Page:Breaking the Hindenburg Line.djvu/183

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THE BATTLE OF ANDIGNY
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they possessed. It is such incidents as these that, long after the troubles of war are forgotten, will stand out in the memories of the men who shared these trials and passed through tragic days together. Memories of such deeds of comradeship should go far indeed to smooth over the pin-pricks of petty international squabbles. should such recur in the halcyon days of peace.

In after-days, when our minds hark back to these never-to-be-forgotten times, the men of the "cent-vingt-sixième" will be among the best-remembered by their comrades of the 46th Division, while, amongst the most pleasant memories of the Staff, will be the recollection of the courtesy which throughout was the hall-mark of the French Command.

The part played by the 46th Division in the clearing of Andigny Forest and its outlying woods came to an end on October 18th, when the Division retired for a few well-earned days' rest. During the last ten days of battling through wooded and enclosed country, checks were frequent and casualties severe. The calibre of the resistance encountered may be gauged from the fact that, in the Battle of Andigny alone, prisoners were captured from seventeen different regiments of six separate Divisions. They were undoubtedly picked men chosen to fight in carefully selected positions as rearguards, while the main German Armies made good their retreat fo the line of the Sambre-Oise Canal.

By the devoted work of his rearguards the enemy's withdrawal to this line was successfully effected, in spite of the utmost our troops could do. A pause in the operations then took place, while the Allied Armies dug themselves in in their new positions, and drew breath for the greater effort which was to break, once and for all, the new canal and river line. The 46th Division, in the