The Struggle for Seven Miles on the Somme

The Battle of the Somme, conceived by Allied generals in 1915 to enable their amassed forces to break through the German lines from the outset, in fact lasted 141 days and was certainly one of the wars' bloodiest. It was a horrific battle fought along a 15-mile front that cost both sides over one million dead and wounded. Their efforts were officially halted in mid November a hundred years ago, sadly, without gaining much ground, having carried out the final battle on the River Ancre.

In early 1916, while also eagerly tunnelling underground and reporting on enemy positions and troop movements (as well as fighting) well overhead, the entrenched armies facing each other from across No Man's Land were being bombarded nightly and daily. Although the generals' original intention was to end this vicious stalemate, when the Germans attacked Verdun, the French found themselves desperate for a relief engagement and relied on the British and their Commonwealth armies to strike a hard blow and weaken the German Army.

When the massive combined offensive was launched, the British troops were enthusiastic patriotic volunteers yet poorly trained by commanders experienced in (for lack of better terminology) colonial warfare. Upon the battlefield today visitors will find the huge Memorial to the Missing of the Somme - and the names of 72,085 soldiers killed, blown to mist or buried in the mud of Northern France with no known grave.

Nearby, there is another memorial, an obelisk which commemorates the actions (and losses) of the 18th Eastern Division, whose men finally captured Thiepval in September - demonstrating successfully new tactics in doing so, which would prove invaluable to their renewed efforts in 1917. Initially, on 01 July, the 32nd Division's 96th Brigade were tasked to capture the "Spur" at Thiepval. In short, they were massacred within minutes of launching their assault.

By August, in response, the Germans were able to divert 42 divisions to the Somme.

As the battle progressed, recognising changes were needed in the field, certain commanders, such as British Major-General Maxse employed a creeping barrage, as well as launching the attacks of his 18th Division later in the day, rather than at dawn. Thus, when they achieved their objectives of capturing enemy trenches, machine-gun emplacements and numerous strongholds, remaining daylight would be minimised and soldiers would be able to take cover in the darkness. It was Maxse and his men, after three days of intense fighting, who took Thiepval.

A few months later, the now-popularised 'creeping barrage' was used at Ancre, for example, with great success while troops stormed the various heavily-fortified German positions and crossed the river. The 51st Highland Division eventually took Beaumont Hamel and the 63rd (Royal Naval) Division took Beaucourt and captured 7,000 German prisoners as winter set in.

The lessons that were learned at great cost during the Somme were duly analysed in the coming months by the British, who then issued two manuals in February 1917 and by April the Allies were a much more effective fighting force. However, over those 141 days, the Allies had advanced only seven miles and failed to break the defensive lines of the Germans (though indeed inflicting incredible casualties), who by March had retreated to the infamous  Hindenburg Line, as opposed to resuming fighting once again along the Somme.

The war was still, a century ago, two years away from being won.

The Struggle for Native Recognition

When war broke out over hundred years ago, in 1914 men from among the Native populations in Canada were not welcome to join the Army and in fact the Canadian government stopped Natives from signing up. Nonetheless, and thankfully for Canada and the Allied war effort, according to War History Online, the best sniper of #WW1  was Francis Pegahmagabow, who was a Canadian First Nation hero of the war, and most decorated, one of only 39 soldiers (from the 600,000 who served) to be awarded the Canadian Military Medal and two bars for valour.

He signed up at the outbreak of hostilities in 1914, joining the 23rd Northern Pioneers and actually survived the war, and was laid to rest in an old cemetery on Wasauksing First Nation in 1952.

Shortly after his arrival in Europe, Pegahmagabow saw action during the Second Battle of Ypres, where the Germans used chlorine gas for the first time on the Western Front, and it was during this battle that he began to establish a reputation as a sniper and scout. Later, when his battalion took part in the Battle of the Somme, Pegahmagabow was wounded in the left leg.

