On the other side of the Somme canal was a spread of marshland on which could be seen lines of duckboards running hither and thither, round pools and clumps of osiers, but all going in the same direction, towards the town of Peronne. It was on August 29 that the German rearguards were driven back across this portion of the Somme. British troops then seized several crossings of the canal in this locality, but the marshes beyond being impassable it was found impracticable to cross and seize Peronne.
It was therefore decided to turn the Somme barrier by an attack from the north, and to do this entailed seizing the steep promontory of Mont St. Quentin. It was from the north across a thousand yards of level pasture land pitted with shell holes and criss-crossed with trenches and lines of wire entanglements that the Australians made a famous advance, fighting all the way and seizing Mont St. Quentin. The task was a herculean one, adding undying glory to the men who accomplished it.
Our party was allowed to visit Mont St. Quentin and standing on its summit I saw the field across which the Australians made their advance. Looking from a German observation post on the promontory I could see the green field, smooth as the cover of a book, lying in front of me. Nothing could escape a vigilant eye on its broad expanse. Shorn of grass a rabbit could be seen if it crawled across the levels. It was here that the German machine gunners had their nests, and it was here that an observation post sunk into the rock gave a complete field of observation to the watcher. The post was cunningly made with a ladder leading down a shaft ten feet in depth. At the bottom was a field telephone with wires running back to battalion headquarters. All that the observer had to do was to clamber up the ladder, take stock of the field in front, go back again and 'phone his report to headquarters in Peronne.
The town, although of little industrial import, has a history dating back to the days of Clovis II. It is the burial-place of Charles the Simple, who died of starvation in a dungeon in the castle of Peronne, which castle was also the prison of Louis XI for some time. But the castle is now no more, the Germans have slashed it to pieces. The church of St. Jean, built in 1509, is also ground to dust. In 1870 it was greatly damaged by the Boche when he laid siege to the place, but it was restored afterwards. Now, however, it is beyond restoration.
A famous incident was still, prior to this war, celebrated by the natives of Peronne. The town was once besieged by Charles V, and a woman named Marie Fouré greatly distinguished herself in the defence of the place. After a period of stiff fighting the siege was raised and Charles V departed. The anniversary of the raising of the siege was, until 1914, annually celebrated by the inhabitants, and offerings were laid at the feet of Marie Fouré, whose statue stood in the town. But now the statue, like the Castle of Peronne and the church of St. Jean, is no more.
The present war, however, has given something to replace the memory of Marie Fouré. Outside the town at the foot of Mont St. Quentin can be seen a tract of ground set apart as a site for the memorial which is to be raised to the second Australian Division in commemoration of the men who fought and died for a great cause under the ramparts of Peronne. And in the days to come it is probable that once a year, on August 31, the townsfolk will repair thither and lay garlands of flowers at the base of the memorial that will remind them of the brave boys who fought and died for the freedom of France and for a yet greater freedom—the freedom of the world.
The capture of Mont St. Quentin was an operation second to none in the great summer drive of 1918. This natural fortress, strong as any on the Western Front, stands high over the Somme marshland and dominates all the surrounding country. On its south-eastern slope is a dense wood, now stumped and shivered, but at that time its trees stood high and green, burdened with a dense foliage that made it a splendid hiding-place for machine-gun nests. Though at that time the Germans were falling back at several points of the line it was unbelievable that they would give up Mont St. Quentin, a point of the utmost strategical value, as key to the whole Peronne area, without a bitter struggle.
That they prepared themselves to hold it is shown by the fact that the place was garrisoned by a force of 1500 men, and after the battle captured Germans stated that they specially volunteered to hold the line against an Australian advance.
On August 29, at noon, the British held all the southern banks of the Somme, but the Australians, fired with a long chain of victories, decided to advance further. Up till then in the Somme fighting they had recovered over 125 square miles of country and forty villages. Fifteen thousand prisoners had fallen to them, 301 officers, two regimental commanders, five battalion commanders and staffs, 161 guns, 3,000 machine guns, the whole transport of one battalion and miles of light railway trackage.