He had not reckoned with Foch—nor with Haig, for on the 26th there began on the Meuse the _arpeggio_ of attack which broke through the defences prepared during four years, and in six weeks brought Germany to surrender. On the 27th Haig struck at the main Siegfried zone from Cambrai to St. Quentin, and his blow was meant to shatter. It is no secret that the opinion of his Allies and of his own Government was not favourable to his boldness: even Foch, while he agreed that the plan was the right one, doubted its feasibility. The British Commander-in-Chief took upon himself the responsibility of one of the most audacious operations of the War, and, daring greatly, greatly succeeded. That day Byng and Horne with the Third and First British Armies crossed the Canal du Nord, and next day reached the Scheldt Canal. On the 28th, too, the Belgians and Plumer’s Second Army swept east from Ypres, and Mangin and Guillaumat opened a new battle between the Ailette and the Vesle. On the 29th came the main blow at the Siegfried citadel, when Rawlinson’s Fourth Army, in conjunction with Byng and Débeney, crossed the Scheldt Canal, and stormed their way far into the fortified zone. In days of wind and cloud they enlarged this gap till St. Quentin fell, and Cambrai was utterly outflanked. On 30th October the Australians broke through the northern part of the Beaurevoir-Fonsommes line, the last of the Siegfried works, and looked into open country. Between the 27th September and the 7th October Haig had crossed the two great canals, and destroyed all but the final line of the Siegfried zone, while this final line in one part had been passed. The time had come for an advance on a broad front which should obliterate the remnants of the Siegfried works, and with them Germany’s last hope of a safe winter position. Her nearest refuge would be the Meuse, and, shepherded by Foch’s unrelenting hand, it was very certain that her armies would never reach the banks of that fateful river. [Sidenote: _Sept. 28._] On 28th September the 66th Division had been transferred to Rawlinson’s Fourth Army, and by the 5th October it had moved south to the old Somme area, and was in the neighbourhood of Ronssoy. It was now part of Sir T. L. Morland’s XIII. Corps, which contained also the 18th, 25th, and 50th Divisions. Of these, the 25th was composed of troops brought from the Italian front, and the 50th, like the 66th, of battalions from Salonika and Palestine. Two of the divisions of the corps were, therefore, made up largely of men who had malaria in their bones, and there was some doubt as to how they would stand an autumn campaign in Picardy—a doubt which was soon to be put at rest. The 18th and 25th Divisions and the South African Brigade were well seasoned to northern warfare. [Sidenote: _Oct. 6._]