Bell's Redoubt, Contalmaison

Contalmaison lay in front of the German second line, and despite holding a German HQ, and being well located and thoroughly prepared, its defenses were actually penetrated by a small party of British troops on July 1st. Imprisoned by the Germans, they were freed when the village was taken a few days into the battle. In that fight, a machine gun located on this position, just on the outskirts of the village, was subjected to a single-handed attack by 2nd Lt. Donald Bell, in peacetime a professional footballer who played for Bradford Park Rangers. He was reprising an action of three days previously, which had earned him the Victoria Cross. His luck didn't hold this time though, and he now lies in the beautiful, peaceful Gordon Dump Cemetery in nearby Sausage Valley. This memorial, with its bronze facsimile of his original grave marker, was erected a few years ago, and is a popular stop for visitors.

Forgive me my attempts at 'pseudo-instagramising'. Blog posts should surely permit a degree of licence in these matters, and it anyway it serves to disguise, a little, those horrid, hopelessly weatherprone plastic poppy wreaths which well-meaning school parties leave scattered in the wake of their departing coaches.