Villers-Guislain

Villers-Guislain

	The track leading up to Gauche Wood from Villers-Guislain; looking East at the village from the 'British' side. The village lay behind the Hindenburg Line. This photograph was taken from a position in the wide barbed wire belts in front of the line itself. Gauche Wood, just behind the photographer's left, was in the lightly defended Forward Zone of the 9th (Scottish) Division, notably of the South African Brigade, when attacked on 21st March 1918. By noon, although the Germans had taken possession of the wood, they were held up by a line of defences immediately to the west of it.
	Gauche Wood Cemetery Scene of intense fighting; the German attack was halted here on 21st March by the stout defence of the Springboks. The cemetery dates from October 1918, when this area was retaken by the 21st Division. 48 British soldiers lie here. This view looks South, with the wood behind the camera. The cemetery is a few yards away from where the German attack was temporarily halted.
	The view to the left as you walk West up the track from the village to the cemetery, across vast fields to the former British strongpoint of Vaucelette Farm. The farm itself lies between the two copses on the skyline. Captured by the 8th Division in the German withdrawal in April 1917, this position held until noon against the mighty blow of the Kaiserschlacht attack on 21st March 1918, defended by the 12/13th Northumberland Fusiliers.
	Domino Cemetery A few hundred yards from Vaucelette Farm, in fields alongside the Villers-Plouich to Epéhy railway track, is Domino Cemetery, named after the symbol of the 33rd Division, that recaptured this area in the British advance of September 1918. 51 British soldiers lie here. From the cemetery gate, behind the camera, is a vast open view of the shallow valley running towards Heudicourt and Fins. Even this photograph gives an impression of the openness of this area.