The Capture of Gueudecourt (25–26 September 1916) is a tactical incident of the First World War during the Battle of the Somme. The village of Gueudecourt lies on the Le Sars–Le Transloy road, north-east of Flers and north-west of Lesbœufs. Behind Gueudecourt lay open country which had hardly been shelled with Le Barque in the middle distance and then Bapaume beyond. German troops had passed through the village in late September 1914 during the First Battle of Albert, part of reciprocal attempts by the German and Franco-British armies to advance round the northern flank of their opponent, during the operations known as the Race to the Sea. The village became a backwater until 1916 when the Germans built a third defensive position behind the Somme front ready for the British–French offensive being prepared on the Somme.
During the Battle of Flers–Courcelette the Germans were forced back from Flers and the survivors retired to (), a defensive position which ran in front of Gueudecourt. At the Battle of Morval (25–28 September), the first attack by the 21st Division on 25 September was stopped short of the village. Next day a combined operation by infantry, aircraft and a tank inflicted many casualties on the defenders and forced the survivors to surrender, after which the village was occupied and consolidated. To exploit the success, British cavalry went forward to probe the area around the village but were repulsed by machine-gun and artillery-fire from improvised German defences on Transloy Ridge.
At the Battle of Le Transloy and in local operations in November, Gueudecourt was used as a jumping-off point. In the winter of 1916–1917 the area was held by the I Anzac Corps, which considered the conditions around the village to be the worst on the Somme front. Gueudecourt became a backwater until 1918, when the village was lost on 24 March during Operation Michael, the German spring offensive. The village was recaptured for the last time on 28 August, by the 17th (Northern) Division, during the Second Battle of Bapaume.
Background 1914
On 25 September, during the Race to the Sea a French attack north of the Somme against the II Bavarian Corps (General ), forced a hurried withdrawal. As more Bavarian units arrived in the north, the 3rd Bavarian Division advanced along the north bank of the Somme, through Bouchavesnes, Leforest and Hardecourt until held up at Maricourt. The 4th Bavarian Division further to the north, defeated the French territorials and then attacked westwards in the vicinity of Gueudecourt, towards Albert, through Sailly, Combles, Guillemont and Montauban. The II Bavarian Corps and XIV Reserve Corps Hermann von Stein) pushed back a French Territorial division from the area around Bapaume and advanced towards Bray-sur-Somme and Albert, as part of an offensive down the Somme valley to reach the sea. The German offensive was confronted north of the Somme by the northern corps of the French Second Army east of Albert. The XIV Reserve Corps attacked on 28 September, along the Roman road from Bapaume to Albert and Amiens, intending to reach the Ancre and then continue westwards along the Somme valley. The 28th () Reserve Division advanced close to Fricourt, against scattered resistance from French infantry and cavalry.
1916 On 22 July, an air reconnaissance by 9 Squadron Royal Flying Corps (RFC) observed the German defences from Combles to Gueudecourt and reported that they were extensive but unoccupied. On 15 September, an RFC aircraft flew overhead as a tank drove from Flers to Gueudecourt, where the garrison had fled and then saw it hit and set on fire.
Prelude
British plan
The British plan was for an advance to the final objective set for the attacks of during the Battle of Flers–Courcelette. The ground to be taken was on the east side of Bazentin ridge, which ran north-west from the Somme to a hollow facing north-east with Combles at the west end. North of the hollow, lay Morval, Lesbœufs, Gueudecourt and the Albert–Bapaume road. Spurs ran down the eastern slope generally to the north-east, in the direction of the Péronne–Bapaume road, before the ground rose again from St Pierre Vaast Wood to Sailly-Saillisel, Le Transloy, Beaulencourt and Thilloy. An advance on the main front of the British attack of , was to be made in three stages. The first stage was an advance to the third of the objective lines set for 15 September and to the Gird Trenches () south of Gueudecourt, beginning at The second objective was along a line along the sunken road from Combles to Gueudecourt to the west of Morval and Lesbœufs, then over a spur south-east of Gueudecourt and through the centre of the village, beginning at The final objective was on the east side of Morval, Lesbœufs and Gueudecourt, the advance to begin at with the objectives to be reached by
Tanks were to be kept in reserve, ready to assist the attack on the villages at the final objective. The open ground on the approach to Gueudecourt was also considered to be too dangerous for tanks. Two brigades of the 1st Indian Cavalry Division were to move forward to Mametz, with all the division to be ready to advance on Thilloy and Ligny Thilloy, once Lesbœufs and Gueudecourt were captured. If the villages were taken before small cavalry detachments attached to XIV and XV corps were to exploit local opportunities. The British conformed to the French preference for afternoon attacks, which meant that the final bombardment took place in daylight. The 21st Division (Major-General David Campbell), was to capture Gueudecourt by advancing to the first objective at the Gird Trenches and then reaching the second objective at the village and passing through to the final objective beyond. Morale in the 21st Division had declined and on 24 September, of the 10th King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry (KOYLI) tried to report sick. The right flank of the division was to join with the Guards Division at a fork on the Gueudecourt–Le Transloy road.
