March 8, 1917 
LAND & WATER 
5 
. , Monchu 
f60 Metres ' ^ 
H5odc^ Afjejxt 
Achut 
Junction lotfpartWjod. 
II 
Rifiaiuiiei 
:60 Metres above. 
Sea. LesvL 
V/SOifetn-' 
L-—fOO Metres 
'V:itleu Floor of Ac Ancrc 
SeiX. Level _ 
o / 
Sea. Level { 
It /t J9 /* IS lA 
f* a 2a 
JCc l.ome.tre.s 
Htttibts cx-atjaera^Ad. S.O tzincs. 
As you proceed south-east from the little plateau of 
Monchy you go at first down a short steep bank of 50 
feet or so to a saddle, the lowest point of which is just 
less than 140 metres above the sea, and from this you 
rise again gradually to a much smaller or very flattened 
plateau of tlfe same height as M'onchy, that is, i6o metres, 
and about a mile and a half away from Monchy. This 
flatfish lump stands immediately above the farm and 
hamlet of Essarts. . Standing upon the height of 
Gommecourt, now in British hands, you look across a 
shallow depression towards this lump that stands up 
against the sky, about a mile and a half away to the 
north-east. The line then continues after another 
shallow depression of little more than 30 feet to a similar 
rather broader plateau overlooking Bucquoi, a village 
lying in a slight depression or saddle about 140 metres 
above the sea. Bucquoi is overlooked from the back 
by slightly higher land again about i6o metres high. 
But a defensive line would naturally be carried in front 
of or covering Bucquoi because the ground southward 
in front of Buciquoi looking towards the English falls 
fairly steeply and gives a good defensive position., 
Puisieux, now in British hands, which lies over against! 
Bucquoi, is lower than Bucquoi, and between the two 
there is the valley through which runs that brook often 
described in these pages and forming one of the sources of 
the Ancre. It is called indifferently in the neighbourhood 
the brook of Puisieux or the brook of Mirauraont. 
The line of the Bapaume Ridge (that is, of the watershed 
and of the highest points) recedes here towards the north, 
falling gradually as it does so ; passes through the wood 
of Logeast and sinks into the very considerable de- 
pression which is marked by the village of Bihucourt, 
standing, little more than 120 metres above the sea, or 
fully 120 feet below the original starting point at Monchy. 
This depression also contains what was for so long the 
important railway junction of Achiet-le-Grand. I say 
" what was " because with the abandonment of the Serre 
salient and the enemy's being compelled to fall back on 
to the Bapaume Ridge this junction can certainly no longer 
be used, the single railway line beyond it to Bapaume 
being under quite close range fire. From this point of 
Bihucourt the ground, very confused and tumbled, but 
with quite inconsiderable "differences of elevation, rises 
and falls as the line proceeds through Grevillers to the 
flat fields immediately in front of Bapaume. Thence 
it bends somewhat more southward, covering Le Transloy 
at much the same height and so on to the far side of Sailly 
and Saillisel. 
Though the line of the greatest "height and the 
division of the waters passes thus behind Bucquoi, 
through the wood of Logeast and the village of 
Bihucourt, yet the defensive line - can and dbes 
he in front of this. It can cover. . Achiet-le-Petit, 
just as it can cover Bucquoi because, as at Bucquoi, 
the ground running down from Achiet-lc-P;etit towards 
the brook of Miraumont and the English front is fairly 
steep. The village of Achiet-le-Petit itself is 100 feet 
above the brook, though only three-quarters of a mile 
away, and the bank rises more than 60 feet in the first 
quarter of a mile of this. 
The Bapaume Ridge, is, therefore, geographicallv, 
the line Bapaume— Bihucourt— Logeast Wood— and so 
behind Bucquoi to Monchy. But a sufiident and good 
defensive hue can leave this somewhat'to the north and 
cover Bucquoi, Achiet-lc-Petit and Grevillers. It could 
also hold Loupart ^Vood in front of Grevillers and thei^cc 
bend slightly northward to cover Bapaume. 
Such are the elements of the Bapaume Ridge position. 
Its length as the crow flies from Monchy to Bapaume is 
16,000 yards or somewhat over nine miles. Its length in 
its various sinuosities will, if it is finally established, be 
more like eleven counting from a little beyond Monchy to 
the further side of Bapaume, and its section (with heights 
greatly exaggerated) may be grasped from the accompany- 
ing Sketch II. 
Now what are the opportunities of the enemy for 
holding this line and why do we say that if it is not held 
a war of movement may be restored upon this sector, 
at least until a line far behind has been reached ?: 
The difficulty the enemy has of holding this line resides 
principally in the sharpness of the salient formed 'at 
Monchy-au-Bois. It is not indeed so sharp a salient as that 
which was formed at Serre after the capture of Hill 127 
more than a fortnight ago, which capture compelled his 
retirement. The shape of the two salients may be con- 
trasted in the annexed sketch in which it will be seen 
that the Monchy salient as now formed by the enemy's 
present dispositions, is a little less pronounced than the 
old salient of Serre. It is nohe the less a" very awkward 
gjjrner upon which highly converging fire can be directed, 
and we .must remark, which is important, that there is 
dirett observation from the British lines down either 
de^essi^n upon - either side of Monchy. The British 
gljs§«eete near Berles can see directly most of the shcU- 
^wrsts m the depression which flanks Monchy to the 
ftorth, and the observers now possessed of the ground 
north of Gommecourt can easily see directly most of 
the shell-bursts in the saddle south of Monchy. The 
importance of this direct observation at short range is 
very great. It makes the fire of heavy pieces indefinitely 
more effecti\e than it can be wHen itis directed only by 
the map, and greater e\en than when it is directed by 
fairly full observation from the air. It is true that it is 
only of \'alue at comparatively small ranges, and even at 
