Villers Plouich: Hindenburg Line

Largely unknown or unrecognised by most visitors to the Western Front, Villers-Plouich and its adjacent ridges were among the last centres of German resistance west of the Hindenburg Line. The capture and consolidation of the hamlet and nearby villages in April 1917 necessitated some ferocious and well-executed attacks by several British divisions. Once under Allied control the area came to represent the epitome of trench warfare. When British and Dominion troops again approached the Hindenburgh Line in 1918, some of the bloodiest engagements of the Hundred Days were fought over the rolling ridges and gentle valleys of Villers-Plouich, Beaucamp and La Vacquerie.