Volume 1 — A VISIT TO THE SOMME BATTLEFIELDS. (continued 2)

PÉRONNE. THE HÔTEL-DE-VILLE BEFORE THE WAR.

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

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

PÉRONNE. THE HÔTEL-DE-VILLE IN 1917.

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

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

PÉRONNE. THE PLACE DU MARCHÉ-AUX-HERBES BEFORE THE WAR.

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

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

THE PLACE DU MARCHÉ-AUX-HERBES IN 1919.

In the foreground: Pedestal of Statue (see above) carried off by the Germans.

PÉRONNE. THE PLACE DU MARCHÉ-AUX-HERBES BEFORE THE WAR.

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

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

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

The Church of St. Jean

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

PEDESTAL OF THE STOLEN STATUE OF CATHERINE DE POIX (see p. 104).

On the left: Part of the ruins of the St. Jean Church.

PÉRONNE. THE FAÇADE OF ST. JEAN CHURCH, BEFORE THE WAR.

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

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

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

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

THE FAÇADE OF ST. JEAN CHURCH IN 1919.

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

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

In the background: One of the towers of the Château (see below.)

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

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

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

The pointed door between the middle towers was mutilated.

PÉRONNE. THE FAÇADE OF THE CHÂTEAU AT THE END OF THE WAR.

THE DESTROYED BRIDGE ON THE OLD RAMPARTS.

On the right is the end of the Rue St. Fursy.

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

THE OLD RAMPARTS IN THE FAUBOURG DE PARIS.

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

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

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).

THE BATTLEFIELD AT LA MAISONNETTE.

THE VALLEY OF THE SOMME. PÉRONNE AND MONT-ST.-QUENTIN SEEN FROM LA MAISONNETTE.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

BIACHES CHURCH AS THE WAR LEFT IT.

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

BIACHES. THE SUGAR REFINERY IN 1916.

The Fighting at Biaches

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

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

BIACHES. THE SUGAR REFINERY IN 1919.

Seen from the same view-point.

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

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

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

BIACHES. DEFENCE-WORKS IN THE PLACE DE LA MAIRIE (1916).

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

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

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

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

BIACHES. THE PLACE DE LA MAIRIE IN 1916.

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

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

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

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

BIACHES. THE PLACE DE LA MAIRIE IN 1919.

PANORAMA OF BIACHES AND PÉRONNE,

as seen from the Biaches Herbécourt road.

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

TRENCH ON THE HERBÉCOURT PLATEAU.

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

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

It was used as a dressing-station.

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

HERBÉCOURT. RUINS OF THE CHURCH.

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

ON LEAVING HERBÉCOURT—GERMAN BLOCKHOUSE AT THE CORNER OF THE ROADS TO CAPPY (on the right) AND DOMPIERRE (on the left).

GERMAN TRENCHES ON THE HERBÉCOURT PLATEAU.

FEUILLÈRES CHURCH AND VILLAGE (not in Itinerary).

On the canal between Frise and Biaches, they were violently bombarded in 1916.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

DOMPIERRE. THE SUGAR REFINERY IN 1916.

Pass through Fay, 2 km. 500 farther on.

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

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

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

Among the ruins, the road turns at right-angles to the left (leave the Estrées road to the right). 3 km. beyond Fay, Assevillers, built on a hill and entirely destroyed, is reached.

DOMPIERRE. THE SUGAR REFINERY IN 1919.

On the left: Road to Faucancourt; On the right: Road to Chuignes.

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

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

Capture of Belloy-en-Santerre

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

FAY VILLAGE, AS THE WAR LEFT IT, SEEN FROM THE ASSEVILLERS ROAD (Itinerary).

On the left: Road to Estrées; In front: Road from Dompierre.

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

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

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

In the middle: Road from Assevillers; At the back: Belloy Wood.

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

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

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

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

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

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

MILITARY CEMETERY TO THE EAST OF ESTRÉES.

Estrées

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

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

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

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

ESTRÉES. SITE OF THE CEMETERY IN AUGUST, 1916.

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

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

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

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

Satyres Wood

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

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

A CORNER OF SATYRES WOOD.

SATYRES WOOD.

The German Post of Commandment seen in the photograph below, is under this road.

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

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

SATYRES WOOD. GERMAN POST OF COMMANDMENT UNDER THE ROAD (see above).

DENIÉCOURT WOOD AT SUNSET.

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

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

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

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

SOYÉCOURT CHURCH IN 1916.

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

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

Leaving Soyécourt, keep along G.C. 79 to Vermandovillers (2 km.).

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

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

VERMANDOVILLERS.

CHAULNES WOOD. GERMAN BLOCKHOUSE.

Chaulnes

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

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

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

CHAULNES WOOD. FRENCH MILITARY GRAVES.

CHAULNES CHURCH.

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

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

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

CHAULNES. GENERAL VIEW OF THE TOWN.

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

CHAULNES. THE CHÂTEAU.

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

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

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

CHAULNES. THE CHÂTEAU PARK.

In the foreground: Fragment of the entrance gate between the graves of two German officers.

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

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

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

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

ENTRANCE TO GERMAN SHELTER AND BLOCKHOUSE IN THE CHÂTEAU PARK.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

LIHONS CHURCH BEFORE THE WAR.

LIHONS CHURCH IN 1916.

LIHONS CHURCH IN 1919.

On the left: The road to Vermandovillers.

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

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

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

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

At the entrance to the village, a "calvary" is passed, of which nothing remains but the stumps of four large trees. Keep straight on through the ruined village to the G.C. 201 (main road from Amiens to Péronne), 1 km. beyond it. Turn to the left and return direct to Amiens via Lamotte-en-Santerre and Villers-Bretonneux, both of which villages were badly damaged during the fighting of 1918.

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

THE CAMP DES CHASSEURS CEMETERY.