Battle of Bazentin Ridge
1916 CE.
Shown on the map at 50.027°, 2.754°.
The Battle of Bazentin Ridge (14–17 July 1916) was part of the Battle of the Somme (1 July – 18 November) on the Western Front in France, during the First World War. On 14 July, the British Fourth Army (General Henry Rawlinson) made a dawn attack against the German 2nd Army (General Fritz von Below) in the Brown Position (Braune Stellung), from Delville Wood westwards to Bazentin le Petit Wood. The British attack succeeded but attempts to use the opportunity to capture High Wood failed, due to the German success in holding on to the north end of Longueval and parts of Delville Wood, from which attacks on High Wood could be engaged from the flank. The British cavalry, intended to provide a faster-moving exploitation force, was badly delayed by the devastated ground, shell-holes and derelict trenches. In the afternoon, infantry of the British 7th Division attacked High Wood, when an earlier advance could have occupied the wood unopposed. The British found German troops in parts of the wood and in the Switch Line along the ridge, which cut through the north-east part of the wood.
Text from the Wikipedia article Battle of Bazentin Ridge, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.