The Capture of Schwaben Redoubt () was a tactical incident in the Battle of the Somme 1916, during the First World War. The redoubt was a German strong point long and wide, built in stages from 1915, near the village of Thiepval and overlooking the River Ancre. It formed part of the German defensive system in the Somme sector of the Western Front and consisting of a mass of machine-gun emplacements, trenches and dug-outs. The redoubt was defended by the 26th Reserve Division, from Swabia in south-west Germany, which had arrived in the area during the First Battle of Albert in 1914. Troops of the 36th (Ulster) Division captured the redoubt on 1 July 1916, until forced out by German artillery-fire and counter-attacks after dark.
The British kept the area of the redoubt under bombardment until 3 September, when the 49th (West Riding) Division attacked the area from the west, in a morning fog. The 36th (Ulster) Division infantry got across no man's land but were defeated when German artillery and machine gun-fire swept the Irish troops as German infantry counter-attacked from the flanks, using hand grenades. In late September, the British gained a footing in the redoubt during the Battle of Thiepval Ridge Attack and counter-attack followed until 14 October, when troops of the 39th Division, captured the last German foothold in the redoubt and repulsed German counter-attacks from 15 to 21 October. The site of the redoubt lies between the Thiepval Memorial and the Ulster Tower.
Background
Somme front, 1914–1915
The 26th (Württemberg) Reserve Division ( [Major-General] Franz von Soden) of the XIV Reserve Corps ( [Lieutenant-General] Hermann von Stein), arrived on the Somme in late September 1914, attempting to advance westwards towards Amiens. By 7 October, the advance had ended; any cover had been occupied and temporary scrapes improvised. Fighting in the area from the Somme northwards to the Ancre, subsided into minor line-straightening attacks by both sides. The primacy of artillery had been established during the fighting of 1914 and the exploitation of artillery fire power in defensive fighting, required means of communication between the front line and artillery positions in the rear. The command of artillery needed to be centralised to make sure that all guns in range engaged targets. In late December 1915, Major Bornemann, commander of the 26th Division field artillery, wrote a report in which he described failures of communication, which led to an advantage created by the blowing of a mine being squandered by the artillery.
Bornemann wrote that artillery battery observation posts had been left unmanned, on the assumption that they had been superseded by artillery liaison officers in the front line. Reporting had been inadequate due to complacency and reports should have been circulated to all headquarters rather than individual officers making assumptions that the information had been communicated. The gunners should avoid settling into routine firing, since prisoners had reported that its predictability made it easy to evade; limiting firing to the area in front of batteries should cease and oblique firing into adjacent sectors begin, to ensure that British artillery could not fire with impunity from the flanks. Concentrations of fire consumed too much ammunition on local targets and should be limited to conserve ammunition for firing on other targets, to disrupt British operations and to reassure German infantry that they would not be abandoned by the artillery.
Retaliatory fire should be prompt and authority to order fire should be shared by all artillery officers, rather than relying on unreliable communications to request authority to fire on targets as they were observed. Bornemann recommended that if a British artillery battery was detected, it should be engaged with immediately. Co-operation with artillery observers in aircraft and balloons should be improved, with at least one target selected for bombardment in every aircraft sortie, for which the artillery commanders should draw up gridded drawings of targets within range. When British aircraft were overhead, battery positions should cease fire to remain hidden and German aircraft units should be contacted to drive the British away. Bornemann suggested that artillery group commanders should have control of all artillery ammunition allotted to the group and that artillery regimental headquarters should be responsible for replacing stocks and passing on demands for more ammunition to higher headquarters.
Fortification of the Western Front, 1915 On the Western Front, General Erich Falkenhayn Chief of the General Staff at the (OHL, German army high command) instituted a construction plan in January 1915, by which the western armies would create field fortifications built to a common system, intended to economise on infantry, while offensive operations were conducted on the Eastern Front. Barbed-wire obstacles had been enlarged from one belt wide to two belts wide and about apart. The front line had been increased from one trench to three, about apart, the first trench () to be occupied by sentry groups, the second () to accommodate the front-trench garrison and the third trench in which local reserves would assemble. The trenches were to be traversed and have sentry-posts in concrete recesses in the parapet. Dugouts were to be deepened from to , set apart and be large enough for each. An intermediate line of strong points (the ) designed for all-round defence, about behind the front line was also to be built. Communication trenches were to be dug back to the enlarged reserve line, renamed the second position, which was as well built and wired as the first position. The second position was built beyond the range of opposing field artillery, to force an attacker to stop and move guns and ammunition forward before assaulting the line.
