Though there were for the moment no Tanks to share in the culminating glories, our forces were pushing forward along the whole front. On November 6 and 7 the enemy’s resistance had very much weakened. Early on the morning of the 7th the Guards entered Bavay; next day Avesnes fell. Six cars of the Tank 17th Armoured Car Battalion here did excellent service in conjunction with “Bethell’s Force,” the cars, “full out,” putting roadside machine-guns out of action and in many cases preventing the flying enemy from blowing up the crossroads behind his rearguards. Hautmont was captured, and our troops reached the outskirts of Maubeuge, the goal upon which our eyes had for so long been fixed. To the north of Mons the enemy was now rapidly withdrawing. All through the night of November 7–8 we could see the glare of burning dumps behind the German lines, and could hear the irregular clamour of their detonations. At Tournai the enemy abandoned his bridgehead without a fight. On the 9th the enemy was in full retreat on the whole front; the Guards entered Maubeuge at the moment when the Canadians were approaching Mons. The whole of our 2nd Army crossed the Schelde, and next day all five British Armies advanced in line, preceded by cavalry, cyclists and Armoured Cars. Only round Mons was any opposition met with, and at dawn on November 11 the Third Canadian Division captured the town, killing or taking prisoner the whole of the German garrison. It was the last of the tasks of slaughter to which our hands were to be forced. For four days there had been a coming and going of envoys and of messages. For four days men and women in England had listened and waited, restless and sick with expectancy, with a sudden realisation of their longing to emerge from the long nightmare. On November 11, just after eleven in the morning, the church bells were rung in every town and village at home; and in France the expected message was quietly passed from mouth to mouth. There is no need to describe a moment which no reader of this book will ever forget. EPILOGUE I And what, the reader will ask, is the conclusion of the whole matter? First, how far did Tanks really contribute to our overthrow of the Germans? Secondly, what would be the place of the Tank if another war broke out within the next generation; and, thirdly, what place are Tanks going to be given in the reconstituted British Army? As far as they can be answered, we will reply to these questions in order. For upon the performances of the Tanks in this war, will be--or should be--based the answers to the other questions, and on this point we propose to call the evidence of three or four expert witnesses. For the rest, the reader has had an opportunity of studying a large mass of evidence for himself. He has seen how, when the line from Switzerland to the sea had been formed, both armies sought some means of putting an end to the stalemate.