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Out of the corner of my eye I could see the long ridges above Combles and Longueval which the salt of the earth had fallen to win, and which were again under the hoof of the Boche. I thought of the distracted city behind us and what it meant to me, and the weak, the pitifully weak screen which was all its defence.
By the capture of these villages German communication with Combles was cut off. The British took a large number of prisoners and immense quantities of war material. About noon of the same date the French attacked the German positions between Combles and Rancourt and the defenses from the latter village to the Somme.
Further fruits were gathered on the morrow; Gueudecourt, which had been taken but abandoned on the 25th, was recovered; the French who had then failed against Frégicourt now took it; and Combles was the prize of their joint success.
"You were in Combles when you were captured?" I asked. "Yes." "How long had you been in the line?" "Four days; we went down to Combles yesterday morning." "Did your rations get up last night?" I proceeded, thinking of our all-night burst of fire on enemy cross-roads and approaches. "We took ours with us, but none came for the others there. They had had nothing for two days."
The new French positions to the north of Combles were violently attacked on this same date, but the German effort was broken by the machine-gun and artillery barrage. The French captured over 500 prisoners and ten machine guns.
September was a better month for both the Allies. There was a general attack on the 3rd, when Guillemont, which had been disputed for six weeks, was carried at length, and the French rushed Le Forest, Cléry, and the German lines up to the outskirts of Combles.
Ten days later, on September 25th, when the British made a new advance all this time the French were pressing forward, too, on our right by Roye Combles was evacuated without a fight and with a litter of dead in its streets; Gueudecourt, Lesboeufs, and Morval were lost by the Germans; and a day later Thiepval, the greatest fortress position next to Beaumont Hamel, fell, with all its garrison taken prisoners.
The difficulties of the British position were summarized by Sir Douglas Haig: "The line of demarkation agreed upon by the French commander and myself ran from Maltzhorn Farm due eastward to the Combles Valley, and then northeastward up the valley to a point midway between Sailly-Saillisel and Morval.
Almost in the same position relative to the cluster of woods as is the North Star to the Great Bear, was a scrap-heap larger than most, amid a few walls yet upright. This was all that remained of the fortress of Combles. For two years the enemy strengthened it by every means known to military science, after which the British and French rushed in from opposite sides and met in the main street.
Always some points important for future operations were held. "We are going after Contalmaison this afternoon," said a staff officer at headquarters, "and if you hurry you may see it." As a result, I witnessed the most brilliant scene of battle of any on the Somme, unless it was the taking of Combles. There was bright sunshine, with the air luminously clear and no heat waves.
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