In
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, the small
commune
A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to:
Administrative-territorial entities
* Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township
** Communes of ...
of
Ovillers-la-Boisselle
Ovillers-la-Boisselle is a commune in the Somme department in Hauts-de-France in northern France.
Geography
The commune of Ovillers-la-Boisselle is situated northeast of Amiens and extends to the north and south of the D 929 Albert–Bapaume r ...
, located some north-east of
Amiens
Amiens (English: or ; ; pcd, Anmien, or ) is a city and commune in northern France, located north of Paris and south-west of Lille. It is the capital of the Somme department in the region of Hauts-de-France. In 2021, the population of ...
in the
Somme department
Department may refer to:
* Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility
Government and military
*Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...
in
Hauts-de-France
Hauts-de-France (; pcd, Heuts-d'Franche; , also ''Upper France'') is the northernmost Regions of France, region of France, created by the territorial reform of French regions in 2014, from a merger of Nord-Pas-de-Calais and Picardy. Its Prefectu ...
in northern
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
, was the site of intense and sustained fighting between
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
and
Allied
An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...
forces. Between 1914 and 1916, the
Western Front ran through the commune, and the villages were completely destroyed. After the
Armistice of 11 November 1918
The Armistice of 11 November 1918 was the armistice signed at Le Francport near Compiègne that ended fighting on land, sea, and air in World War I between the Entente and their last remaining opponent, Germany. Previous armistices ...
, the former inhabitants returned and gradually rebuilt most of the infrastructure as it had been before the war.
![Map commune FR insee code 80615](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/49/Map_commune_FR_insee_code_80615.png)
The commune extends to the north and south of the D 929 Albert–Bapaume road, a former
Roman road
Roman roads ( la, viae Romanae ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, and were built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Re ...
. The constituent village of Ovillers-la-Boisselle (commonly shortened to "Ovillers") lies to the north of the road. The constituent village of La Boisselle, which had in 1914, lies to the south-west of Ovillers at the junction of the D 929 and the D 104 to
Contalmaison. To avoid confusion, the
British Expeditionary Force (BEF) in its documents referred to Ovillers-la-Boisselle north of the D 929 as "Ovillers" and to the village south of the road as "La Boisselle".
Ovillers-la-Boisselle in 1914
![XIV Reserve Corps advance from Bapaume, 27-28 September 1914](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/16/XIV_Reserve_Corps_advance_from_Bapaume%2C_27-28_September_1914.png)
In late September 1914, the villages of Ovillers and La Boisselle were first touched by the
Great War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
when the German
XIV Reserve Corps began operations west of
Bapaume
Bapaume (original Dutch name Batpalmen) is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region of northern France.
The inhabitants of this commune are known as ''Bapalmois'' or ''Bapalmoises''.
Geography
Bapaume is a far ...
by advancing down the D 929 Albert–Bapaume road to the
River Ancre
The Ancre (; ) is a river of Picardy, France. Rising at Miraumont, a hamlet near the town of Albert, it flows into the Somme at Corbie. It is long. For most of its length it flows through the department of Somme. For a short stretch near Puis ...
, preparatory to an advance down the
River Somme
The Somme ( , , ) is a river in Picardy, northern France.
The river is in length, from its source in the high ground of the former at Fonsomme near Saint-Quentin, to the Bay of the Somme, in the English Channel. It lies in the geological ...
valley to
Amiens
Amiens (English: or ; ; pcd, Anmien, or ) is a city and commune in northern France, located north of Paris and south-west of Lille. It is the capital of the Somme department in the region of Hauts-de-France. In 2021, the population of ...
.
On 26 September, the French 11th Division attacked the invading Germans eastwards of Ovillers-la-Boisselle, but after French Territorial divisions were forced back from Bapaume, the division was ordered back to defend bridgeheads from Maricourt to Mametz.
On 27 September, the
II Bavarian Corps attacked between the River Somme and the D 929 Albert–Bapaume road, intending to reach the River Ancre and then continue westwards along the Somme valley. The
3rd Bavarian Division advanced close to Montauban and Maricourt, against scattered resistance from French infantry and cavalry.
On 28 September, the French were able to stop the German advance on a line from Maricourt to Fricourt and Thiepval, which included halting the XIV Reserve Corps on the D 929 Albert–Bapaume road at La Boisselle.
In an attempt to capture Albert, the Germans planned a night attack on
Bécourt, some south of La Boisselle, for the evening of 7 October, but the infantry found that keeping direction in the dark was impossible. Small-arms fire from well dug-in French troops added to the confusion and the attack collapsed, troops being captured in the fiasco.
On 19 November, two divisions of the French XI Corps attacked in the area of Ovillers and La Boisselle to pin down German troops, but were repulsed. On 28 November, an attack by the French XIV Corps managed to advance the French line by . In early December, the French IV Corps attacked around Ovilliers and gained . All in all, however, the French attacks were costly and gained little ground. Ovillers and La Boisselle thus became part of the
Western Front, a line that stretched from the
North Sea
The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...
to
Switzerland
). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
and which remained essentially unchanged for most of the entire war.
