  the battle of le transloy was the final offensive mounted by the british fourth army during the 1916 battle of the somme. ==background== ===strategic developments=== at the battle of morval , the anglo-french armies had crossed the pÃ©ronneâbapaume road around bouchavesnes, taken morval, lesboeufs and geuedecourt in the centre and then captured most of thiepval ridge on the northern flank. on 29 september, general sir douglas haig instructed the fourth army to plan operations to advance towards bapaume, reaching le transloy on the right and loupart wood north of the albertâbapaume road on the left. the reserve army was to extend the attacks of the fourth army by making converging attacks on the ancre valley, attacking northwards after the battle of thiepval ridge  towards loupart wood, irles and miraumont on the south bank and eastwards on the north bank of the ancre, by attacking towards puisieux on a front from beaumont hamel to hÃ©buterne, with the right flank meeting the attacks from the south at miraumont, to envelop german troops in the upper ancre valley. the third army was to provide a flank guard north of the reserve army, by occupying a spur south of gommecourt. the reserve army operations were to begin by 12 october, after the fourth army had attacked towards le transloy and beaulencourt and the french sixth army had attacked sailly-saillisel around 7 october. the french tenth army south of the somme, was to attack on 10 october, north of chaulnes. normal autumn weather in the somme region would be an obstacle but an exceptional amount of rain and mist grounded aircraft and created vast mud fields, which caused many attacks to be postponed. ==prelude== ===german defensive preparations=== on 28 august, chief of the general staff general erich von falkenhayn simplified the german command structure on the western front by establishing
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