THE GERMAN RETREAT CONTINUES—FRENCH RECOVER 120 TOWNS

The British troops continued to advance in the Ancre area in spite of the difficult terrain and the desperate defense of the Germans who had been left behind in the retirement and who occupied positions where they might work the greatest damage to the pursuers. East of Gommecourt on March 3, 1917, the British gained two-thirds of a mile along a two-mile front. They were also successful east of Bouchavesnes, where they captured the enemy's front and support lines on a front of two-thirds of a mile. In these operations they captured 190 prisoners and five machine guns.

On March 4, 1917, the Germans made a violent attack on the Verdun front which was repulsed by the French. North of CauriÈres Wood the Germans gained a footing in French advanced positions. They were driven out on the following day in a spirited counterattack, leaving many of their comrades dead on the field.

Thaws, fogs, and snows continued to hamper military operations in all sectors of the fighting area. On March 8, 1917, the French won a decided victory over the Germans in Champagne. Notwithstanding the snow, which rendered any military movement difficult, French troops operating between Butte du Mesnil and Maisons de Champagne carried German positions on a front of 1,680 yards to a depth varying from 650 to 865 yards. As the French crossed no-man's-land, preceded by a complete curtain of fire which raised and dropped mechanically, the German artillery was everywhere active, but their massed fire could not check the attackers' steady advance. As the French reached the first lines of German trenches the occupants offered little resistance, but came running out with uplifted hands in token of surrender. At some points, however, the Germans had converted their positions into regular fortresses, and here there was desperate fighting with grenade and rifle. The French cleared out these strongholds and made their way slowly up the slopes toward the objective. During the fight French aeroplanes circled overhead watching the movements of the Germans behind the points attacked. Not a German machine was visible, but some were hidden among the snow clouds, for the rattle of machine guns, heard at times, denoted their presence above the battle field.

On the following day, March 9, 1917, the Germans launched three violent attacks in this sector in an attempt to force the French out of their newly won positions. The Germans did not lack bravery, and pressed forward in the face of a strong barrage and machine-gun fire. The French guns, however, wrought such destruction in their ranks that they were finally forced to retire, their number shattered and depleted. In the two days' fighting in this sector the French took 170 prisoners, of whom four were officers.

The British captured Irles in the morning of March 10, 1917. Previous to the attack their howitzers had deluged the place with shells. The infantry followed closely, one force advancing from the south and another turning north, to head off any attempt of the Germans to retreat. In a sunken ravine the British found a small garrison of old men with machine guns. Here thirty prisoners were taken and the rest killed. The British swept on over the German trenches, meeting with very little opposition. About 150 Germans were taken in this main attack and quite as many more were gathered in by troops working west and north. The prisoners were all Prussians, belonging chiefly to the Second Guards Reserve. The Germans succeeded in withdrawing without very heavy losses, leaving their rear guard to bear the brunt of the British attack. The evacuation of Irles, which had become untenable, had been fixed by the Germans for the 10th at 7.30 a. m., but the British caught them napping by striking two hours earlier, with the result that they captured three officers and 289 men.

In the night of March 10, 1917, the French carried out successful surprise attacks on the German trenches in the Lassigny and Canny-sur-Matz regions, and in the neighborhood of the Woevre north of Jury Wood, destroying defensive works in these operations and taking fifteen prisoners and some machine guns.

In the afternoon of March 12, 1917, the French troops operating on the Champagne front recaptured all the trenches on Hill 185. These lines lay west of the Maisons de Champagne Farm which the Germans had won in the previous month. The attack was made over a front of nearly a mile. During the night of March 11, 1917, French troops had crawled forward and by the use of grenades prepared the way for the general assault on the German positions which were carried on the following day. All the German trenches were taken on the hill and a fortified work on the slopes north of Memelon. In the course of the action the French captured about 100 prisoners and a considerable number of machine guns.

On March 12, 1917, the British advance was resumed on a front of nearly four miles to the west of Bapaume. The Germans, retreating, left only a strong screen of rear guards to oppose, but they avoided contact with British patrols as far as possible. It was evident that the Germans were reserving their strength for some important operation.