He recovered in time, however, to return to the 1st Battalion as they moved to Belgium. Over the course of their next two battles which spanned almost a year, Pegahmagabow carried messages along the lines, and it was for these efforts that he received the Military Medal. Initially, his commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Frank Albert Creighton, had nominated him for the Distinguished Conduct Medal, citing the disregard he showed for danger and his “faithfulness to duty,” however, it was later downgraded.

On November 6/7, 1917, Pegahmagabow earned a Bar to his Military Medal for his actions in the Second Battle of Passchendaele. During the fighting, Pegahmagabow’s battalion was given the task of launching an attack. By this time, he had been promoted to the rank of corporal and during the battle he was recorded playing an important role as a link between the units on the 1st Battalion’s flank. When the battalion’s reinforcements became lost, Pegahmagabow was instrumental in guiding them to where they needed to go and ensuring that they reached their allocated spot in the line.

Later in the war, on 30 August 1918, during the Battle of the Scarpe, Pegahmagabow was involved in defending a German attack at Orix Trench, near Upton Wood. His company was almost out of ammunition and in danger of being surrounded. In an effort to prevent a disaster, he took it upon himself to bring up the necessary supplies. Braving heavy machine gun and rifle fire he went out into no man’s land and brought back enough ammunition to enable his post to carry on and assist in repulsing heavy enemy counter-attacks. For these efforts, he received a second Bar to his Military Medal.

In November 1918, the war came to an end and in 1919 Pegahmagabow was invalided back to Canada. He had served in the military for almost the whole war and had built up a reputation as a skilled marksman. Using the much-maligned Ross rifle, he was credited with killing 378 Germans and capturing 300 more.

The Struggle for a Film Audience

While the Battle of the Somme was winding down in October a hundred years ago, having claimed the lives of 157,000 British and her allies' soldiers, over 20 million people across Britain (and around the world) had watched a film produced by W.F. Jury, which had been released in August 1916 and distributed by the British Topical Committee for War Films. Simply called The Battle of the Somme, it was a silent black and white film that ran over 74 minutes in length, divided into 5 parts.

Two cinematographers had been tasked a year earlier by the British Topical Committee for War Films (endorsed and fully supported by the War Office) to shoot newsreel footage of the efforts that were underway in France to defeat Germany. One of the two (Edward Tong of Jury's Imperial Pictures) having fallen sick in the field was replaced by John McDowell, of the British & Colonial film company, and together with Geoffrey Malins were on location when British artillery gunners opened up on June 24 and began their bombardment of German positions.

When they had arrived in France Tong and Malins filmed soldiers in the rear diligently stockpiling munitions and eagerly marching to frontline trenches, commanders addressing their troops and local farmers tending their crops. Months later, McDowell and Malins captured the preemptive barrage and the detonation of the mine under the Hawthorn Ridge Redoubt. They also included in their film re-enactments of tending to the wounded, going "over the top", soldiers advancing through No Man's Land and the treatment of captured prisoners.

Significantly, on 01 July 1916, Malins was attached to the 29th Division (VIII Corps) and was in the vicinity of Beaumont Hamel, in order to film the mortar shelling of Hawthorn Ridge, which he did as German bombs fell nearby. When the order was given to go "over the top", Malins had been filming the 1st Battalion Lancashire Fusiliers waiting to advance, many of whom would be dead within the next 24 hours, before heading back at dawn to famously film the massive explosion of the mine underneath the Hawthorn Ridge Redoubt minutes before Zero Hour.

Although his equipment was cumbersome (and was damaged) and the camera hand-cranked in those days, he persevered, and throughout the early days of the battle continued to shoot historical footage and left for London a week later, but was returned soon after to film new sequences of additional shellfire (a tactic still in its infancy) and troops advancing from their trenches, though staged for the camera, near St Pol.

