In the following month of August the valley of the Somme was cleared of the enemy almost without firing a shot. In accordance with Marshal Foch's general plan, the British attack of August 21 was limited to the north of the Somme. The Germans had just been driven back, south of the river, from the district of Montdidier to the outskirts of Roye, as a result of the Franco-British offensive of August 8. The Allied plan provided for the withdrawal of the enemy's right wing from the banks of the Ancre to Bapaume, thereby necessitating the immediate evacuation of the whole bend in the Somme by their centre, and this is what actually happened. As soon as Bapaume was invested, the Germans hastily retreated, and whereas, on August 28, the British were still hanging on to the western outskirts of Curlu, on the morning of the 29th they were in Hem, and in the evening of the same day had progressed beyond Cléry.
On leaving Cléry, return by the same road to Hem Wood, where take the Feuillères-Maurepas road (G.C. 146), on the right towards Maurepas. The road runs alongside Hem Wood (cut to pieces), crosses a ravine in which ran the Albert-Péronne railway, and then rises towards a crest from which starts, on the left, a road (500 yards from the fork) leading to Maurepas (completely destroyed).
The Germans strongly fortified the village of Maurepas which protected Combles from the south-west and formed the junction of six roads coming from all directions. It was an agglomeration of large farms, each of which possessed a meadow surrounded with trees. These farms had to be carried almost one at a time, and the advance was therefore very slow.
MAUREPAS POND.
The first assault against the village was launched on August 12 by troops coming from Hardecourt-aux-Bois; only the southern and western parts of the village—including the fortified cemetery and the church—could be carried. The northern part fell a few days later. Finally, on August 24, the last centres of resistance—notably the houses alongside of the roads leading to Combles and to Forest—were captured.
In the village, near a cross, take the road to Combles, on the right, crossing the north-west part of the village. The site of the church is on the right, while on the left is a small German redoubt (photo below), from which there is a line view of Hardecourt-aux-Bois.
Hardecourt, which cannot be reached by road, stood at the junction-point of the French and British forces during the offensives which aimed at the investment of Combles. It had been captured in less than three hours by the French on July 8, 1916, together with the eminence which protects it on the north. A few scattered ruins are all that remain to-day of the village.
The road runs straight from Maurepas to Combles (3 km.).
