The German retreat in March, 1917, to the famous Hindenburg
line was the strategic result of this terrible battle, the tactics of
which were continuously successful and the connection between the
different arms brought to perfection, while the infantry made an
unsurpassed record for suffering and endurance and will power in such
combats as Maurepas (August 12), Clery (September 3), Bouchavesnes
(September 12)--where, when evening came, the enemy was definitely
broken--and the taking of Berny-en-Santerre, of Deniecourt, of
Vermandovillers (September 13) on the left bank, and on the right bank
the entry into Combles (surrounded on September 26), the advance on
Sailly-Saillisel and the stubborn defense of this ruined village whose
chateau and central district had already been occupied on October 15,
and in which a few houses resisted until November 12. Then, there was
the fight for the Chaulnes wood, and La Maisonnette and Ablaincourt and
Pressoire; and everywhere it was the same as at Verdun: the woods were
razed to the ground, villages disappeared into the soil, and the earth
was so plowed and crushed and martyred that it was nothing but one
immense wound.
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