Battle of Delville Wood 1916
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 3 September 1916 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1916 | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
| Era | World War I era (1914–1918) | derived from year |
| Location | France | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Europe | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | Battle of the Somme, World War I | Wikidata P361 |
| Participants | British Empire, German Empire, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | 50.0278, 2.8099 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Battle of Delville Wood (15 July – 3 September 1916) was a series of engagements in the 1916 Battle of the Somme in the First World War, between the armies of the German Empire and the British Empire. Delville Wood (Bois d'Elville), was a thick tangle of trees, chiefly beech and hornbeam (the wood has been replanted with oak and birch by the South African government), with dense hazel thickets, intersected by grassy rides, to the east of Longueval. As part of a general offensive starting on 14 July, which became known as the Battle of Bazentin Ridge (14–17 July), General Douglas Haig, Commander of the British Expeditionary Force, intended to capture the German second position between Delville Wood and Bazentin le Petit.
The attack achieved this objective and was a considerable though costly success. British attacks and German counter-attacks on the wood continued for the next seven weeks, until just before the Battle of Flers–Courcelette (15–17 September), the third British general attack in the Battle of the Somme. The 1st South African Infantry Brigade made its Western Front début as part of the 9th (Scottish) Division and captured Delville Wood on 15 July.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Delville Wood (revision 1379969257), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
Nearby battles
- Second Battle of the Somme 1918 · 1 km
- Battle of Pozières 1916 · 1 km
- Battle of Ginchy 1916 · 2 km
- Battle of Guillemont 1916 · 2 km
- Battle of Morval 1916 · 2 km
- Battle of Bazentin Ridge 1916 · 4 km
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