From 17 December, attacks by the French 53rd Reserve Division of XI Corps took place at La Boisselle, Mametz, Carnoy and Maricourt. Although wire-cutting had not been completed, the operation was ordered to begin at without artillery support to gain a measure of surprise. The attack got beyond the German front line near Mametz and north of Maricourt and then repulsed German counter-attacks from Bernafay Wood and east of Mametz. The advance was contained by German reserves in the support lines and by flanking machine-gun fire. The 118th Battalion reached the cemetery of La Boisselle and the 19th Infantry Regiment closed on the western fringe of Ovillers. A German counter-bombardment then swept the ground west of Ovillers and Ravine 92, which prevented the approach of French reserves. During the night the French survivors of the attack fell back to the French front line, except at La Boisselle. The next day, the French XI Corps broke through the German defences at La Boisselle cemetery but was stopped a short distance forward at , in front of trenches protected by barbed wire. A German counter-attack using incendiary grenades then recaptured a trench north of Maricourt, but at a French counter-attack by two battalions of the 45th Infantry Regiment and a battalion of the 236th Infantry Regiment managed to regain a small amount of ground.
On 24 December, the French 118th Infantry Regiment and two battalions of the 64th Infantry Regiment attacked again at La Boisselle at after a bombardment. The 118th Regiment captured a small number of houses in the south-east of La Boisselle and consolidated the area during the night. The French 64th Regiment overran the German first line but was held up short of a second trench, which had not been discovered before the attack and then dug in, having lost many casualties.
On 27 December, a German bombardment on the captured positions in La Boisselle was followed by a counter-attack on the French 118th and 64th Regiments, which was repulsed. German heavy artillery reinforcements had been brought into the area and made the area soon untenable; the French withdrew their infantry from La Boisselle but soon began to fortify their remaining positions with underground works. A first mine shaft was sunk by French engineers on Christmas Day 1914. Many of the German units that had seen action on the Somme in 1914 remained in the area and made great efforts to fortify their defensive line, particularly with barbed-wire entanglements so that the front trench could be held with fewer troops. Railways, roads and waterways connected the battlefront to the Ruhr area of Germany, from where material for (dug-outs) underground for each could excavated every and the front divided into (barrage sectors).
As a result of the fighting, Ovillers and La Boisselle were completely destroyed. No man's land around the ruined villages varied from wide, being the narrowest part. Once the location of a small number of houses in the south-east of La Boisselle, became known as ''Granathof'' (
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
: "shell farm") to the Germans and later as ''Glory Hole'' to the British. As a result of the bloody and costly fighting for its occupation in late 1914, quickly attained a profound symbolic status with the French Breton and German troops.
[''The La Boisselle Project'': project details]
access date: 4 November 2016
Ovillers-la-Boisselle in 1915
January 1915 began frosty, which solidified the ground but wet weather followed and soon caused trenches and all other diggings to collapse, which made movement impossible after a few days, leading to tacit truces between the French and the Germans to allow supplies to be carried to the front line at night. Having started mining at La Boisselle shortly after the French, the Bavarian Engineer Regiment 1 continued digging eight galleries towards at the south end of the village. The area would remain the scene of fierce underground fighting until the
Battle of the Somme
The Battle of the Somme ( French: Bataille de la Somme), also known as the Somme offensive, was a battle of the First World War fought by the armies of the British Empire and French Third Republic against the German Empire. It took place bet ...
in July 1916.
On 18 January, the German Reserve Infantry Regiment 120 made a surprise attack on La Boisselle and destroyed the 7th and 8th Companies of the French 65th Infantry Regiment, taking Fighting took place at La Boisselle for the rest of the year.
On the night of three more German mines were sprung close to . After the explosions, a large party of German troops advanced and occupied the demolished houses but were not able to advance further against French artillery and small-arms fire. At a French counter-attack drove back the Germans and inflicted about For several more days both sides detonated mines and conducted artillery bombardments, which often prevented infantry attacks.
On 1 March, German infantry massing for an attack at Bécourt – some south of the ruins of La Boisselle – were stopped by French artillery, and on 15 March, a German mine was sprung at Carnoy and crater-fighting ensued for several days. By comparison, sixty-one mines were sprung around from April 1916, some with of explosives.
In mid-July 1915, extensive Allied troop and artillery movements north of the River Ancre were seen by German observers. The type of shell fired by the enemy changed from high explosive to shrapnel, and unexploded shells were found to be of a different design. In early 1915, an informal live-and-let-live system between combat operations had developed between French and Germans soldiers, but from mid-July the soldiers facing the Germans did not continue the practice. In addition, a larger number of machine-guns began firing against the German lines, and the Germans observed that they did not pause every like French
Hotchkiss machine-guns. At first, the German troops were reluctant to believe that the British had assembled an army large enough to extend as far south as the Somme. An unidentified enemy soldier seen by German observers near Thiepval was thought to be a French soldier in a grey hat but by 4 August, it was officially reported by
Oberste Heeresleitung
The ''Oberste Heeresleitung'' (, Supreme Army Command or OHL) was the highest echelon of command of the army (''Heer'') of the German Empire. In the latter part of World War I, the Third OHL assumed dictatorial powers and became the ''de facto'' ...
