On the 29th, the Welsh and New Zealand troops fought their way across the suburbs before nightfall, and hoisted the British and French flags on the ruins of the Town Hall.
Destruction of Bapaume
ST. NICOLAS CHURCH, BEFORE THE WAR.
Bapaume, whose population numbered about 3,000 inhabitants before the war, was systematically and totally destroyed in 1917. Not a house was spared. Those which were not hit by the shells, were either mined or burnt. All the works, factories, sugar-refineries, tanneries and public buildings were ruined. When the British entered the town, the streets were blocked with rubbish of all kinds. Traces of the tar, by means of which the fires had been lit, were still visible on the partially burnt timber-work. Here, as everywhere else, the destructions had been preceded by methodical pillaging.
The bombardments and fighting of 1918 completed the destruction of the town, which, to-day, is entirely in ruins.
BAPAUME. RUINS OF ST. NICOLAS CHURCH AND BARRACKS.