THE SOMME BATTLEFIELD


The Battlefield extended over the Picardy plateau, North and South of the Somme river. Before the War, the region was rich and fertile, the chalky ground had a covering of loose soil of variable thickness. The slopes of the undulating hills and the broad tablelands were covered with endless fields of corn, sugar beet, and other crops. Here and there were small woods, which were traces of the Arrouaise Forest, which covered the whole Country in the Middle-Ages. There were scarcely any isolated houses, but occasionally a windmill, farm, or sugar refinery would break the monotony of the landscape. On the plateau, the villages were surrounded by orchards, and their low, red-tiled houses were generally grouped around the local church. Wide, straight roads bordered with fine looking elms crossed the landscape.

The War robbed the district of its former characteristics; the ground, which was reduced to a state of complete upheaval, was almost levelled in places, while the huge mine craters and remnants of Artillery shells which pot marked the area, gave it the appearance of a lunar landscape. The ground was churned up so deeply that the upper covering of soil had almost entirely disappeared and the limestone bedrock, which was laid bare, was overrun with thick course vegetation. From Thiepval to Albert, Combles to Péronne, and from Chaulnes to Roye, the ground was so completely decimated; it rendered it useless for agriculture for many years. Nearly all of the villages were razed to the ground, and formed many huge heaps of debris all over the landscape; this Battlefield was a striking example of the total destruction wrought by the Great War.


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