caulaincourt

Caulaincourt, France, April 21, 1917.
This photo appears on the Imperial War Museum site with the following information:
"THE GERMAN WITHDRAWAL TO THE HINDENBURG LINE, MARCH-APRIL 1917, part of "MINISTRY OF INFORMATION FIRST WORLD WAR OFFICIAL COLLECTION" (photographs)

Brooks, Ernest (Lieutenant) (Photographer) 1917-04-21

Troops of the Surrey Yeomanry (Queen Mary's Regiment) passing through the ruined village of Caulaincourt, 21st April 1917."

www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205077771


THE GERMAN WITHDRAWAL TO THE HINDENBURG LINE, MARCH-APRIL 1917© IWM (Q 2076)

Likely the Château de Caulaincourt. The Germans blasted it in February 1917. It was rebuilt between 1930 and 1933 in a mixture of neoclassical and art deco styles. See - canton-vermand.pagesperso-orange.fr/hiscaul2.htm - alain.tairnaite.free.fr/caulaincourt/index.html Location: www.google.com/maps/place/49%C2%B051%2747.8%22N+3%C2%B006...?

More on the destruction, with same photo credited to “MINISTRY OF INFORMATION FIRST WORLD WAR OFFICIAL COLLECTION” Photograph by: Brooks Ernest (Lt), and dated 1917-04-21 oxfordshireandbuckinghamshirelightinfantry.wordpress.com/... Here is the photo at the IWM site, captioned "Ruins of the chateau at Caulaincourt, on the Omignon River, 21st April 1917.": www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205077785

About Brooks: "Ernest Brooks (23 February 1878 — after 1936) was a British photographer, best known for his war photography from the First World War. He was the first official photographer to be appointed by the British military, and produced several thousand images between 1915 and 1918, more than a tenth of all British official photographs taken during the war." en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Brooks_(photographer)

A second photo shows that this is a project to clear a stream through the ruins: www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205077784

Another similar photo is in www.illustratedfirstworldwar.com/item/the-western-front-o... with the caption: "The fate of the Château de Coulaincourt - blown up to dam the Somme: the ruins heaped aside and a channel cleared by the British." (But the river there is not the Somme, it's the Omignon)