As occurred in the
offensive of July 18th the soldiers of General Debeney have captured
enemy soldiers engaged in the peaceful pursuit of harvesting the fields
behind the German lines."
By August 10th the Germans had fallen back to a line running through
Chaulnes and Roye. Montdidier had been captured, and eleven German
divisions had been smashed. By August 12th the number of prisoners was
40,000, and by the 18th the Allied front was almost in the same line as
it was in the summer of 1916, before the battle of the Somme.
The next step was to capture Bapaume and Peronne. The French, on August
19th, captured the Lassigny Massif, and continued to press on their
attack. Noyon fell on the 29th, Roye on the 27th, Chaulnes on the 29th.
Further north the British had captured Albert, and on the 29th occupied
Bapaume. On September 1st they took Peronne with two thousand prisoners.
The advance still continued, and the German weakness was becoming more
and more apparent. On September 6th the whole Allied line swept forward,
with an average penetration of eight miles. Chauny was captured and the
fortress of Ham. On September 17th the British were close to St. Quentin
and the French in their own old intrenchments before La Fere. On
September 18th a surprise advance over a twenty-two-mile front crossed
the Hindenburg line at two points north of St.
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