After arriving at Vermelles on 17 April 1917, the Heavies experienced several days of relative quiet until heavy German shelling resumed on 26 April. The shelling continued throughout the following day during which the billets occupied by the Heavies in the cellars of a chateau were severely damaged, one man, Gunner McMahon, being killed when he was buried by the debris.

The chateau in the photograph is ajacent to the Vermelles military cemetery and is believed to be the building in which the Heavies were billeted in April 1917.