Bombing of Goegnies-Chaussée

Coming from the Valenciennois, they regrouped under the cover of the Mormal forest, then headed east again. The arrival of the VII Corps halted their retreat. At dawn on Sunday, September 3, the German columns on the march stretched for several kilometers, from Malplaquet to Bois Bourdon.

By late morning, a traffic jam had formed in the center of Goegnies-Chaussée. The first aerial attack hits. The worst was yet to come.

In mid-afternoon, P-47 "Thunderbolts" (formidable American ground attack aircraft) return, strafing and bombing the stationary concentration of vehicles.

It's a carnage of burnt-out cars and trucks, horses slaughtered in the carts and German soldiers holed up in the ditches. Homes were not spared, and the airplanes left a desolate trail behind them.