Only the two trees are left.
The French retook Frise on the morning of July 2, 1916. In the course of a brilliant attack, the successive lines of trenches which defended the southern and eastern parts of the village, were carried, and the latter was evacuated by the Germans at noon. Giving the enemy no time to reform, the French followed up their success by attacking the German second line, and before nightfall carried that part of Méréaucourt Wood which lies to the east, on a crest about 340 feet high, overlooking the Valley of the Somme.
Frise was completely destroyed. Here and there fragments of walls and half-burnt beams mark the site of the old houses. Some of the inhabitants have returned and are being housed in huts erected in the Place de l'Eglise.
The large modern church has disappeared, the tottering ruins having been pulled down.
VAUX VILLAGE AND THE VALLEY OF THE SOMME.
On leaving Frise, return to Eclusier by the same road. Beyond the church take the road on the right which crosses first the canal, then the marshes by means of three bridges. At the fork, take the right-hand road to Vaux.
There is a fine view of the River Somme and the marshes, including part of the battlefield of July 1, 1916. In the valley, walled in by high chalky cliffs, the Somme, bordered with high poplar-trees, follows its winding course among marshes and peat-bogs, intersected with patches of rushes and reed-grass. The half-hidden ruins of Frise are on the right. On the left fragments of walls are all that remain of Fargny Mill and the buildings which surrounded it. The French first line ran close by on July, 1, 1916 (photo, p. [74]).