McDowell was assigned to an area further south near the villages of Fricourt and Mametz with the 7th Division (XV Corps), where their actions proved more successful than units in the northern sector, which were being annihilated. The success of the 7th Division enabled McDowell, who was posted to cover the vicinity of Carnoy and the dressing-station at Minden Post, to critically film the captured German trenches near Fricourt and Mametz, especially useful for the War Office as effective propaganda.

The film, comprising its five reels, was quickly edited and first screened a month later in August at the Scala Theatre. Preceding its screening, however, a letter from (soon-to-be Prime Minister) Lloyd George was read, to "see that this picture, which is in itself an epic of self-sacrifice and gallantry, reaches everyone. Herald the deeds of our brave men to the ends of the earth. This is your duty."

Originally planned to be a joint Anglo-French offensive to liberate territory in northern France, when the Germans suddenly launched their own attack at Verdun, for the British troops under General Haig (who had stated his preference to allocate his own limited resources to re-capture land in Belgium to access vital seaports; keeping in mind, Britain had declared war on Germany in defense of Belgium) the Battle of the Somme was never intended to actually end the war, but to put their forces in a better position by the end of the year, to push on in 1917, while also relieving the intense pressure felt by the French at Verdun.

Today, lest we forget, at the entrance to the Sunken Road, where on 01 July the Lancashire Regiment were wiped out (the position was held through the night by just one officer and 25 men; the battalion having lost 163 killed, 312 wounded and 11 missing), is a huge white Celtic cross commemorating the men of the 1/8th Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders who finally took Beaumont-Hamel on 13 November 1916, five days before the Battle of the Somme was mercifully declared over.

Its solemn inscription reads:

The mighty heroes of the Great War
The heroes who went before us

The Struggle for the Italians

Not all battles in 1916 were being waged along the Western Front. While the Somme Offensive was nearing its conclusion, slowing in the mud, and French forces were still fending off the Germans at Verdun, the Italian army on 10 October launched the Eighth Battle of the Isonzo against the armies of the Austro-Hungarian empire, trying to extend the bridgehead gained in prior months at Gorizia.

The various battles fought along the Isonzo River fell in the eastern sector of the Italian Front, in present-day Slovenia. During #WW1 the river - running north-south - was located mainly inside the borders of Austria, its head was, however, at the head of the Adriatic in Italy, flanked on both banks by mountains. The Austro-Hungarians held the higher ground and had fortified their positions. The Italians were fighting an uphill battle from the outset.

Following promises made by Allied leaders during the Treaty of London (26 April 1915), Italy then entered the war intending to annex Littoral and northern Dalmatia, as well as the territories of present-day Trentino and South Tyrol with a surprise offensive. Unfortunately, their actions soon bogged down into trench warfare at high altitudes, amid extremely cold winters.

At the time of the Eighth Battle 100 years ago, keeping in mind the regions sought by Italy when the Treaty was signed over 45% of the 1.5 million people were Italian speakers (the rest were Slovenes, Germans and Croats), many thousands of re-settled civilians were dying of malnutrition and facing the prospect of freezing to death in refugee camps in the mountains.

With respect to the fighting along the coastal plain of the Isonzo, the Italians, led by Chief of Staff Luigi Cadorna, could not achieve any success and, as with their earlier attacks, heavy casualties required that their 2-day initiative be called off pending the army's recuperation. The year prior, from October to November, the Italians amassed 1,200 heavy guns and had launched their Third and Fourth Battles of Isonzo, which ended in early December due to lack of munitions and much-needed supplies for the troops.

Although nothing strategically was gained by taking Gorizia during the Sixth Battle, apparently morale and spirits along the Italian line were boosted. The subsequent battles of the Isonzo in the following months accomplished little - except wear down the simply exhausted armies of both nations.

It should be noted discipline in the Italian Army was harsh, with severe punishments for infractions not known in the German, French, and British armies. Also, shellfire in the rocky terrain caused 70% more casualties per rounds expended than on the soft ground in Belgium and France. Thus, as with the forces on the Western Front, tunnels were built into the rock of the Dolomites, and even through glacial ice, attempting to break the stalemate by going underneath No Man's Land and placing explosive charges beneath enemy positions.

