Battle of the Somme 7 - November and the official end

Caterpillar Tractor sunk in the mud on the
Guillemont-Martinpuich road in October 1916.

In almost three months of dogged, attritional and sacrificial actions the British had inched their way to the prized high ground along approximately half of their original planned advance. This was their tactical high point (sic) of the battle but, with terrible irony, events - predominantly the weather - conspired to convert the high ground to disadvantage, a logistical nightmare. Buchan describes the October weather as "one long succession of tempestuous gales and drenching rains". Imagine the effects of these on the ground between the July 1st frontline and the September line. Every yard had been bought dearly: trenches, no man's land and woods had all been pulverised by artillery, close range fighting and desperate counter attacks. Only rubble and tree stumps broke the line of the stark landscape. No roads, to speak of, survived. And yet, if the British were to advance further on their mission to Bapaume, they had somehow to move masses of men, horses and equipment across that ground ever upward to their new front line. As torrential rains continued, the infamous Somme mud developed - a glutinous mess in which men and horses drowned and artillery and supplies were lost. We were not there, how can we imagine how grim it was. Churchill was not there, but his description does conjure a vision: "A vast sea of ensanguined mud, churned by thousands of vehicles, by hundreds of thousands of men, by millions of shells, replaced the blasted dust. Still the struggle continued. Still the remorseless wheels revolved. At last the legs of men could no longer move; they wallowed and floundered helplessly in the slime. Their food, their ammunition, lagged behind them along the smashed and choked roadways". If July 1st was the worst in terms of casualties, this phase must surely have been the nadir for misery.

Ground gained in the final weeks
25/9(red) to 19/11/16(blue) lines

Under these horrific conditions small wonder that only marginal gains were made through October. At the beginning of the month Flers was taken (see map). One week later, during a brief rain break, the village of Le Sars was captured, helped by a concerted attack on the right by the French towards Sailly-Saillissel. Further gains were made on the eastern flank beyond Morval and Lesboeufs

The weeks of pressure on the Germans led to significant changes in their tactics. Whilst they continued industriously with their defensive extensions, including – as we shall see – the covert build up of the Siegfried line, their defensive tactics were evolving rapidly. Deeper withdrawals to lure the enemy forward, followed by machine gun enfilade and flexibly deployed troops on the counter attack were the early versions of the shock troops of 1918.

The Butte de Warlancourt - an obvious prize
for surveillance

Some of these tactics were played out at the historic Butte de Warlancourt, a huge ancient burial ground to the south of the Roman road between Pozieres and Bapaume. See-saw battles were fought for control of this focal point of higher ground. It was almost won by 5^th November, but finally reclaimed in counter attack by the Germans. After the first few days of November, the weather had settled sufficiently to allow the final contortions of this awful battle.

At the northern end some gains had been made beyond the Schwaben Redoubt and around Thiepval, and it seemed time finally for Gough’s 5^th Army to take those day 1 objectives of Serre and Beaumont-Hamel. On 11^th November 1916 (note the date) the British began the ‘final’ bombardment of the campaign, preparatory to an attack on a cold foggy morning of November 13^th. As on 1^st July, the attack on Serre was thwarted with heavy losses, but over five days Scottish and Canadian Brigades inched their way to control of Beaucourt, Beaumont-Hamel and almost to Grandcourt.

Both sides were now exhausted. Winter weather closed in and actions became more desultory. Was the Battle of the Somme over? And if so, could either side claim victory?