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At Cartigny the Germans opened five vaults, each with a chapel above it, by tearing apart the stones. They did the same thing at Ronsoy, at Becquincourt, at Dompierre, at Bouvincourt, and at Herbecourt. At Nurly, Roisel, Bernes, they even broke into coffins. In the enclosed ground serving as a private cemetery for the Rohan family at Manancourt they buried a great number of their soldiers, and, an inconceivable thing, established a kitchen in the interior of the Rohan mausoleums and latrines among their family tombs. In the crypt, where indescribable disorder reigns, almost all the compartments are empty. A child's coffin, taken from one of them, was stripped of its lead. A heavy leaden casket, half drawn from another compartment, bears on its lid marks of a chisel. A block of marble, in which is seen a small excavation, has been thrown among the débris; it bears the inscription: "Here rests the heart of Mme. Amelie de Musnier de Folleville, Countess of Boissy, who died at Paris, July 16, 1830, at the age of thirty-two years and ten months."
French Official Report of German Barbarities in France, June 1, 1916.
The capture of two thousand prisoners by the Canadians is not surprising, as the whole ridge was honeycombed with dugouts, in which the Germans sheltered themselves.
Up to the present moment the great offensive had been held up just at the point below the Canadian lines, which fact caused Vimy Ridge to be styled the "hinge" of the enemy's retreat from the Somme, and the Canadians have been very impatient for the "hinge" to move.
Toronto Mail, August 10, 1916.
William: I wonder how long my dear friend and Ally will be able to stand this.
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