Beauval (Somme) - Interior of the Église St.-Michel. And Harry Butters.

            The Postcard

A carte postale which was published by E. Baré.

The card was sent via the British Army Post Office. 

The message on the back of the card was as follows:

"31/8/16.
My Darling Blanche,
How happy I have been 
made this morning by
receiving 3 loving and
cheery letters.
Received can and it does
very nicely. If you have 
ordered another keep it
until such time I ask for
another which I hope will
be when I am home.
I am ever so well myself.
Many thanks for papers 
Sweetheart.
Received letters dated 
24/25/26.
All love,
Fred".

The British Army Postal Service

During the Great War, the British Army Postal Service despatched over two billion letters and cards. Assuming an average length of 6 inches, if they were laid end to end they would stretch for 189,394 miles (304,800km) - that's over seven and a half times round the Earth's equator.

The Great War lasted for 1,567 days, therefore the Postal Service were kept busy handling an average of over 1¼ million pieces of mail every day of the war's duration.

Beauval

Beauval is a commune in the Somme department in Hauts-de-France in northern France. It is 32 km north of Amiens, and 6 km south of Doullens.

At a time when the textile industry was flourishing, the large Neo-Gothic Church of Saint-Michel was built by Victor Delefortie.

The magnificent church interior has been used as the backdrop to a number of French films.

Beauval Communal Cemetery

Beauval Communal Cemetery is on the northern side of the village at the end of a by-road leading off the main road - Rue de l'Eglise.

The 4th. Casualty Clearing Station was at Beauval from June 1915 to October 1916 and the 47th. from October to December 1916. 

The great majority of the burials were carried out from these hospitals, but a few were made as late as March 1918. 

After the Armistice, graves from Lucheux Military Cemetery were moved to Rows A and G of this cemetery. Lucheux Military Cemetery was created by French troops and used at intervals from 1916 to 1918 by British units. 

It stood at the South end of the village of Lucheux, in wooded country North-East of Doullens. It contained the graves of 48 French soldiers, twelve British and one New Zealand, and two men of the Chinese Labour Corps. 

Beauval Communal Cemetery contains 248 Commonwealth burials from the First World War. There is also one Second World War burial. The Commonwealth plot was designed by G. H. Goldsmith.

Harry Butters

So what else happened on the day that Fred wrote the card?

Well, on Wednesday the 31st. August 1916, Harry Butters, an American soldier serving in the British Army during the Great War, was killed in the Battle of the Somme while fighting to secure the town of Guillemont.

Harry had met and dined with Winston Churchill in April 1916.

On the 31st. August 1916, Harry and his unit were firing on Trones Woods when his gun received a direct hit; he and all the members of his battery were killed. 

The barrage was massive - 100,000 shells dropped that day in an area of about 800 square yards.
   

Taken on: June 20, 2016

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