WHERE LONGUEVAL CHURCH USED TO STAND.
At the back: DELVILLE WOOD
The desperate nature of the struggle is attested by the present aspect of Longueval village and Delville Wood. It is almost impossible, even with the help of a map, to locate the site of this once pleasant spot amid this chaos of stones and bricks, tree-stumps and shell-torn ground.
In Longueval, take the Contalmaison road, on the right.
Two kilometres beyond Longueval, turn to the left towards Bazentin-le-Grand.
Bazentin-le-Grand was a small hamlet, belonging to a large agglomeration of houses (now razed to the ground), of which Bazentin-le-Petit was the continuation.
After capturing Contalmaison and Mametz Wood in July, 1916, the British soon reached and carried Bazentin-le-Grand.
A desperate struggle then began on July 14, 1916, before Bazentin-le-Petit. To the strains of the Marseillaise the British attacked the German entrenchments, captured and lost the village several times, and finally remained masters of it. To consolidate the conquered ground they immediately advanced beyond it.
Penetrating into the German third line, they gained a footing in Foureaux Wood (High Wood), and on the slopes of Hill 155.
