Improvised sign : 7 Company, 104 Reserve Regiment, Imperial German Army

Improvised trench sign made from a cross section of raw timber cut from a tree, the bark of which is still present around most of the edge. The face of the timber has been ruled with pencil lines to serve as guides for the words 'Linke Grenze 7. Res. 104.' [Left Boundary, 7 Company, 104th Reserve Regiment], written in shadowed letters. The letters and numbers in the section 'es. 104.' have been blocked in with graphite pencil, while the other markings are outlines only. A large iron nail driven through the centre of the sign, and which previously attached it to a post, has been hammered flat against the rear.

Improvised trench sign found on the Somme by Australian troops participating in the great Allied advance of 8 August 1918. The German markings 'Linke Grenze 7. Res. 104.' translate to read 'Left Boundary, 7 Company, 104th Reserve Regiment', which was part of the German 24th Reserve Division. Ludendorff called 8 August 'the black day of the German army', because on that day a combinded force of British, French, Australian and Candian troops were able to capture 29,144 prisoners, 338 guns, and liberated 116 towns and villages.