of the line, and were conveyed, unknown to the Germans, to a new front where they came under the command of General Horne of the First Army. Their exploits upon this new stage will be described later. {42} The French were now on the immediate right of the Australians until the time came for the advent of the British Ninth Corps. Amid the tremendous events which followed each other in a stupendous historical procession during the latter half of 1918 it is hard to select those which were decisive from those which were merely great. It may safely be said, however, that three dates stand out as great military crises--the turn of the tide on July 18, the British advance on August 8, and the breaking of the Hindenburg Line on September 29. It has been admitted by General Ludendorff that it was the second of these which broke the confidence of the German Staff and finally convinced them that the war must go against them. A very special honour rests, therefore, with the three corps, British, Australian, and Canadian, who brought about this victory, as well as to the tanks, the cavalry, and the airmen who led or followed the victorious infantry and the masterful guns during these days of doom. {43} CHAPTER III CONTINUATION OF THE OPERATIONS OF RAWLINSON'S FOURTH ARMY From August 22 to the Battle of the Hindenburg Line, September 29 Further advance of the Australians--Of the Third Corps--Capture of Albert--Advance across the old Somme battlefield--Capture of Mont St. Quentin--Splendid Australian exploit--Fall of Peronne--Debut of the Yeomanry (Seventy-fourth) Division--Attack on the outliers of the Hindenburg Line--Appearance of the Ninth Corps--Eve of the Judgment. We have now reached the date when Byng's Third Army joined in the fray, and it is necessary to find some means of co-ordinating the narrative and carrying it on in definite stages. The next well-marked crisis which affects each of the armies engaged is the great general attack on September 29, which broke the Hindenburg Line. Therefore, in separate chapters the operations of each army will be brought up to that date, and then further chapters will cover the doings of each up to the date of the Armistice. Since we have dealt with the Fourth Army, we may as well continue with it now until we are in close touch with the Hindenburg Line, premising only that instead of an inert neighbour upon the left we have a very active advancing British Army. We shall then go on to the {44} Third and to the First Armies, and bring each of them in turn up to the same point. [Sidenote: August 22.]