Bouleaux Wood was carried by the British on September 15, 1916. The attack coinciding with a German counter-attack, gave rise to an exceedingly violent encounter. After capturing an important redoubt, east of the wood, the British gradually outflanked the enemy on the wings, and pressing hard from all sides, forcing them to retreat one kilometre northwards at the end of the day. Leuze Wood was also carried by assault. _The village of =Guillemont= (2 km. beyond Combles) is next reached._ Guillemont (razed to the ground) was entirely captured by the British on September 3, 1916. No trace whatever remains of the houses, the sites of which are now indistinguishable from the surrounding fields. The whole area was devastated and is now overrun with rank vegetation. After its capture it was strewn with wreckage of all kinds--stones, bricks, beams, agricultural implements, and household furniture from the shattered farms and houses. The fine modern church, Gothic in style, which stood in the centre of the village, has entirely disappeared. _1 km. 500 beyond Guillemont is =Trônes Wood=, to reach which, take the Montauban road (G.C. 64) on the left at the fork of the village._ [Illustration: GUILLEMONT. SITE OF THE DESTROYED VILLAGE.] [Illustration: MONUMENT TO THE DEAD OF THE BRITISH 18TH DIVISION.] =Trônes Wood= was the scene of much desperate fighting between the British and the Germans during the first fortnight of July, 1916. The struggle was almost incessant from July 8 to July 14, the wood changing hands seven times (the Germans say they lost and retook it eighteen times running). On both sides the greatest bravery was displayed, despite terrible losses. British progress was long stayed by a concrete blockhouse (still existent) in the middle of the wood, from which, through slits in the walls, enemy machine-guns rained death unceasingly on the assaulting columns. A battalion of the Royal West Kents remained forty-eight hours cut off in a corner of the wood to the north-east, and repulsed many furious assaults without loss of ground. The trees were hacked to pieces by the shells. Among the stumps may be seen trenches, shelters, blockhouses and small forts. In the middle, to the right of the road, is a =pyramid= erected to the memory of the officers and men of the British 18th Division, killed in 1916-1918 in the Battle of the Somme _(photo above)_. _At the end of the wood, near a rail track on the right, and fifty yards from the road, is a concrete blockhouse (photo below)._ [Illustration: TRÔNES WOOD. MACHINE-GUN BLOCKHOUSE.] [Illustration] _Return by the same road to the fork at Guillemont, and take the road on the left (leaving that going to Combles on the right). 50 yards farther on, take the road to =Ginchy= on the right_. This little village _(1 km. from Guillemont)_ lies on the western slope of the high "Ancien Télégraphe," plateau formerly chosen by Chappe as a telegraph post.