The division moved south to participate in the Battle of the Somme, which began on 1 July. It was given the objective of capturing the village of Guillemont and the nearby German trenches. The German defenders, dug in at the village and its environs, had already repulsed two attacks. These attacks, and those launched by the division, formed the prelude to the Battle of Guillemont. In August, the division made three unsuccessful assaults on the Germans positions, and suffered 4,126 casualties. Second Lieutenant Gabriel Coury, attached to the 1/4SL, and Captain Noel Godfrey Chavasse, a member of the Royal Army Medical Corps who was attached to the Liverpool Scottish, earned VCs for their actions during the fighting.