Sadly, on 13 December 1916, a day known as 'White Friday', 10,000 soldiers were killed by avalanches in the Dolomites. In a war of attrition, the Italian soldiers who survived the nine offensives waged through to the end of 1916 had seen 70,000 of their comrades killed and in the two offensives of 1917 they would see another 76,000 more die.

Not surprisingly, the number of casualties during the numerous and admittedly disappointing battles of the Isonzo were enormous for the Italians from 1915 to 1916, but the worst was yet to come. In 1917, with the Pope calling for an end to the war, a joint German and Austro-Hungarian assault broke through the Isonzo line, which destroyed the Italian Second Army and removed 275,000 Italian soldiers from the battlefield, almost all of them captured.

In total, incredibly, there were 1.2 million casualties suffered along the Isonzo.

The Struggle for a Grave at The Somme

Of all the 72,245 names that are inscribed on the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme, there are seven who were Victoria Cross winners, a few who had already demonstrated their gallantry in a prior battle and who were duly recognized for their outstanding efforts under fire, but who were then killed at The Somme and today remain missing and have no known grave.

Captain Eric Bell, when 20 years old, won his VC on the first day of the offensive, while serving with the The Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers at Thiepval where he was killed in action on 1 July 1916. As later printed in The London Gazette, his citation read: "For most conspicuous bravery. He was in command of a Trench Mortar Battery, and advanced with the Infantry in the attack. When our front line was hung up by enfilading machine gun fire Captain Bell crept forward and shot the machine gunner. Later, on no less than three occasions, when our bombing parties, which were clearing the enemy's trenches, were unable to advance, he went forward alone and threw Trench Mortar bombs among the enemy. When he had no more bombs available he stood on the parapet, under intense fire, and used a rifle with great coolness and effect on the enemy advancing to counter-attack. Finally he was killed rallying and reorganising infantry parties which had lost their officers. All this was outside the scope of his normal duties with his battery. He gave his life in his supreme devotion to duty."

Private William Buckingham grew up at the Countesthorpe Cottage Homes for Children and joined the British Army in 1901, at the age of 15, serving first in Egypt and India. His battalion was posted to France at the outset of WW1 where he won the Victoria Cross for his actions on two separate occasions, on 10 and 12 March 1915 at Neuve Chapelle during which he was also wounded in the chest. His citation reads: "For conspicuous acts of bravery and devotion to duty in rescuing and rendering aid to the wounded whilst exposed to heavy fire, especially at Neuve-Chapelle on 10th and 12th March 1915." According to a newspaper report, after King George V had presented his VC to him at Buckingham Palace on 4 June 1915, he was then employed by the army to encourage more men to enlist. However, a career soldier, he actually wanted to go back to war and rejoined the 1st Battalion of his regiment in France in May 1916. Sadly, he was killed by German machine gun fire during an attack south of Ginchy on 15 September 15 1916. His body was never found after the battle in which 111 men of his regiment were also killed and 232 wounded in one day.

Lieutenant Geoffrey St George Shillington Cather was killed while serving with the Royal Irish Fusiliers on 2 July 1916, and was awarded his VC for his actions near Beaumont Hamel. (Of the 600 men of the 9th Battalion to go into the attack, only 80 made it back to their own lines - the injured were left lying in the open.) His citation reads: "For most conspicuous bravery. From 7 p.m. till midnight he searched 'No Man's Land', and brought in three wounded men. Next morning at 8 a.m. he continued his search, brought in another wounded man, and gave water to others, arranging for their rescue later. Finally, at 10.30 a.m., he took out water to another man, and was proceeding further on when he was himself killed. All this was carried out in full view of the enemy, and under direct machine gun fire and intermittent artillery fire. He set a splendid example of courage and self sacrifice." On 31 March 1917 King George V, at Buckingham Palace, presented his medal to his mother, Margaret Matilda.

