Bazuel, France

Depicts the village of Bazuel, in northern France. It is 4 km south-east of Le Cateau-Cambrésis, and 25 km south-east of Cambrai. The village pictured here has been severely bomb damaged. A German helmet lays abandoned in the foreground near a bomb crater. Gould comments on the scene: "The day the Armistice was signed the 6th Battalion were in the French village of Bazuel. The place had been damaged during the fighting of 1914 and during the German retreat in 1918 they made a stand here and the village suffered very much from the shell fire. However much the houses were damaged they still possessed better shelter than we had in the trench fighting and it wasn't many hours after their arrival before the troops had made themselves comfortable. The sketch was made from the rear of the 6th Bn headquarters. The refugees began to arrive before the battalion moved on and the 'diggers' helped them with food and in repairing some of the damage. In one instance a number of the boys pulled an old wagon loaded with bedding, for about 5 miles to make a destitute family more comfortable."