'Wanton destruction at Nesle', March 1917

Photograph, World War One, Western Front (1914-1918), 1917.

Nesle, located on the Somme around 11 miles south of Peronne, was occupied by French and British cavalry on 18 March 1917 in the aftermath of the German withdrawal to the Hindenburg Line. As they pulled back the Germans destroyed villages, farms, roads, bridges and railways in order to disrupt any future Allied offensive plans.

From an album of 76 official photographs, 1916-1917.