(OHL: General Headquarters) that the 52nd Division and the 26th Reserve Division had seen a man in ''a brown suit''. On 9 August, the arrival of the
British Expeditionary Force became certain, when Private William Nicholson of the
6th Black Watch,
51st (Highland) Division
The 51st (Highland) Division was an infantry division of the British Army that fought on the Western Front in France during the First World War from 1915 to 1918. The division was raised in 1908, upon the creation of the Territorial Force, as ...
was shot and captured during a German trench raid. A second British soldier was captured when 1st
East Lancashire troops of the
4th Division were wiring in no man's land. The soldier got lost in fog near the River Ancre and blundered into the German lines near the ("beaver colony").
During the summer months, the French
mine
Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to:
Extraction or digging
* Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging
*Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine
Grammar
*Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun
...
workings in the area of Ovillers and La Boisselle were taken over by the
Royal Engineers
The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is heade ...
as the British moved into the Somme front and great secrecy was maintained to prevent the discovery of the mines. No continuous front line trench ran through , which was defended by posts near the mine shafts. After the
Black Watch
The Black Watch, 3rd Battalion, Royal Regiment of Scotland (3 SCOTS) is an infantry battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland. The regiment was created as part of the Childers Reforms in 1881, when the 42nd (Royal Highland) Regiment ...
arrived at La Boissselle at the end of July, many existing trenches, originally dug by the French, were renamed by the Scottish troops which explains the presence of many Scotland-related names for the Allied fortifications in that front sector. In addition to digging defensive tunnels to obstruct German mining and creating offensive galleries aimed at destroying German fortifications, the Royal Engineers also dug deep wells to supply the troops with
drinking water
Drinking water is water that is used in drink or food preparation; potable water is water that is safe to be used as drinking water. The amount of drinking water required to maintain good health varies, and depends on physical activity level, a ...
.
In August 1915, the French and Germans at La Boisselle were working at a depth of ; the size of their charges had reached . The British tunnelling companies dramatically increased the scale of mining operations by extending and deepening the system, first to and ultimately . Above ground the infantry occupied trenches just apart. On 24 July 1915,
174th Tunnelling Company established headquarters at Bray, taking over some 66 shafts at Carnoy, Fricourt, Maricourt and La Boisselle. Around La Boisselle, the Germans had dug defensive transversal tunnels at a depth of about 80 feet (24 metres), parallel to the front line. In October 1915, the
179th Tunnelling Company
The 179 Tunnelling Company was one of the tunnelling companies of the Royal Engineers created by the British Army during World War I. The tunnelling units were occupied in offensive and defensive mining involving the placing and maintaining of ...
began to sink a series of deep shafts in an attempt to forestall German miners who were approaching beneath the British front line. At ''W Shaft'' they went down from to and began to drive two counter-mine tunnels towards the Germans. From the right-hand gallery at , the sounds of German digging grew steadily louder. On 19 November 1915, 179th Tunnelling Company's commander, Captain Henry Hance, estimated that the Germans were 15 yards away and ordered the mine chamber to be loaded with of explosive. This was completed by midnight from 20–21 November. At 1.30 am on 22 November, the Germans blew their charge, filling the remaining British tunnels with carbon monoxide. Both the right and left tunnels were collapsed, and it was later found that the German blow had detonated the British charge. The wrecked tunnels were gradually re-opened, but about thirty bodies still lie in the tunnels beneath La Boisselle.
Ovillers-la-Boisselle in 1916
After the (
"Autumn Battle", 25 September – 6 November 1915) the German defensive system on the Western Front was improved to make it more capable of withstanding Allied attacks with a relatively small garrison. Digging and wiring of yet another improved defence line in the area of Ovillers and La Boisselle began in May, French civilians were moved away and stocks of ammunition and hand-grenades were increased in the front-line.
Fritz von Below
Fritz Theodor Carl von Below (23 September 1853 – 23 November 1918) was a Prussian general in the German Army during the First World War. He commanded troops during the Battle of the Somme, the Second Battle of the Aisne, and the German spri ...
, the commanding officer of the German
2nd Army, proposed a preventive attack in May and a reduced operation from Ovillers to St. Pierre Divion in June but got only one extra artillery regiment. On 6 June, he reported that an imminent Allied offensive at Fricourt and Gommecourt was indicated by air reconnaissance and that the south bank had been reinforced by the French, against whom his XVII Corps was overstretched with twelve regiments to hold without reserves.
