Location 8 – La Boisselle

	Click and drag to move the map. Use the slider to zoom in/out.

Directions – Leave the Pozières British Cemetery again in the direction of Albert. As you descend from the ridge you will enter a valley with a small village at the bottom. This is La Boisselle and the front line in 1916 ran along the far end of the village (a sign by the side of the main road indicates this). There are two main locations here – La Boisselle village itself and the Lochnagar mine crater which is sign-posted to the left as you enter the village (D20 to Contalmaison and La Grande Mine). For the village, park on the left of the triangular traffic island on the gravel strip opposite the D20 sign. For the crater, continue on the D20 for a minute or so through the village and then take the right turn onto the C9 Becourt road. Take the left fork at the cream-coloured house. The mine crater is a couple of hundred yards on the right. Recently, a rudimentary car park has been opened on the left.

Practical Information – Whilst the village is usually fairly empty, the impressive Lochnagar mine crater has attracted increasing numbers of visitors over the years, particularly school parties. As with Newfoundland Memorial Park, you may wish to skip this location and return either in the early morning or late afternoon to avoid the worst of the crowds.

Historical Notes – As with the Thiepval position, the Germans had transformed La Boisselle into a veritable fortress. Whilst constant shelling in the months leading up to the Somme offensive had destroyed most of the houses, their basements and cellars were turned into machine-gun nests and strong-points by the defenders. Either side of the village shallow, featureless valleys, Mash in the north and Sausage in the south, stretched across no-man's land, which was 700 yards wide in places. In front of La Boisselle, the front line trenches were only a few yards apart, but incessant mine warfare had rendered the ground unsuitable for movement of large bodies of troops.

The plan of attack here was for four columns of three battalions each to crash through the German defences, and then advance onto Pozières and Contalmaison where further operations would engage the German second line. Unfortunately, almost everywhere on this sector of front, the topography favoured the German defenders and again the artillery plan proved incapable of destroying or disabling the defences.

North of the Albert-Bapaume road, the 1st and 4th Tyneside Scottish (20th and 23rd Northumberland Fusiliers) with the 2nd Tyneside Irish (25th Northumberland Fusiliers) in support, were decimated by machine gun fire from the ruins of La Boisselle as they covered the 600-700 yards of no-man's land down Mash Valley. Men were knocked down in their droves with only a handful even reaching the German wire – even the massive Y Sap mine explosion providing little support.

South of the road another column of the Tynesider's, this time the 2nd and 3rd Tyneside Scottish (21st and 22nd Northumberland Fusiliers) with the 3rd Tyneside Irish (26th Northumberland Fusiliers) in support, had less ground to cover across no-man's land. Aided by the confusion wrought by the Lochnagar explosion, many managed to make it into the German lines between the crater and the village. From there they moved across two further lines of trenches, but with dwindling numbers could make little lasting impact.

To the south of Lochnagar crater, the 101st Brigade, consisting of the 10th Lincolns supported by the 11th Suffolks on the left and the 15th Royal Scots supported by the 16th Royal Scots on the right had varying fortunes. In front of the Lincolns no-man's land was 600 yards wide as it entered the empty expanse of Sausage Valley. This was bad enough but the battalion was ordered to delay its advance by a further 5 minutes following the mine explosion for fear of falling debris. It was to prove a disastrous miscalculation. As the Lincolns and Suffolks made their way across no-man's land they were hit by concentrated fire from the German trenches guarding Sausage Valley. A few men managed to make it to the Lochnagar mine crater – they were the lucky ones. The two battalions lost over 1,000 men at La Boisselle.

Meanwhile, to their right, the two battalions of the Royal Scots, had slightly more success. This was in large part due to their advancing out into no-man's land whilst the preparatory bombardment was still going on to within 200 yards of the German positions. When the bombardment ceased they closed with the enemy quickly but, due to the heavy fire coming from their left down Sausage Valley, their advance veered to the right. After fighting their way through a number of trench lines and taking Round Wood and the Willow Patch (which can be seen on the skyline to the south-east of Lochnagar crater) they ended the day north of Fricourt on the main road to Contalmaison.

Despite these modest gains, however, nothing could hide the enormous casualties suffered by 34th Division here, particularly in the open expanses of Mash and Sausage Valleys. In total the division lost over 6,500 men on the 1st July 1916.