Behind the German front line, the ground rose steeply to the west for , to the top of Thiepval ridge, higher than the Ancre valley. Construction of a small network of trenches, known as (Swabian Fieldworks), began on the ridge in early 1915, roughly north of Thiepval, at the northern and highest point on the ridge. About further back, a second position (the Grandcourt Line to the British), was dug south from Grandcourt to Pozières, with a line of new (redoubts), , , , and . was developed into Redoubt) and connected to Mouquet Farm by , Thiepval wood by and to Thiepval village by . The redoubt dominated Thiepval, the ground to the south and St Pierre Divion to the north-west. With Stuff and Pommiers redoubts, the Germans had observation in all directions and garrisons which could reinforce the front line or deliver a counter-attack.
Redoubt had deep dugouts for accommodation with several entrances each, a battalion command post, first aid post, signalling station and strong points, with three heavy machine-guns and four light machine-guns. Many of the dug-outs were on the perimeter, at trench junctions (clockwise from north, using the English names), Irwin Trench (strong points 49 and 69), Lucky Way (strong point 27), Stuff Trench, Hessian Trench (strong point 45), Martin's Lane, the Strasburg Line (strong point 19) and Clay Trench (strong point 99). Inside the redoubt, along an inner trench on the south-west face, were strong points 65, 37 and 39. Beyond the south-west face, in the maze of trenches towards Thiepval to the south and St Pierre Divion to the north-west, were nine more strong points. The redoubt was triangular, with an extension to the east across the Thiepval–Grandcourt road and had a frontage of around . At the end of July 1915, fresh troops were observed moving into the French positions north of the Somme, opposite Reserve Infantry Regiment 99 (RIR 99) and on 1 August, were identified at Thiepval Wood as British soldiers ("dressed in brown suits"). Lessons learned during the battles in Artois and at the Battle of Hébuterne near Serre in 1915 and at the Battle of Verdun in 1916, were incorporated into new defensive works as the signs of a British offensive on the Somme front multiplied.
Prelude
German preparations
More fortifications were built, especially in the intermediate, second and third positions, near the and redoubts. New battery positions were built to accommodate artillery reinforcements, dugouts were deepened and extra exits were added. Engineers sited and designed new trenches and stringently inspected the building work performed by the infantry. In early March 1916 and from the chief engineer of the 2nd Army inspected the first position in the area of the 26th Reserve Division; only in the area of Reserve IR 119 at Beaumont Hamel and the trenches to the west around Hawthorn Ridge Redoubt, were there enough shell-proof concrete posts. By July 1916, the German front line from Thiepval to St Pierre Divion was obstructed by sixteen rows of barbed wire and the second line lay behind five rows. Shell-proof dug outs deep, could accommodate all of the trench garrison.
British preparations +Weather(23 June – 1 July 1916) Date Rainmm Temp(°F) 232.079°–55°wind 241.072°–52°dull 251.071°–54°wind 266.072°–52°dull 278.068°–54°dull 282.068°–50°dull 290.166°–52°dullwind 300.072°–48°dullhighwind 10.079°–52°fine In the British front sector allocated to X Corps (Lieutenant-General Thomas Morland) at Thiepval, the Royal Engineers dug a series of Russian saps into no man's land, ready to be opened at Zero Hour and allow the British infantry to attack the German positions from a comparatively short distance away. Russian saps in front of Thiepval were the work of 179th Tunnelling Company, which also prepared such saps further south at Ovillers and La Boisselle. In the X Corps section allocated to the 36th (Ulster) Division (Major-General Oliver Nugent), ten Russian saps were dug from the British lines into no-man's land, north-east of Thiepval Wood; each of the tunnels housed two mortars.
Field artillery support was to come from the 36th (Ulster) divisional artillery, part of the 49th (West Riding) divisional artillery and a regiment of French guns. A large number of heavy guns under the command of X Corps was also to fire on the 36th (Ulster) Division front. The preliminary bombardment of five days' duration was extended by two more, due to wet weather and observers reported that the German wire was well cut. After a hurricane bombardment for a lifting bombardment was planned to fall on the German lines in succession, from A to A1 at zero hour, A1 to B three minutes after zero and from the B Line to a line back after zero hour. The jump to the C Line, would occur after and the final lift to the D Line, after zero hour. After standing until after zero hour, to enable the 107th Brigade to assemble, the barrage would jump to a line east of the D Line. Field artillery would "walk" up communication trenches during each lift and Stokes mortars were to join in the hurricane bombardment as medium and heavy mortars bombarded strong points. The French artillery was to participate in the wire-cutting bombardment and then fire gas shells into the Ancre valley.
British plan