On the same day (March 17) the British, having relieved the French as far as south of Chaulnes during the winter, captured La Maisonnette, Barleux, Villers-Carbonnel and all the villages still occupied by the enemy within the loop of the Somme. On the 18th, they entered Péronne and Chaulnes.
The whole region between the Somme and the Oise was liberated at that time, after thirty months of German occupation, but only after it had been systematically and totally devastated, according to elaborate plans drawn up beforehand. These destructions were absolutely unjustifiable from a military point of view. Towns and villages were wiped out, houses plundered, industries ruined, factories destroyed, land devastated, agricultural implements broken, farms burnt, trees cut down—in a word, everything done to turn the place into "a desert incapable for a long time of producing the things necessary to life" (Berliner Tagblatt).
It was from these new lines that in the spring of the following year the Germans launched their great offensive, designed to separate the Allied armies and resume their march "nach Paris."
THE SHADED PORTION REPRESENTS THE GROUND CONQUERED DURING THE 1916-1917 OFFENSIVE.
The German offensive and the Allied counter-offensive of 1918 are dealt with in the Michelin Guide: "The Second Battle of the Somme (1918)."
In addition to the pushing back of the enemy front, the Allies' three immediate objectives had been attained.
Verdun was soon relieved of the German pressure, as the enemy "were exhausted and compelled to use their reserves for the Russian front, and especially in the Somme. Their activities on the Verdun front were limited to making good their losses. However, they were finally obliged to weaken this front to a point that they were unable to reply to the French attacks." (See the Michelin Guide: "Verdun, and the Battles for its Possession.")
The Allies' further aim to keep the maximum of the German forces on the western front was likewise attained. According to Field-Marshal Haig's report, the transfer of enemy troops from west to east, begun after the Russian offensive of June, lasted a very little time after the beginning of the Somme offensive. Afterwards, with one exception, the enemy only sent exhausted battle-worn divisions to the eastern front, which were always replaced by fresh divisions. In November, the number of enemy divisions present on the western front was greater than in July, in spite of the abandonment of the offensive against Verdun.