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Remembered Today:

Sunken Lane, Guillemont


SMG65

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In Hitchcock's famous book 'Stand To' he writes about going into a trench astride a sunken lane near Guillemont on 23 August 1916.

Does anyone know the location of this lane?

Sean

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There's mention of a sunken lane in an account of 17th Manchester's attack on 29 August. The account describes the attack from the southern end of Trones Wood which was held up when they came across thick wire lining the western bank of a sunken road. The troops moved along it to the right until they reached the Montauban-Guillemont Road.

The difficulty is the area is almost littered with references to sunken roads but, assuming this is the same one that Sean is looking for it must be in the field between Trones and Guillemont.

Looking at the modern map there appears to be a track, or similar, about three quarters of the way to the village. My guess is that it must be that.

The other one that gets mention in another account, also from 17th Manchester, refers to a sunken lane during the earlier attack on Trones Wood. I have always assumed this must be a reference to the road that runs south from the wood to Hardecourt.

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Looking at the modern map there appears to be a track, or similar, about three quarters of the way to the village. My guess is that it must be that.

The one pretty much opposite the cemetery? That's the one I'd assumed was the sunken lane.

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Sorry, should have said a sunken lane as there were several in the area. The one I'm talking about above is heading south-west from Guillemont towards the long-gone Arrow Head Copse and on towards Maltz Horn Farm and Hardecourt. But the main road via Trones to Guillemont past the cemetery was also sunken to an extent (about 4 to 6 feet) I think in the vicinity of the cemetery.

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I was in Guillemont in April with my son and recall the track leading south west from Guillemont (as mentioned above) was pretty sunken for a good portion not too far from the main road (although not marked as such on the 16/07/16 trench map). The one running North on the opposite side of the road (toward the station) was not sunken (at least when we visited!) so i can only presume the one mentioned is indeed the one to the SWest.

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You should find this interesting ...

Tour through Guillemont with Google StreetView

The actual StreetView tour is in a link within that post, but you need to read my post to locate the various Guillemont 1916 landmarks.

As has already been stated, there were several "sunken roads".

Enjoy!

Cheers,

Mark

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'The' sunken lane no longer exists. If you look at the modern 1:25k map, it ran SSE from a point roughly a few metres E of the junction of the Longueval-Guillemont-Montauban road and the southern 'white' road running E-W on the southern edge of the modern vilage. It then passed more or less through the 'F' of Pre de Fort to link with the Guillemont - Hardecourt road at about Pt 137 on the modern map. There are claims that it refers to another, shorter sunken lane running WSW from the SW corner of the village but the time that Junger was involved the battle was for the one described above.

Jack

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post-6447-032890100 1286700658.jpg

This is a 27th Inf Div map dated 19 Aug 16, found in the Hauptstaatsarchiv, Stuttgart. It shows the lane(s) to which I have been referring. The forward short one was probably never more than an outpost line once battle was joined in earnest, but the one marked with a thick black line was altogether more substantial and formed the main battle position south of Guillemont.

Jack

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Thanks for that egbert, I thought I was having a case of deja vu. :blink: I think Jack is being very patient when I see how much he has already contributed on this theme (and you).

Jim

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Here's an aerial photo taken on 09 July 1916 ...

post-20192-077208400 1286725789.jpg

[Edit: some further comments added having thoroughly read the excellent Topic in egbert's link!]

As Jack has already explained "the" Sunken Road - i.e. the main defensive battle line - is the line heading south from the junction marked with the white '3' in the lower left centre of the picture. The battle line leaves it just N of the bottom edge of the picture to head eastwards towards the S edge of the orchards.

It no longer exists on the ground, but if you look at the area on Google Maps using Satellite view, its former course is easily discernable as an area bounded by parallel lines of light coloured soil. In StreetView you'll see a small Calvary on the left hand (i.e. north verge) close to the E hedge of the orchard, a shallow depression can be seen in the opposite road verge : this is where "the" Sunken Lane joined the Guillemont-Montauban road.

[Edit: this is not the calvary in Mike McCarthy's photo in the other Topic, which he describes as the white arrow shape. That is what I've called the roadside shrine in my "tour" linked above and is marked as Oratoire on the modern French map posted by egbert. Helpfully the calvary at the N end of the second Sunken Road is shown on egbert's modern-day French map!]

