HINTS ON RECONNAISSANCE FOR MINES AND LAND MINES IN THE AREA EVACUATED BY THE GERMANS

An interesting and rare historical curio – this pamphlet was the official document issued in May 1917 to British troops cautiously advancing into the wide swathe of French territory around Peronne and Noye voluntarily given up by the Germans when they shortened their line and retreated to the pre-prepared defences of the Hindenburg Line. They left behind a nightmare vista of scorched earth and booby traps to ‘welcome’ the Allies: food stores spiked with grenades; poisoned wells, felled orchards; houses which collapsed or exploded as soon as they were touched. The pamphlet contains helpful hints for dealing with such hazards as delayed long-action fuises, how to recognise a land mine; and how to enter an enemy dugout (carefully).