Battle of Le Transloy - Gueudecourt, Picardie, France
Posted by: elyob
N 50° 03.905 E 002° 51.222
31U E 489529 N 5545876
Memorial is on D574, northeast of Gueudecourt.
Waymark Code: WMTZB8
Location: Hauts-de-France, France
Date Posted: 01/27/2017
Views: 9
Four months into the Battle of the Somme, the Fourth Army of the British Expeditionary Force began an offensive near Le Transloy in Pas-de-Calais, France. British generals Douglas Haig and Henry Rawlinson led British Imperial forces against Kronprinz Rupprecht's German forces. According to authors of the
Wikipedia article, the result of the battle was indecisive.
This memorial northeast of Gueudecourt represents one small portion of the Battle of Le Transloy, one brief reference in the 23-paragraph description in the Wikipedia article. Having regrouped with reinforcements after its devastating losses on the opening day of the Battle of the Somme, the Newfoundland Regiment was back on the front line, on 9 October 1916. Together with the 1st Battalion Essex Regiment, the Newfoundlanders were ordered to take two German trenches. A German counter attack prevented the two regiments from marching on their second objective. Under heavy fire, the Newfoundlanders held on to their first objective for 55 hours before relief arrived, 120 soldiers lost their lives. The Newfoundland Regiment was one of the few units on the whole of the Fourth Army's front to capture and retain an objective.
This memorial and the surviving trench remnants represent the farthest advance of the front in the entire Battle of the Somme.