On Jack's map it's the heavy solid pencil line.

The "first" Sunken Road is the southerly branch of the fork in the road just on the left edge of the picture. As Jack said, this was really just an outpost line but it had a troublesome machine gun strongpoint at its SW end.

[Edit: this is a little over-dismissive! As Mike McCarthy points out, this machine gun position was perfectly sited to provide enfillade fire into any assault towards The Quarries crossing between Trones Wood and the W edge of the village. This strongpoint had caused very heavy casualties in the various attempts to take Guillemont in August. For the successful assault on 3rd September it was very heavily bombarded preparatory to the attack. There was also an attempt to destroy it with a push pipe mine, which failed but did create a shallow trench which 11/RB found very useful cover.

Although it was beyond the main defensive battle line represented by the second sunken lane ("the" Sunken Road) it was nevertheless the key to unlocking Guillemont's western flank. Once it was eliminated, the way into the village through the unmanned gap between The Fortress (what is now the orchard area due S of The Quarries) and the second Sunken Road was finally viable.

Presumably this is why the Germans took such heavy casualties to hang on there as long as possible.]

On Jack's map, this is the dashed line. The pencil dashes partly obscure the 'cutting' symbol on the map.

The E-W cutting shown to the W on the main Guillemont-Trones-Montaubon road roughly in the vicinity where the Guillemont Road Cemetery is now, is not one of these famous sunken roads!

Be aware that the modern D64 has been straightened. In 1916 there was a kink to the north between the two sunken roads with the D64 hugging the S edge of the small orchard area E of Rue Sarrazin/Park Lane. It would have followed the fence line you can see splitting off at the Calvary in StreetView. The modern D64 cuts directly between the fork of the junction of the "first" Sunken Road and the former junction of "the" Sunken Road marked by the Calvary.

More to follow ...

Mark

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Here's a sketch map from Inglefield's History of the Twentieth (Light) Division illustrating the successful capture of Guillemont by the Division on 3-4 September 1916:

post-20192-038692200 1286728482.jpg

The two sunken roads are much clearer here.

Incidentally, one of the posts in the Topic egbert has linked to, states that the 20th Divisional boundary was Mount Street, which is the main E-W road through Guillemont between The Quarries and the cemetery on the road to Combles.

This is not quite true: the 47th Brigade of 16th (Irish) Division was substituted for the 20th's 60th Brigade, who had been very badly battered in the lead up to the attack and were moved back into Divisional Reserve. 47th Brigade formed the right half of the 20th Division attack and as far as I'm aware came under the orders of GOC 20th Division (Maj-Gen William Douglas Smith) thus although the N part of the 20th Division attack was delivered by battalions of the 16th Division (7/Leinsters and 6/Connaughts) the northern 20th Divisional boundary was in fact well to the N of Guillemont as shown in the sketch map above.

Mount Street was in fact the Brigade boundary between 59th and 47th brigades, both under command of 20th Division.

It was 59th Brigade who attacked the two sunken roads - particularly 10/RB and 11/RB on the first sunken road and then 6/OBLI on the second. 10/KRRC attacked The Fortress area between the Montaubon road and The Quarries, and detaching a company across the Brigade boundary to mop up enemy left behind in The Quarries by 6/Connaughts who were threatening their flank..

Just a minor clarification!

Still more to follow ...

Mark

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This trench map from the 1916 KRRC Chronicle illustrates how detached and isolated the first Sunken Road was from the main wired defensive line coming along the edge of Guillemont and then along the second Sunken Road ...

post-20192-021147700 1286740520.jpg

Although the strongpoint in the first Sunken Road had a perfect field of fire to the N, the ground on the W was convex - this is well seen in the StreetView "tour" if you look back from the Rue Sarrazin (Park Lane) junction where the first Sunken Road meets the Montaubon road, or if you jump over to the Rue de Combles (the Guillemont-Hardecourt road) and look over towards the poplars of the Guillemont Road Cemetery. This meant the position was vulnerable to attack from the Arrow Head Copse area.

Cheers,

Mark

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Mark and Jack

Thank you for your help.

I'm travelling over on Tuesday, staying at Butterworth Farm and walking the Guillemont area on Wednesday.