Battle of the Somme
![Map of the Battle of the Somme, 1916](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ab/Map_of_the_Battle_of_the_Somme%2C_1916.svg)
At the start of the
Battle of Albert (1–13 July), the name given by the British to the first two weeks of the
Battle of the Somme
The Battle of the Somme ( French: Bataille de la Somme), also known as the Somme offensive, was a battle of the First World War fought by the armies of the British Empire and French Third Republic against the German Empire. It took place bet ...
, the ruined villages of Ovillers and La Boisselle found themselves at the very
epicentre
The epicenter, epicentre () or epicentrum in seismology is the point on the Earth's surface directly above a hypocenter or focus, the point where an earthquake or an underground explosion originates.
Surface damage
Before the instrumental pe ...
of events, with the D 929 Albert–Bapaume road marking the main axis of the British attack.
German fortifications
In June 1916, the German positions in the area of Ovillers and La Boisselle lay across several
salients and re-entrants on the forward slope of a low ridge between La Boisselle and Albert, which was a continuation of the south-west spur from the main Bazentin Ridge on which Ovillers had been built. The German defences ran along the higher slopes of three
spurs (Fricourt Spur, La Boisselle Spur, Ovillers Spur), which descend south-west from the main ridge. With the exception of , now a crater field just west of the ruins of La Boisselle, each German trench had an unmistakable white chalk parapet which could be seen from the British lines. Two geological depressions between the spurs were known as Sausage Valley and Mash Valley, which were about wide at their broadest points, making an enemy advance up them vulnerable to
cross-fire
Lead refers to which set of legs, left or right, leads or advances forward to a greater extent when a quadruped animal is cantering, galloping, or leaping. The feet on the leading side touch the ground forward of its partner. On the "left ...
. The spurs were covered by trench networks and machine-gun posts. No man's land varied from wide, the narrowest part opposite La Boisselle being . The D 929 Albert–Bapaume road descended westwards from Pozières, then down the north side of the La Boisselle Spur as far as the front lines, then beyond to Albert.
The German fortifications in the Ovillers and La Boisselle area began with a defensive system which had four strong points in the southern section, (Sausage Redoubt) backed by (Scots Redoubt) and a garrison in the ruins of La Boisselle. The front defensive system was held by two battalions of Reserve Infantry Regiment 110 of the
28th (''Baden'') Reserve Division, with a third battalion in reserve in the intermediate lines and the second position. The ruins of Ovillers had also been fortified. An intermediate front line ran from Fricourt Farm to Ovillers, and a second intermediate line in front of
Contalmaison and Pozières was under construction. Behind this front position, a second position with two parallel trenches ran from Bazentin-le-Petit to Mouquet Farm. A third position ran about behind the second position. The German defences in the Ovillers and La Boisselle sectors were mostly on a forward slope lined by white chalk, easy to see and to bombard by the enemy, but the natural
spurs and
re-entrants were excellent defensive features. The German fortifications were crowded towards the front trench, where deep dug-outs with plenty of overhead protection had been built. In addition, the German defences in the Ovillers sector had only recently been improved. There were deep fields of barbed wire covered by machine-gun posts and many communication trenches, which made quick movement within the position possible and could be used to contain a penetration of the front line.
British preparations
![British plan Somme 1 July 1916](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ae/British_plan_Somme_1_July_1916.png)
On the Allied side, the front line from Bécourt to Authuille was held by the British
III Corps under Lieutenant-General
William Pulteney. In dead ground behind the low ridge between La Boisselle and Albert (see above), field artillery was deployed in rows and the British artillery observers on the ridge had a perfect view of the German front position. The right flank of the III Corps was opposite Fricourt Spur, the centre of the Corps faced La Boisselle Spur (with the village ruins just behind the front line) and the left flank of the Corps was west of Ovillers Spur. Thiepval Spur to the north, opposite the British X Corps, overlooked the ground across which the III Corps divisions must advance.
Assembled nearby, west of Albert, stood the British
Reserve Army under Lieutenant-General
Hubert Gough
General Sir Hubert de la Poer Gough ( ; 12 August 1870 – 18 March 1963) was a senior officer in the British Army in the First World War. A favourite of the British Commander-in-Chief, Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig, he experienced a meteoric ...
, which was to advance once the roads had been cleared by the first attack. Gough had the
1st,
2nd Indian and
3rd
Third or 3rd may refer to:
Numbers
* 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3
* , a fraction of one third
* Second#Sexagesimal divisions of calendar time and day, 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute''
Places
* 3rd Street (d ...
Cavalry Divisions as well as the
12th
12 (twelve) is the natural number following 11 and preceding 13. Twelve is a superior highly composite number, divisible by 2, 3, 4, and 6.
It is the number of years required for an orbital period of Jupiter. It is central to many systems ...
and
25th infantry divisions, all ready to advance through any gap formed in the enemy defences and then to turn north towards Bapaume, chasing the Germans as they retreated.
