Attractions and Places To See around Pommier - Top 15

The Sheffield Memorial Park in Hébuterne pays tribute to the men of the 31st Division of the British Army who served in the Pals Battalion and fell in combat in this sector. The Pals Battalions were formed in the autumn of 1914 following recruitment campaigns launched by the War Office. Thousands of volunteers, brothers, cousins, neighbors, friends, and work colleagues enlisted at local recruiting offices at the same time. The regiments were thus composed of soldiers who knew each other very well and thus formed battalions of "friends," the Pals Battalions. During the fighting in the early days of the Battle of the Somme, these Sheffield Pals Battalions fought in the Hébuterne sector. Their objective was to advance east through the German lines and retake the fortified village of Serre.

Serre Road No. 2 Military Cemetery is the largest Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) cemetery in the Somme department. It was built on the former no man's land that was inaccessible until the German withdrawal to the Hindenburg Line in March 1917. Located along the road from Mailly-Maillet to Serre, hence the name Serre Road, it contains 7,139 bodies (of which 4,943 could not be identified): 5,971 British, 301 Canadian, 699 Australian, 116 New Zealander, 39 South African, and 13 German. The vast majority of the men buried here were killed during the Battle of the Somme, which took place from July 1 to November 18, 1916. Until March 1917, this site was no man's land between the British and German lines. On July 1, 1916, the 31st and 4th Divisions attacked north and south of this road without success. Then, on November 13 of the same year, the 3rd and 31st Divisions attempted a new attack, which also failed. Finally, on February 25, 1917, after the German withdrawal, during Operation Alberich, the 22nd Manchester captured the village of Serre, which had been abandoned the day before. Shortly after, in May, the cemetery was built by the Vth Corps at the same time as cemeteries No. 1 and 3. After the armistice, thousands of bodies from the nearby battlefield were gathered here and burials took place until 1934.

At the beginning of the 18th century, the flow of the Crinchon (river of about twenty kilometers which flows between Bailleulmont and Saint-Nicolas before flowing into the Scarpe) is weak, irregular and its waters are of poor quality. The city of Arras needs healthy and abundant water for the inhabitants and for the drinking troughs of the cavalry barracks. In 1723, at his request, the springs that gush out in Brétencourt, a hamlet of Rivière, were collected in a reservoir, it is a vast rectangular basin surrounded by brick walls now called "Carré des sources". Its dimensions: 33 m long, 11 m wide and 8 m deep. The works were carried out by the Military Engineering on the orders of the king, who financed them, as recalled by a sandstone sealed in a wall: "In the year 1723, under the reign of Louis XV, the sources of the Crinchon were sought and enclosed in this basin at the expense of the king" Le Carré des sources delivers 64 liters per second of water that is extremely fresh and remarkably clear. The stream thus formed crosses the park of the castle and joins the initial bed of the Crinchon, after a course of 500 m. The flow being capricious, the system was completed by the digging of a few artesian wells, from the end of the 18th century.

Château de Bavincourt is a castle located in the commune of Bavincourt, in the Pas-de-Calais department of France. An old manor house used to stand on the site of the present castle and its motte was still there during the construction of the latter; however, not much is known about it. The current castle was built by François Deslions, nephew of Jean-Louis Deslions, canon and dean of Saint-Omer, who had inherited the lands of Bavincourt.

to know more about this castle: http://mairie.bavincourt.fr/?page_id=304

The history of this castle as well as practical information are on the site https://www.arraspaysdartois.com/visites-heritage/le-chateau-de-barly/

An impressive place, furrowed earth, craters and memorial stones: this is where the British advance against the German position in Serre began in 1916.