The dotted lines show the Allied advance at the date indicated in the middle of each zone conquered. The line of departure is that of July 18 (18/7). On the evening of Oct. 6 (6/10)—the upper thick dotted line—the town was completely disengaged. The Allied advance has the appearance of a fan spreading out west of Rheims until Oct. 5 (5/10), when the Germans were forced to make a deep retreat.
The Destruction of Rheims
Being unable to capture Rheims, the Germans reduced it to ruins by bombardment. For four years (September 4, 1914, to October 5, 1918) they rained explosive and incendiary shells on it, almost without intermission.
On September 3, 1914, at about 11 a.m., a German aeroplane dropped bombs on the town. A few of the inhabitants left, as the enemy approached, but the majority remained. A lady-teacher, sixty years of age, Mlle. Fouriaux (afterwards decorated with the Légion d'Honneur), who had charge of Hospital No. 101 (formerly a high-school for girls), transferred the wounded to Epernay and then returned on foot to Rheims.
On September 4, at 9.30 a.m., when the enemy advance-guards were already in the town, and a German officer was making requisitions at the Town Hall, the bombardment began again. From 9.30 to 10.15 a.m., 176 large shells fell into the town, three of which tore open the great gallery of modern paintings in the Museum. Forty-nine civilians were killed and 130 wounded, several of them mortally.
The Germans, hard pressed by the French, evacuated Rheims on September 12. Two days later, at 9 a.m., they bombarded the town. Their fire was especially directed against the headquarters of General Franchet d'Espérey, near the Town Hall. On the following days, firing was resumed at the same hour. On the 17th, the first fires broke out. Many civilians were killed or wounded. The vicinity of the Cathedral, which was believed to be specially aimed at, was among the places that suffered most. To protect the Cathedral, which the Germans had fitted up on the 12th for the reception of their wounded, some seventy to eighty German wounded were accommodated on straw in the nave. The Red Cross flag was displayed on each tower, and notice given to the enemy.
GERMAN SHELLS BURSTING IN A STREET OF RHEIMS