I wandered up to Beaucourt; I took the river track
And saw the lines we lived in before the Boche went back;
But Peace was now in Pottage, the front was far ahead,
The front had journeyed Eastward, and only left the dead.
And I thought, how long we lay there, and watched across the wire,
While guns roared round the valley, and set the skies afire!
But now there are homes in Hamel and tents in the Vale of Hell,
And a camp at suicide corner, where half a regiment fell.
You can read the rest of the poem on the All Poetry website http://allpoetry.com/Beaucourt-Revisited
Herbert is recalling the losses which his battalion suffered during the attack at Beaucourt in November 1916. Herbert was on leave in February 1917 and it is believed that is when this poem was written.
The William referred to later in the poem
And here the lads went over, and there was Harmsworth shot.
And here was William lying but the new men know them not.
was probably Lieutenant William Ker, a friend in A.P. Herbert’s battalion – the same friend with whom he went swimming in the Dardanelles – see The Bathe.