On the left flank of III Corps, the
8th Division 8th Division, 8th Infantry Division or 8th Armored Division may refer to:
Infantry divisions
* 8th Division (Australia)
* 8th Canadian Infantry Division
* 8th Air Division (People's Republic of China)
* 8th Division (1st Formation) (People's Repu ...
was to attack against the Ovillers Spur, which dominates the ground north of the D 929 Albert–Bapaume road. It faced a stretch of no man's land that was unusually wide, particularly on the right towards the ruins of La Boisselle, where both front lines bent back. One brigade would move up Mash Valley, with the right flank to gain the D 929 Albert–Bapaume road south of Ovillers, and then advance up the road to Pozières. The centre brigade was to capture the ruined village of Ovillers itself. The third brigade was to attack the south slope of Nab Valley to the north of Ovillers, and then march to the north of Pozières. During the attack, the 8th Division's centre brigade would be able to benefit from a naturally covered approach until the last up to Ovillers. The flanking brigades would have to advance up the re-entrants of Mash Valley to the south and Nab Valley further to the north, fully exposed on flat ground without cover to the German garrisons in La Boisselle and the
Leipzig salient
The Leipzig Salient was the British term for a German defensive position built in 1915 on the Somme in France, during the First World War, opposite the village of Authuille which contained the Leipzig Redoubt on its west face. The position was ...
.
On the right flank of III Corps, the
34th Division, composed of
Pals battalion
The Pals battalions of World War I were specially constituted battalions of the British Army comprising men who had enlisted together in local recruiting drives, with the promise that they would be able to serve alongside their friends, neighbour ...
s, was to capture the German positions on the Fricourt Spur and Sausage Valley to the far side of La Boisselle, and then advance to a line about short of the German second line from Contalmaison to Pozières. The division would have to capture the fortified ruins of La Boisselle as well as six German trench lines, and complete a advance on a front. The
19th Division in the III Corps' reserve was to move forward to vacated trenches in the line of the Tara and Usna hills, ready to relieve the attacking divisions after their objectives had been reached. If the German defences collapsed, both the 19th and
49th Divisions (in reserve) were to advance either side of the D 929 Albert–Bapaume road under the command of the Reserve Army. Many of the British infantry in the sector had been coal miners before 1914 and dug an elaborate complex of underground galleries in Tara hill to shelter the assembled battalions.
=Plan of attack
=
The Allied attack on the German front line along the Somme battlefield was to be preceded by a seven-day preliminary bombardment with heavy artillery. The infantry advance at Zero Hour was also to be accompanied by a flexible artillery barrage which would move back slowly on a timetable. The heavy guns were to fire on the German defences in eight "lifts", jumping from one defence line to the next. The III Corps artillery in the area of Ovilliers and La Boisselle had guns and howitzers and a of the French 18th Field Artillery Regiment was to fire gas shells. The III Corps artillery was divided into two field artillery groups for each attacking division and a fifth group, containing the heaviest artillery, to cover all the corps front. According to the Allied plans, there was one heavy gun for each of front and a field gun for every . The artillery was supported by most of
3 Squadron Royal Flying Corps
"Through Adversity to the Stars"
, colors =
, colours_label =
, march =
, mascot =
, anniversaries =
, decorations ...
for artillery observation and reconnaissance sorties.
Going over the top
Trench warfare is a type of land warfare using occupied lines largely comprising military trenches, in which troops are well-protected from the enemy's small arms fire and are substantially sheltered from artillery. Trench warfare became a ...
at , the British infantry was to attack in waves. Four columns, three battalions deep, were to attack on frontages, with a gap between the third and fourth columns on either side of La Boisselle, which was not to be attacked directly as the Germans had strongly fortified the cellars of the ruined houses and the deeply-cratered ground at made direct assault on the village impossible. As part of the Allied preparations, two mines with charges (known as ''No 2 straight'' and ''No 5 right'') were planted at at the end of galleries dug from Inch Street Trench by the
179th Tunnelling Company
The 179 Tunnelling Company was one of the tunnelling companies of the Royal Engineers created by the British Army during World War I. The tunnelling units were occupied in offensive and defensive mining involving the placing and maintaining of ...
. To assist the attack on the ruined village, two further mines, known as ''
Y Sap'' and ''
Lochnagar
Lochnagar or is a mountain in the Mounth, in the Grampians of Scotland. It is about south of the River Dee near Balmoral. It is a popular hill with hillwalkers, and is a noted venue for summer and winter climbing.
Names
The English nam ...
'' after the trenches from which they were dug, were placed to the north-east and the south-east of La Boisselle.
The infantry columns were to advance in lines of companies in extended order, the companies moving in platoon columns apart. As the columns passed by the heavily fortified German salient at La Boisselle, bombing parties supported by Lewis gun and Stokes mortar crews were to attack from both flanks.
