page_title: 3rd (City of London) Battalion, London Regiment
section_title: Somme
hierarchical_section_title: 3rd (City of London) Battalion, London Regiment / World War I / 1/3rd Londons / Somme
caption_attribution_description: British infantry advancing in support during the Battle of Morval, 25 September 1916, part of the Battle of the Somme.The site is near Ginchy so the troops belong to the British XIV Corps, possibly the British 5th Division.
context_page_description: The 3rd (City of London) Battalion, London Regiment was a volunteer unit of the British Army under various titles from 1860 to 1961. Originally raised from railwaymen, the battalion sent a detachment to the Second Boer War and several battalions fought in World War I. Shortly before World War II, it became a searchlight unit and defended the UK during the Blitz, remaining in the air defence role in the postwar Territorial Army.
context_section_description: On 5 September 1916, the 56th Division went back into the line during the Battle of Ginchy. 168th Bde attacked before dawn with partial success, but lost direction, and their relief later in the day by 167th Bde caused some problems. For the Battle of Flers–Courcelette on 15 September, 167th Bde attacked towards Bouleaux Wood with two of the new tanks in support. The attack went in at 06.20, but one tank had broken down, while the other was hit by a field gun and set on fire after giving early support. Because neighbouring troops could not take the flanking strongpoint known as 'the Quadrilateral' the brigade's attack made little progress and the attack was called off in the afternoon. It was the same story when the division made a second attempt on 18 September, but at least the Quadrilateral fell. When the division attacked again on 25 September (the Battle of Morval), German resistance began to crumble, and by midnight 167th Bde was in the lower part of Bouleaux Wood and beyond the derelict tank from the 15 September fighting.
  In early October, 167th Bde occupied a line of linked-up outposts in a sea of mud, and the planned attack on 5 October. It went in on 7 October (the Battle of Le Transloy) and 167th Bde on the left was fairly successful, but in the follow-up attack at 15.30 on 8 October, 1/3rd Londons failed to make any appreciable advance against machine gun fire. The division was relieved the following night.
  There followed months of light training and line-holding in the Neuve Chapelle sector while the units of 56th Division were slowly rebuilt. Despite further casualties while holding the line and raiding the enemy, 1/3rd Londons attained a strength of almost 1100 all ranks when it returned to active operations in March 1917.
caption: British troops at Morval 25 September 1916
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