1918

This map was created using StoryMapJS.   Location information and descriptions of the surroundings and actions of Peirs and his men were drawn from Peirs’ letters; the First World War Diaries of the 8th Battalion, The Queen’s (Royal West Surrey) Regiment; British First World War trench maps collection from the National Library of Scotland; and the WWI Trench Maps & Ariel Photographs collection from McMaster University Library.  Peter Chasseaud’s amazing book Rats Alley: Trench Names of the Western Front, 1914-1918 was an invaluable resource.  Best efforts were made to pinpoint the location of the 8th Queens and Peirs specifically, using town, camp, and trench names as well as map coordinates in the Regimental Diary.  In a few cases, an estimated location or center of town was used when a specific location could not be determined.  In the instances when Peirs left his battalion, the points on the map follow Peirs.

Links to the resources named above:

https://storymap.knightlab.com/

http://www.queensroyalsurreys.org.uk/war_diaries/war_diaries_home_new.shtml

http://maps.nls.uk/ww1/trenches/

http://library.mcmaster.ca/maps/ww1/home