Fierce fighting took place in the immediate vicinity of the town at the end of September, 1914, especially on the 29th, and in October and November. The Germans were repulsed with heavy losses, but succeeded in entrenching themselves strongly quite close to the city, and barred the Albert-Bapaume road (N. 29) to the north-east, in front of La Boisselle and the Albert-Péronne road, in front of Fricourt. The shelling of the town began on September 29, 1914, and continued unceasingly until it had been annihilated. The numerous iron and steel works, mechanical workshops, sugar factories and brick-kilns, which had contributed to the prosperity of the town, were specially singled out by the enemy artillery. No public building, not excepting the civilian hospital, was spared. In spite of the Red Cross flag which floated over the hospital, the Germans, with the help of an aeroplane, directed a violent artillery fire upon it on March 21, 1915, killing five aged inmates and wounding several others, as well as the Superior. In October, 1916, Albert was at last out of range of the German guns. But in 1918 the British were unable to withstand the overwhelming German thrust, except on the west of the town, and the latter fell into the hands of the enemy on March 26, after desperate fighting. Albert remained in the first enemy lines until August 22, when the British counter-offensive, which was destined to clear the whole district--this time definitely--was launched. The British entered the town in the early morning of August 22. [Illustration: ALBERT CHURCH IN APRIL, 1917.] A Visit to the Ruins--The Basilica _Arriving by the Rue d'Amiens, tourists will see the cascade, on the right behind a_ ruined factory. [Illustration: ALBERT CHURCH IN 1919.] [Illustration: RUINED WORKS ON RIVER ANCRE, AND CASCADE.] _Follow the Rue d'Amiens to the Place d'Armes, in which stand_ the ruins of the =Church of Nôtre-Dame-de-Brebière=. Before the war as many as 80,000 people made pilgrimages to this basilica yearly, to see the ancient statue of the Virgin, discovered in the neighbourhood by a shepherd, in the Middle-Ages. The church--a brick-and-stone construction in the Roman-Byzantine style--was built at the end of the nineteenth century. The brick belfry, over 200 feet high, was surmounted by a copper dome, on which stood a gilt statue of the Virgin, sixteen feet high, with the infant Jesus in her outstretched arms. The body of the church measured 276 feet in length and 68 feet in height, and was very richly decorated.