Everywhere, the Allied armies were in contact with the Hindenburg Line, ready for the grand assault against the formidable positions from which the enemy had set out on March 21 for Paris and victory.
The above photograph represents an assemblage of the maps on which the Staff of the French 20th Corps traced the front from day to day.
By bringing out the two lines of July 15 and November 2 (exactly reproduced), and by adding a few unimportant touches inside and the spike of the helmet, one of the Staff draughtsmen obtained this curious figure of Germania on her knees.
With the help of the inset sketch-map, it is easy to trace the salients of Ypres, Arras, Montdidier, Château-Thierry (crossed by the Vesle), Rheims, Verdun, and St. Mihiel.
In six weeks, by repeated, inter-related attacks, vigorously executed without respite, the Allies had flattened out the salient from St. Quentin to beyond Montdidier and Albert, produced by the German push.
The end was near. To avoid a military disaster without precedent in the world's history, the enemy soon afterwards sued for an armistice and peace.
Ginchy (between Bapaume and Péronne) bombarded by the British (July 11, 1916).
