Canadian Engineers building a corduroy road through a captured village. By doing so it enables the gunners to feed their guns and the infantry to feed their stomachs. Rosieres, France, September 1918. Official Caption: "Canadian Engineers building a corduroy road through a captured village. Advance East of Arras. September, 1918". During the First World War, the Second Battle of the Somme of 1918 was fought on the Western Front from the end of the summer, in the basin of the River Somme. It was part of a series of successful counter-offensives in response to the German Spring Offensive, after a pause for redeployment and supply. The most significant feature of the 1918 Somme battles was that with the first Battle of the Somme of 1918 having halted what had begun as an overwhelming German offensive, the second formed the central part of the Allies' advance to the Armistice of 11 November. On the morning of 2 September, after a heavy battle, the Canadian Corps seized control of the Drocourt-Quéant line (representing the west edge of the Hindenburg Line). The battle was fought by the Canadian 1st Division, 4th Division, and by the British 52nd Division. Heavy German casualties were inflicted and the Canadians also captured more than 6,000 unwounded prisoners. Canada's losses amounted to 5,600. By noon that day the German commander, Erich Ludendorff, had decided to withdraw behind the Canal du Nord. By 2 September, the Germans had been forced back to the Hindenburg Line, from which they had launched their offensive in the spring. On their way to the Hindenburg Line, in a fierce battle, the Canadian troops, led by General Sir Arthur Currie, overcame the earthworks of the incomplete Canal du Nord during the Battle of Canal du Nord.