f the British position were summarized by Sir
Douglas Haig:

"The line of demarkation agreed upon by the French commander and
myself ran from Maltzhorn Farm due eastward to the Combles Valley, and
then northeastward up the valley to a point midway between
Sailly-Saillisel and Morval. These two villages had been fixed upon as
the objective respectively of the French left and my right. In order
to advance in cooperation with my right and eventually to reach
Sailly-Saillisel, our Allies had still to fight their way up that
portion of the main ridge which lies between Combles Valley on the
west and the river Tortille on the east. To do so they had in the
first place to capture the strongly fortified villages of Maurepas, Le
Forest, Rancourt, and Fregicourt, besides many woods and strong
systems of trenches. As the high ground on each side of the Combles
Valley commands the slopes of the ridge on the opposite side, it was
essential that the advance of the two armies should be simultaneous
and made in the closest cooperation."

The British made an attack on Guillemont from Trones Wood on July 19,
1916. It was a rainy, foggy day, that hampered military operations,
and they failed to advance.

On the day following the French made a general attack that achieved
brilliant results. North of the Somme over a front of five kilometers
from Ridge 139 (800 meters north of Hardecourt) the French carried the
first German trenches. They reached as far as the slope east of the
height of Hardecourt. Their line passed the boundary of Maurepas, and
followed the highway from Maurepas to Feuillieres. South of the Somme
they carried the whole of the German defense system from Barleux to
Vermandovillers. During the two following days the British guns
incessantly bombarded the entire German front. Two new corps had been
joined with the Fifth Army, the Second and First Anzac, which occupied
ground between the Ancre and south of the Albert-Bapaume road.

On July 23, 1916, the British launched a strong attack over a wide
front. The heaviest blows were centered on Pozieres and the Windmill
on the left. The village was now a mass of rubble, but amid the ruins
the Germans had fortified almost every yard of ground, there were deep
and carefully prepared dugouts, cunningly concealed machine-gun
emplacements, and lines of covered trenches on every hand.

The British forces began the movement about midnight, delivering the
assault from two sides. A di