Villiers-Plouich

Largely unknown or unrecognized by most visitors to the Western Front, Villiers-Plouich and its adjacent ridges were among the last centers of German resistance west of the Hindenburg Line. The capture and consolidation of the hamlet and nearby villages in April 1917 necessitated some ferocious and well-executed attacks by several British divisions. Once under Allied control the area came to represent the epitome of trench warfare. When British and Dominion troops again approached the Hindenburg Line in 1918, some of the bloodiest engagements of the Hundred Days were fought over rolling ridges and gentle valleys of Villiers-Plouich, Beaucamp and La Vacquerie.