'The Fighting Fifth (Northumberland Fusiliers) after the Battle of St Eloi', 1916

Postcard photograph, World War One, Western Front (1914-1918), 1916.

On 27 March 1916 1st Battalion The Northumberland Fusiliers was part of 9th Brigade when the latter formation attacked heavily defended positions around St Eloi, three miles south of Ypres. Following the detonation of several mines under the German lines, the attacking troops rushed to take the craters. Although the Northumberland Fusiliers' initial advance went well, the general attack eventually became bogged down in the waterlogged landscape. Fierce German counter-attacks followed and the craters remained in enemy hands when the attacks were finally called off in mid-April.

One of 33 postcard photographs, some taken from official photographs, 1916-1918.