Five days after Foch had started the great counter-offensive in July the German lines here were attacked by French troops, with some British tanks in aid, and were driven back to the Avre. The attack was in many ways a notable one, perhaps especially for the tanks, but was only a preliminary before the great advance of the 8th of August (p. [44]), when at one bound the Avre was passed and the Germans pushed six miles westward.
Montdidier was surrounded by the French three days later, its garrison surrendered, and the great advance continued its inexorable progress.
PLATE LXXIII.
BEAUMONT-HAMEL.
An official photograph taken from near the cross-roads at Beaumont-Hamel looking across the Ancre Valley to the northern part of the Thiepval Ridge, towards Miraumont.
PLATE LXXIV.