ENTRANCE TO THE UNDERGROUND DEFENCES.
The Warlencourt Ridge proper consists of two superimposed eminences: a bare plateau about two-thirds of a mile in width—now covered with graves—and a chalky shell-torn hillock, which was the centre of the German position.
WARLENCOURT RIDGE, SOUTH SIDE.
Pierced with subterranean galleries, furrowed with several successive lines of trenches, surrounded by a triple belt of entrenchments bristling with barbed wire entanglements and flanked at every angle by redoubts with innumerable mortars and machine-guns, such was the ridge which, like an impregnable fortress, faced the British trenches throughout the winter of 1916-17.
Several times in October and November, 1916, the British endeavoured to carry the position, but each time their attacks failed against the formidable defences. Only on February 25, 1917, did they succeed in taking it, after a feint attack on the rear-guards, which were protecting the withdrawal of the German main forces.
In 1917, the British erected five large crosses on the top of the ridge in memory of the units which took part in the assaults of 1916.
After visiting Warlencourt Ridge, return to N. 29, along which continue to Bapaume (5 km.).
THE TOP OF THE RIDGE.