German preparations In early September, Crown Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria, commander of the German northern army group, found that frequent relief of troops opposite the British was essential and stripped the other armies of the army group of fresh divisions and units, moving the 85th Reserve Brigade and the 45th Reserve Division from the 4th Army in Flanders, into the area between Thiepval and Martinpuich. After the sacking of Erich von Falkenhayn, the Chief of the General Staff of Oberste Heeresleitung (OHL) on 29 August, his successors General Paul von Hindenburg and General Erich Ludendorff visited the Western Front, ordered an end to offensive operations at the Battle of Verdun and the reinforcement of the Somme front. Tactics were reviewed and a more "elastic" defence was advocated, to replace the defence of tactically unimportant ground and the routine counter-attacking of British and French advances. After the Battle of Flers–Courcelette, all of the divisions from Combles to Thiepval had to be relieved and the defences around Gueudecourt were taken over by the 6th Bavarian Division and the 52nd Reserve Division. Gird Trench and Gird Support Trench , apart, had been dug by the Germans against an attack from the south-west. The Gird trenches ran north-west to south-east, behind the Butte de Warlencourt. Seven Dials and Factory Corner protected the village against attacks from Eaucourt l'Abbaye to the west. On the road north-west to Ligny–Thilloy, Luisenhof Farm had been fortified.
Battle 25 September
The 21st Division attacked on the right flank of XV Corps, opposite the left of the 6th Bavarian Division and the right of the 52nd Reserve Division. The British attack had been expected on 23 September and at an earlier time; the delayed attack and later start achieved a measure of surprise. Two battalions of the 64th Brigade on the right were held up by uncut wire at Gird Trench () and were engaged by machine-guns which fired when they tried to cut the wire, leading most of the survivors to take cover in shell-holes until dark. The Germans had withdrawn many of their machine-guns from the front line, to protect them and engage the British from long range. The 1st Battalion, Lincoln Regiment (including the First Contingent of the Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps (BVRC) that had been attached to the battalion in June 1915, as two extra platoons), detached from the 62nd Brigade, was so badly shelled as it moved forward to attack the second objective, that it was stopped at the British front line. A company of the Lincolns advanced on the extreme right, in company with the 4th Grenadier Guards of the 3rd Guards Brigade and attacked the Gird Trench–Gas Alley junction; the attack failed but contact was maintained with the Guards.
Two battalions of the 110th Brigade, on the left of the division, were caught by a German counter-barrage but found a gap in the defences of Bavarian Infantry Regiment 13, attacked the II Battalion from the rear and took Goat Trench. As the barrage stopped, the advance to the second objective was resumed, through well-cut wire but machine-gun fire from the right caused many casualties and stopped the advance short of Gird Trench. The forward troops were reorganised and a runner sent back to call on the reserve companies was wounded en route and the message was not delivered. The 9th Leicester formed a defensive flank along a sunken part of "Watling Street" (the Ginchy–Gueudecourt road) on the right flank. A small number of troops of the 8th Leicester, who had got into Gird Trench held on and gained touch with the 165th Brigade of the 55th Division, which had taken Gird Trench in its area early in the afternoon. Disorganisation along the 21st Division front and the great number of casualties among message runners, prevented the divisional headquarters from realising the situation and erroneous reports from observers convinced the headquarters that Gueudecourt had fallen. The British then gained a foothold in a sunken road between Gird Trench and Gueudecourt at
26 September The two tanks of XV Corps at Flers were intended to support the attack on Gird Trench to the south-west of the village but one was damaged by shellfire and the remaining tank went forward. About of the trench was still occupied by the Germans and the tank drove up Pilgrim's Way at firing into Gird Trench, followed by bombers of the 7th Leicester and two infantry companies, which bombed the German defenders south-eastwards towards the Guards Division. German troops who ran back in the open were shot down and those who sheltered in bunkers were bombed out. An artillery-observation aircrew from 3 Squadron overhead, saw that the Germans had been forced into a length of the trench. The observer pinpointed the ends and sent a zone call, after which the trench was severely bombarded; after a few minutes the crew directed the artillery to cease fire and strafed the trench with machine-gun fire from , after which mainly from Reserve Infantry Regiment 238 of the 52nd Reserve Division, surrendered. The crew dropped a message to the infantry, who took the prisoners, having had five casualties. The 15th DLI advanced from the front of the 64th Brigade and occupied the Gird Trenches; after receiving reports from the Welsh Guards that they could walk in the open unmolested, the XV Corps headquarters ordered patrols into Gueudecourt. At patrols of Cavalry Corps and the South Irish Horse, the corps cavalry regiment, reconnoitred higher ground to the north-east and north-west.