On this day on October 2nd 1918

It is one of those images that remain as powerful today as it did when it was taken on October 2nd 1918.

A group of British soldiers gather to hear an address from Brigadier General J C Campbell on the Riqueval Bridge over the St Quentin Canal near Bellicourt in France.

What makes the picture all the more significant is the week before the final allied advance against the Hindenburg Line had begun and in nine days had been breached and with the loss of this defensive position there was little stopping the allied advance.

So on that October day many of those listening from the 137th Brigade may well have been speculating just how soon the war would end.

Picture; Brigadier General J V Campbell addressing troops of the 137th Brigade (46th Division) from the Riqueval Bridge over the St Quentin Canal, taken by 2nd Lieutenant David McLellan, from the collection of the Imperial War Museum, and in the public domain