page_title: Battle of Guillemont
section_title: July
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of Guillemont / Battle / Fourth Army / July
caption_attribution_description: World War I Daily Mail Official War Photograph, Series 21, No. 164, titled "The high street of Guillemeont (captured September 3rd, 1916)". The obverse carries the following information: "Passed by Censor" and "The appalling results of modern warfare are seen in this photograph of the ground on which stood the High Street of Guillemont".
context_page_description: The Battle of Guillemont was an attack by the British Fourth Army on the village of Guillemont. The village is on the D 20 running east to Combles and the D 64 south-west to Montauban. Longueval and Delville Wood lie to the north-west and Ginchy to the north-east. The village was on the right flank of the British sector, near the boundary with the French Sixth Army. The Fourth Army had advanced close to Guillemont during the Battle of Bazentin Ridge and the capture of the village was the culmination of British attacks which began on the night of 22/23 July. The attacks were intended to advance the right flank of the Fourth Army and eliminate a salient further north at Delville Wood. German defences ringed the wood and had observation over the French Sixth Army area to the south, towards the Somme river.
  Preparatory to a general attack intended for mid-September, from the Somme north to Courcelette, the French Sixth Army, the Fourth Army and the Reserve Army conducted numerous attacks to capture the rest of the German second line and to gain observation over the German third line.
context_section_description: XIII Corps attacked Guillemont with the 30th Division at 3:40 a.m. on 23 July. The 21st Brigade attacked with one battalion from Trônes Wood and one from Longueval Alley to the north. The bombardment of the village and the trenches in front of it appeared to have been highly destructive, as was a standing barrage by heavy artillery, on a line from Falfemont Farm to Wedge Wood, Leuze Wood, east of Guillemont to the south of Ginchy. The field artillery fired a creeping barrage in four lifts through the village, stopping on the south and east sides, 45 minutes after zero hour. The attack from Trônes Wood reached the German wire with few casualties, where they found uncut wire and were engaged by artillery and machine-gun fire. The wire was forced, despite many casualties and Guillemont entered. The German garrison continued to fight despite many losses and the most advanced British troops were cut off, as German reinforcements arrived and overwhelmed most of the battalion. Communication with the rear had been cut by a German barrage in no-man's-land and a smoke screen, intended to mask the attack from the Germans in Ginchy.
  The left-hand battalion got lost in the gloom and smoke blown over Guillemont, some troops veered right and met uncut wire south-east of the village, before falling back to Trônes Wood. Another party took a trench south of the railway, which ran eastwards past the north end of Guillemont and was then pushed back to trenches near Waterlot Farm, obstructing the right of the 3rd Division. On the left, the 3rd Division attacked Guillemont Station, Delville Wood and Longueval, with the 8th Brigade on the right attempting to occupy ground south of the railway. The troops of the 8th Brigade were held up, then fell back to Waterlot Farm, repulsing a German counter-attack later in the morning. Further north, a battalion also tried to bomb down trenches from Waterlot Farm, either side of the Guillemont road and the railway, to the station. The advance was soon stopped by machine-gun fire from Ginchy and the ground to the north-east, forcing the troops to withdraw; the 9th Brigade attacked Delville Wood and Longueval as part of the Battle of Delville Wood.
  On 30 July, the 30th Division attacked again, through the positions of the 35th Division again at 4:45 a.m. as the French Sixth Army attacked on the right. The 89th Brigade attacked Falfemont Farm and the second position, up to the edge of Guillemont, which was attacked by the 90th Brigade. Guillemont station and trenches to the north-west were attacked by the 5th Brigade of the 2nd Division. As the troops moved up during the night of 29 July, a German bombardment fell around Trônes Wood and caught troops from the 89th and 90th brigades. At dawn, fog rose and visibility fell below 40 yd (37 m); Maltz Horn Farm and trenches nearby, were stormed at zero hour, by a British battalion from the west and part of the French 153rd Division from the south. The British advanced to the Hardecourt–Guillemont road, despite many losses and dug in with reinforcements, which had moved forwards in small columns. No French troops could be seen and few of the left-hand battalion reached the road, although a larger party reached an orchard at the south-east edge of Guillemont. On the left, the 90th Brigade advanced either side of the Trônes Wood–Guillemont track, got into the village with few losses and took 50 prisoners. After a pause, the creeping barrage moved on and the north-east of the village was occupied, touch being gained with the left-hand battalion and a counter-attack repulsed. The left-hand battalion had advanced south of the railway and taken many prisoners at the German front trench, before being stopped by crossfire from the quarry to the south and the station to the north. Another attempt to advance and an effort to form a defensive flank along the railway facing north failed, due to uncut wire and machine-gun fire from the flank, which forced a withdrawal.
  Communication with the rear broke down again, as German artillery-fire cut telephone wires and visual signalli
caption: High Street, Guillemont in 1916.
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