The British, pushing onward, advanced their line north of Ancre Valley on a front of over one and a half miles southwest and west of Bapaume. South of Achiet-le-Petit the British made important progress and occupied 1,000 yards of German trenches west of Essarts. On March 13, 1917, Haig's troops had won the coveted ridge overlooking Bapaume from the northwest. For the first time since the struggle began on this front the British had the advantage of the highest ground. Bapaume, which the Germans had been blasting and piling up with the wreckage of stores and the trunks of fallen trees, was now within easy striking distance and the next point to be captured in the British advance.

GrÉvillers was occupied by the British during the night, their line now stretching along the ridge which runs northwest from that point to the outskirts of Achiet-le-Petit, where the Germans were in possession.

In the course of this latest advance Loupart Wood was occupied. It is situated on the shoulder of a high ridge which overlooks the entire Somme battle front. The British were highly elated over the capture of the wood, where for eight months German batteries had rained shells upon the British positions. It was regarded as one of the strongest artillery posts which the Germans held on the western front.

The Germans had made desperate efforts to hold this strong position, but thirty hours of incessant bombardment by British guns leveled their defenses and crushed in the dugouts, and they withdrew, a shattered remnant.

In the Champagne region the Germans continued their attacks during March 13-14, 1917, on the French positions on Hill 185. The loss of the hill a few days before, and of positions around Maisons de Champagne were regarded as important by the Germans, for they persisted in their attacks though every attempt made was repulsed with appalling losses. They were unable to reach the French line at any point, though concentrating strong artillery fire on the lost positions and attacking with grenades throughout the night. The French continued to hold their own despite these desperate onslaughts and were even able to increase their gains in this sector.

In the region of St. Mihiel the French by a dashing operation captured Romainville Farm with its garrison of thirty Germans. At four different points French detachments penetrated German trenches between the Meuse and Apremont Forest, pushing as far as the second line of defenses and bringing back a number of prisoners.

On March 15, 1917, French forces south of the Somme in the neighborhood of Roye after an intense shelling of the German lines penetrated east of Canny-sur-Matz to a depth of about half a mile. British troops between PÉronne and Bapaume made important gains about this date. Pushing forward on a front of two and a half miles they occupied German trenches running from the south of St. Pierre Vaast Wood to the north of the village of Saillisel, a stretch of about 3,000 yards.

On March 17, 1917, the Germans were forced to abandon the whole line of about fifteen miles between the Oise and Andechy, owing to the pressure of French forces. These lines were strongly fortified and had been occupied by the Germans for about two years. The French continued their advance movement on the following day. Their advance guard entered Roye in pursuit of a German contingent that had blown up streets in the interior of the town. About 800 of the civil population which the Germans had not had time to remove received their liberators with a wild enthusiasm that was pathetic to witness.

North and northeast of Lassigny the French made further gains, occupying the town and a number of points beyond, and pushing forward past the road between Roye and Noyon. During the night of March 17, 1917, French air squadrons bombarded German organizations in the region of Arnaville, and the factories and blast furnaces at VÖlkingen, where a great fire was seen to break out. Stations and roads in the region of Ham and St. Quentin were also bombarded with good results, and all the French aeroplanes returned undamaged.

On March 18, 1917, the Germans were in retreat over a front of approximately eighty-five miles from south of Arras on the north to Soissons on the Aisne. They evacuated scores of villages, and the important towns of PÉronne, Chaulnes, Nesle, and Noyon. Evidently the Germans had been forced to leave somewhat hurriedly, for many of the places evacuated were only slightly damaged as the result of military operations.

British and French troops, keeping in close touch with the German rear guard during the advance, pushed forward to a depth of from ten to twelve miles, and their cavalry entered Nesle about the same time. The occupation of Noyon on the Oise was of special importance, as the nearest point to Paris held by the Germans. The famous Noyon elbow or salient, from which it was expected the Germans would launch an attack on the French capital, now ceased to be a source of anxiety and apprehension to the French fighting forces in this region.

