LAxND & WATER 
rebruary 15, 1917 
Evacuation of Grandcourt 
By Hilaire Belloc 
THE evacuation of Grandcourt by the enemy 
is. though it is but a detail, a very interesting 
piece of news. If I were to use the word 
" significant " that would be pretending to under- 
stand its consequences, which I cannot e\-en suggest. 
(Jnly Professional soldiers on the spot can judge of such 
matters, but what 1 can do is to put before the reader, so 
far as the ofticial despatches pennit it, the nature of the 
ground taken, the cause of the enemy's action, and the 
consequences, so far as mere ground is concerned, of the 
nio\ement. 
By the end of November last the British line upon 
either side of the Ancre ran more (^r less after the hnc of 
dots sketched upon the accompanying map. 
It ran across the spur between Beaumont Hamel and 
Beaucourt, without reaching the height of the hill B 
(Hill 143), which dominates Beaumont Hamel. It ran 
down the spur at the foot of which Beaucourt lies, included 
— that is, covered — Beaucourt, seems to have formed a 
little salient up to the square copse east of that ^'illage, 
and so reached the marshy and flooded Ancre \alley. On 
the far side of the valley it followed the V-shaped de- 
pression which here looks straight down on the Ancre 
\alley from the southward. Thence it curled round after 
the shape shown on Map I., to a point in front of Pys 
beyond which we need not follow it for the moment. 
If the reader will look closely at the contour lines of the 
accompanying map he will see that there was direct 
vision of Grandcourt from the west, that is, up the flat 
of the Ancre valley. There was also direct \ision of it 
from the angle which the line made at C in front of the 
captured Regina trench, on the left end of that trench. 
There was, I believe, not direct \ision from the salient 
which runs south of Grandcourt at I), because the spur of 
land is flattish at first and only begins to fall noticeably 
as Grandcourt is approached. Nevertheless, the German 
position in Grandcourt was a diflicult one even under the 
conditions of the modern defensi\e. It was threatened 
by direct vision from two sides (if I am not mistaken) 
and the salient it formed was fairly ])ronounced. The 
capture of Beaucourt on No\cmber i ;th and 14th had 
made this salient sharp. The real strength of the Ger- 
mans here lay in the conformation of the ground south of 
Grandcourt, for this rounded spur covered the enemy in 
the flat of the valley below. To reduce the salient the 
British lirst attacked east of Beaucourt, that is, up the 
Ancre valley and along the heights which flank it to the 
north. Ihey attacked on the night of Saturday, February 
.jrd. The despatch of the Commander-in-Chief informs 
us that on a front of about three-quarters of a mile the 
line was advanced eastward over a depth of some 500 
yards. If the reader will look at my sketch map he will 
see that this would mean the occupation of the square 
copse at E mentioned abox'e, and considerable progress 
up the hill (Hill 217) from the summit of which at A I 
remember in the old days of peace a very extended \iew 
northward, and, what is better, direct observation of all 
the Upper Ancre valley with its enemy gun positions. 
This is the hill between Miraumont and Beaucourt, the 
importance of which I suggested to my readers many weeks 
ago, and with regard to which I asked at that time (in 
the middle of No\ember) whether the British success at 
Beaucourt had carried their line to its summit. As we 
now know, the line was not carried so far, and the British 
are not yet in possession of this summit. But though 
the success of Saturday last did not reach the summit it 
carried the line well on to the slopes and, what is more 
important for the immediate object of reducing the 
salient, it made that salient far more acute. At the 
same time, it added to the acutcness of the Serrc salient. 
Cbnttarsafiomerr-es'^^ 
