A smashing blow at the Franco-British junction was then to be decisive.
It was begun with means believed to be adequate to this aim and was
directed westward on both sides of Montdidier toward the Beauvais-Amiens
railway, with a supporting thrust from the threatened flank west of
Lassigny.
Further south, toward Montdidier, which they already held, the Germans
crossed the river, again suffering very heavy losses, but were arrested
on the hills of the western bank. In the evening the struggle, despite
the exhaustion of both sides, attained its fiercest intensity. Moreuil
was recaptured on Saturday night by a mixed Canadian and French force,
lost again during the night, and once more carried by storm in the
old-fashioned way yesterday morning. No Stosstruppen, (shock troops,) no
expert grenadiers or flame pumpers this time. Mixed in the same ranks,
the British colonials in khaki and the French in light blue went forward
irresistibly with the bayonet.
"The Canadians," says one of my informants, "performed prodigies of
valor, and when the boches fell back they had lost half their
effectives."
Full of their success, our troops turned northward and would not be
satisfied till they had been firmly set on the wooded heights near the
town. Later in the day several violent enemy attacks were made south of
the Somme, but they seem to have been of rather a local and scattered
kind, as though, at least for the moment, fresh efforts of the
dimensions of those of Friday and Saturday were impossible.
The British have made some progress in the valley of the Luce, and two
strong German attacks were repulsed between Marcelcave and the Somme,
as were others in the British sphere on the north of the river. On the
other hand, the British line was beaten back to the village of Hangard,
[Hangard was lost and finally retaken and held by the French,] on the
north bank of the Luce, nearly opposite Demuin.
Like the actions of the preceding days, this battle has been in the main
a conflict of infantry. On neither side has it been possible to get
heavy artillery in position in time, but on the allied side French and
British guns, freshly detrained, gave support of moral as well as
material importance. When the 75 has a target of masses advancing in
close, deep waves, its effects are terrible beyond words. In the open
country the air squadrons of the Allies have also worked havoc in the
enemy's ranks, besides bursting tons of explosives on his camps and
lines of communication.