 The town occupied a strategic position in north-eastern France and had been held by the Germans since 1914.Although with no specific orders indicating that the town need to be captured with any haste, the New Zealand soldiers were determined to and just before midday the first New Zealand troops reached the outer walls and scaled them with ladders.Propping the ladders against the precariously narrow inner walls, sections of one New Zealand battalion ascended the walls and engaged in hand-to-hand fighting with fleeing German defenders.