A Little Piece of England in France

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In August 2015 we were travelling through France in our motor-home. We were heading for Pozieres and Villiers-Bretonneux, visiting war sites and cemeteries. We came across a small cemetery dedicated to fallen members of the 8th and 9th battalions of the Devonshire Regiment. In early July, the regiment was engaged in battle with the Germans at Mansel Copse and suffered great losses. On 4th July, 160 officers and men were buried in the same trench they had held against atrocious odds. The area is now a neat and ordered cemetery. French workers were mowing the grass and weeding the gravesites when we chanced upon it quite by accident. Among the plaques is one, part of which reads 'The Devonshires held this trench. The Devonshires hold it still'. As we so often did, we saw more gravestones reading 'A soldier of the Great War' or 'Known only to God'. It made me very sad to think that some of the men buried there were nameless. Because of the poppies and wreaths, we assumed that there had recently been commemoration services at the site. Throughout this area, we were impressed with the high standard of care shown to the cemeteries.