Chapter III: Part 3

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

_(German Officers' room.)_]

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

Combles in 1918

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

The ruin of the village was completed during these operations.

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

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

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

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

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

Leuze Wood was also carried by assault.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Of this important village only a few broken walls remain.

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

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

_As seen when looking towards Péronne._]

The Capture of Sailly-Saillisel by the French

(October-November, 1916.)

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

* * * * *

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

* * * * *

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

St. Pierre-Vaast Wood

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

_Cross the Northern Canal by temporary bridge._

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

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

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

Mont-Saint-Quentin

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

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

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

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

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

_Péronne and Maisonnette Hill are in the background._]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

PÉRONNE.

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

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

Origin and Chief Historical Events

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

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

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

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

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

Péronne during the Great War

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

VISIT TO PÉRONNE.

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

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

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

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

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

The Grande Place and Hôtel-de-Ville

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

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

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

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

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

_The front facing the Rue Saint-Sauveur._]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Church of St. Jean

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The pointed door between the middle towers was mutilated.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

La Maisonnette

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Fighting at Biaches

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

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

_Seen from the same view-point._]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

_as seen from the Biaches Herbécourt road_.]

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

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

_It was used as a dressing-station._]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Capture of Belloy-en-Santerre

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Estrées

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Satyres Wood

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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