Troops billeted in a wrecked factory hanging out their washing, Bapaume, 8 March 1918 (b/w...

Troops billeted in a wrecked factory hanging out their washing, Bapaume, 8 March 1918. Photograph, World War One, Western Front (1914-1918), 1918. Much of the area around Bapaume had been devastated during the Battle of the Somme in 1916. The town had been a target for the British on the first day of the offensive, but it was not liberated until the Germans withdrew to the Hindenburg Line in February-March 1917. The Germans then reoccupied the town during their Spring Offensive of March 1918. Bapaume was finally liberated for good by the New Zealanders on 29 August 1918. One of 193 British and Allied official photographs.