A small pickety farm known as mucky farm or mucow farm to the troops stood in the path of the

British and Commonwealth advance on the Somme in the summer of 1916. Its lush pastures, once rich farmland,

became a killing ground where thousands died.

As we continue our look at the events 105 years ago

during the Battle of the Somme in 1916,

this week we're going to take a walk to Mouquet Farm,

Feom de Mouquet, Mucky Farm or Mucal Farm, to the soldiers who fought

there in 1916. But we'll begin our walk in the village of Ovié, Ovales to the soldiers. This village

sat behind the German front line at the beginning of the Battle of the Somme. This was part of their defensive line on a front established in late 1914.

After the French and the German armies had met on the Somme in the autumn of that year,

both sides dug in, and this ground here around the village of Overlors was part of the German defences.

The village sat partway down a valley and was astride a main road, an old Roman road,

the Albert Bapholm Road, and which on the other side was another valley.

When the British came here in 1915, they named all of these features, And one valley at the end of which was a sausage-shaped German observation balloon

that kept popping up to have a look at the Allied lines.

That became known as sausage valley, and in front of the village of Overla,

the valley there naturally became mash valley because you can't have sausage without mash.

The village sat on some commanding ground and where the German front line was

it was in a bit of a U shape at this particular position.

It went off to the north up towards the high ground at Thiepval.

It looked straight down Mash Valley as the British lines came across at a bit of an angle,

and then where the Albert Bapom Road was to the south, it went along the contours of the high ground there,

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