Battle of the Ancre

Battle of the Ancre
Part of the Battle of the Somme of World War I
Battle of the Somme 1 July – 18 November 1916
Date 13–18 November 1916 Location North central Somme Département, France Coordinates: 50°4′N 2°42′E / 50.067°N 2.700°E / 50.067; 2.700 Result British victory
Belligerents
British Empire France	German Empire
Commanders and leaders
Douglas Haig Ferdinand Foch Hubert Gough	Crown Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria Max von Gallwitz Fritz von Below
Strength
12 divisions, 1 brigade	Four divisions
Casualties and losses
c. 22,000	1–18 November, c. 45,000 including 7,000 prisoners.

The Battle of the Ancre (13–18 November 1916), was fought by the Fifth Army (Lieutenant-General Hubert Gough), against the German 1st Army (General Fritz von Below). The battle was the final large British attack of the Battle of the Somme; the Reserve Army had been renamed on 30 October. After the Battle of Flers–Courcelette on 22 September, the Anglo-French armies tried to press their advantage with several smaller attacks in quick succession, rather than pause to regroup and give the German armies time to recover. Subsequent writers gave discrete dates for the Anglo-French battles but there were considerable overlaps and continuities of operations, until the weather and supply difficulties in mid-November ended the battle until the new year.

The British attack was to fulfil complementary objectives. Political discontent in London would be muted by a big victory, as would doubts of British commitment by its allies and British loyalty to the Chantilly strategy of 1915 would be upheld. The capture of Beaumont Hamel and Serre would go some way to redeem the failure of 1 July and obtain ground on which the British would have a tactical advantage. The attack was the largest in the British sector since September and had a seven-day preliminary bombardment, which was twice as heavy as that of 1 July. Beaumont Hamel, St. Pierre Divion and Beaucourt were captured, which threatened the German hold on Serre further north. Edmund Blunden called the battle "a feat of arms vieing (sic) with any recorded. The enemy was surprised and beaten". Four German divisions had to be relieved due to the number of casualties they suffered and over 7,000 German troops were taken prisoner.

After meeting on 17 October, with Lieutenant-General Sir Henry Rawlinson the Fourth Army commander and Gough, General Sir Douglas Haig, the commander of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) cancelled the Third Army operation planned in September and on 23 October, the Reserve Army attack was reduced from a converging attack towards the Ancre river, to an attack up the valley. The failure of the Fourth Army attack of 18 October, caused another revision of the plan. The Reserve Army was to capture the rest of Thiepval Ridge with II Corps on 21 October, the Fourth and French Sixth armies were to attack on 23 October and the reduced Reserve Army attack on both sides of the Ancre was to begin on 25 October. Gough issued a new operation order on 15 October and began another reorganisation on the north side of the Ancre. The II Corps operation on 21 October succeeded but the rains returned on 24 October. The main attack was postponed until 25 October, then cancelled and Gough was given discretion to continue with postponements by Haig. On 27 October, Gough set 1 November as the provisional date, postponed it again on 29 October to 5 November and on 3 November, Haig gave Gough the choice of cancelling the attack and resuming operations when the weather improved. On 5 November, Haig suggested a subsidiary attack, if the state of the ground justified the effort. Gough proposed an attack on 9 November but preferred to delay the main effort. Haig agreed that there should be no attack until the ground was dry enough for infantry to move freely and there was a forecast of two days of fair weather; another postponement followed.

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