Location 16 – The Offensive Grinds On: To Flers and Butte de Warlencourt

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IMPORTANT NOTE: Following the Tank Attack of 15th September 1916, the fighting east of the Albert-Bapaume road moved onto the villages of Flers, Morval, Lesbouefs, Combles, Gueudecourt and Le Sars which lay along the German third defence line. The general lack of memorials and information plaques in this area make interpretation of events here difficult to formulate. Many guidebooks have accordingly not given it the prominence it deserves in the overall story of the Somme fighting. I will, therefore, devote a future warwalk purely to this part of the battlefield and the events that took place here from mid-September to November 1916. In the meantime, the following are a couple of sites that should prove of interest to the visitor.

Flers – From High Wood return to Longueval and take the left turn at the crossroads – the D197 sign-posted to Flers. As the road leaves Longueval and Delville Wood to the right, you are crossing some of the ground that saw the first use of tanks in the history of warfare. On 15th September 1915 four of these lumbering beasts crashed through the German defences and followed this road towards Flers and then on towards Gueudecourt. In the centre of Flers is a memorial to the men of the 41st Division who followed up the tanks and took the village. The statue in a striking pose atop the memorial is of a Royal Fusilier of the division. It is identical to that topping a similar memorial in Holborn in London. The memorial was a favourite of Rose Coombs, the veteran warwalker, and a photograph of it can be seen on the front cover of her "bible" to the battlefields of the western front, Before Endeavours Fade.

Butte de Warlencourt – Continue through Flers village before meeting a crossroads with the AIF Burial Ground on your right. Take the left turning, the D11 towards Martinpuich, and then, in a few minutes, a right to Le Sars where you will meet the main Albert-Bapaume road. Turn right in the direction of Bapaume and in a few moments you will see a sign for the Butte on your right. There is limited parking beside the mound but this location is fairly infrequently visited so there should be space.

The Butte de Warlencourt is actually an ancient burial mound or "barrow" as it would be called in Britain. It was heavily fortified by the Germans as part of their third defence line and marks the furthest point of advance by the British during the entire Somme offensive. The Butte held a commanding view of the battlefield and the fighting lapped around the position during the last couple of months of the offensive. During this time the three Durham Light Infantry battalions of the 151st Infantry Brigade and the 1/7th Londons of the 47th Division suffered huge losses trying to reach the summit. The British only captured it once the Germans had retreated to the Hindenburg Line in February 1917.