On the first day the marvelous French infantry charged with characteristic speed and effect, which won complete success. They gained the outer defenses of Curlu and Hardecourt on the 1st, and completed the captures on the 2d of July. South of the Somme the French succeeded in surprising the Germans and captured Dompierre, Becquincourt, and Bussu, as well as Fay. Results of the Opening Phase In summing up the results of the opening phase of the great battle of the Somme, we may say that the Allies captured German first-line positions from Mametz to Fay on a front of about fourteen miles, with 6,000 prisoners and a large quantity of guns and stores. In the northern sector, where the enemy had anticipated an attack, the ground won could not be held because every position was rendered untenable by the perfect arrangement of secondary and flanking defense works. There the great battle resolved itself into a long series of siege operations, much like the German attacks at Verdun, only much more successful. In the southern area of the battlefield on Sunday, July 2, the French followed up their initial successes by capturing Curlu, Frise, Mereaucourt Wood, and the powerfully fortified village of Herbecourt. At some places south of the river they broke through the German secondline positions, besides gaining the command of the railway from Combles to Péronne, and their advanced positions were not more than four miles from the latter city. For a short time it seemed as though a quick success might carry the French into Péronne and the British on to Bapaume by the southern approaches, but the arrival of strong German reserves, as well as the great losses incurred by the British in the northern sector, combined to defer the realization of those hopes for long months. On July 3 and 4 the British infantry fought desperately and won La Boiselle, after suffering severe losses. Thiepval resisted all efforts to capture it, and although Contalmaison was stormed on July 7 it was recaptured by the Third Prussian Guard Division, (the "Cock chafers,") who lost 700 prisoners when the village was first taken by the British. In heavy rain progress was made east of La Boiselle along the Bapaume road, and part of Leipsic redoubt was captured. Hard battles raged about sev.. eral small wooded positions, and after several days of heavy battling Contalmaison was again stormed, and on July 10 captured, after bitter house-to-house fighting. On Sunday, July 16, Ovillers was taken, with 2 surviving officers and 124 soldiers of the Guards. Through the early days of the month battles were fought for Fricourt Wood, Mametz Wood, Trones Wood, and it was not until July 12 that the British infantry fought their way through Mametz Wood so as to face the German second line positions. Even then neither side could claim Trones Wood. On Meanwhile the French, continuing to fight splendidly along the line of the river, after taking Belloy-en-Santerre, forced their way into part of Estrées and defeated numerous counterattacks. Sunday, the 9th, Fayolles men took Biaches and were only a mile from Péronne. In less than two weeks' continuous fighting the French forced their way through to the German third-line positions on a front of approximately ten miles, capturing 85 guns, 12,000 men, and 236 officers. Haig's Drive on Bastille Day On Bastille Day (July 14) General Haig celebrated the great French fête day by a grand attack on a front from a point below Pozières to Longueval and Delville Wood, approximately four miles. Soon after 3 o'clock in the morning the Third and Fifteenth Corps attacked after a tremendous bombardment, and in the darkness before dawn reached the German positions with almost no loss. This attack was everywhere successful, and by evening the British occupied the whole of the German second line between Longueval and Bazentin-le-Petit. Wood had been cleared, most of Longueval captured, and the British infantry had pushed up the road to within less than six miles of Bapaume. Cavalry had been brought close up the night before, to be ready in case an opening might be Trones MAIN AREA OVER WHICH THE BATTLE OF THE SOMME WAS FOUGHT made toward the rear, through which the mounted men might ride to their longhoped-for opportunity. That hope was not realized, for no break in the enemy line resulted, such was the perfection of his interior lines of defense. In Trones Wood 170 men of the Royal West Kents were found surrounded by the enemy, but holding on grimly to a valuable point of vantage gained in the night attack. In the early evening of the 14th a troop of Dragoon Guards and a troop of Deccan Horse made their way up a shallow valley and intrenched in a cornfield at a point where they were able to cover the flank of the infantry attacking the formidable enemy positions in High Wood. The fight for this fortified wood continued on the 15th, but strong counterattacks by a German division compelled the British troops to abandon this very difficult position. The Fight for Delville Wood A hard battle raged for two weeks about Longueval and Delville Wood, east of the little town. The British fought their way into the woods without great trouble, but found it impossible to retain the ground gained because of the machine-gun fire from powerful field works near by. The fight for this wood was among the deadilest episodes of the whole Somme battle. The South African brigade fought desperately for a foothold for several days, but finally was relieved, after suffering enormous losses. One splendid battalion, after losing all its officers, repulsed a powerful attack by a crack Brandenburg division; the long battle in this wood was as glorious for the South African troops as Ypres for Canadians or Gallipoli for Australians. Delville Wood was not completely conquered until the last week in August. On July 16 Ovillers was captured, also Waterlot Farm, a strong fortification southeast of Longueval. Four days later the British renewed the assault upon High Wood, and made considerable progress in that very difficult sector. The furthest corner of this wood was defended by a division of the Magdeburg Corps with the utmost bravery, and it required two months of hard fighting to finally wrest the last trench from its stubborn defenders. At midnight on July 23 a bitter struggle began about Thiepval, and an Anzac division of Australians fought again as they had the year before against the Turks in Gallipoli. It was not, however, until the 26th that General Haig was able to announce the capture of this fortified town, to which the Germans clung with heroic tenacity. In the last days of July the capture of Longueval was completed, and hard fighting in Delville Wood won some gains. The Germans repulsed an attack on Guillemont, and as the month ended they defeated powerful attacks at Pozières, although they could not prevent the Australians from gaining a position on the edge of their intrenchments after furious hand-to-hand fighting. On Aug. 4, at 9 in the evening, the Australians rushed the fortified windmill on the crest of the ridge northeast of Pozières, and won as well the