The village of Carnoy was on the front line during the Battle of The Somme. The field adjacent to the gite where we stayed was on the battlefield. In the field and wood behind the gite we found artefacts from the battle - a collapsed dug-out, a pile of trench railway track, and an undetonated shell - we kept well away from this!
The other side of the wood is the road from Maricourt to Albert - the D. This is the site of Minden Post Dressing Station.
The Minden Post Dressing Station was run by 22nd Field Ambulance (Unit) of the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC). It was situated in a steep and well-hidden embankment just below the Albert-Peronne Road, opposite the junction to Carnoy village. This road criss-crossed the First of July Frontline, running into the German Lines at Wing Corner (opposite Sassoon’s location south of Fricourt) then back out into the British Lines just south of Mametz by Mansel Copse. Mac McDowell was in this area on the First of July and shot much footage around Mametz—and especially at Minden Post, which, in contrast to the “empty battlefield” shots into No Man’s Land and the German Frontline, is positively heaving with hundreds of British soldiers and German prisoners.
The gite, owned by Madame D'Arras, is located at 1 Grande Rue, and shares a front courtyard with farm buildings. The gite has five bedrooms.
The small village has a war memorial commemorating those who lost their lives in the war, and a small church.