Research

Current map of the old Ancre battlefield

MAP of the RND Front Line 13/11/16, Battle of the Ancre, showing the start positions of all RND Battalions.

From left to right front line, facing NE: 1/RM, Howe, Hawke & Hood Bns.

Support Line: 2/RM, Anson, Nelson & Drake Bns.

Reserve Line: 10/Royal Dublin Fusiliers, 4th Bedfords, 7th Royal Fusiliers & 1st Honourable Artillery Coy.

Also shown are the various positions of Royal Engineers (RE) & Pioneers (Prs). (Map: PRO ref: ADM137/3929).

Top left is now the site of the Newfoundland Memorial Park, where the 51st Highland Division also went over the top 13/11/16. Many of the trenches are preserved here & the ground is still pocked with shell-holes; a Lunar Landscape with grass.

The area where 1RM advanced "up the shell-pocked muddy slope" is now cornfields; but the road marked on the map which bisects 1RM's position still exists. One is able to be very accurate in finding the exact ground.

The Ancre British Cemetery now stands on the Drake support line. Therefore one can get a VERY good set of visual bearings & the whole front line position can be envisaged. Neil York of Stairfoot, Barnsley & I walked the length of the RND line in late September this year (2000. There were no crops, it was dry, freshly ploughed & there were no Farmers about), then back up the support line. We found a live Mills Grenade & a four-inch shell just lying on the surface, also the German Five-inch Shrapnel Nose Cap & fuse (see the Royal Marines page).