lendid trench system forming a
network around the place, there were acres of barbed wire stretched
upon iron posts firmly planted in the earth, and intricate systems of
wires spread over the ground to hamper an enemy attack. In addition to
strong redoubts at different points fitted up with every defensive
device, the cellars under the houses had been consolidated in many
places, forming great underground galleries that could shelter
thousands of German troops.

The British were not permitted to occupy Bapaume in peace, for while
the enemy could no longer be seen, he was heard from constantly and
destructively. All day long and during the night the town was shelled
and great damage was wrought in such sections which the enemy had
registered before leaving.

The German forces were still retiring, hastened on their way by the
British troops, who were pressing them closely. From captured Germans
it was learned that fresh divisions, including one that had fought in
Rumania, had been thrown in as a screen to shield the retiring troops.

The Germans had devised so many traps to catch the Allies and delay
the pursuit that the advance was necessarily slow. The French found
less opposition than the British, and were able to push forward more
rapidly, covering twenty-two miles in the three days since the
retirement began. Over 120 towns and villages were recovered by the
French alone. The joy of the inhabitants who had been for thirty-two
months in the hands of the Germans was a deeply moving spectacle.
Every French soldier was embraced amid smiles and tears. Many of the
women declared that they owed their own lives as well as the lives of
their children to American relief in the occupied territory.

The mayors, assistant mayors, and other officials of Candor and Lagny
had been carried off by the Germans, but owing to the rapidity of
retirement many women and children had been left behind. All over
thirteen were compelled to work without payment. Boys were driven to
dig ditches or small trenches for telephone wires under fire. Those
who refused for religious reasons to work on Sunday were fined. The
Germans had closed all schools during their occupation of the French
towns. The destruction of property was carried out in the most
thorough fashion and according to systematized plans. Captured orders
on the subject directed the blowing up of houses, wells, and cellars
except those held by rear-guard outposts. Farm implements were