=Chaulnes Wood= is crossed 1 km. this side of Chaulnes. Violent
attacks were delivered by the French in the vicinity of this wood. The
large number of soldiers' graves along both sides of the road form an
impressive sight.
_Several hundred yards beyond the fork formed in the road by the
junction with G.C. 206 coming from Lihons, turn to the left, and
enter =Chaulnes=_ in front of the ruins of the large eighteenth
century church. A few fragments of crumbling walls are all that remain
_(photos, p. 130)_.
Chaulnes, the chief town of one of the "cantons" in the "Département"
of the Somme, was situated at the junction of several railroads. In
1914, the Germans turned the place into a fortress, and made it the
chief strong-point of their system of defence-works south of the Somme.
Traces of the powerful fortifications--the first lines of which were
only carried in 1916--may still be seen along and near G.C. 206, amidst
the churned-up ground.
[Illustration: CHAULNES WOOD. FRENCH MILITARY GRAVES.]
[Illustration: CHAULNES CHURCH.]
The village was flanked on the north and north-west by dense woods,
which were entirely destroyed by the bombardments. These woods were
full of fortified works, trenches and posts for machine-guns, protected
by wire entanglements.
On September 4, 1916, the French reached the outskirts of these woods,
but failed in their attempts to carry them entirely. The Germans
maintained themselves there till March, 1917, on positions sufficiently
strong to allow them to hold Chaulnes, this village being outflanked
everywhere else.
Chaulnes was occupied only when the Germans fell back upon the
Hindenburg Line. The British having relieved the French troops during
the winter of 1916, from the Somme to the Avre, entered the place
almost without striking a blow on March 18, 1917.
[Illustration: CHAULNES. GENERAL VIEW OF THE TOWN.]
The Germans recaptured Chaulnes in March, 1918. On August 8 of the same
year--their front having been pierced before Amiens--they were forced
to evacuate the Montdidier "pocket" and to retreat to the outskirts of
Chaulnes. They reoccupied their positions of the trench warfare period,
and the remains of their ancient defence-works were still strong enough
to enable them to hold up the British pursuit. The town was only
carried on August 28, after being surrounded.
[Illustration: CHAULNES. THE CHÂTEAU.]
Chaulnes was razed to the ground. The low brick-and-rubble houses which
lined the wide straight streets sheltered a population of about 1,250
inhabitants. Very few of them escaped total destruction.
_Return along the same road by which Chaulnes was entered and follow it
to the junction of G.C. 143 with G.C. 206, at the exit of the town._
The ruins of the =château= are seen on the left, near the fork.
This sumptuous château was built in the seventeenth century by the de
Luynes family, for whose benefit Chaulnes was raised to the rank of
a duchy-peerage in 1621. Madame de Sévigné stayed there in 1689, and
extolled its magnificence and grandeur. It was surrounded by a vast
park, which she compared to that of Versailles.
[Illustration: CHAULNES. THE CHÂTEAU PARK.
_In the foreground: Fragment of the entrance gate between the graves of
two German officers._]
The outbuildings were still standing when the late war broke out;
to-day they form a shapeless accumulation of _débris_. The park was
entirely cut up with German entrenchments, of which only a few concrete
machine-gun posts and underground shelters with concrete entrances
remain. The fine old trees of the park were reduced by the shells to
mutilated stumps.
Near the entrance-gate of the château is a powerful system
of defence-works, consisting of a machine-gun blockhouse and
inter-communicating underground shelters, the entrances to which may be
seen near the side of the road.
_After visiting the château, keep along G.C. 206, towards Lihons._
_Skirt the southern end of Chaulnes Wood_, near which, on either side
of the road, are two powerful concrete blockhouses and other German
defence-works.
_=Lihons= (3 km. beyond Chaulnes) is next reached._
Lying at an important junction of several roads, Lihons was already in
enemy hands when the front-line trenches were made.
Starting from Rosières-en-Santerre at the end of October, 1914,
the French first reached and carried Lihons after a series of
fierce engagements, then progressed beyond it, in the direction of
Chaulnes (only 3 km. distant). For more than a month the Germans
counter-attacked almost daily, in an endeavour to reconquer the lost
trenches, but were each time repulsed.
Exasperated by their failure, they then bombarded the town without
respite, and when the Allied Offensive of 1916 began this shelling was
further intensified.
[Illustration: ENTRANCE TO GERMAN SHELTER AND BLOCKHOUSE IN THE CHÂTEAU
PARK.]
Lihons, a small country town, the streets of which--bordered with low
houses--ran in all directions from a large, central square, was quickly
reduced to ruins. The houses fell down one after the other, and the
church suffered irreparable damage.
The church was one of considerable interest. The choir, transept and
lower part of the tower, built at the intersection of the transept,
were finely proportioned and dated from the thirteenth century. The
other parts of the building were fifteenth century.
In July, 1916, the church had already lost its tower, roof and
vaulting, but the outside walls, the pillars separating the three naves
and the three gables of the main façade were still standing. Three
months later nothing was left but fragments of broken walls, amidst a
shapeless accumulation of _débris (photos, p. 133)_.
[Illustration: LIHONS CHURCH BEFORE THE WAR.]
[Illustration: LIHONS CHURCH IN 1916.]
[Illustration: LIHONS CHURCH IN 1919.
_On the left: The road to Vermandovillers._]
Further fighting took place in the ruins of Lihons in 1918.
On August 8, British troops, starting from the region of
Villers-Bretonneux--Hangard, reached Lihons on the 10th. Preceded
by light tanks, armoured cars and cavalry patrols, the Australians
immediately entered the village, drove out the enemy and captured a
complete Divisional staff. It was in vain that the Germans launched
numerous counter-attacks in an endeavour to recapture the village and
clear the approaches to Chaulnes, where they attempted to establish
their lines of resistance. They could only delay the British advance
for a few days.
_At Lihons, leave the Vermandovillers road (G.C. 79) on the right and
take that on the left. Turn to the right, in the village, leave the
church on the right, and take the Vauvillers road (G.C. 206) on the
left._
_At the fork, about 500 yards beyond Lihons, leave the left-hand
road to Rosières, and take that on the right (still G.C. 206)._ This
road skirts a small wood, on the right, in which are many graves and
gun-emplacements. _The village of =Rosières-en-Santerre= comes into
view, on the left._
_At the crossing of several roads, 3 km. beyond Lihons, take the
newly-made road on the right to Herleville._ The large French "Camp des
Chasseurs" cemetery _(photo below) is on the left, about 1 km. this
side of the village of =Herleville=_ (completely devastated), _which is
next reached_.
_At the entrance to the village_, a "calvary" is passed, of which
nothing remains but the stumps of four large trees. _Keep straight on
through the ruined village to the G.C. 201_ (main road from Amiens
to Péronne), _1 km. beyond it. Turn to the left and return direct to
Amiens via =Lamotte-en-Santerre= and =Villers-Bretonneux=_, both of
which villages were badly damaged during the fighting of 1918.
_A short distance before Longueau, G.C. 201 joins N. 35, which take to
the right. Amiens is entered by the Chaussée Périgord._
[Illustration: THE CAMP DES CHASSEURS CEMETERY.]