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Description

This map illustrates the battleground near the town of Thiepval in France during the Battle of the Somme in World War I. J.R.R. Tolkien participated in the conflict as a Lieutenant in the Lancashire Fusiliers. The significance of this experience in shaping Tolkien's life as a writer is detailed by John Garth in his book Tolkien and the Great War, published by Houghton Mifflin in 2003.

British army was located below the blue dashed line, and red lines represent German positions (principal trenches and redoubts).

Note that the vertical scale has been deliberately exaggerated, two lines are vertically separated by 10 meters : the real battlefield is flatter than this representation. It is evident that the German troops are entrenched in a strategically advantageous position in comparison to the British forces.
The contourlines, and the river course, were extracted from a trench map available at the following address : http://maps.nls.uk/view/101723165.

This map was published in Nov 25, 2017 and updated in March 19, 2022.

Description

This map illustrates the battleground near the town of Thiepval in France during the Battle of the Somme in World War I. J.R.R. Tolkien participated in the conflict as a Lieutenant in the Lancashire Fusiliers. The significance of this experience in shaping Tolkien's life as a writer is detailed by John Garth in his book Tolkien and the Great War, published by Houghton Mifflin in 2003.

British army was located below the blue dashed line, and red lines represent German positions (principal trenches and redoubts).

Note that the vertical scale has been deliberately exaggerated, two lines are vertically separated by 10 meters : the real battlefield is flatter than this representation. It is evident that the German troops are entrenched in a strategically advantageous position in comparison to the British forces.
The contourlines, and the river course, were extracted from a trench map available at the following address : http://maps.nls.uk/view/101723165.

This map was published in Nov 25, 2017 and updated in March 19, 2022.