BOOK REVIEWS
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Guillemont |
Guillemont lay in the shadow of two woods, Bernafay Wood and Trones Wood and in terms of the horror which had to be endured thereabouts, it was one of the rottenest places on the Somme, 1916. This was part of the area South of the Albert-Bapaume Road, where the fighting was pushed on and on until some kind of victory had been achieved by the time winter set in. The German second-line position lay here and the advance towards it consisted of a kind of jigsaw puzzle of interlocking actions, each one helping pave the way for the next. These separate actions, simple to understand when one considers them as parts of the general advance, are often complex and difficult to follow when one tries to study them for their own sakes. In this book, Michael Stedman has done a very good job of making sense of the often confusing actions which took place in Guillemont and its woods.
Starting briefly with the success story of the Southern part of the Somme front of 1st July, 1916, Michael Stedman moves on to the slogging-match which developed in the following few weeks as the advance to the German second-line position progressed. He describes the capture of Bernafay Wood and it neighbour, the terrible Trones Wood which defied attempts by the artillery to set it on fire and later to flatten it completely, by which time it had become a hell-hole in which frightened, disorientated men fought each other by day and night in a landscape of smashed and fallen trees, shell-holes, wire and the broken, rotting bodies of their comrades.
The first Great War veteran I ever met disappointed me by refusing to talk about his experiences. He would only say that he was wounded in a place called Trones Wood. I now understand his reluctance to talk. I must have caused him a lot of pain just by making him think about it.
Once Trones Wood was in British hands, the next stage was the further advance towards Guillemont village. Michael Stedman again paints a very clear picture of the complex operations which took place in this very small part of the whole battlefield, from the conference decisions of the commanders to the actions and achievements of those on the battlefield. The village was not fully taken until September, by which time it had been completely destroyed.
In keeping with the style of the "Battleground Europe" series, the book also contains a great deal of useful and up-to-date information for the would-be visitor to the area. There is information on access routes, accomodation and a very good section interpreting the cemeteries and memorials in the area. Finally, there are details and instructions for walks around the areas covered in the main narrative part of the book - the woods, the strong-points and Guillemont itself, making the book a real guide as well as an informative account of what happened here. There are also hundreds of photographs and maps. Almost every page has an illustration allied to the text.
Today, Guillemont is a peaceful spot. There isn't much to see which will tell the visitor of the horrors which took place here. There are the cemeteries, of course, but the presence of a cemetery doesn't tell us exactly what happened. It's a knowledge which can't be divined, but which must be studied and learned, and I think that Michael Stedman teaches us well, whether we just want to stay at home and read, or get out in the fields and see for ourselves.
GUILLEMONT
is published by Leo Cooper, Pen & Sword Books, Ltd.
ISBN 0-85052-591-8
Paperback, 160 pages - maps, photographs
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