burned
and destroyed. Orders were given to collect filth in the neighborhood
of wells to contaminate the water. All the fruit trees with rare
exception in the evacuated territory were girdled or otherwise killed.

The use of cavalry by the French and British seemed to have taken the
Germans by surprise and interfered with their plans. In one village
they were forced to hurriedly depart without touching the supper which
was laid out on the table. In other places the Allies found newly
opened boxes of explosives with which the Germans had planned to
destroy the villages before leaving.

The famous castle and stone village of Coucy-le-Chateau on the road
from Paris to Namur, and one of the show places of the Laon region,
were reduced to ruins. The village and castle date back to the
thirteenth century and were regarded by art critics as architectural
gems of medieval France. The castle had been spared from destruction
during the French Revolution, and millions had been expended since on
its preservation. This splendid monument of feudal Europe is no more.

The German retreat was continued more slowly on March 19, 1917, when
all northern France was swept by fierce equinoctial gales, and rain
squalls were frequent in the battle area. Despite weather conditions,
which hampered military operations, the British troops made good
progress, and on the 20th held the line of the Somme in strength from
Peronne southward to Canizy. British patrols were active as far east
as Mons-en-Chaussee, and in several sectors between Bapaume and Arras
British cavalry were engaged in skirmishes with the enemy.

In the course of the following week the British forces restored eleven
villages to France, and the whole department of the Somme was now
cleared of invaders. The capture of Savy, which was held by a garrison
of 600 Prussians of the Twenty-ninth Siegfried Division, brought the
British within four miles of St. Quentin, and near to the Hindenburg
line, where the Germans were strongly concentrated. St. Quentin had in
part been destroyed and its picture galleries and museums looted of
their contents. The outer bastion of the Hindenburg or Siegfried line
was protected by barricades of tree trunks and swathed about with
barbed wire. The Siegfried division holding the new German line of
defense was busy during the last days of March, 1917, in building
concrete emplacements, trenches, and dugouts.

On April 1, 1917, the British troops were wit