| > > > The
Battle of Albert |
| |
| July 2
- 13: piecemeal attacks increase the penetration of the first
enemy line |
| By nightfall
on 1 July, although reports were only beginning to filter back
and in places the situation was obscure, the true nature of the
task confronting the British Army was becoming clear. The devastating
nature of the losses in front of Serre, Beaumont Hamel, Thiepval,
Ovillers, La Boisselle and Fricourt was not yet appreciated; there
were fresh Divisions in reserve. The French had done well by all
accounts. Douglas Haig ordered the attack to be continued, but
switching resurces towards exploiting the gains to the right at
Montauban and Mametz. But now there was no element of surprise
and German reserves were being rushed to the front. A series of
relatively small scale attacks succeeded at great cost over the
next 12 days in pushing forward to within sight of the enemy's
second line. |
|
| British
Divisions engaged on 2 July 1916, right to left |
| Fourth
Army (Rawlinson): remained
continuously engaged after 1 July
1916 |
| XIII
Corps (Congreve): 9th Division,
18th Division, 30th
Division [Montauban] |
| XV
Corps (Watts): 7th Division, 17th
Division, 21st Division, 38th
Division [Mametz - Fricourt] |
| Reserve
Army (Gough): took over XIII and X Corps from Fourth Army
on 4 July 1916 |
| III
Corps (Pulteney): 12th Division, 19th
Division, 23rd Division,
34th Division, 49th Division [La
Boisselle - Ovillers - Contalmaison] |
| X
Corps (Morland): 25th Division,
32nd Division, 36th Division [Thiepval] |
|
| |
| Go
back to 1 July | Go on to 14 July | Go
back to the battle calendar |
| |
| July
2 - 13: piecemeal attacks increase the penetration of the first
enemy line |
| The
Capture of Montauban and the fight for Trones Wood, 1-12 July
1916 |
| The
Capture of Mametz and the fight for Mametz Wood, 1 -13 July 1916 |
| The
Capture of Fricourt, 2 July |
| The
Capture of La Boisselle and the fight for Contalmaison, 2 July-11 July
1916 |
|