ere the Eighth Division of the
Fourth Magdeburg Corps were intrenched, and where for many weeks they
defied every effort of the British to oust them.

At this stage in the battle of the Somme the total of unwounded
prisoners captured by the British numbered 189 officers and 10,779
men. The German losses in guns included five 8-inch and three 6-inch
howitzers, four 6-inch guns, five other heavies, thirty-seven field
guns, sixty-six machine guns, and thirty trench mortars.

No exact estimate of the German losses in dead and wounded could be
made, but captured letters spoke of desperate conditions and of
terrible slaughter. One German battalion was reduced to three officers
and twenty-one men, and there was mention in these letters of several
other formations which had broken down through exhaustion and retired
from action.

* * * * *

It was imperative now for the British to finish off their capture of
the German second position and to prepare for a German attack which
might develop at any moment. From east of Pozieres to Delville Wood
the enemy had lost their second line and were forced to construct a
switch line to establish a connection between the third position and
an uncaptured point, such as Pozieres, in his second position.

There was stubborn fighting among the orchards of Longueval and the
outskirts of Delville, where the British made little headway, but
registered some gains. All their hopes were centered at this time on
their chief objectives, Guillemont and Pozieres. The latter was
especially important, for it formed a part of the plateau of Thiepval.
If the British succeeded in gaining the crest of the ridge all the
country to the east would come under direct observation. The most
important points on the watershed were Mouquet Farm, between Thiepval
and Pozieres, the Windmill east of the last place, High Wood, and the
high ground that lay directly east of Longueval. It was important that
the British should capture Guillemont in order to align the next
advance with the French forces. This task presented many difficulties,
for the advance from Trones Wood must be made over a bare and
shelterless country that was under the Germans' direct observation
from Leuze Wood. There was also a strongly fortified quarry on its
western edge and a ravine to the south of it between Maltzhorn and
Falfemont Farms, while Angle Wood in the center was a German
stronghold.

The difficulties o