31/8/1918 Australian victory on the Somme, Foch prepares the next round of offensives #1918Live

The Germans are being pushed back in the Somme sector. Bapaume fell a few days ago but German troops are still holding out in the town of Péronne, where Marwitz, the local German commander, hopes to halt the Allied advance. The western approaches to Péronne run through marshy ground, with this whole area a death trap for Australian troops attempting to advance here, as the marshes can only be crossed on narrow duckboards, on which they are extremely vulnerable to German gunfire.

Monash, the Australian commander, decides against a direct assault on Péronne. Instead he attempts to outflank it from the north. The way here is barred by Mont St. Quentin. This strongly defended position ought to be impregnable, but somehow the Australians manage to storm it in the early hours of the morning. The way is now clear for them to take Péronne from behind, forcing the Germans…