Battle of Bazentin Ridge - Dawn Attack

Dawn Attack

The section of the German second position from Bazentin le Petit to Longueval was held by the German 3rd Guard Division. At 3.20 a.m. the British artillery opened their intense bombardment on the German front-line trenches. At 3.25 a.m., when the bombardment lifted to the second-line reserve trenches, the infantry rushed in. The bombardment fell on the reserve trenches for a further two minutes before lifting again. The first wave of British infantry, made up of bombing parties, was to push straight on to the reserve trenches, leaving the following waves to mop up the front-line. Surprise was not complete and in places the German defenders met the advancing infantry with rifle and machine gun fire but elsewhere the garrisons were caught in their dugouts. As on 1 July, the quality of the wire-cutting was variable; sometimes it posed no obstacle, elsewhere the attacking waves got held up and cut to pieces.

At the left, the 21st Division attacked from Mametz Wood, crossing no man's land into Bazentin le Petit Wood. On their right was the 7th Division which, having been faced with over 1,000 yards (900 m) of no man's land to cross, had crept its assaulting battalions within 100 yards (90 m) of the German wire when the bombardment lifted. The 7th Division were faced with a complex of German trenches — Flatiron Trench, Marlboro Trench and The Snout — beyond which lay Bazentin le Grand Wood, but they reached all their objectives. By mid-morning these two XV Corps divisions had captured the village of Bazentin le Petit.

On the right, attacking between Bazentin le Grand and Longueval were the two XIII Corps divisions, left to right, the 3rd Division and the 9th (Scottish) Division. The 9th Division, which also contained the South African Infantry Brigade (in reserve near Carnoy), took Longueval and reached the fringe of Delville Wood which flanked the village but were unable to take the German redoubt at Waterlot Farm.

In the centre, things did not go well for the 3rd Division attacking from Montauban towards Bazentin le Grand. The German wire was uncut and the defenders alert. The German defensive barrage laid down in no man's land missed the assaulting battalions but caught the supporting waves. Typical of the division's fortunes was the 7th Battalion, King's Shropshire Light Infantry (8th Brigade) which lost eight officers and 200 other ranks killed.

Meanwhile the 18th (Eastern) Division, attacking from Bernafay Wood east of Montauban, had successfully captured Trônes Wood.

General Hans-Heinrich Sixt von Armin had taken over the front Longueval—Ancre that morning; he ordered all troops to hang on. 7th Division (IV Corps) was moving up between Bazentin-le-Petit Wood and Pozieres to relieve the 183rd Division so was spread out to reinforce the front attacked. Parts of 185th, 17th Reserve, 26th Reserve, 3rd Guards divisions and part of 55th Landwehr Regiment were sent to join in. West of Longueval the Germans rallied on the new 'Switch Line'. When news arrived that cavalry were near High Wood (9.40 p.m. German time/8.40 p.m. British time) Armin sent all his reserves (8th, 5th, 24th Reserve, 8th Bavarian Reserve divisions) with orders to hold the British and then counter-attack. When the true situation became known he removed 5th and 8th Bavarian Reserve divisions and stopped the big counter-stroke.