The farm buildings suffered badly and the rooms of the farm-house were reduced to ruins by shell-fire. The view below shows the façade; the officers seen in the photograph belonged to the staff of the 56th Division which took the farm. The owners had evacuated Champfleury at the beginning of September; when they returned they found in the billiard-room (which was smashed to pieces) a jeering inscription signed by a German officer, regretting that they (the owners) had not been there to take part in the cannoning performed on their table. [Illustration: CHAMPFLEURY FARM] _To enter the farm follow a little lane on the right for about 100 yards._ Very likely it is still possible to see the various seats hidden in the trees in the garden, which were used by the look-out men. _From Champfleury the road descends towards_ =Puisieux=. The view below shows the situation of this village, in a fold of the ground. In the background, at the summit of the plateau, is seen the farm of Nogeon, which will be visited in the course of the excursion. On the tourist's left, and outside the limits of the photograph, is a depression beyond which, in a position similar to Champfleury (_see panorama_ D, _pp. 106-107_), appears the farm of Nongloire. From the plateau on which stands this farm the French artillery hammered Champfleury and the Étrépilly position. [Illustration: PUISIEUX SEEN FROM CHAMPFLEURY] On the right, also outside the photograph, is the +farm of Poligny+, _towards which we go, turning to the right, in Puisieux, into the Rue de Poligny_. The view below was taken from the Poligny road in September, 1914. In it are seen guns, cartridges, and machine-gun belts abandoned on the battlefield, and a French drum, which latter doubtless sounded the charge when the troops of the Seventh Corps, starting from Puisieux, and supported by the 56th Division coming down from Champfleury, went to attack the farm. The struggle was desperate, for Poligny, like Champfleury, was an advanced position of the Vincy-Étrépilly line, and the Germans defended it to the utmost. Before leaving they set it on fire. [Illustration: DÉBRIS OF THE BATTLE IN FRONT OF PUISIEUX] The view below shows to what a lamentable condition this large farm was reduced by bombardment and incendiarism. Only a part of the courtyard can be seen here, but all the buildings belonging to the farm, including the beetroot factory, are in the same state. From Poligny the Germans fell back on their positions on the Étrépilly Plateau, which is in the background of the photograph, and the farm became a valuable point of support for the Seventh French Corps. [Illustration: POLIGNY FARM] The German battery defending Poligny could not withdraw in its entirety, the fire of the French 75's having destroyed at least one of the field-pieces, of which a photograph is given below.