When the British battalion and brigade commanders ventured to doubt the viability of the plan, they were reminded that the week-long preliminary bombardment before the battle would have killed the village garrison by the time of the attack and that the mine explosions would destroy any remaining fortifications on either side of the La Boisselle salient. However, during the preliminary bombardment of the Ovillers and La Boisselle area, the III Corps artillery was hampered by poor-quality ammunition, which caused premature shell-explosions in gun barrels and casualties to the gunners. Many howitzer shells fell short and there was a large number of blinds (
duds). The unsatisfactory bombardment and the discovery on 30 June that parties clearing paths through the British wire had been fired on by the German garrison in the ruins of La Boisselle, led to an additional battery of eight
Stokes mortars being readied to bombard La Boisselle at Zero Hour until the flanking parties had entered the ruined village. Sausage Redoubt () was to be bombarded by Stokes mortars from an emplacement dug in no man's land overnight, opposite the strong point.
=Underground
=
![Battle of the Somme 1916 - Lochnagar mine, La Boisselle](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/44/Battle_of_the_Somme_1916_-_Lochnagar_mine%2C_La_Boisselle.jpg)
The
tunnelling companies were to make two major contributions to the Allied preparations for the battle by placing
19 large and small mines beneath the German positions along the front line and by preparing a series of shallow
Russian sap
Sapping is a term used in siege operations to describe the digging of a covered trench (a "sap") to approach a besieged place without danger from the enemy's fire. (verb) The purpose of the sap is usually to advance a besieging army's positio ...
s from the British front line into
no man's land
No man's land is waste or unowned land or an uninhabited or desolate area that may be under dispute between parties who leave it unoccupied out of fear or uncertainty. The term was originally used to define a contested territory or a dump ...
, which would be opened at
Zero Hour and allow the infantry to attack the German positions from a comparatively short distance.
Russian sap
Sapping is a term used in siege operations to describe the digging of a covered trench (a "sap") to approach a besieged place without danger from the enemy's fire. (verb) The purpose of the sap is usually to advance a besieging army's positio ...
s in front of
Thiepval
Thiepval (; pcd, Tièbvo) is a commune in the Somme department in Hauts-de-France in northern France.
Thiepval is located north of Albert at the crossroads of the D73 and D151 and approximately northeast of Amiens.
Population
First Wo ...
,
Ovillers
Ovillers-la-Boisselle is a commune in the Somme department in Hauts-de-France in northern France.
Geography
The commune of Ovillers-la-Boisselle is situated northeast of Amiens and extends to the north and south of the D 929 Albert–Bapaume ...
and
La Boisselle
Ovillers-la-Boisselle is a commune in the Somme department in Hauts-de-France in northern France.
Geography
The commune of Ovillers-la-Boisselle is situated northeast of Amiens and extends to the north and south of the D 929 Albert–Bapaume ...
were the task of
179th Tunnelling Company
The 179 Tunnelling Company was one of the tunnelling companies of the Royal Engineers created by the British Army during World War I. The tunnelling units were occupied in offensive and defensive mining involving the placing and maintaining of ...
.
Four mines were dug in the Ovillers-la-Boisselle sector: Two charges (known as ''No 2 straight'' and ''No 5 right'') were planted at at the end of galleries dug from Inch Street Trench by the 179th Tunnelling Company, intended to wreck German tunnels and create crater lips to block
enfilade
Enfilade and defilade are concepts in military tactics used to describe a military formation's exposure to enemy fire. A formation or position is "in enfilade" if weapon fire can be directed along its longest axis. A unit or position is "in de ...
fire along no man's land. To assist the attack on the village, two further mines, known as ''
Y Sap'' and ''
Lochnagar
Lochnagar or is a mountain in the Mounth, in the Grampians of Scotland. It is about south of the River Dee near Balmoral. It is a popular hill with hillwalkers, and is a noted venue for summer and winter climbing.
Names
The English nam ...
'' after the trenches from which they were dug, were laid to the north-east and the south-east of La Boisselle on either side of the German salient
see map The tunnel for the ''Lochnagar'' mine was excavated at a rate of about per day, until about long. The tunnel for the ''Y Sap'' mine started in the British front line near where it crossed the D 929 Albert–Bapaume road, but because of German underground defences it could not be dug in a straight line. About 500 yards (457 metres) were dug into no-mans-land before it turned right for about another 500 yards (457 metres). ''Lochnagar'' was loaded with of
ammonal
Ammonal is an explosive made up of ammonium nitrate and aluminium powder, not to be confused with T-ammonal which contains trinitrotoluene as well to increase properties such as brisance. The mixture is often referred to as Tannerite, which is ...
, in two charges of and , apart and deep. Just north of the ruined village, the ''Y Sap'' mine was charged with of ammonal. All of these mines were laid without interference by German miners but as the explosives were placed, German miners could be heard below the ''Lochnagar'' and above the ''Y Sap'' mines. Communication tunnels were also dug for use immediately after the first attack on 1 July 1916, but were little used in the end.
