got as far forward as the Hindcnburg reserve line about Nauroy; but the 3rd Australian Div. on the left could make little headway from its starting line, and the hostile defences about Bony remained intact.
On the left flank of the army the III. Corps was able to fulfil satisfactorily the subsidiary role assigned to it.
Despite the comparative failure of the Composite Corps the attack had on the whole been a brilliant success, seven Allied divisions having defeated nine enemy divisions ensconced in immensely powerful works, capturing from them 5,300 prisoners and loo guns and effecting such a wide breach in the last German line of defence that its complete capture in a few days was assured.
Gen. Rawlinson decided that the offensive should be continued on the 30th, the U.S. Div. being withdrawn from line for the present. The IX. Corps was to round off its success on the right by clearing the Thorigny area on the near bank of the canal, and occupying the ground on its front as far as the Masnieres-Beaurevoir line; the Australians were to secure the remainder of the first day's objectives in its sector between Bellicourt and Vendhuille, while the III. Corps would occupy the latter village to cover their left. The IX. and III. Corps were able to carry out this programme without serious difficulty; but the Australians again met with stubborn resistance, and at the end of the day, though their right division, the 5th, had cleared the greater part of the Hindenburg reserve line, the 3rd Div., on the left, working up the Hindenburg line from the S., had been able to get no farther than S. of Bony. The completion of the operation therefore was deferred till Oct. 1, when the 3rd Australian Div., after fighting all night, succeeded by a combined attack from W. and S. in clearing the Hindenburg line entirely and pushing forward to the edge of Le Catelet. The IX. Corps also had a successful day; the 32nd Div., advancing in conjunction with the sth Australian Div., cleared Joncourt and Estrees and breached the Masnieres-Beaurevoir line on a mile front E. of the former village. This hold was maintained all next day, despite desperate hostile efforts to recover the lost ground; two British attacks on Sequehart were, however, repulsed.
During the first two days of Oct. the army front was redistributed in preparation for the general offensive to be undertaken on the 3rd against the last defensive position left to the enemy the Masnieres-Beaurevoir line. On the evening of the 2nd the line was held by the IX. Corps on the right, with all three divisions, 1st, 32nd and 46th, in front line; the Australian Corps with the 2nd Australian Div. in front line; and the XIII. Corps, with the 50th Div. in line, and the 25th and 66th in support. The orders were for the IX. Corps to take Sequehart and Ramicourt and push forward to Montbrehain; for the Australians to occupy the line from W. of Ramicourt to S.W. of Beaurevoir and then to seize the latter place and Ponchaux; and for the XIII. Corps to clear Gouy and Le Catelet.
Zero hour was at 6:5 A.M. on the 3rd. The IX. Corps on the right had heavy fighting, and after attaining their final objectives about 10:30 A.M. were counter-attacked repeatedly and forced to relinquish Montbrehain and some of the ground gained to the south. The Australian Corps also successfully attained its first objectives, though not till later in the evening, so that the exploitation of their success on this day proved out of the question. The main object of the day's attack had, however, been completely achieved, for along all the front of these two corps the Masnieres-Beaurevoir line was in Allied hands. The XIII. Corps on the left established itself in Gouy and Le Catelet by midday, and though a strong hostile counter-attack recovered the former village for a time the ground lost was regained before the nightfall.
After a redistribution of the front the operations were resumed on the 4th. The main task fell to the XIII. Corps, but little progress was made in that sector, as the enemy, who was believed to be preparing for a withdrawal eastwards, resisted stubbornly around Beaurevoir to cover his retirement. The Australian and IX. Corps also had little result to show for their efforts. Oct. 5th, however, saw the successful completion of the programme, the XIII. Corps taking possession of Beaurevoir with the 25th Div. and pushing the 5oth Div. on its left wing well north of Gouy towards Aubencheul in conjunction with the right of the Third Army, while the Australians secured Montbrehain. It was to be their last feat of arms in the World War, and they had the satisfaction of knowing, as they left the line on the 6th, that the last fortifications of the Germans on the Fourth Army front had fallen, and that the way was clear into the open country beyond.
During the period between Sept. 29 and Oct. 5 the Fourth Army's 12 divisions had completely defeated 20 enemy divisions, driving them from a succession of defensive lines of unexampled strength and taking from them close on 15,000 prisoners and 120 guns, and could claim for themselves with justice a preponderating share in the decisive victory of the war.
8. Results of the Battle.—The results of the battle may be thus summed up: 35 British divisions had been engaged against 79 German divisions. The latter had been forced to retreat some 20 m. on a front of 30, and had lost 67,000 prisoners, 680 guns and vast quantities of other material, besides their killed and wounded. The formidable defensive system on which the German Higher Command, apparently with good reasons, relied to hold up the Allied advance until the winter should give pause to active operations and secure for their hard-driven troops and war-weary people a little respite from their trials and disillusionments, had been burst into fragments, and there was left for German arms no further resource for staving off disaster.
CAMBRIDGE, England (see 5.90). The architectural amenities of the town, as distinct from the university, were increased by the County Hall in Hobson Street (1913), a Wesleyan church at the corner of King Street and Short Street (1913), and a handsome gate-house to the Leys school (1914). A national plant-breeding institute was in course of completion on the Huntingdon Road in 1921.
The University. In spite of the incidence of the World War, the period 1910 to 1921, viewed as a whole, must rank as one of great activity in the history of Cambridge University. On constitutional proposals of more than ordinary moment, such as those of conferring greater legislative power on resident university and college teachers with the partial disfranchisement of the Senate and the electoral roll (1910 and 1920) or the admission of women to all academic privileges (1920), the university maintained a conservative attitude, but in matters secondary only to these in importance it followed a policy of continuous and thorough-going reform. The courses of study for honours and, more especially, for pass men underwent considerable revision. After prolonged deliberations, Greek, as a compulsory subject, was dropped from, and other noteworthy changes were effected in, the Previous Examination (1919); the regulations governing the pass degree were entirely remodelled (1920); several of the honours examinations, notably the classical tripos and the oriental languages tripos, were reconstituted with a division into two parts, the first of which does not normally carry the B.A. degree with it. New triposes were established in anthropology (1913) and geography (1919), while the mediaeval and modern languages tripos, greatly enlarged in scope, was split into the modern and mediaeval languages tripos and the English tripos (1917). The university further recognized the value of graduate studies by establishing the degrees of Ph.D. (1919), and of M.Litt. and M.Sc. (1920). A series of enactments (1912-4) made several changes in the mode of procedure to the degree of D.D. and threw it open to others than those in Holy Orders of the Church of England.
The increasing diversity of studies resulted also in the establishment of new professorships, readerships and boards of studies; professorships of English Literature (1910), Genetics (1912), Biochemistry (1914), Italian (1919), Naval History (1919), French (1919), Physics (1919), Aeronautical Engineering (1919), and Physical Chemistry (1920); readerships in Spanish, Modern History, Geography, Agriculture, Agricultural Physiology, Physiology, Morphology of Vertebrates, Petrology, Pharmacology, Electrical Meteorology and Estate Management; Special Boards for Architectural Studies (1912) and Psychological Studies (1920). Trinity College offered in 1921 to establish a preelectorship in Geodesy.
