III.—THE OFFENSIVES ON THE SCARPE AND AILETTE.
August 25-September 8, 1918.
Pursuing his plan of offensive, Foch extended the field of operations. Writing to Field-Marshal Haig, he said: Continue your operations, leaving the enemy no respite, and developing the scope of your actions. It is this increasing breadth of the offensive, fed from the rear and strongly pressed in front, without limitation of objective, without consideration for the alignment and too close liaison, which will give us the greatest results with the least losses.... The armies of General Pétain are going forward again in the same manner.
At the time Mangin's Army was preparing to crush the enemy's front between the Aisne and St. Gobain, Horne's Army, on the Scarpe, attacked the salient east of Arras.
On August 25, the Canadians, astride the Scarpe, and the left of Byng's Army captured the difficult positions of Monchy-le-Preux, Guémappe and Rœux, bringing their line into contact with the redoubtable position of Quéant-Drocourt, a ramification of the Hindenburg Line.
On September 2, the Canadians attacked, progressing rapidly along the Arras-Cambrai road. Penetrating the German lines to a depth of 6 miles, they reached Buissy.
On the night of August 30, the Australians, in the centre, furiously attacked and captured the formidable bastion of Mont-St-Quentin. On September 1, they entered Péronne, after desperate fighting. To flank this attack on the north, Bouchavesnes and Frégicourt were captured.
Further south, on the Oise, Humbert's Army, in spite of the enemy's resistance, took Noyon and the high ground dominating the town. Advancing from the Ailette, towards Chauny, Mangin's left reached the outskirts of St. Gobain Forest, in the old lines of March 1918.
Outflanked on the north, towards Cambrai, and on the south along the Oise, in the direction of La Fère, and violently attacked at the same time in the centre at Péronne, the Germans retreated towards the Hindenburg positions. The British and French forces drove back the enemy rear-guards, which were unable to hold the line of the Tortille and the Canal du Nord.