Delville Wood

Place Europe: France, Picardie, Somme, Albert Bapaume Area, Delville Wood
Accession Number ART03605.034.003
Collection type Art
Measurement backing sheet: 45.5 x 28.8 cm; sheet: 21.3 x 26.4 cm; image: 21.3 x 52.8 cm [fold-out]
Object type Work on paper
Physical description pencil on paper
Place made France: Picardie, Somme
Date made 6 March 1917
Conflict First World War, 1914-1918
Copyright Item copyright: © Australian War Memorial
Creative Commons License This item is licensed under CC BY-NC
Description

Left leaf of a double page sketch, depicting Delville Wood ravaged by the war. Barren, war damaged trees, muddy, undulating terrain littered with the refuse of war. In the foreground, the butt of a rifle sticks out of the ground and a wheel disengaged from a vehicle is wedged in the earth. Situated in the Somme region, Delville Wood is adjacent to the small village of Longueval and was the scene of intense fighting during the First World War, particularly during the Battle of the Somme in 1916. On the facing scrapbook page, Benson notes that the landscape was full of boots, bones and South Africans.