The
Battle of Le Transloy was the final offensive mounted by the
British Fourth ArmyThe Fourth Army was a field army of the British Army during World War I and part of the British Expeditionary Force during the First World War. The Fourth Army was formed on 5 February 1916 under the command of General Sir Henry Rawlinson to carry out the main British contribution to the Battle of...
during the 1916
Battle of the SommeOn the Western Front, French forces under General Joseph Joffre had born the brunt of the 1914 German offensive into Belgium and France, only managing to halt the wheeling advance well inside French territory...
.
With the successful conclusion of the preceding
Battle of MorvalThe Battle of Morval, which began on 25 September, 1916, was an attack by the British Fourth Army on the German-held villages of Morval, Gueudecourt and Lesboeufs during the Battle of the Somme. These villages were originally objectives of the major British offensive of 15 September, the Battle of...
at the end of September, the Fourth Army of
Lieutenant GeneralLieutenant General is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages where the title of Lieutenant General was held by the second in command on the battlefield, who was normally subordinate to a Captain General....
Henry Rawlinson had finally captured the third line of
GermanGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
defences on the Somme. Unfortunately, while there had only been three lines at the start of the Somme battle in July, the Germans had not been idle during the slow Allied advance and Rawlinson's army was now confronted by a fourth line of defences along the Transloy ridge beyond which fifth and sixth lines were under construction.
The
Battle of Le Transloy was the final offensive mounted by the
British Fourth ArmyThe Fourth Army was a field army of the British Army during World War I and part of the British Expeditionary Force during the First World War. The Fourth Army was formed on 5 February 1916 under the command of General Sir Henry Rawlinson to carry out the main British contribution to the Battle of...
during the 1916
Battle of the SommeOn the Western Front, French forces under General Joseph Joffre had born the brunt of the 1914 German offensive into Belgium and France, only managing to halt the wheeling advance well inside French territory...
.
Prelude
With the successful conclusion of the preceding
Battle of MorvalThe Battle of Morval, which began on 25 September, 1916, was an attack by the British Fourth Army on the German-held villages of Morval, Gueudecourt and Lesboeufs during the Battle of the Somme. These villages were originally objectives of the major British offensive of 15 September, the Battle of...
at the end of September, the Fourth Army of
Lieutenant GeneralLieutenant General is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages where the title of Lieutenant General was held by the second in command on the battlefield, who was normally subordinate to a Captain General....
Henry Rawlinson had finally captured the third line of
GermanGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
defences on the Somme. Unfortunately, while there had only been three lines at the start of the Somme battle in July, the Germans had not been idle during the slow Allied advance and Rawlinson's army was now confronted by a fourth line of defences along the Transloy ridge beyond which fifth and sixth lines were under construction. The prospect of a breakthrough was as distant as ever.
Nevertheless, the
BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
commander-in-chief, General
Sir Douglas HaigField Marshal Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig,
KT,
GCB,
OM,
GCVO,
KCIE,
ADC was a British soldier and senior commander during World War I. He commanded the British Expeditionary Force from 1915 to the end of...
, still had plans to achieve a breakthrough involving his three armies on the Somme; the Fourth Army in the south, the
Reserve ArmyThe Reserve Army was a field army of the British Army during World War I and part of the British Expeditionary Force during the First World War. Under the command of Lieutenant-General Sir Hubert Gough, the Reserve Army was formed on 23 May, 1916 prior to the Battle of the Somme and was renamed...
(later the Fifth Army) in the centre and the
Third Army-World War I:The third Army was part of the British Army during World War I and fought on the Western Front, in France. The battles it took part in included:*Battle of the Somme*Battle of Cambrai*Second Battle of Arras *Battle of Passchendale...
of General Edmund Allenby in the north. The first step was the capture of the Transloy line by the Fourth Army.
The Battle
The battle, which opened on 1 October, began well with the capture of Eaucourt L'Abbaye by the
47th (1/2nd London) DivisionThe British 47th Division was a first-line Territorial Force division. Originally called the "2nd London Division" it was designated the 47th Division in 1915 and referred to as the "1/2nd London Division" after the raising of the second-line 60th Division...
as well as an advance along the Albert-
BapaumeBapaume is a commune and the seat of a canton in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France.-Geography:A farming and light industrial town located 10 miles south of Arras at the junction of the A1 autoroute and the N17 and N30 national roads.-Population:-History:The...
road towards
Le SarsLe Sars is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France.-Geography:Le Sars is situated south of Arras, at the junction of the D11 and the D929 roads.-Population:-Places of interest:...
. The advance was resumed on 7 October and Le Sars was taken by the
British 23rd DivisionThe British 23rd Division was a New Army division that was sent to France in August, 1915. During the First World War the division served on the Western Front until October 1917 when it moved to Italy.- Formation :68th Brigade :...
but progress along the Canadian lines was stalled.
The weather was rapidly deteriorating and the battlefield, which had been pummelled to dust by relentless
artilleryArtillery is a military combat Arm that employs weapons capable of discharging large projectiles in combat. They are generally capable of adding considerable fire power to the military capability of an armed force...
bombardment over the preceding three months, turned to a quagmire. Rawlinson mounted further attacks on 12 October including the Newfoundlanders at
GueudecourtGueudecourt is a commune in the Somme department in Picardie in northern France.-History:During the Battle of the Somme, the town of Gueudecourt had comprised one of the most distant objectives for the British drive that opened on 15 September 1916, a drive that has come to be known as the Battle...
, 18 October and 23 October but there was little chance of a significant gain. The last throe (which by now included the Australian forces of the
I Anzac CorpsThe I Anzac Corps was a combined Australian and New Zealand army corps that served during World War I.It was formed in Egypt in February 1916 as part of the reorganisation and expansion of the Australian Imperial Force following the evacuation of Gallipoli in December 1915. Along with the II Anzac...
) came on 5 November despite protests from some corps commanders who believed continued attacks to be futile.
Aftermath
The 1917 battles of Passchendaele have become synonymous with mud and misery but according to the
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the continental mainland , the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans...
n official historian,
Charles BeanCharles Edwin Woodrow Bean , usually known during his career as C.E.W. Bean, was an Australian journalist, war correspondent and historian who is renowned as the editor of the 12-volume Official History of Australia in the War of 1914-1918...
, the conditions on the Somme in November were "the worst ever known by the
First A.I.F.The First Australian Imperial Force was the main expeditionary force of the Australian Army during World War I. It was formed from August 15, 1914, following Britain's declaration of war on Germany. Generally known at the time as
the AIF, it is today referred to as the 1st AIF to...
"
Commemoration
The Royal Newfoundland Regiment participation in the Battle of Le Transloy is commemorated with the
Gueudecourt Newfoundland MemorialThe Gueudecourt Memorial is a Dominion of Newfoundland war memorial that commemorates the actions of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment during the Battle of Le Transloy of World War I. Located about one kilometre northeast of Gueudecourt village, the memorialmarks the spot where in October 1916, the...
. The memorial marks the place where the Newfoundlanders returned to the Somme in early October after being decimated four months earlier in the July 1st attack at
Beaumont HamelThe Beaumont-Hamel Newfoundland Memorial is a memorial site in France dedicated to the commemoration of Dominion of Newfoundland forces members who were killed during World War I...
on the first day of the Battle of the Somme. The rebuilt Newfoundland Battalion played a decisive role in the capture of a German strong-point named Hilt Trench northeast of Gueudecourt village. The memorial also marks the furthest point of advance that any British unit made from the original front lines during the Somme offensive.
See also
- List of Canadian battles during World War I