page_title: First day on the Somme
section_title: XIII Corps
hierarchical_section_title: First day on the Somme / Battle / British Fourth Army / XIII Corps
caption_attribution_description: English: Map of French municipality Montauban-de-Picardie Français&#160;: Carte des communes françaises Montauban-de-Picardie Nederlands: Kaart van Franse gemeente Montauban-de-Picardie
context_page_description: The first day on the Somme, 1 July 1916, was the beginning of the Battle of Albert, the name given by the British to the first two weeks of the Battle of the Somme. Nine corps of the French Sixth Army and the British Fourth and Third armies attacked the German 2nd Army from Foucaucourt south of the Somme northwards across the Ancre to Serre and at Gommecourt, 2 mi beyond, in the Third Army area. The objective of the attack was to capture the German first and second positions from Serre south to the Albert–Bapaume road and the first position from the road south to Foucaucourt.
  The German defence south of the road mostly collapsed and the French had "complete success" on both banks of the Somme, as did the British from Maricourt on the army boundary, where XIII Corps took Montauban and reached all its objectives and XV Corps captured Mametz and isolated Fricourt. The III Corps attack on both sides of the Albert–Bapaume road was a disaster, making only a short advance south of La Boisselle, where the 34th Division suffered the most casualties of any Allied division on 1 July.
context_section_description: The southern flank of the British line was held by XIII Corps, which attacked Montauban with the New Army 18th (Eastern) and 30th divisions. The 30th Division took its objectives by 1:00 p.m. and the 18th (Eastern) Division completed its advance by 3:00 p.m. German defences south of the Albert–Bapaume road were far less developed than to the north and were visible from territory held by the British and French. The infantry advanced behind a creeping barrage and had the benefit of the heavy artillery of French XX Corps to the south. Much of the German artillery in the area had been put out of action during the preliminary bombardment and the German second and third lines were incomplete and had no deep dugouts, except in the first trench. On the right of the British attack, most of the German infantry and machine-guns were destroyed before the British advance; a river mist hampered the remaining defenders. In the chaos, alarmist reports were received that Bernafay and Trônes woods had been captured and before noon, every available man, including clerks and cooks was ordered forward to the second position. The 12th Reserve Division was ordered to prepare a counter-attack from Montauban to Mametz overnight but by midnight the division had only reached the second position. The 30th Division suffered 3,011 casualties, the 18th (Eastern) Division 3,115, RIR 109 2,147 and BRIR 6 1,810 casualties.
caption: Modern map of Montauban and vicinity (commune FR insee code 80560)
exif: {}