=September 26 to November 11, 1918= [Illustration (Map)] The disengaging of Rheims, which had begun slowly, was now rapidly accomplished. Two French offensives completely effected it in a few days--that of September 26 (_see the Michelin Guide: "Champagne and Argonne"_), under General Gouraud, and that of September 30, first by General Berthelot and then by General Guillaumat. The first of these offensives, to the east, brought about the fall of the Moronvilliers Heights, after outflanking them; the second, to the west, captured the Saint-Thierry Heights, the French troops crossing the Aisne-Marne Canal from Le Godat to La Neuvillette. This double manoeuvre forced the Germans, whose communications were threatened, to beat a hasty retreat on October 5 along a twenty-seven mile front. An important part of the old German front of 1914, and one of the most fiercely disputed, collapsed suddenly. The formidable forts of Brimont and Nogent-l'Abbesse, which had held Rheims under their guns for four years, fell. This time the deliverance of Rheims was complete and final. [Illustration: THE DISENGAGING OF RHEIMS The dotted lines show the Allied advance at the date indicated in the middle of each zone conquered. The line of departure is that of July 18 (18/7). On the evening of Oct. 6 (6/10)--the upper thick dotted line--the town was completely disengaged. The Allied advance has the appearance of a fan spreading out west of Rheims until Oct. 5 (5/10), when the Germans were forced to make a deep retreat.] =The Destruction of Rheims= Being unable to capture Rheims, the Germans reduced it to ruins by bombardment. For four years (September 4, 1914, to October 5, 1918) they rained explosive and incendiary shells on it, almost without intermission. On September 3, 1914, at about 11 a.m., a German aeroplane dropped bombs on the town. A few of the inhabitants left, as the enemy approached, but the majority remained. A lady-teacher, sixty years of age, Mlle. Fouriaux (afterwards decorated with the Légion d'Honneur), who had charge of Hospital No. 101 (formerly a high-school for girls), transferred the wounded to Epernay and then returned on foot to Rheims. On September 4, at 9.30 a.m., when the enemy advance-guards were already in the town, and a German officer was making requisitions at the Town Hall, the bombardment began again. From 9.30 to 10.15 a.m., 176 large shells fell into the town, three of which tore open the great gallery of modern paintings in the Museum. Forty-nine civilians were killed and 130 wounded, several of them mortally.