In 1914, during their rapid advance on Paris, the Germans entered
Péronne (August 28), but were driven out on September 15. They
reoccupied the town ten days later (September 24), and remained there
until March 17, 1917. A year later (March 25, 1918) the British were
compelled to evacuate the town, outflanked as they were from the north
and south by the ever-increasing numbers of the German columns marching
on Amiens. They re-entered the town on September 1, after a series of
very fierce engagements which lasted the whole day.
Péronne was totally destroyed, partly by the Franco-British artillery,
but especially by the systematic destructions on the part of the
Germans.
[Illustration: SAFE DYNAMITED BY THE GERMANS.]
Before retreating in 1917, the Germans set fire to or blew up a large
number of houses. Special detachments in charge of the destructions
made large rents in the masonry-work, before firing the mines, to
ensure total destruction.
The fighting in 1918 completed the ruin of the city, which will have to
be entirely rebuilt. A few name-plates on the broken walls, and broken
shop-signs alone made it possible to identify the heaps of ruins which
lined the streets.
The streets leading from the castle to the southern part of Péronne,
and thence to the suburb of Paris (completely ruined), were devastated.
The long Rue Saint-Fursy, especially, was almost entirely destroyed.
To the east of the town, the railway-station--connected with Péronne by
an embankment across the marshes of the Somme--has retained a portion
of its shell-torn frame-work, but the bridges across the marshes, as
well as the railway-bridge, were broken.
The cemetery _(about 1 km. 800 beyond the town)_ was devastated. Many
graves were desecrated, and trenches dug among the violated sepulchres.
A battery of artillery was even posted on the site of ancient vaults.
These profanations did not prevent the Germans from burying their dead
in a corner of the cemetery, or erecting funeral monuments to their
memory.
[Illustration: PÉRONNE. TRENCH IN CEMETERY.]
Everywhere pillage preceded destruction. The houses, whose walls (more
or less damaged) still remain standing, were completely emptied. The
doors, partition-walls, windows and wood-work were taken out and
burnt. All the safes, including those of the Banque de France, were
broken open. All articles of any value were carried away, and the rest
destroyed. In 1917, mattresses ripped open, battered perambulators
and cradles, broken furniture, dislocated pianos, even books and
family photographs, torn to pieces, were found among the ruins. In the
gardens, the fruit-trees were either cut down or hacked at their roots.
[Illustration: PÉRONNE IN 1918. THE GRANDE PLACE. CAPTURED GERMAN
GUNS.]
[Illustration: Passing through Péronne]