In the Picardian Plain, beyond the bounds of the old battlefield, were numerous country villages, with their cottages grouped around the church. The long, straight roads, bordered with fine elms or fruit-trees, stretched as far as the eye could reach. This rich and prosperous region, with its vast fields of corn and beet, was completely ravaged by the War. GENERAL VIEW OF THE SECOND BATTLE OF THE SOMME (1918). The German Offensive: Formation of the Montdidier Pocket (March 21-April 24.) [Illustration: _Disruption of the British Front (March 21-22.)._] [Illustration: _Widening the Breach._] [Illustration: _The fall of Montdidier (March 27.)._] [Illustration: _The fixing of the new front-line._] The Allied Offensive: Reducing the Pocket as far as the Hindenburg Line (August 8-September 25.). [Illustration: _The Offensive of August 8-12. Liberation of Montdidier._] [Illustration: _Combined Offensives on the Somme and Oise, August 18-29._] [Illustration: _Combined Offensives on the Scarpe and Aisne, August 25-Sept. 8._] [Illustration: _In contact with the Hindenburg Line (September 10-25)._] [Illustration: GENERAL PÉTAIN.] [Illustration: FIELD-MARSHAL HAIG.] _In March 1918, the British and French Armies, under separate commands, opposed the furious attacks of numerically superior and more powerfully equipped enemy forces, grouped under the command of a single chief: Ludendorff._ THE GERMAN OFFENSIVE OF MARCH 21. The Opposing Forces--Their Material and Moral Strength. Towards the end of 1917, the abandonment of the Allies, by Russia, was consummated by the Russo-German Armistice of December 20, followed by the Peace of Brest-Litowsk, of February 9, 1918. As early as November 1917, Germany began to transfer her legions from the eastern to the western front. Arriving, via Belgium, in ever-increasing numbers, sixty-four new divisions were thus added to her Western Armies, already one hundred and forty-one divisions strong, giving a total strength of 205 German divisions against the Allies' 177 divisions. The material resources, accumulated on the Russian front, were likewise transferred to the western front. The enemy's artillery was reinforced all along the line, the number of heavy batteries being doubled in many of the sectors. [Illustration: LUDENDORFF. _From General Buat's_ "LUDENDORFF" (_Publishers: Payot. Paris._)] Besides this numerical and material superiority, Germany possessed the additional advantage of a unique commander: Ludendorff, master of the hour, at once absolute military chief and political dictator. On the other hand, whilst the Allies were closely united by cordial friendship, sealed on the field of battle, their armies were independant units, separately commanded, each having its own reserves concentrated behind its particular front. [Illustration: GENERAL PÉTAIN AMONG HIS "POILUS"]