Battle of Mouquet Farm

Battle of Mouquet Farm
Part of the Battle of the Somme of World War I
Battle of the Somme, 1916
Date 23 July – 26 September 1916 Location near Pozières, France 50°03′05″N 2°42′46″E / 50.051469°N 2.712734°E / 50.051469; 2.712734Coordinates: 50°03′05″N 2°42′46″E / 50.051469°N 2.712734°E / 50.051469; 2.712734 Result British victory
Belligerents
British Empire  Australia  Canada  United Kingdom	German Empire
Casualties and losses
6,300	unknown

 British Empire

The Battle of Mouquet Farm, also known as the Fighting for Mouquet Farm (23 July – 3 September 1916) was part of the Battle of the Somme and began during the Battle of Pozières. It began on 23 July with attacks by the Reserve Army and it was captured by the 3rd Canadian Division of the Canadian Corps on 16 September. The farm was lost to a German counter-attack, before being re-captured on 26 September, during an attack by the 11th (Northern) Division as part of the Battle of Thiepval Ridge (26–28 September), in which No. 16 Section of the 6th East Yorkshire (Pioneers), smoked out the last German defenders.

Mouquet Farm was to the right of the modern D 73 Pozières–Thiepval road, south of Grandcourt and to the south-west of Courcelette, about 1.7 kilometres (1.1 mi) north-west of the high ground near Pozières. Following the fighting that had occurred around the village earlier in the year, the decision was made by the British to gain control of the ridge beyond the village to create a gap in the German lines, behind the salient that had developed around the German-held fortress of Thiepval. By capturing Mouquet Farm, the British hoped that it would destabilise the German position and enable subsequent gains.

During the night of 10 August, parties of the 4th Australian Division of the I Anzac Corps, attacked towards the farm and managed to establish advanced posts in the valley south of the farm and to the east. Attacks were then made from a foothold in Fabeck Graben (Fabeck Trench) to the north-east and to deepen the salient near the farm. By 22 August, the 2nd Australian Division had made several more attempts on the farm and had realised that the main defensive position was underground, where the Germans had excavated the cellars to create linked dug-outs. On 3 September, the 4th Australian Division attacked again with the 13th Brigade and captured much of the surface remains of the farm and trenches nearby, with hand-to-hand fighting in the ruins and underground. German counter-attacks repulsed the Australians except from a small part of Fabeck Graben, for a loss of 2,049 Australian casualties.

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