Battle of Bazentin Ridge

The Battle of Bazentin Ridge was part of the Battle of the Somme on the Western Front in France, during the First World War. On 14 July, the British Fourth Army made a dawn attack against the German 2nd Army in the Brown Position , from Delville Wood westwards to Bazentin le Petit Wood.

Dismissed beforehand by a French commander as "an attack organized for amateurs by amateurs", the British succeeded. Attempts to use the opportunity to capture High Wood failed, due to the German success in holding on to the north end of Longueval and parts of Delville Wood, from which attacks on High Wood could be engaged from the flank. The British cavalry, intended to provide a faster-moving exploitation force, was badly delayed by the devastated ground, shell-holes and derelict trenches.

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