PÉronne, for which the French had fought desperately for nearly two years, was entered by the British on March 18, 1917, after a brief action with the German rear guard. East of the place the Germans had fired a number of villages as they retreated. Athies, a town of some importance, was reduced to a smoldering ruin and the smoke of its burning buildings could be seen for miles. The Germans displayed their "thoroughness" as they retired by poisoning the wells with arsenic, and setting high-explosive traps into which they hoped the British advance guards would blunder. Bridges over all the waterways were burned and the crossroads carefully mined.

The capture of Bapaume, that quaint Picardy town which the Germans had transformed into an almost impregnable stronghold and fortress, was a special cause for rejoicing by the British troops. It was a prize they had longed for through many weary months. There was no waving of flags or beating of drums when the British patrols entered the town, for there was stiff fighting ahead, and the place was filled with underground strongholds. Soon the welcome message came over the wire that all the enemy rear guard had been accounted for, and the British were free to survey their new acquisition. Fires were smoldering in many parts and not a house was left intact. Shells had wrought a great deal of the ruin, but it was evident that many of the buildings had been dynamited. The statue of General Louis Faldeherbe, who defended Bapaume against the Germans in 1870, was missing, and had evidently been carried off by the kaiser's troops.

The defensive works around Bapaume were of the most elaborate description, and the highest ingenuity had been employed in making the place impregnable. In addition to a splendid trench system forming a network around the place, there were acres of barbed wire stretched upon iron posts firmly planted in the earth, and intricate systems of wires spread over the ground to hamper an enemy attack. In addition to strong redoubts at different points fitted up with every defensive device, the cellars under the houses had been consolidated in many places, forming great underground galleries that could shelter thousands of German troops.

The British were not permitted to occupy Bapaume in peace, for while the enemy could no longer be seen, he was heard from constantly and destructively. All day long and during the night the town was shelled and great damage was wrought in such sections which the enemy had registered before leaving.

The German forces were still retiring, hastened on their way by the British troops, who were pressing them closely. From captured Germans it was learned that fresh divisions, including one that had fought in Rumania, had been thrown in as a screen to shield the retiring troops.

The Germans had devised so many traps to catch the Allies and delay the pursuit that the advance was necessarily slow. The French found less opposition than the British, and were able to push forward more rapidly, covering twenty-two miles in the three days since the retirement began. Over 120 towns and villages were recovered by the French alone. The joy of the inhabitants who had been for thirty-two months in the hands of the Germans was a deeply moving spectacle. Every French soldier was embraced amid smiles and tears. Many of the women declared that they owed their own lives as well as the lives of their children to American relief in the occupied territory.

The mayors, assistant mayors, and other officials of Candor and Lagny had been carried off by the Germans, but owing to the rapidity of retirement many women and children had been left behind. All over thirteen were compelled to work without payment. Boys were driven to dig ditches or small trenches for telephone wires under fire. Those who refused for religious reasons to work on Sunday were fined. The Germans had closed all schools during their occupation of the French towns. The destruction of property was carried out in the most thorough fashion and according to systematized plans. Captured orders on the subject directed the blowing up of houses, wells, and cellars except those held by rear-guard outposts. Farm implements were burned and destroyed. Orders were given to collect filth in the neighborhood of wells to contaminate the water. All the fruit trees with rare exception in the evacuated territory were girdled or otherwise killed.

The use of cavalry by the French and British seemed to have taken the Germans by surprise and interfered with their plans. In one village they were forced to hurriedly depart without touching the supper which was laid out on the table. In other places the Allies found newly opened boxes of explosives with which the Germans had planned to destroy the villages before leaving.

The famous castle and stone village of Coucy-le-ChÂteau on the road from Paris to Namur, and one of the show places of the Laon region, were reduced to ruins. The village and castle date back to the thirteenth century and were regarded by art critics as architectural gems of medieval France. The castle had been spared from destruction during the French Revolution, and millions had been expended since on its preservation. This splendid monument of feudal Europe is no more.

The German retreat was continued more slowly on March 19, 1917, when all northern France was swept by fierce equinoctial gales, and rain squalls were frequent in the battle area. Despite weather conditions, which hampered military operations, the British troops made good progress, and on the 20th held the line of the Somme in strength from PÉronne southward to Canizy. British patrols were active as far east as Mons-en-ChaussÉe, and in several sectors between Bapaume and Arras British cavalry were engaged in skirmishes with the enemy.

