Bapaume, which for several days had been surrounded by British forces, was occupied on August 29, 1918, and the Germans were in full retreat, trying to get away behind their rear guards before they were caught and annihilated. North of the Scarpe River, beyond Arras, and across the old Somme battle fields by Ginchy, Guillemont, and Morval, British troops were pushing on, and in the Australian fighting zone by Feuillières and Belloy above the Somme the enemy was fleeing in wild haste, leaving vast stores of guns and ammunition behind. The German rear guards maintained at times a fierce resistance to gain time for an orderly retreat and delay the capture of Péronne until the enormous stores there could be removed. From Bapaume and Bullecourt to the north of the Arras-Cambrai road the German army was swiftly disappearing from all the country west of the Somme and from the battle fields beyond Delville Wood. The same British soldiers now driving forward on the heels of the retreating foe were in March falling back over the same ground when the Germans had overwhelming numbers in their favor. The French armies during August 29-30, 1918, continued to make important strategic gains. Among the most notable was the occupation of Mont St. Simeon, a height which protected the German flank, a great natural rampart on which the enemy relied for protection during his retreat before the attacks of Generals Debeney and Rawlinson. East, and northeast of Bapaume, the British forces continued to go forward and gain ground. At Bullecourt on the Hindenburg Line and at Hendecourt to the east of the line the advance was held up by the strong German counterattacks. These places, which had been captured by the British on August 29, 1918, became untenable under the enemy assaults and Marshal Haig's troops were forced to withdraw to the west of them. At other points good progress was made, the British capturing several villages on the Arras-Bapaume front while they advanced their line both on the Arras-Cambrai and the Bapaume-Cambrai roads. Farther to the south the British to the north of the Somme went forward in the direction of Péronne, taking Combles and Cléry. By these operations they had completely freed the country south and west of the Somme of the Germans. The last of the enemy were driven behind the river in the morning of August 30, 1918. On the last day of the month Australian troops in a valorous charge stormed Mont St. Quentin and Feuilleucourt to the north of Péronne, capturing 1,500 Germans by the operation. The seizure of an important height near St. Quentin village gave the British a commanding position to threaten Péronne, and it was inevitable that the fall of that place could not be long delayed.