Visit the Windmill site in Pozières
© Samuel Crampon
Your B&B accommodation in the heart of the Somme
© ButterworthFarm
Pozières was the first offensive action on the Western Front for ANZAC troops, who were charged with capturing its ridge - a strategic defence position for the Germans. Including one 12-and-a-half-hour grenade battle, and brutal and exhausting hand-to-hand combat, the fighting lasted from 23rd July to 5th August, when the ridge finally fell to the Allies. Now in possession of the plateau to the north and east of Pozières, they were in a position to threaten Thiepval, a German stronghold.
Among the village’s memorials are a 1st Australian Division Memorial with interpretation boards, as well as two new-in-2015 walking trails linking sites of significance to Australian history during World War I in and around the village.
Many visitors to Pozières and indeed to the Somme battlefield area as a whole stay at Butterworth Cottage, which was named for George Butterworth, a British poet whose body has still not been found. The trench where he died is thought to have been 300 metres from the front door of this cosy B&B, and its owners Bernard and Marie talk about Butterworth a great deal as well as referring to their property as ‘George’s home’.
“George is with us all the time” they say. They are in contact with Butterworth’s family, who come to participate at a remembrance service for the poet each year.