The centre of the line covering Caillouel was held all day by the Eighteenth Division, with the First French Cavalry Division still acting as a breakwater before the advancing flood. In spite of the gallant Cuirassiers the pressure was very great from the 54th Brigade who were in the north, through the 55th and down to the 53rd, which covered the north of Noyon. Some of the edge was taken from the German attack by the efficient work of the 82nd Brigade Royal Field Artillery and the 3rd and 5th Royal Horse Artillery, who were hard at it from {192} morning to night. The French infantry on the left of the Eighteenth Division lost Guivry towards evening, but they held fast to Beaugies until after nightfall. About ten o'clock, however, the German infantry was into Beaugies, and the situation became dangerous as they were getting round the left flank of the Eighteenth Division, so that there was a general retreat to the rearward position called the Crepigny Ridge, which was not fully reached and occupied until 3 A.M. on March 25. That evening the Fifty-eighth Division reported that early in the day they had blown up all bridges and also the Royal Engineer dump at Chauny. So intersected is the whole country at the back of the line of the Fifth Army by watercourses, that the total number of bridges blown up during the retreat amounted to about 250; and only in two cases, that of the Ham Road bridge and that at Chipilly, was the result unsatisfactory. [Sidenote: March 25.] In the early morning of March 25 the Germans, who were still marching rapidly and fighting hard, were close to Guiscard, pushing on so swiftly that special troops had to be detailed to cover the heavy guns. General Butler had so far as possible pulled his dismounted troopers out of the fight and had restored them to their proper role, so that now he possessed a force of about 2000 horsemen, who were ready to execute the all-important functions of mounted infantry, so invaluable in a retreat. Under Generals Greenly and Pitman these horsemen did great work during the remainder of the operations.