cavalry advanced as far as the village of Barleux, which was strongly
held by the Germans. On the day following, July 4, 1916, the Foreign
Legion of the Colonial Corps had taken Belloy-en-Santerre, a point in
the third line. On July 5, 1916, the Thirty-fifth Corps occupied the
greater part of Estrees and were only three miles distant from
Peronne.

The Germans attempted several counterattacks, aided by their
Seventeenth Division, which had been hurried to support, but these
were futile, and finally the German railhead was moved from Peronne to
Chaulnes.

There followed a few days' pause, employed by the French in
consolidating their gains and in minor operations. On the night of
July 9, 1916, the French commander Fayolle took the village of
Biaches, only a mile from Peronne. The German losses had been very
great since the beginning of the French offensive, and at this place
an entire regiment was destroyed. On July 10, 1916, the French
succeeded in reaching La Maisonette, the highest point in that part of
the country, and held a front from there to Barleux--a position beyond
the third German line. In this sector nothing now confronted Fayolle
but the line of the upper Somme, south of the river. North of the
stream some points in the second line had been won, but it had been
only partly carried northward from Hem.

The French attacks north and south of the Somme had at all points won
their objectives and something more. In less than two weeks Fayolle
had, on a front ten miles long and having a maximum depth of six and a
half miles, carried fifty square miles of territory, containing
military works, trenches, and fortified villages. The French had also
captured a large amount of booty which included 85 cannon, some of the
largest size, 100 mitrailleuses, 26 "Minenwerfer," and stores of
ammunition and war material. They took prisoner 236 officers and
12,000 men.

It might well be said that this was a very splendid result. But it
only marked the first stage in the French assault.

The measured and sustained regularity of this advance, the precision
and order of the entire maneuver, are deserving of a more detailed
description. If we examine what might be called its strategic
mechanism, it will be noted that south of the Somme the French line
turned with its left on a pivot placed at its right in front of
Estrees.

The longer the battle continued the more this turning movement became
accentuated. On July 3, 1916, t