Day One Hundred and Nine on the Somme

Tuesday 17th October 1916 From our Correspondent in the Field

Here in the blasted landscape of the Somme the battlefield is about as quiet as it gets today. Of course, nowhere at the front is ever quiet. There are always isolated shells moaning through the air of crumping around the lines, always little pops and snaps from snipers’ bullets and always muted sounds of war heard far-off, as if under the sea.

At such times it is good to take stock. The seizure of Le Sars a few days ago brings the total number of villages seized since the 1st July to twenty. These are:

• Montauban-de-Picardie and Mametz, both taken on 1st July;
• Fricourt, taken on 2nd July;
• la Boisselle, taken on 6th July;
• Contalmaison, taken on 10th July;
• Ovillers, Bazentin-le-Petit and  Bazentin-le-Grand, taken on 14th July;
• Pozières, take on 23rd July;
• Longueval, taken on  27th July;
• Guillemont, taken on 3rd September;
• Ginchy, taken on 9th September;
• Courcelette, Flers and Martinpuich, taken on 15th September;
• Lesboeufs and Morval, taken on 25th September;
• Gueudecourt, taken on 26th September;
• Thiepval, taken on 27th September
• Eaucourt-l’Abbaye, taken on 1st October.