In the course of the following week the British forces restored eleven villages to France, and the whole department of the Somme was now cleared of invaders. The capture of Savy, which was held by a garrison of 600 Prussians of the Twenty-ninth Siegfried Division, brought the British within four miles of St. Quentin, and near to the Hindenburg line, where the Germans were strongly concentrated. St. Quentin had in part been destroyed and its picture galleries and museums looted of their contents. The outer bastion of the Hindenburg or Siegfried line was protected by barricades of tree trunks and swathed about with barbed wire. The Siegfried division holding the new German line of defense was busy during the last days of March, 1917, in building concrete emplacements, trenches, and dugouts.

On April 1, 1917, the British troops were within three miles of St. Quentin, while the French threatened the place from the south.

During the month of March, 1917, the British captured 1,239 Germans, of whom sixteen were officers, and large quantities of war material, including twenty-five trench mortars and three field guns. During the first three months of the year they had taken prisoner a total of seventy-nine officers and 4,600 of other ranks.

On April 2, 1917, General Haig's troops drove a wedge into the German line on the ridge protecting St. Quentin on the west, capturing the villages of Holnon, Francilly, and Selency. With the occupation of the last village the British had a footing on the ridge overlooking St. Quentin, which lies in a hollow. If they could maintain their hold on this position the capture of St. Quentin was certain.

At the northern end of the British line of advance their success was no less important. Attacking on a front of about ten miles they captured an important series of German positions defending the Arras-Cambrai highroad. Six villages were occupied by the British after heavy fighting. A town of some importance, Croisilles, was also captured during the course of these operations. This was considered a valuable gain, as a section of the Hindenburg line lies behind it. Longatte and Ecourt St. Mien, two villages below Croisilles also fell to the British. The Germans defended themselves with reckless bravery acting on Hindenburg's orders that the position must be saved at all costs.

The French launched a concerted attack on the following day, April 3, 1917, over a front of eight miles on both sides of the Somme, storming the heights south and southwest of St. Quentin and advancing within two miles of the city, General Nivelle's forces were now in a position to begin the final attack on the place.

Haig's troops on the British front west of St. Quentin had extended their hold on Holnon Ridge and occupied Ronssoy Wood farther to the north, while in the region of Arras they captured after stiff fighting the village of Henin.

South of the Ailette River the French fought their way forward foot by foot. On the 3rd they drove the Germans out of their positions around Laffaux and brought increasing pressure to bear against the enemy's line south of Laffaux Mill.

On this date the Germans threw more than 2,000 shells into the open city of Rheims, killing several of the civilian population.

General Nivelle's troops continued to advance on April 4, 1917, through violent snow squalls and over sodden ground, and the Germans were pushed back along the whole front from the Somme to the Oise. A dashing attack carried out near La Folie Farm, about a mile and a half north of Urvillers, threw the Germans in such disorder that they fled precipitately, abandoning three lines of strongly fortified trenches, leaving behind the wounded and much war material, including howitzers. The French had now gained the foot of a ridge 393 feet high on the southern outskirts of St. Quentin. By the capture of La Folie they cut the railroad connecting St. Quentin with the Oise, leaving only one line on the north by which the Germans could escape from the doomed city. On the west bank of the Somme French patrols had pressed forward to the outskirts of St. Quentin. On the British front west of the city the Germans made a violent attack, but were driven off with heavy losses. Farther to the north the British succeeded in straightening their line between the Bapaume and PÉronne highway converging on Cambrai.

The most important event during April 5, 1917, was a powerful attack made against the French by picked German troops to the northwest of Rheims along a mile and a half front. The purpose was to clear the left bank of the Aisne Canal. They succeeded in gaining a foothold at certain points in the French first-line trenches, but were thrust out later by counterattacks.

The only other important event on this date was the strong bombardment by the Germans of the new French positions south of St. Quentin. The British and French troops, despite occasional checks occasioned by the frantic efforts of the Germans to stay their victorious progress, continued to steadily advance their lines, which now extended in a semicircle two miles from St. Quentin.[Back to Contents]