Private William Frederick McFadzean, a 20-year-old rifleman in the 14th Battalion, The Royal Irish Rifles, on 1 July 1916, serving near Thiepval Wood selflessly threw himself atop several un-pinned grenades, which exploded, killing him and injuring another companion. His citation, subsequently published on 8 Sept 8 1916 in the London Gazette, read: "For most conspicuous bravery. While in a concentration trench and opening a box of bombs for distribution prior to an attack, the box slipped down into the trench, which was crowded with men, and two of the safety pins fell out. Private McFadzean, instantly realising the danger to his comrades, with heroic courage threw himself on the top of the Bombs. The bombs exploded blowing him to pieces, but only one other man was injured. He well knew his danger, being himself a bomber, but without a moment's hesitation he gave his life for his comrades. McFadzean's father was presented with his son's VC by King George V in Buckingham Palace, London on 28 February 1917, which today can be seen proudly on display at The Royal Ulster Rifles Museum in Belfast.

Private William Mariner, from Lancashire, won his VC at Cambrai on 22 May 1915, yet was killed a year later at Loos serving with the King's Royal Rifle Corps. At 18, Mariner signed up and served in the British Army in India until 1909, becoming the regimental lightweight wrestling champion. Although, quite a character, he was twice court-martialled, once for striking an officer and once for using threatening behaviour, serving long prison sentences with hard labour. He left the army in 1912 as a private but was soon convicted of breaking and entering, serving at least a year in prison in Manchester. So, in October 1914, he signed up with his old regiment, and was sent to France. While stationed at Loos, prior to the launch of the offensive on 1 July 1916, his comrades reported that Mariner seemed to lose control during a heavy bombardment, ran down an enemy trench and was last seen bayoneting a German as a shell exploded on him, blowing him to pieces. 

However, for his actions the year prior, his citation reads: "During a violent thunderstorm on the night of 22nd May, 1915, he left his trench near Cambrin, and crept out through the German wire entanglements till he reached the emplacement of a German machine gun which had been damaging our parapets and hindering our working parties. After climbing on the top of the German parapet he threw a bomb in under the roof of the gun emplacement and- heard some groaning and the enemy running away. After about a quarter of an hour he heard some of them coming back again, and climbed up on the other side of the emplacement and threw another bomb among them left-handed. He then lay still while the Germans opened a heavy fire on the wire entanglement behind him, and it was only after about an hour that he was able to crawl back to his own trench. Before starting out he had requested a serjeant to open fire on the enemy's trenches as soon as he had thrown his bombs. Rifleman Mariner was out alone for one and a half hours carrying out this gallant work."

Lieutenant Thomas Orde Lawder Wilkinson, an English-born Canadian and British Army officer, was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross serving the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment. He died 5 July 1916 at La Boiselle, and his citation reads: "For most conspicuous bravery. During an attack, when a party of another unit was retiring without their machine-gun, Lieut. Wilkinson rushed forward, and, with two of his men, got the gun into action, and held up the enemy till they were relieved. Later, when the advance was checked during a bombing attack, he forced his way forward and found four or five men of different units stopped by a solid block of earth, over which the enemy was throwing bombs. With great pluck and promptness he mounted a machine-gun on the top of the parapet and dispersed the enemy bombers. Subsequently he made two most gallant attempts to bring in a wounded man, but at the second attempt he was shot through the heart just before reaching the man. Throughout the day he set a magnificent example of courage and self-sacrifice." In 2004 a plaque to his memory was unveiled in Quatt churchyard, commissioned by the Shropshire War Memorials Association - after unsuccessful attempts to locate relatives -and his Victoria Cross is displayed at the Imperial War Museum in London.

