forçage' facility enables production all year round, and provides employment for about 25 workers from the surrounding area. The cultivation of field-grown endives is now regarded as a delicacy.A prominent war memorial is located in the village centre. There are three cemeteries with British military graves within the commune - the Fifteen Ravine Cemetery, the Communal Cemetery and the Sunken Road Cemetery. Flooding in 2008 On the evening of 11 September 2008 a major storm caused severe flooding in Villers-Plouich and the surrounding communes, making it impossible to enter or leave the village, and tragically a fatality was reported in the commune. The valley terrain of the village serves to increase its exposure to such events. Links to the Borough of Wandsworth, London Villers-Plouich is informally twinned with the Borough of Wandsworth in London. This association dates back to World War I, following the involvement of the Wandsworth Battalion in the liberation of Villers-Plouich in 1917, and again, following recapture, in 1918. Writing in the 'Wandsworth Borough News' in 1920, Robert H Harker, a Lieutenant in the Battalion, described the cemetery in the village as "an inseparable link between our great Borough and that village of Villers-Plouich, near the Somme". For his courage and determination during the hostilities, Corporal Edward Foster, of Tooting, was awarded both the Victoria Cross and the Médaille militaire. A green heritage plaque was unveiled at his former home at Tooting in 2017, and in 2018 a memorial in his name was established at Villers-Plouich. Following the end of the War the village was adopted by the then Metropolitan Borough of Wandsworth under the British 'League of Help' scheme (one of about 80 British towns to take part in the programme), and funds were donated towards its reconstruction. A deputation from Wandsworth regularly visits to commemorate this connection, most recently in 2018. Transport The commune boasted a halt on the railway line from Saint-Just-en-Chaussée to Douai, but this section of the line was closed in the 1970s. The nearest train station is now at Cambrai, about 15 km to the North-East. The village is served by the Line 14 TUC ('Transports urbains du Cambrésis') public bus that runs between Cambrai and Villers-Guislain. Heraldry See also Communes of the Nord department References Villersplouich