bridge at Ommiecourt was ready for use by before dawn on the morrow. On this same night the 32nd Div. on the corps, right extended its front to the N., relieving part of the 5th Div. which in turn took over part of the front of the 2nd Div., thus liberating the necessary forces for the assault.
This was opened at 5 A.M. on the 3ist by the 5th Bde., of the and Div. which moved off under cover of a strong barrage and making good progress had attained by 7 A.M. both Feuillaucourt and Mont St. Quentin villages; the right of the brigade however was held up in front of Anvil Wood. To the left of the brigade also the attack of the 3rd Australian Div. had failed to keep pace and a heavy German counter-attack, flung in against the front and left of the troops holding Mont St. Quentin village, com- pelled them to relinquish it. They rallied again, however, on the western edge and there held their ground till nightfall. Feuillau- court had also to be abandoned later in the day. Meanwhile the 6th Bde. (also of the 2nd Div.) crossed the river behind the 5th and part of it pushing forward on the right of its comrades, seized Halle and established itself on a line beyond. The re- mainder halted S.E. of Clery. The i4th Bde. of the sth Div., also effected a crossing at that place and collected E. of that village, pending the moment when the further advance of the 2nd Div. should allow it to advance against its assigned objective Peronne. By nightfall the 1,200 fighting men of the 5th Bde. had already broken the back of their task. Despite the difficulties which faced them, they had penetrated the formidable hostile positions to a depth of some 2,000 yd., and though reduced in numbers to some 600 rifles had held out on a wide front of 4,000 yd. against reiterated and desperate counter-blows by a foe in every way worthy of their steel. Their single feat of arms was rightly judged one of the finest in the war, and was to receive full fruition on the morrow.
The 6th Bde. of the 2nd Div., assembled S.E. of Clery, was assigned to complete the capture of Mont St. Quentin, passing through the sorely tried 5th Bde., its units already in the front line S.E. of Halle being relieved by the i4th Bde. of the 5th Div., which now undertook the attack on Peronne. While this last- named brigade swept forward through Anvil Wood and Ste. Radegonde, forced its way into Peronne and got possession before noon of practically all the town with the exception of the north- eastern suburbs, the 6th Bde., despite strong opposition from parties of the enemy still at large behind the 5th Bde. front on the Peronne-Bapaume high road, reached the line of that road and after a short preparation by artillery stormed Mont St. Quentin village and wood and established itself on a line from there N. to near Allaines and S. to the E. edge of Peronne. The night of Sept. i thus saw the Australian Corps, the 3rd Div. of which on the extreme left had taken possession of the ridges S. of Bouchavesnes, in possession of all its objectives, after completely defeating the enemy opposed to it.
Further to the N. the III. Corps also had done most creditable, if less spectacular work, during these two days of battle. The $8th Div. on the right had cleared Marrieres Wood on the 3ist, while the 47th Div. made progress towards Rancourt, repulsing a hostile counter-attack. On the morrow these successes were continued and completed by the capture of Rancourt and Bouchavesnes, while the i8th Div. on the left of the corps in a brilliant series of attacks seized in turn Priez farm, Fregicourt and Saillisel, inflicting serious losses on the enemy, who afforded a stubborn resistance.
Sept. 2 saw the completion of the successful operations of the IV. Army in the battle of Peronne, the Australian Corps occupy- ing Allaines and the III. Corps St. Pierre Vaast and Vaux woods. The results of the battle were imposing enough even in mere figures. In the period between Aug. 22 and Sept. 2 the IV. Army's 9 divs. had engaged and defeated 23 hostile divs. and taken from them over 23,000 prisoners, many guns and vast quantities of material. The strong line of the Somme had been turned and rendered untenable by sheer hard fighting in which the attacking troops had shown themselves capable of meeting and defeating the best of the German divisions which, thrown in piecemeal and in the utmost haste and confusion as they arrived pieceme
on the field, had been unable to hold for long even the strongest natural and artificial defences.
General Results of the Battle of Bapaume- Peronne. In the battle described above the British III. and IV. Armies, consisting of five corps (23 divs.) in all, had fought and defeated the German XVII. and II. Armies, consisting of five corps (46 divs.), had forced them to fall back to a depth of from 6 to 13 m. on a front of 28, and had captured from them a total of 34,250 prisoners and 270 guns, without reckoning other material of war too various to recapitulate. The whole area of the Somme battlefields, which had cost the British five months' bitter fighting in 1916, had been conquered in less than a fortnight; more than half the area gained by the great German advance of the spring had been recovered; the only good natural line of defence available for the enemy to the W. of the Hindenburg system had been broken asunder; and the moral and material superiority of the British over the German fighting machine had become patent to the world. (X.)
SONNINO, SIDNEY, BARON (1847- ), Italian statesman
(see 25^6). During the debates on Giolitti's Steamship Subsidies bill in the spring of 1909 it was Baron Sonnino who conducted the most vigorous attacks against the Government, exposing the radical defects of the measure, and when Giolitti resigned on Dec. 2 it was Sonnino who was called upon to form a ministry, for the second time. But he did not enjoy the favour of the still Giolittian Chamber, and his Cabinet was defeated over the new shipping bill. On March 21 1910 he resigned,
again after roo days of office. He continued to take an active
part in the debates in the Chamber, and was a stern but just
critic of Giolittian political methods, although during the Libyan
war he generally abstained from opposition for patriotic motives.
In the autumn of 1914, after the death of the Marquis di San
Giuliano, the Premier Salandra assumed the Foreign Office for
a short time, but when he reconstituted his Cabinet on Nov.
5 he offered that portfolio to Sonnino, who accepted it. His
conduct of the Foreign Office was characterized by sincerity of
purpose, high principles, unswerving patriotism and a wide
knowledge of international poh'tics. He had not, moreover,
a free hand. He was still Foreign Minister, under Orlando's
premiership, during the Peace Conference, which he attended
as second Italian delegate from Jan. 18 to June ig 1919. On
the fall, however, of the Orlando Cabinet (June 19 1919)
Sonnino retired into private life. The irritation of the whole of
Italy against the policy of the Allies towards Italy at the
Peace Conference reacted to some extent against the nation's
representatives at Paris, and Sonnino himself came in for a
large share of unpopularity, although the more intelligent and
better informed part of public opinion realized the great diffi- >
culty of his task and the insufficient support afforded him by
Orlando, as well as the value of his actual achievements. He
did not stand for Parliament at the elections in Nov. 1919,
but was subsequently made a senator. In spite of what was
regarded as his failure to overcome the obstacles of the Peace
Conference, he enjoyed the reputation of being the greatest
Minister for Foreign Affairs that Italy had had since Cavour,
with the possible exception of Crispi, while as a financier he :
ranked very high. He was also a man of wide reading and cul-
ture, and a distinguished Dante scholar and bibliophile.
SOROLLA Y BASTIDA, JOAQUIN (1863- ), Spanish
painter (see 25.434), was engaged for practically the whole of the decade 1910-20 on work for the Hispanic Society of America. It includes a series of portraits of Spanish writers, and a " Panorama of the Forty-nine Provinces of Spain " consisting of forty-nine immense compositions, each representing views, costumes
and customs of a different province. This great undertaking was completed before paralysis brought the artist's painting to an end. Important exhibitions of his work were held at the Grafton Galleries, London, 1908; in New York, 1909; in Chicago, 1913; and he was represented by two typical works in the 1920-1 Exhibition of Spanish Paintings at Burlington House.
See Hispanic Society of America, Eight Essays on Joaquin Sofolla y Bastida, 1909; A. de Beruete y Moret, Sorotta y Bastida, 1920.
