Capture of Contalmaison

Capture of Contalmaison
Part of the Battle of the Somme, in the First World War
Battle of the Somme 1 July – 18 November 1916
Date 2–10 July 1916 Location Picardy, France 50°01′00″N 02°44′00″E / 50.01667°N 2.73333°E / 50.01667; 2.73333 Result British victory
Belligerents
British Empire	German Empire
Commanders and leaders
Douglas Haig	General Erich von Falkenhayn
Strength
4 divisions (parts)	17 regiments (parts)
Casualties and losses
c. 12,000	c. 4,000
Contalmaison class=notpageimage| Contalmaison is a commune in the Somme department of Picardy, northern France.

The Capture of Contalmaison was a tactical incident of the Battle of Albert. Contalmaison is a commune in the Somme department in Picardy in northern France. The village is 4 mi (6.4 km) north-east of Albert on the D 104, north-west of Mametz Wood and south of Pozières, at the junction of several roads, atop a spur with a good view in all directions. In 1914, there was a church and a château just to the north, a chalk pit nearby and 72 houses, making it the seventh-largest village on the Somme. Military operations in the area began when the German XIV Reserve Corps advanced down the Bapaume–Albert road and Contalmaison was captured at noon on 28 September, by Reserve Infantry Regiment 40 (RIR 40) and RIR 110 of the 28th Reserve Division which took 20 prisoners for a loss of three men killed and 21 wounded.

In 1916, the village was between the German first and second positions, each having three trenches about 200 yd (180 m) apart, behind deep fields of barbed wire. The village was ringed by a dense network of trenches and barbed-wire obstacles, with a commanding view of the vicinity. On 1 July, the First day on the Somme a small party from the 34th Division got within 500 yd (460 m) of the village. Rear-area troops were scraped up to counter-attack them and pushed the party back from the Völkerbereitschaft (Readiness Trench) to the Pioneergraben (Pioneer Trench). The 34th Division lost 6,380 men, the highest number of casualties of any division involved in the attack. Operations to capture Contalmaison continued until the village was captured, with fresh divisions from 2 to 10 July; the British were able to close up to the German second position, ready for the Battle of Bazentin Ridge (14–17 July).

The capture of the village cost the British about 12,000 more casualties and the commander of the 17th (Northern) Division was sacked. The attacks forced the Germans into a costly piecemeal defence and many losses were inflicted on the 17 regiments that contributed men for the defence of Contalmaison and the vicinity; Infantry Regiment Lehr was almost annihilated. The German policy of resolute defence and counter-attack exposed many German units to British firepower and by 10 July, German casualties on the Somme had risen to 40,197 men. The village became a backwater until 25 March 1918, when the 79th Reserve and 183rd divisions re-captured it during Operation Michael, the German spring offensive. The village changed hands for the last time when it was taken by the 113th Brigade of the 38th (Welsh) Division on 25 August, during the Second Battle of Bapaume.