Events 1 to 16 July
![La Boisselle sector 1 July 1916](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f9/La_Boisselle_sector_1_July_1916.png)
The fight for the ruins of La Boisselle and Ovilliers was to begin in the morning of Saturday 1 July 1916, the
opening day
Opening Day is the day on which professional baseball leagues begin their regular season. For Major League Baseball (MLB) and most of the American minor leagues, this day typically falls during the first week of April, although in recent years ...
of the
Battle of the Somme
The Battle of the Somme ( French: Bataille de la Somme), also known as the Somme offensive, was a battle of the First World War fought by the armies of the British Empire and French Third Republic against the German Empire. It took place bet ...
. The British Fourth and
Third
Third or 3rd may refer to:
Numbers
* 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3
* , a fraction of one third
* Second#Sexagesimal divisions of calendar time and day, 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute''
Places
* 3rd Street (d ...
armies, together with nine corps of the French
Sixth Army, would attack the German
2nd Army in an area stretching from Foucaucourt south of the River Somme northwards beyond the River Ancre, to
Serre and Gommecourt, beyond. The objective of the attack was to capture the German first and second positions from Serre south to the D 929 Albert–Bapaume road and the first position from the road south to Foucaucourt.
At the Royal Engineers detonated their four mines at La Boisselle, and
15 other mines were fired along other sectors of the front line. The explosion of the ''Lochnagar'' mine obliterated of German fortifications, including nine dug-outs and the men inside them. Most of the 5th Company of Reserve Infantry Regiment 110 and the trenches nearby were destroyed. The ''Lochnagar'' mine lay on the sector assaulted by the
Grimsby Chums
The Grimsby Chums was a British First World War Pals battalion of Kitchener's Army raised in and around the town of Grimsby in Lincolnshire in 1914. When the battalion was taken over by the British Army it was officially named the 10th (Service ...
, a
Pals battalion
The Pals battalions of World War I were specially constituted battalions of the British Army comprising men who had enlisted together in local recruiting drives, with the promise that they would be able to serve alongside their friends, neighbour ...
(10th Battalion,
The Lincolnshire Regiment
The Royal Lincolnshire Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army raised on 20 June 1685 as the Earl of Bath's Regiment for its first Colonel, John Granville, 1st Earl of Bath. In 1751, it was numbered like most other Army regimen ...
). When the main attack began at Zero Hour, the Grimsby Chums occupied the
crater and began to fortify the eastern lip, which dominated the vicinity and the advance continued to the (second position), where it was stopped by the German 4th Company, which then counter-attacked and forced the British back to the crater.
![Lochnagar crater wwi aerial photo](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0c/Lochnagar_crater_wwi_aerial_photo.gif)
The blowing of the ''Lochnagar'' and ''Y Sap'' mines was witnessed by pilots who were flying over the battlefield to report back on British troop movements. It had been arranged that continuous overlapping patrols would fly throughout the day.
2nd Lieutenant
Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank.
Australia
The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until ...
Cecil Lewis' patrol of
3 Squadron was warned against flying too close to La Boisselle, where two mines were due to go up, but would be able to watch from a safe distance. Flying up and down the line in a
Morane Parasol, he watched from above
Thiepval
Thiepval (; pcd, Tièbvo) is a commune in the Somme department in Hauts-de-France in northern France.
Thiepval is located north of Albert at the crossroads of the D73 and D151 and approximately northeast of Amiens.
Population
First Wo ...
, almost two miles from La Boisselle, and later described the early morning scene in his book ''Sagittarius Rising'' (1936):
Despite their colossal size, the ''Lochnagar'' and ''Y Sap'' mines failed to help sufficiently neutralise the German defences in the village, and the German troops had deep shelters that withstood the British artillery fire. The preparatory seven-day artillery bombardment had cut much of the German trench wire but the field fortifications beyond were far less affected, particularly the deep dugouts succeeded in keeping the German garrisons comparatively safe. The German losses through the bombardment remained miraculously low, and the mood of the men in their underground shelters was "splendid".
The British infantry attack on Ovillers and La Boisselle was launched at Zero Hour () by the
III Corps, its
34th Division attempting the capture of La Boisselle and its
8th Division 8th Division, 8th Infantry Division or 8th Armored Division may refer to:
Infantry divisions
* 8th Division (Australia)
* 8th Canadian Infantry Division
* 8th Air Division (People's Republic of China)
* 8th Division (1st Formation) (People's Repu ...
attempting the capture of Ovillers. The British attack turned into a disaster: La Boisselle was meant to fall in 20 minutes, but by the end of the
first day of the battle, neither La Boisselle nor Ovillers had been taken while the III Corps divisions had lost more than . At Mash Valley, the attackers lost 5,100 men before noon, and at Sausage Valley near the crater of the ''Lochnagar'' mine, there were over 6,000 casualties – the highest concentration on the entire battlefield. The III Corps'
34th Division suffered the worst losses of any unit that day.
