Battle of Pozières

Battle of Pozières
Part of the Battle of the Somme during the First World War
Battle of the Somme 1 July – 18 November 1916
Date 23 July – 3 September 1916 Location Pozières, Somme, France 50°01′N 2°48′E / 50.017°N 2.800°E / 50.017; 2.800Coordinates: 50°01′N 2°48′E / 50.017°N 2.800°E / 50.017; 2.800 Result British victory
Belligerents
British Empire  Australia  United Kingdom	German Empire
Commanders and leaders
Douglas Haig Hubert Gough William Birdwood	Fritz von Below Max von Boehn
Strength
12 divisions
Casualties and losses
I Anzac Corps c. 23,000
Pozières Pozières, a commune in the Somme department of Picardie in northern France

 British Empire

The Battle of Pozières (23 July – 3 September 1916) took place in France around the village of Pozières, during the Battle of the Somme. The costly fighting ended with the British in possession of the plateau north and east of the village, in a position to menace the German bastion of Thiepval from the rear. The Australian official historian Charles Bean write that Pozières ridge "is more densely sown with Australian sacrifice than any other place on earth."

The village of Pozières, on the Albert–Bapaume road, lies atop a ridge approximately in the centre of what was the British sector of the Somme battlefield. Close by the village is the highest point on the battlefield. Pozières was an important German defensive position; the fortified village was an outpost to the second defensive trench system, which had become known to the British as the O.G. Lines. This German second line extended from beyond Mouquet Farm in the north, ran behind Pozières to the east, then south towards the Bazentin ridge and the villages of Bazentin le Petit and Longueval. On 14 July, during the Battle of Bazentin Ridge, this southern section of the German second line was captured by the British Fourth Army of Lieutenant General Sir Henry Rawlinson. The possibility of "rolling up" the German second line by turning north now presented itself if Pozières could be captured.