Historic links with French town to be renewed

School children from Putney and all parts of Wandsworth will forge links with the children in Villers-Plouich, France

The Mayor of Villers-Plouich Raymond Machut has now endorsed the idea of creating better links between young people in both communities. Schools will be invited to create better contacts while sporting ties and cultural exchanges will also be considered.

The new Mayor of Wandsworth Cllr Colin Dawe said: "Our links with this small village in northern France run deep and I am delighted that both communities will be working to forge even stronger relations.

"Our histories became intertwined when young men from Wandsworth made the ultimate sacrifice in the fields and streets of this village. Villers-Plouich is the final resting place for many of them - most of whom were just a few years older than the school children who go on educational trips to the area today.

"It is fitting that the memory of the sacrifices made by these young men from Wandsworth and the contribution made by the borough in the reconstruction of this shattered village will be commemorated by future generations both here and in France."

Why Villiers-Plouich?

In 1917 men from Wandsworth, who had been among 1,000 recruited from the borough two years earlier and formed into a 'Pals Battalion' - the 13th Battalion of the East Surrey Regiment - liberated the village from German occupation. During the fierce battle for control of the village, which raged beween April and the end of September, five officers and 87 men of the 13th Battalion were killed.

More than 50 soldiers from the Wandsworth battalion now rest in a military cemetery in Villers-Plouich. They are among more than 1,264 British war graves in the village. It was in Villers-Plouich that Corporal Edward Foster, a dustman from Tooting, won the Victoria Cross, the British Army's highest award from bravery.

During the battalion's advance on the village, the troops were met by fire from two machine-guns which were entrenched and strongly covered by wire entanglements. Cpl Foster, who was in charge of two Lewis guns, rushed the German trenches and engaged the enemy. Initially one of the Lewis guns was lost, but Cpl Foster attacked again, bombed the enemy and recovered the gun. He then destroyed the enemy's position and captured their guns.

Following the end of the war, Wandsworth's links with the village continued under the British League of Help scheme which saw towns and cities adopting devastated French and Belgian communities to help rebuild them.

In September 1920 Wandsworth Council formally adopted Villers-Plouich, which had been left utterly ruined by the war. More than £1,200 was donated by local people to help pay for the village's reconstruction.

24th June 2003

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