Whilst in 1917 the Germans voluntarily evacuated Mont-Saint-Quentin, they were driven from it by main force in 1918. During the night of August 30, Australian units, slipping through the brushwood and barbed-wire entanglements which covered the steep slopes of the hill, succeeded in reaching the top, and quickly bombed the surprised garrison into submission, about a third of the defenders being taken prisoners. In spite of fierce counter-attacks, the Australians held their ground the next day. Several assaulting waves, composed of soldiers from the Prussian Guard, were successively launched against the hurriedly consolidated positions, but were each time mowed down by artillery barrages. [Illustration: MONT-ST.-QUENTIN. VILLAGE IN RUINS.] Of the village of Mont-Saint-Quentin, nothing remains but the basements of the houses, with here and there bits of broken walls, tottering beams and heaps of rubbish. The church, a favourite pilgrimage, in memory of the former abbey, was totally destroyed, as was also the castle. The ruins of the castle, and a German observation-post of concrete, with underground passages and shelters, are at the entrance to the village, on the left, about 50 yards from N. 37. There is a fine panoramic view over the Somme Valley and Péronne. _On leaving Mont-Saint-Quentin, N. 37 descends to =Péronne=. Enter the town by the Faubourg de Bretagne._ [Illustration: MONT-ST.-QUENTIN. RUINS OF THE CHÂTEAU.] [Illustration: GERMAN SIGNS IN THE GRANDE PLACE.] PÉRONNE. Péronne, a sub-prefecture of the "Département" of the Somme, was one of the centres of the sugar and hosiery industries in France, with a pre-war population of about 5,000 inhabitants. Built at the junction of the Rivers Somme and Cologne, which form a picturesque girdle of marshes and ponds before the walls of the town, Péronne was formerly a fortified city. Its brick ramparts and moats were being dismantled when the late war broke out. Origin and Chief Historical Events Péronne, whose origin goes back to a Merovingian villa built there in the seventh century, became, in the Middle-Ages, an important fortified city, under the rule of the Counts de Vermandois. One of them kept Charles-le-Simple imprisoned there until his death (929). Philippe I. annexed Péronne to the Crown lands, but in 1435 Charles VII. gave the city to Philippe-le-Bon, Duke of Burgundy. In 1483, during the rebellion of the Liégois, Louis XI., who was then the guest of Charles-le-Téméraire, was kept a prisoner in the castle and compelled to sign a humiliating treaty--called the Péronne Peace--which he afterwards refused to fulfil. In 1536, the Spaniards, under the leadership of the Prince of Orange, besieged the town for thirty consecutive days, but thanks to the bravery of the inhabitants, and the heroism of a woman named Catherine de Poix, or Marie Fouché, who was the soul of the resistance _(photo, p. 104)_, Péronne was saved.