Battle of Thiepval Ridge 1916
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 25 September 1916 – 28 September 1916 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1916 | Wikidata P580 (start 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, Western Front | Wikidata P361 |
| Participants | German Empire, J. R. R. Tolkien, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | 50.0545, 2.6884 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Battle of Thiepval Ridge was the first big offensive of the Reserve Army (Lieutenant General Hubert Gough), during the Battle of the Somme on the Western Front during the First World War. The attack was intended to benefit from the Fourth Army attack in the Battle of Morval by starting 24 hours afterwards. The battle was fought on a front from Courcelette in the east, near the Albert–Bapaume road, to Thiepval and the Schwaben Redoubt (Schwaben-Feste) in the west, which overlooked the German defences further north in the Ancre valley, the rising ground towards Beaumont-Hamel and Serre beyond.
Thiepval Ridge was elaborately fortified and the German defenders fought with great determination, while the British co-ordination of infantry and artillery declined after the first day, due to the confused nature of the fighting in the maze of trenches, dugouts and shell-craters. The final British objectives were not reached until a reorganisation of the Reserve Army and the Battle of the Ancre Heights (1 October – 11 November). Organisational difficulties and deteriorating weather frustrated General Joseph Joffre's intention to proceed with vigorous co-ordinated attacks by the Anglo-French armies.
Anglo-French attacks became disjointed and declined in effectiveness during late September, at the same time as a revival occurred in the German defence.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Thiepval Ridge (revision 1370590987), 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
- Battle of the Ancre 1916 · 2 km
- Fighting for Mouquet Farm 1916 · 2 km
- Capture of Ovillers 1916 · 3 km
- Leipzig Salient 1916 · 4 km
- First day on the Somme 1916 · 4 km
- Battle of Flers–Courcelette 1916 · 4 km
Other battles of the Western Front
- Capture of Hill 60 (Western Front) 1915
- Second Battle of Artois 1915
- Second Battle of Champagne 1915
- Second Battle of Ypres 1915
- Third Battle of Artois 1915
- Attack on the Boar's Head 1916
- Battle of Mont Sorrel 1916
- Battle of Verdun 1916
- Battle of the Somme 1916
- Hohenzollern Redoubt action, 2–18 March 1916 1916
All 48 battles of the Western Front →
Browse more: battles in France · Europe · World War I era battles