Forêt de Mormal: where we might have fought

Depicts soldiers at ease along a road through the Mormal Forest. One leans against a bank, his rifle on the ground, smoking a pipe. Another sits on the edge of road reading - a letter, perhaps. Pictured in the middle distance are a couple of horses and more soldiers trailing round the bend of the road. Gould describes the illustration: "A ten minute halt on the outskirts of Mormal Forest. This place was extremely difficult to attack and in the effort to dislodge the enemy the forest was drenched with gas shells. It was towards this place the 1st Australian Division was moving when the Armistice was signed and we expected that it would be our task to drive the enemy out. Later we moved forward to take up reserve positions in Belgium and we had a short rest in the place we might have fought over. When on the move all troops are halted at 10 minutes to the clock hour, to enable the men to have a short rest. They fall in and move off again on the hour." The Forêt de Mormal (Forest of Mormal) is a forest in France, near the Franco-Belgian border.