Looking west along the Montauban - Mametz Road, in the direction of Mametz. The opposing trench lines ran straight ahead for a few miles and then swung in a right angle round to the north. The Thiepval Memorial in the northern part of the main 1st July offensive, on which are inscribed the names of the nearly 80,000 missing men of the Somme, is clearly visible from here, being just out of picture on the right.

"When the English tried again, they weren't walking this time, they were running as fast as they could but when they reached the piles of bodies they got no farther... Normally, after 5000 rounds had been fired, we changed the barrel of the machine-gun. We changed it five times that morning" - Musketier Karl Blenk, 169th Regiment (defending the German line further north).

Quotation from "The First Day on the Somme" by Martin Middlebrook

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