Capture of Le Sars

Le Sars is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region of France.

Warlencourt-Eaucourt (French pronunciation: [waʁlɑ̃kuʁ okuʁ]; Picard: Warlencourt-Iaucourt) is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region of France.

The Capture of Eaucourt l'Abbaye (1–3 October 1916) was a tactical incident during the Battle of the Somme. Eaucourt is about 16 mi (26 km) south of Arras, at the junction of the D 929 and the D 10E roads. Eaucourt l'Abbaye (Eaucourt) is north-west of Martinpuich, south-east of Le Sars, south of the Butte de Warlencourt west of Gueudecourt and north-west of Flers. Eaucourt was a group of farm buildings in an enclosure built on the site of an Augustinian abbey, on a side road from Le Sars off the main Albert–Bapaume highway. Destremont Farm to the south-west of Le Sars and a derelict quarry south of Eaucourt had been fortified by the Germans. Military operations began in the area in September 1914 during the Race to the Sea, when the divisions of the II Bavarian Corps advanced westwards on the north bank of the Somme, towards Albert and Amiens. Eaucourt l'Abbaye became a backwater until 1916, when the British and French began the Battle of the Somme (1 July – 13 November). During the Battle of Flers–Courcelette (15–22 September), divisions of the British III Corps in the Fourth Army advanced close to Eaucourt and operations to capture it began on 1 October. A regiment of the 6th Bavarian Reserve Division in Eaucourt was overrun by a brigade of the 47th (1/2nd London) Division on 1 October, during the Battle of Le Transloy (1 October – 5 November) Operations continued until 3 October. After Eaucourt was captured, British attacks continued in the area, to take the Butte de Warlencourt, which was captured several times and lost to German counter-attacks, during the rest of the Battle of Le Transloy. In the winter of 1916–1917, which was the worst for fifty years, the area was considered by the troops of the I Anzac Corps to be the foulest sector of the Somme front. Eaucourt was lost on 24 March 1918 during the retreat of the 2nd Division and recaptured for the last time on 26 August, by the 21st Division.

Warlencourt British Cemetery is a Commonwealth War Graves Commission burial ground for military personnel who died on the Western Front during the First World War. It is located in the Pas de Calais region of France. Established in 1919 to consolidate several smaller cemeteries, it was designed by Sir Edward Lutyens and is administered by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. There are 3,450 soldiers interred, over which 1,823 are unidentified. There are also memorials to 55 soldiers whose graves are unknown. The majority of the soldiers who have been identified are British, with smaller numbers of Australians, South Africans, New Zealanders, and Canadians.

Martinpuich is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region of France.

Pys is a commune in the Somme département in Hauts-de-France in northern France.

The Attacks on High Wood, near Bazentin le Petit in the Somme département of northern France, took place between the British Fourth Army and the German 1st Army during the Battle of the Somme. After the Battle of Bazentin Ridge on 14 July 1916, High Wood lay undefended for most of the day but delays in communication and confusion caused by orders and counter-orders from British corps headquarters, which had overlapping responsibilities, led to the occupation of High Wood being forestalled by German reserves, which had moved forward to counter-attack British troops in the villages of Bazentin-le-Grand and Bazentin-le-Petit. Men from the 7th Division managed to occupy the southern half of the wood and two cavalry squadrons advanced on the east side to Wood Lane, which connected the wood to Longueval. On 15 July, the wood was evacuated by the survivors and the cavalry retired. The British and the Germans fought for control of the wood from 14 July to 15 September. Both sides had many casualties and chronic communication problems; inclement weather grounded aircraft, obscured the view and slowed movement on the roads, which had been severely bombarded and turned to mud as soon as it rained. Trenches and shell holes filled with water, which made infantry movement exceedingly difficult and exhausted trench garrisons. The British and French found it impossible to arrange co-ordinated attacks and fought many small piecemeal actions, rather than general attacks until 15 September. British-French co-operation broke down again and the French did not attack on 15 September, when the British captured the wood during the Battle of Flers–Courcelette (15–22 September). The German defenders had great difficulty finding fresh troops for the Somme front, despite ending the Battle of Verdun (21 February – 20 December) and had to send divisions to the Eastern Front and to Romania after it declared war on 27 August. Turnover of German divisions was high and many had to be withdrawn and replaced after fourteen days in the front line. The Germans lacked the resources to make many big organised counter-attacks and those at High Wood and the vicinity were often as costly and ineffective as corresponding British attacks.

The London Cemetery and Extension is a Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery at High Wood near Longueval, France. It is the third largest of the Somme battlefield cemeteries, containing 3,872 World War I burials. The cemetery stands directly opposite High Wood as it exists today. This area was the centre of fierce fighting in 1916 and the first interments at what would become the London Cemetery were 47 soldiers of the 47th (London) Division killed in the Battle of Flers-Courcelette on 15 September. These soldiers, barely a handful of those who had lost their lives in the attack, were buried in a large shell hole in the days following the battle. By the time of the Armistice, further burials had taken place, bringing the number of graves to 101. The Extension of the cemetery came in the years following the war when graves from the surrounding battlefields were transferred to the land around the London Cemetery, greatly increasing its size. Like a number of other cemeteries and memorials in the area, the London Cemetery and Extension was designed by architect Sir Herbert Baker. The original battlefield cemetery was left intact within The London Cemetery and Extension following its redesign. Although the cemetery primarily contains World War I graves, 165 soldiers were reburied there after World War II. These graves are together in one section at the far end of the cemetery.

The Courcelette Memorial is a Canadian war memorial that commemorates the actions of the Canadian Corps in the final two and a half months of the infamous four-and-a-half-month-long Somme Offensive of the First World War. The Canadians participated at the Somme from early September to the British offensives end in mid-November 1916, engaging in several of the battles-within-the-battle of the Somme, including actions at: Flers-Courcelette, Thiepval Ridge, the Ancre Heights, the Ancre as well as a small role in providing relief to the First Australian Imperial Force in the final days of the Battle of Pozières. The battles on the Somme were the first in which all four Canadian divisions participated in the same battle, although not together in a cohesive formation. The Canadian divisions suffered over 24,000 casualties.

Courcelette (French pronunciation: [kuʁsəlɛt]) is a commune in the Somme department in Hauts-de-France in northern France.

Adanac Military Cemetery is a Commonwealth War Graves Commission burial ground for the dead of World War I located near the French villages of Miraumont, Pys and Courcelette and contains 3,187 interments, 1483 of whom are identified. The cemetery was formed after the war ended from the consolidation of existing burial sites into a 'concentration cemetery' by consolidating several smaller cemeteries onto the site. The name 'Adanac' is a reversal of word Canada, the home of over five hundred of the men interred there. The name was necessary because a cemetery near Cambrai that had been established during the war in October 1918 had already received the name "Canada Cemetery".

Irles (French pronunciation: [iʁl]) is a commune in the Somme department in Hauts-de-France in northern France.