The French 6th Army (Gen. Fayolle) attacked along a ten-mile front,
astride of the Somme, from Maricourt to Soyécourt, in the general
direction of Péronne.
_North of the Somme._--The 20th Corps had to conquer the German first
position, consisting of three or four lines of trenches connected by
numerous _boyaux_ to the fortified woods and village of Curlu.
This position was carried in a single rush on July 1, and consolidated
on the three following days.
The second and third German positions were as strong as the first, and
included the villages of Hardecourt and Hem. On the 5th, Hem and the
plateau which dominates the village to the north were taken. On the
8th, the French, in _liaison_ with the British, first carried, then
progressed beyond, Hardecourt.
From July 1 to 8, the 20th Corps captured the first and second German
positions and consolidated their conquest on the following days.
[Illustration: GENERAL FAYOLLE.]
_South of the Somme._--The attack was launched on July 1, two hours
later than that on the northern bank. With fine dash, the 1st Colonial
Corps and a division of Brittany reserves carried the first German
position, including the villages of Dompierre, Becquincourt and Fay.
On the 2nd, the movement was continued on the left. Frise, outflanked
from the south, was captured, Méréaucourt Wood encircled, and
Herbécourt carried by a frontal attack, after being turned from the
north. The approaches to Assevillers and Estrées were reached. The
northern part of the second position was captured.
On the 3rd, the advance continued on the left. Flaucourt, in the third
position, was carried in the course of an extraordinarily daring
_coup-de-main_. Assevillers likewise fell.
Belloy was captured on the 4th; the divisional cavalry patrolled freely
as far as the Somme, between Biaches and Barleux.
Biaches village and La Maisonnette observation-post fell on the 9th and
10th. The horses of the African Mounted Chasseurs were watered in the
Somme, and the Zouaves gathered cherries in the suburban gardens of
Péronne.
During these ten days the French troops, by carrying out a vast turning
movement on the left, towards the south-east, had pierced all the
German positions. A breach had been made, but the marshy valley of the
Somme in this diversion sector made it very difficult to follow up the
success; moreover, the objectives assigned to these troops did not
provide for such exploitation.
The French attack had been carried out with great dash. In addition to
the many lines of defences, villages and fortified woods conquered,
85 guns, 100 machine-guns, and 26 minenwerfer were captured, and over
12,000 prisoners, including 235 officers, taken.
[Illustration]
The gallant troops, which had thus inflicted a stinging defeat on the
enemy, included the famous 20th Corps, which, a few months before, in a
veritable inferno, had barred the road to Verdun.
[Illustration: THE SITE OF MONACU FARM ON THE MAUREPAS ROAD NEAR HEM
WOOD.]
THE BATTLE OF ATTRITION (North of the Somme).
In the main sector of attack the German line had not been completely
broken. This attempt to break through was succeeded by a battle
of attrition, in the course of which the Allies, working in close
collaboration, dealt the enemy repeated blows.
_North of the Somme._--After July 11, the Allied front between the
Ancre and the Somme, held by the strong German positions of the
Thiepval Plateau, passed in front of Contalmaison and Montauban. On the
southern edges of Trônes Wood it turned southwards towards Hem.
This line formed a salient to the east of Trônes Wood--a narrow space
bristling with guns. From the high ground of their second position
in the north, and that of Longueval, Ginchy and Guillemont, the
German firing line formed a semi-circle round this salient, which was
threatened by incessant counter-attacks. While maintaining the pressure
on the west, it became necessary for the Allies to widen the angle and
enlarge the front, or, in other words, to obtain greater freedom of
movement.
This was the aim of the various Franco-British thrusts during the
second fortnight of July and in August.