and eighty guns.
In French Flanders the British carried their lines forward in the neighborhood of Haubourdin about three miles west of Lille, and farther south crossed the Haute Deule Canal and took a number of villages northeast of Lens.
So fast were the Germans retreating that the British, French, and Belgian infantry in the center of the battle front had lost sight of them. The victory was especially memorable because it was a triumph for the gallant little Belgian army, which with the assistance of French and British had driven the despoilers of their country from a large territory which the Germans had occupied since the first days of the war. Moreover, they had gained in this battle such strong positions that the Germans must soon be forced to abandon the entire coast of Belgium.
The sweeping advance of the Allied infantry, preceded by French cavalry which performed wonderful work in carrying out charges, left Lille and the mining and manufacturing districts of Tourcoing, Roubaix, and Tournai in a salient that was growing deeper every hour and which the Germans could not possibly hold for long. In the region of Thourout the Allies encountered intense opposition. The struggle was here from house to house and street to street, and the casualties were heavy on both sides. The Germans had posted machine guns in the windows of the dwellings and in the cellars, firing streams of bullets into the advancing Belgians, but were unable to force them back. The troops of King Albert fought with a fierce determination to wreak revenge on the despoilers of their country, and nothing could withstand the cold fury of their onslaught. To the northeast of Courtrai they stormed and captured Bavichove and on the north Andoye and Cachten.