. Battlefields of the World War, western and southern fronts; a study in military geography . cluster ofpeasant homes with green shade trees spreading above thatchedor tiled roofs, the tall chimney of a sugar refinery, and thesmoke of a distant locomotive were the only signs of life in thesleepy landscape. Elsewhere treeless low hills and treelessshallow valleys succeeded each other in endless procession asfar as the eye could reach. Such in 1914 was the stage uponwhich was soon to be played one of the most tragic acts in theWorld War drama. Could our traveler have visited the plain of the Som
. Battlefields of the World War, western and southern fronts; a study in military geography . cluster ofpeasant homes with green shade trees spreading above thatchedor tiled roofs, the tall chimney of a sugar refinery, and thesmoke of a distant locomotive were the only signs of life in thesleepy landscape. Elsewhere treeless low hills and treelessshallow valleys succeeded each other in endless procession asfar as the eye could reach. Such in 1914 was the stage uponwhich was soon to be played one of the most tragic acts in theWorld War drama. Could our traveler have visited the plain of the Somme in Note—For Chapters III and IV the reader should constantly consult the detailedmap of the battlefield in the pocket (PI. II) and the block diagrams (Figs. 14, 36,and 64). GENERAL ASPECT 85 the days before the hand of man changed the features whichNature gave it, he would have found it almost entirely coveredby vast forests. Where now he could sweep with his eye arange of country almost equal to that visible on the rollingGreat Plains of western America, then he would perforce have. Fig. 24—Generalized sketch map of the Battlefield of the Somme. Ruled areasare higher than adjacent unruled areas, and especially so where the ruling is con-tinuous. For topographic details and place names referred to in the text, see PL IIand Figs. 14, 36, and 64. had to thread his way through a woodland so dense that itconcealed even what was close at hand. But very early in his-tory the destruction of the forests was begun in order to makeway for a more productive agriculture. When the Romanlegions first entered this part of Gaul they found large clear-ings already effected and proceeded to extend their the coming of the Benedictines in the seventh centuryand the growth of their agricultural communities the destruc- 86 BATTLEFIELD OF THE SOMME tion of the forests was carried on more vigorously than the tenth and eleventh centuries there began another periodof rapid def
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Keywords: ., boo, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, booksubjectworldwar19141918
