This wonderful account, by a former member of the Sheffield City Battalion, was written after the 40th anniversary in 1956.

To me it always sums up the veterans’ view of returning to the battlefields...

Quiet Corner on the Somme

Gaston Boule, aged 22,...
1/
...of Serre Les Puisieux, is at work with his horse-drawn plough as my wife and I drive slowly down the rough cart track that branches left from the Serre-Hebuterne road.

He respectfully removes his beret as I explain to him that I am “Ancien Combattant” keeping rendezvous...
2/
...with my fallen comrades who sleep so peacefully in the undulating valley of the tragic River Somme.

Except for the singing of the larks, and the whispering of the breeze in the ripening corn, all is still.
Through a narrow path cut through a thick crop of flax we make...
3/
...our way to Luke Copse.

Bit of England

We open the wrought iron gate and would seem to leave France for this tiny rectangular plot, with its roses, pinks and perfect green turf, is seemingly a part of England...
4/
...Beneath their simple granite headstones, each bearing the regimental crest, my old comrades; the Gunstone brothers, Edmund Skinner, and dear old Dick Carding-Wells...
5/
...Beneath their simple granite headstones, each bearing the regimental crest, my old comrades; the Gunstone brothers, Edmund Skinner, and dear old Dick Carding-Wells...5/
...Beneath their simple granite headstones, each bearing the regimental crest, my old comrades; the Gunstone brothers, Edmund Skinner, and dear old Dick Carding-Wells...5/
...Beneath their simple granite headstones, each bearing the regimental crest, my old comrades; the Gunstone brothers, Edmund Skinner, and dear old Dick Carding-Wells...5/
...Beneath their simple granite headstones, each bearing the regimental crest, my old comrades; the Gunstone brothers, Edmund Skinner, and dear old Dick Carding-Wells...5/
..In a railway hollow close by I find the names of my old school mates, Archie Brammer and Freddie Hampton.
How they died I never knew, although I was but a short distance away on that tragic morning of July 1, 1916.

Sheffield Park

Recrossing the track by way of Sheffield...
6/
...Park, with its garden of remembrance, we breast the gentle slope of Queens Cemetery, to pay tribute to another 31 of the “Old Twelth”.
Here they lie. Arnold Beale, Harry Neill and 1836 Eric Mountain (whose twin brother Henry was to join a few months later).
And on back...
7/
...into the village of Serre, if one can call a small cluster of buildings by such a name, here stands our own battalion memorial, flanked with the city coat of arms and “Tiger and Rose”.
It is well cared for, and on down the road toward AuchonVilliers, where we pause at...
8/
...the larger cemeteries known as Serre Road 1, 2, and 3, to record our pilgrimage in the visitors books.

Loving Care

Then on to Hamel and up the hill to the massive Thiepval Memorial which dominates the valley of the Ancre. Here are recorded 72,195 names of the missing...
9/
...of the Somme battles- men who have no known grave.
No words of mine can convey the perfect beauty of our ‘cimitieres militaire”.
Designed by craftsmen and lovingly maintained by gardeners, most of them old soldiers, they are indeed moving to behold. Thank you...
10/
...Imperial War Graves Commission.
July 1 comes round again, but now among my battle scarred memories I also treasure a peaceful one of friends who rest so quietly in the fields of Serre Les Puisieux.

12/389 A.C.B.

Arthur Clifford Baynes,
12th (City) Battalion.

11/Ends
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