The III Corps only managed to gain small footholds to the south of La Boisselle, near the boundary with XV Corps, and at , where the explosion of the ''Lochnagar'' mine had destroyed some of the German defences. Details of the costly defeat of most British attacks north of the D 929 Albert–Bapaume road were not known on the evening of 1 July.
General Sir Douglas Haig ordered that the attack resume as soon as possible, and the III Corps was instructed to capture La Boisselle and Ovillers, then
capture Contalmaison, and then to establish a defensive flank between the ruined villages. The 8th Division was withdrawn from Ovillers and replaced by the
12th Division, which resumed the attack on 3 July.
At La Boisselle, the British captured the German front line trench on 2 July, occupied the west end of the ruined village by and dug in near the church. The next day, the British gradually managed to drive the German units from what was left of La Boisselle, although the German underground fortifications had withstood the recent bombardments and British attempts to signal with flares that La Boisselle had been captured had led to the German artillery bombarding the ruined village with howitzers and mortars, followed by an infantry counter-attack which drove the British back from the east end of La Boisselle. Reinforcements went forward and eventually a line was stabilised through the church ruins, about beyond the start line of the British attack. After dark on 3 July, the
23rd Division began to relieve the 34th Division, which had lost at La Boisselle from . The
19th Division was rushed forward from reserve, continued the attack at the east side of La Boisselle and captured most of the village ruins by 4 July. The retreating Germans launched three counter-attacks but were defeated, and the capture of La Boisselle was completed by 6 July.
At Ovillers, the
12th Division had resumed the attack on 3 July. A preparatory bombardment began at against the same targets as on 1 July, but with additional support from the 19th Division's artillery near La Boisselle. Attacking at the British found enough gaps in the German wire to enter the enemy trenches, but German infantry emerged from dug-outs to counter-attack from behind. At dawn, most of the units which had reached the German line were overwhelmed and the last British foothold on the edge of Ovillers was lost shortly thereafter. On 7 July, units of the 12th Division advanced on the ruins of Ovillers but were stopped at the first German trench by continuous machine-gun fire. Before dawn on 9 July, the 12th Division – which had lost since 1 July – was relieved by the
32nd Division. From three battalions of the 32nd Division's 14th Brigade managed to advance a short distance on the left side of Ovillers, and the British continued attacks during the night of . At on 15 July, units of the
25th and the 32nd Divisions attacked Ovillers again, but were repulsed by the German garrison. The next day, the 25th Division attacked at and captured the ruined village, the last Germans surrendering during the evening.
After the
opening phase of the Battle of the Somme, the ruins of Ovillers and La Boisselle remained a relatively quiet sector of the front until spring 1918.
Ovillers-la-Boisselle in 1918
The ruins of Ovillers and La Boisselle were re-captured by the Germans on 25 March 1918, after a retreat by the
47th Division and the 12th (Eastern) Division during
Operation Michael
Operation Michael was a major German military offensive during the First World War that began the German Spring Offensive on 21 March 1918. It was launched from the Hindenburg Line, in the vicinity of Saint-Quentin, France. Its goal was to ...
, the German spring offensive. In the afternoon, air reconnaissance saw that the British defence of the line from Montauban and Ervillers was collapsing and the RFC squadrons in the area made a maximum effort to disrupt the German advance. During the
Second Battle of Bapaume
The Second Battle of Bapaume was a battle of the First World War that took place at Bapaume in France, from 21 August 1918 to 3 September 1918. It was a continuation of the Battle of Albert and is also referred to as the second phase of that ba ...
(21 August – 3 September 1918), the German garrison in the ruins of Ovillers resisted an attack on 24 August but were by-passed on both flanks two days later by the
38th Division and retreated before they could be surrounded. Ovillers and La Boisselle were thus recaptured for the last time.
Commemoration
* Ovillers British Military Cemetery
* Th
Gordon Dump Cemetery*
Lochnagar Crater
The Lochnagar mine south of the village of La Boisselle in the Somme was an underground explosive charge, secretly planted by the British during the First World War, to be ready for 1 July 1916, the first day on the Somme. The mine was dug by ...
Gallery
Cheshire Regiment trench Somme 1916.jpg, German trench occupied by the 9th Cheshires, La Boisselle, July 1916
Daily Mail Postcard - A captured dug-out near La Boiselle.jpg, Daily Mail Postcard: Captured dug-out near La Boisselle
Image:La Boisselle mine crater Aug 1916 IWM Q 912.jpg, La Boisselle mine crater, August 1916
Image:Troops passing Lochnagar Crater Oct 1916 IWM Q 1479.jpg, Troops passing Lochnagar Crater, October 1916
Image:Lochnagar Crater Ovillers.JPG,
Image:Lochnagar mine 01.JPG,
Notes
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Theses
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External links
La Boisselle Study GroupOvillers–La Boisselle photo essay
{{World War I
World War I sites in France
Battle of the Somme
Ovillers-la-Boisselle