German second-line trenches. A counterattack with liquid fire temporarily dislodged them from a small section; but even that was again taken, and in the following week, in spite of very heavy losses, these splendid British soldiers drove their attack still further into the Teuton lines about Pozières and in the direction of Mouquet Farm, a strong fortification commanding the northwest approach to Pozières and the highway from Albert to Bapaume. The troops who won these successes at great cost continued to suf< fer heavily from a deadly flanking fire from the German fortifications at Thiepval and heavy batteries further to the north and northeast. The Situation in August Before the middle of August the French had conquered all the German positions south of the Somme, and on the 12th, in a perfectly planned assault on a front of fully four miles, penetrated German positions to an average depth of about 1,200 yards. This advance aimed straight at the main road from Péronne to Bapaume, reached the edge of Maurepas, and below that town cut well across the Maurepas-Cléry road. Still further south they won the Monacu Farm position and drove the enemy fully 700 yards beyond. A few days later they linked up their left flank with the British right north of Maurepas. In the middle of August the British continued to fight hard at Pozières, High Wood, and Guillemont in heroic efforts to win better protection for the left flank of forces holding the trenches won earlier in the month. Gradually gains were reported northwest of Pozières and in the region of Bazentin le Petit and Martinpuich. About the same time the Germans were compelled to yield some ground near Mouquet Farr and Ginchy. At 8 A. M. on Aug. 18 two British battalions charged suddenly and captured the powerful Leipsic redoubt, south of Thiepval. This attack was SO well planned that plenty of machine guns were immediately available to repulse the enemy's counterattack. Elsewhere that day progress was won close to Martinpuich and Longueval, but after capturing the stone quarry close to Guillemont this strong fortification was lost in a counterattack. The French, co-operating with great success, carried part of Maurepas and stormed a hill position southeast of the town, which was defended by a division of the Prussian Guard newly arrived on the battle line. Although the whole of the First Guard Corps of Prussians was now confronting the French between Maurepas and the Somme, the wonderful poilus yielded never an inch of ground once recovered from the invaders. On Sunday, Aug. 20, after a severe bombardment the Germans recaptured some trenches lately lost to the British near High Wood and Mouquet Farm, but failed to hold their own when in turn counterattacked. Several days later the Germans repeated their efforts at Guillemont, but failed, and on the 24th the British carried in a fine attack the Hindenburg trench, an outlying defense of Thiepval, and on the same day the French completed the conquest of Maurepas and kept touch with the British between that town and Guillemont, thus continuing their drive toward Combles. Five German attacks were repulsed on the last day of August by a battalion of the Sussex regiment, between Ginchy and High Wood. Sunday, Sept. 3, saw the next great concerted attack by the Allies. British and Australian troops took but could not hold High Wood, Ginchy, and Falfemont Farm, a mile southeast of Guillemont. The Prussian Guards opposing them proved themselves foes worthy of the best soldier traditions in courage and tenacity. A number of positions were won and held east of Mouquet Farm. Fighting for Their Own Homes Further to the south the French First Corps, recruited from the northeast of France, and consequently fighting to redeem their own homes, attacked gloriously in the sector from the Somme to Maurepas, where they stormed and held the villages of Le Forest and Cléry. Above Le Forest the French drove their attack to a point above the crossroads on the southern edge of Combles. The Irish Guards captured Guillemont, the strong fortified village in the second line of the German defenses, which had withstood every previous attack. This British success a mile and a half west of Combles helped consolidate the splendid French victories south of the town, although the loss of Falfemont Farm left the Prussians in a salient between the heads of the allied advance. On Sept. 4, however, the British made some progress near the farm, and, pressing on at night in heavy rain, they gained Leuze Wood and all of the farm position, thus getting within a thousand yards of Combles on the west and northwest. new At the same time a new French armyGeneral Micheler's Tenth Army-attacked the Germans south of the Somme, and in one sudden rush on a front of three miles carried the German first line from Chilly to Vermandovillers and took several thousand prisoners. The next day the French attacked on both sides of the Somme, and won a number of woodland trenches and the ridges between Bouchavesnes and Cléry, as well as the village of Omiécourt. The Germans made a number of powerful counterattacks on Sept. 7 and 8 along the whole front, but failed completely in the face of the greatly superior allied artillery. On Sept. 9 the Irish regiments which took Guillemont captured Ginchy, but a number of other attacks broke down, notably one aimed at a field fort called the Quadrilateral, east of Ginchy. Nevertheless, the Allies were pressing hard upon Combles, north of the Somme, and the new French army south of the river was less than half a mile from Chaulnes, an important centre of roads and communications. The Chaulnes-Roye railway was cut and the Germans seemed quite unable to halt this new French force, which was so greatly. extending the scope of the attack on the German line. Thiepval a Hard Problem It was evident that renewed efforts must be made by the British to drive the enemy back in the region from Thiepval north, where the Germans had defeated all efforts to dislodge them. Unless that could be done there would be a dangerous exposure of the left flank of forces pushing on toward Bapaume beyond Pozières and Longueval. The danger of salients is a lesson well taught in this war. As the Germans lost ground in July and August, they busied themselves with new lines of defense back of what was the third line in their original scheme. This new line assumed the characteristic form of the later German defenses, in which prominence is given to powerful field forts mutually supporting rather than continuous lines of intrenchments. Thiepval was a notable example, and the Germans made every effort to similarly fortify Courcelette, Martinpuich, Flers, Lesboeufs, and Morval. This series of defenses was particularly interesting to the student of fortification, because it followed the plan which was so successful in Champagne in the Autumn of 1915. It will be remembered that the field works which stopped the French then were on the reverse side of the hills and so close under them that the entanglements and trenches were practically uninjured by the preliminary bombardment. |