Fight in
Mid-air--Waiting for the Taking of St. Quentin--_L'Envoi_.

Still the great German retreat continued. Village after village fell
into our hands; mile after mile the enemy was relentlessly pursued by
our cavalry and cyclist corps. Still the Germans burnt and devastated
everything in their path although, in some instances, there was evidence
that they were shifted from their lines of defence with far more force
and promptitude than they imagined we would put up against them in this
particular section. The enemy had arranged his operations, as usual, by
timetable, but he had failed to take into consideration the character of
the British soldier, with the result his schemes had "gone agley." To
save men the German high command gave orders for a further retirement to
their Hindenburg defences, a fortified line of such strength as had
never been equalled.

If this line was not impregnable, nothing could be. It was the last word
in defence system and it had taken something like two years to perfect.

The barbed wire, of a special kind, was formidable in its mass; three
belts fifty feet deep wound about it in an inextricable mass in the form
of a series of triangles and other geometric designs. The trenches
themselves were constructional works of art; switch lines were thrown
out as an extra precaution; in front of the most important strategical
positions, machine-gun posts and strong points abounded in unlimited
quantities. It was the Hun's last and most powerful line of defence this
side of the Franco-German frontier. This "Hindenburg" line stretched
from a point between Lens and Arras where it joined the northern trench
system, which had been occupied for the past two years, down to St.
Quentin, passing behind the town at a distance of about five kilos, with
a switch line in front to take the first shock of the Allies' blow when
it came.

Behind this trench the Huns thought they could safely rest and hold up
the Allies' advance. But, with their wonderful and elaborate system of
barbed-wire defence which they anticipated would keep us out, they
probably forgot one point--it would certainly keep them in--tightly
bolted and barred. Therefore, under such conditions, it was the side
which had the predominance in guns and munitions that could smash their
way through by sheer weight of metal, and force a passage through which
to pour their troops, taking section by section by a series of flanking
and encircling