Lieutenant Alexander Young died in France on 19 October 1916, yet won his Victoria Cross while fighting in the Boer War in South Africa. Originally from County Galway, Ireland, Young joined the 2nd Dragoon Guards (Queen's Bays) and eventually became a riding instructor in the army, and served during the Mahdist War in India. While in the Cape Police, South African Forces, this is the report of his actions that won him his VC: "Towards the close of the action at Ruiter's Kraal on the 13th August, 1901, Sergeant-Major Young, with a handful of men, rushed some kopjes which were being; held by Commandant Erasmus and about 20 Boers. On reaching these kopjes the enemy were seen galloping back to another kopje held by the Boers. Sergeant-Major Young then galloped on some 50 yards ahead of his party and closing with the enemy shot one of them and captured Commandant Erasmus, the latter firing at him three times at point blank range before being taken prisoner." During WW1, after first joining the Natal Light Horse, Young transferred to the South African Scottish. He was serving with the regiment on the Somme when he was killed in action at the Butte de Warlencourt and is now commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing.

Lest we forget.

The Struggle for Thiepval Ridge

Today, Thiepval is known and revered by many as the location of a memorial dedicated to the soldiers of the British Armies who fought and were never to be seen again while fighting in the Battle of The Somme, and who have no known grave. The memorial, officially called the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of The Somme, is surrounded by an Allied cemetery and is located near the village of Thiepval in France.

It is the largest Commonwealth Memorial to the Missing in the world and recognizes the names of over 72,000 servicemen, fully 90% were lost during the initial offensive from 1 July to 18 November 1916, and the inscription reads: "Here are recorded names of officers and men of the British Armies who fell on the Somme battlefields July 1915 February 1918 but to whom the fortune of war denied the known and honoured burial given to their comrades in death."

In the wake of the successes of the Canadian and New Zealand troops a few weeks prior at Flers, one hundred years ago, on September 26 the British attacked the formidable German defenses at Thiepval Ridge - it was a battle that lasted four days, and ended with Allied forces controlling most of Thiepval. Supporting the efforts of the Fourth Army, the attack was launched by the Reserve Army under the command of Lt-General Gough, and the Canadian Corps (under the command of Lt-General Julian Byng) provided a critical flank on their right, tasked to capture the German trenches north-west of Courcelette, and their array of machine gun nests.

Augmenting their use of the recently introduced "creeping barrage" British artillery units were directed to concentrate the shells overhead into enemy positions, a suppressing fire, while infantry crossed No Man's Land in the afternoon, intending to reach and take the German trenches under the cover of darkness, another innovative tactic implemented as the war progressed. The British fired over 60,000 field artillery and 45,000 heavy artillery rounds two days prior to beginning the attack on the 26th, in addition to a gas-filled shells to effectively remove the German mortar teams from Thiepval - an objective achieved.

The day before, in a preliminary attack, a Canadian company that had finally successfully captured hotly-contested Mouquet Farm were then driven back by accurately-fired German shells, not to mention the fact the Germans also still held the cellars, dug-outs and tunnels beneath them. During the subsequent Battle of Thiepval Ridge, however, the Lancashire Fusiliers bombed the exits of the underground positions, enabling them to actually reach their second objective: Zollern Trench.

The Germans had held Thiepval Ridge since 1914 and their trench system was vast and complicated. The Canadians, for example, moved from Sudbury Trench to Kenora Trench and Regina/Stuff Trench, but were defending counter-attacks in Hessian Trench by 10:30 at night. To their left, the British - constantly being hit by counter-barrages during their advance - reached Joseph Trench at 12:45 and then Schwaben Trench between Mouquet Farm and Thiepval where they dug in. After numerous counter-attacks by both sides, the Germans withdrew and by mid-morning Thiepval and its ridge were under the command of Commonwealth forces and a victory was declared.

The brutal and bloody fighting continued in the maze of trenches, with grenades being lobbed and hand-to-hand combat facing many of the soldiers over the next few days. German accounts of the battle conclude that the initial successes at Courcelette and Thiepval led to the loss, as well as their lack of reserves which ultimately forced their retreat. With the loss of most of their garrison at Thiepval, the Allies advanced between 1,000–2,000 yards along the 6,000-yard front and continued onward toward the Stuff and Schwaben redoubts, where the Germans were eventually defeated in the Battle of the Ancre Heights, which began on 1 October.

