Capture of La Boisselle 1916
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 6 July 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 | Wikidata P361 |
| Coordinates | 50.0129, 2.6998 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Capture of La Boisselle (1–6 July 1916) was a tactical incident during the Battle of Albert, the name given by the British to the first two weeks of the Battle of the Somme. The village of La Boisselle forms part of the small commune of Ovillers-la-Boisselle about 22 mi (35 km) north-east of Amiens in the Somme department in Picardy in northern France. To the north-east of La Boisselle lies Ovillers; by 1916, the village was called Ovillers by the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) to avoid confusion with La Boisselle, south of the road.
On 1 July 1916, the first day on the Somme, La Boisselle was attacked by the 34th Division, III Corps but the bombardment had not damaged the German deep-mined dug-outs (minierte Stollen) and a German listening post overheard a British telephone conversation the day before, which gave away the attack. The III Corps divisions suffered more than 11,000 casualties and failed to capture La Boisselle or Ovillers, gaining only small footholds near the boundary with XV Corps to the south and at Schwabenhöhe (Swabian heights), a field fortification in the German front line, after the explosion of the Lochnagar mine had destroyed some of its defences.
The advance of the 103rd Brigade was over ground with a fold, which meant that the disaster of the attack by preceding brigades occurred unseen in dead ground.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Capture of La Boisselle (revision 1370609009), 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 Somme 1916 · 0 km
- Battle of Albert (1914) 1914 · 1 km
- First day on the Somme 1916 · 1 km
- Leipzig Salient 1916 · 1 km
- Capture of Ovillers 1916 · 2 km
- Battle of Albert (1916) 1916 · 2 km
Other battles of the Battle of the Somme
- Attack at Fromelles 1916
- Battle of Albert (1916) 1916
- Battle of Bazentin Ridge 1916
- Battle of Delville Wood 1916
- Battle of Flers–Courcelette 1916
- Battle of Guillemont 1916
- Battle of Le Transloy 1916
- Battle of Morval 1916
- Battle of Thiepval Ridge 1916
- Battle of the Ancre 1916
All 19 battles of the Battle of the Somme →
Browse more: battles in France · Europe · World War I era battles