I had a relative killed at Guillemont, ironically he got through the battle and was mortally wounded in an accident on 17 Sept, dieing on the 21st.

I've walked the area a few times over the years (normally in pouring rain) and this sunken lane is the one part I haven't walked yet.

Having read Hitchcock and Junger's books, it is a must.

I give a talk about Guillemont to WFA Branches (free of charge) and your posts will hopefully enrich the talk.

Regards

Sean

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Sean

I am always pleased to assist if I can. You might care to take a look at my German Army on the Somme, especially pp 204 - 207, 245-250 and 271-278. That will provide you with quite lot of material on Guillemont from the German perspective, including numerous personal accounts and enable you to move away form reliance on Junger alone in your talks.

Jack

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Jack

Your books are well read in my house.

I intend to concentrate my walks on the Somme next year on the Germans at Thiepval and Beaumont Hamel, utilising your books heavily.

I give a few different talks and try and to apportion about 30% of the talk on the German view, so your books are a must for research, (credit and book plugs are given).

I always use the account of Otto Lais (p381) at Serre on 13 November as a perfect example of the confusion in battle, he doesn't know there is a major British attack until 9am.

Keep the books coming Jack,anything in the pipeline for the Aisne 1914 and 1918?

Regards

Sean

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Here's the road from Hardecourt towards Trones Wood, taken earlier this year. It does dip a little past the crucifix, but I believe a lot of sunken roads were filled in after the war

post-3297-014099900 1286829562.jpg

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Walked Maricourt/Hardecourt area yesterday and the rain came down.

Walked the areas of the sunken roads today and think I got Jungers sunken road pretty spot on.

I got wet and muddy but it was worth it.

I walked the other sunken road opposite the arrow shaped calvary and am convinced that this is the sunken road that Hitchcock talks about.

Can anyone confirm this?

Sean

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... the arrow shaped calvary ...

Do you mean by this, the whitewashed roadside shrine labelled "Oratoire" on the French modern IGN map in egbert's post in the other Topic seen here just peeking over the convexity of the field in Mike McCarthy's pic? ...

post-20192-017021500 1287339400.jpg

My reading of the discussions between Jack, egbert, Mike and the other Pals is that "Junger's" Sunken Road is Sunken Road #1 in my annotated version of egbert's IGN map below. Mike's arguments about the tactical importance of the field of fire from the MG strongpoint in Sunken Road #1 in enfillading any movements W-E across the ground to the N have completely convinced me. Not only is it obvious when you look at map and ground, but it is backed up by several comments in the RB and KRRC sources about the heavy casualties inflicted on the various August assaults on Guillemont by an MG in exactly this position.

I've annotated Mike's photo so the landmarks are a little clearer to see and I've also attempted to show the view on my version of egbert's map below.

The general consensus seems to be that Junger was fighting in the Sunken Road #1 and in the weakly held area around the 146 spot height due S of The Fortress between there and Sunken Road #2. He had been wounded by the time of the 20th Div attack so was absent when the area was finally overrun.

post-20192-064725500 1287339393.jpg

HTH

Cheers,

Mark

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That helps me as well. I now sure the northern continuation of sunken road #1 must be the sunken road referred to in the 17th Manchester's officer's report I mention in post #3, relating to the Bn's attack on 29 August.

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I have re-examined the histories of FR 73, which was defending to the south of Guillemont and IR 76, responsible for the ruins of Guillemont itself on 3 Sep 16. I shall try to scan a couple of maps later today, but I must state once more, firmly, that 1st Bn FR 73, defending 'the' Sunken Road manned the road I have described previously (i.e. the one which does not exist any more) in the order, north to south, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Coys. 1st Coy was in support back to the east along the road running away from the southeast corner of Guillemont. This is described as 'The Second Line'. The history of FR 73 states that the front line was sunken in name only. Shelling had virtually levelled the entire area. The other sunken road, bearing away southwest from Guillemont seems to have been manned as an outpost line with two MGs, one at the northern end by the road leading EW along the southern edge of Guillemont, the other a little further south. The outpost line then bent sharply back southeast to meet 'the' Sunken Road more or less at the boundary between 3rd and 4th Coys. There were two MGs at this point and a fifth half way between the two roads. I hope that this is clear and that the two maps will clear the whole saga up.

Jack

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