nes raided an important railroad junction, destroyed several
ammunition trains, and caused violent explosions and conflagrations.

September 25, 1916, was a notable day in the history of the Allied
advance in the west, when French and British forces again assumed the
offensive. The German positions were stormed on a front of about six
miles between Combles and Martinpuich to a depth of more than a mile.
The strongly fortified villages of Les Boeufs and Morval with several
lines of trenches were captured. Morval, standing on a height north of
Combles, with its subterranean quarries and maze of wire
entanglements, constituted a formidable citadel of defense. 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. Rancourt was taken after a sharp struggle, and the
French lines were advanced to the northeast of Combles as far as the
southern outskirts of Fregicourt. East of the Bethune road the French
positions were extended for half a mile, while farther south several
systems of German trenches were captured in the vicinity of the Cabal
du Nord.

On the second day of the Allied offensive the French and British
continued their successful advance. Combles, which the Allied troops
had been closing in on for some days, was captured. Here an enormous
quantity of booty, munitions, and supplies which the Germans had
stored away in the subterranean regions of the place fell to the
victors.

The subsequent capture of Gueudecourt by the French and British forces
completed the notable advance of the Allies on September 25, 1916.
They were now in possession of the ridge that dominates the valley of
Bapaume, having cleared a stretch of ground on the far side of the
crest to a distance of half a mile. In the night of September 26,
1916, the British troops captured Thiepval and the strongly fortified
ridge east of it, which included an important stronghold, the Zollern
Redoubt. The British reported the capture of over 1,500 prisoners
during the two days' fighting.

CHAPTER VII

BRITISH CAPTURE EAUCOURT L'ABBAYE-REGINA TRENCH

September 30, 1916, marked the close of the third month of Allied
fighting in the Somme region. Since September 15, 1916, seven new
German