The Canadian 11th Division losses from 26–30 September were 3,615, with nearly 70% of the men wounded, and total casualties in the 18th Division were over 4,000 men, but for the Germans September was considered to be their most costly month of the Battle of the Somme, losing approximately 135,000 soldiers, including 10,000 who were captured from 14–30 September, along with 27 guns, 200 machine-guns and 40 trench mortars.

The Struggle for The Somme

One hundred years ago, in mid-July the first two weeks of Anglo-French offensive operations in the Battle of the Somme had come to a conclusion. Although mainly considered a British offensive, which had begun with an intense week-long bombardment of German heavily-fortified defensive bunkers, and had little impact by the time soldiers left their trenches on 01 July 1916, the attack was actually a two-pronged approach: the British advancing in the north and the French in the south.

Upon commencing, the French Sixth army and the right wing of the British Fourth Army inflicted a considerable defeat on the German 2nd Army - but, as we now know, from the Albert-Bapaume road to Gommecourt the British attack was a disaster, and thus (against General Joffre's wishes) General Haig abandoned the offensive north of the road to reinforce their successes, where forces continued to press forward.

Heavy fighting to capture Trônes Wood, Mametz Wood and Contalmaison took place until 14 July, when the Battle of Bazentin Ridge began. However, ill-prepared German reinforcements had now reached the front and were thrown into the battle and suffered many casualties against Allied troops who were unfamiliar with the ground and lacking both adequate reconnaissance and artillery support.

The Battle of Bazentin Ridge, which ran for three days, comprised part of the second phase of the Somme Offensive, was launched primarily by twelve battalions of the Allied Reserve Army, with Rawlinson's Fourth Army providing a further battalion, on a front extending from Longueval to Bazentin-le-Petit Wood.

Having established a position at Bazentin-le-Petit, British infantry commanders found a "gap" - High Wood - in the German line and in the morning sought permission to move. Incredibly, leaders in the rear decided it was an ideal use for their cavalry, in fact a squadron from each of the 7th Dragoon Guards and the 20th Deccan Horse of the 2nd Indian Cavalry Division, who they believed could move more quickly than infantry - and possibly break through to Bapaume.

During the several hours it took to send their mounted units forward, German defenders had moved back into the area, and when the cavalry finally charged forward at sunset, they were met with decimating machine gun fire. Upon hearing of their losses and failure of their attack, and while their forces were still trying to secure a line under heavy fire inside the wood - duly preparing for an attack the following day - British headquarters instead ordered an attack at Martinpuich in the north.

It was not successful, and the consequences for the attacking 33rd Division were devastating. The 1/9th Highland Light Infantry of the 33rd Division had attacked in the early morning on 15 July, with three platoons advancing on the west side of High Wood - and facing concentrated machine-gun fire, their attack was repulsed.

Later that evening the British withdrew, yet the British Fourth Army and the German 2nd Army and 1st Army fought for control of the wood from 14 July – 15 September.

The 33rd Division attacked again at dusk on 19 July, and pushed toward the wood from Bazentin-le-Petit while two battalions of the 19th Brigade crept forward on 20 July, during a bombardment and attacked when it lifted at 3:25am, and managed to get into the wood. During the afternoon of the 21 July, another battalion went forward and reached the northern fringe of the wood.

Due to the number of British casualties, two more battalions were sent forward as reinforcements but as dark fell a German bombardment forced the British from the north end of the wood, which was reoccupied by German troops near Foureaux Riegel (known to the British as the Switch Line) and both sides dug in. Then, during renewed relentless fighting for High Wood, with the 5th Division and 7th Division attacking to the east, the 51st (Highland) Division relieved the 33rd Division after dark.