German Prisoners entering Villers-Bretonneux. (August 1918.)
The Battles of 1918.
Prolonged and violent engagements were fought from March to August, 1918, in the vicinity of Villers-Bretonneux, for the possession of Amiens. The battlefield consisted of a plateau occupied, from north-east to south-west, by Villers-Bretonneux, Abbé Wood, Cachy and Gentelles. This plateau was the last dominating position in front of Amiens. From Villers-Bretonneux, situated on the main road from St. Quentin to Amiens, and ten miles from the latter, the ground slopes gradually down towards the great Picardian City and the confluence of the rivers Avre and Somme.
Franco-British Cemetery at "Crucifix Corner" on the Villers-Bretonneux-Demuin road.
From March 28 onwards, this plateau was held by Australian divisions, the famous Anzacs, who covered themselves with glory there by staying the Germans. At the beginning of April, the latter attempted to outflank Villers from the north and south, with but little success. On the 24th, after a bombardment with high explosive and gas shells, lasting the whole of the previous night, they threw four divisions (50,000 men), supported by five tanks each fitted with three guns and a central turret, against the Fouilloy-Cachy front, barely three miles wide. From 7 to 10 a.m., the attacking waves went forward unceasingly in the morning mists. At about 11 a.m., the British had to give way, under an intensely fierce onslaught, and the Germans entered Villers from the north and south.
Clinging to the western approaches of the village, the British, throughout the afternoon and night of the 24th, prevented the enemy from debouching, while their artillery fire made the position practically untenable. Two German battalions only were able to maintain themselves in the cellars and ruins of the houses. In the evening of the 25th, while troops of the Moroccan Division recaptured the monument south of the Villers railway, British units debouched from Abbé Wood, and advancing via the ravine north of Villers, Aquenne Wood and the station to the south, surrounded and recaptured the village after a hand-to-hand fight lasting all night. A 3-gun tank and over 700 prisoners were taken. To the south-west, in the vicinity of Cachy and Gentelles, the enemy check was equally severe. On the 24th, a regular battle of tanks took place near Cachy, in which the Germans were routed and Cachy re-occupied. The four German divisions lost the battle, and left the ground covered with their dead.
Panorama seen from Hill 102.