MAUREPAS. GRAVES AROUND A GERMAN REDOUBT.

[PANORAMIC VIEW OF COMBLES AND THE SURROUNDING COUNTRY.]

A.—Trônes Wood; B.—Guillemont; C.—Ruins of Church; D.—Entrance to the Underground Shelters; E.—Combles-Guillemont road; F.—Bouleaux Wood; G.—Quarry used as howitzer emplacement; H.—Morval; I.—Combles. Morval road; J.—Maurepas-Combles road.

Investment and Capture of Combles by the Franco-British Troops in September, 1916

Combles formed the last redoubt in the German defences until September, 1916.

Nature had made the position an exceedingly strong one. Enclosed at the bottom of a small valley and completely surrounded by a girdle of hills, Combles was out of reach of the artillery. For two and a half years the Germans had been fortifying this position, building formidable entrenchments and extensive subterranean defences in and around the village.

The systematic conquest by the Allies during the first half of September, 1916, of the whole region, including the villages of Forest, Maurepas, Guillemont and Ginchy, had brought about the fall of the whole of the defences of the stronghold, on the south and west.

A fresh Franco-British attack was launched on September 25, after a terrific bombardment, with the object of encircling the fortress, by the capture of the strong points which still protected it on the east and north (see sketch-map, p. [81]).