NZ Dressing StationMailly-Maillet, Somme
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The House

A house through two wars

Mailly-Maillet sat close behind the front line on the Somme. This house was in the middle of it, in 1918 and again in the Second World War.

Documented backed by an archive source   Owner research established by the owner, sources to follow

  1. August 1915

    Documented

    Commonwealth forces take over this part of the front from the French. Field ambulances and fighting units begin to use the village cemetery extension. CWGC record.

  2. September 1916

    Documented

    The village is shelled every day. The war diary of the 1/4th Royal Berkshire Regiment (6 September 1916) describes it as “almost deserted”, with troops sheltering in cellars.

  3. March–April 1918

    Documented

    New Zealand troops are fighting close by, near Colincamps, from late March. On 1 April 1918 a New Zealand soldier photographs the dressing station in this house. Read the 1918 story.

  4. March–July 1918

    Documented

    Field ambulances and fighting units use the village cemetery extension again. It holds 126 burials from the First World War (CWGC).

  5. The Second World War

    Owner research

    German forces occupy the house. Drawings, poems and engraved names from this period survive inside. They are being recorded and will appear on the blog with their context, one at a time.

  6. Today

    Owner research

    The house is a protected building. It is privately owned and is being cared for with that in mind. The structure is the same as in 1918. Shutters, windows and some finishes have changed.

Black and white photograph from 1 April 1918 of a two-storey French house with three dormer windows. A Red Cross sign hangs on sandbags beside the open front door, soldiers stand in the doorway and an ambulance is parked at the left.
1 April 1918. New Zealand medical men outside the dressing station. Photograph H492 by Henry Armytage Sanders, 1 April 1918. From the Leo Bestall diary and album, MTG Hawke’s Bay (public domain per the museum record).
Colour photograph of the same house today: pale stone front, three dormers, a central wooden front door with clipped conifers either side, and a lawn in front.
Today. The same house, a protected building in private ownership.