The costly fighting ended with the British in possession of the plateau north and east of the village, in a position to menace the German bastion of Thiepval from the rear.

The village of Pozières, on the Albert–Bapaume road, lies atop a ridge approximately in the centre of what was the British sector of the Somme battlefield.

On 14 July, during the Battle of Bazentin Ridge, this southern section of the German second line was captured by the British Fourth Army of Lieutenant General Sir Henry Rawlinson.

[3] The British Commander-in-Chief, General Sir Douglas Haig, lacked the artillery ammunition immediately to execute another broad-front attack after 14 July.

Rawlinson planned to deliver another attack on a broad front on 18 July, involving six divisions between the Albert–Bapaume road in the north and Guillemont in the south.

Haig decided to transfer responsibility for Pozières to the Reserve Army of Lieutenant General Hubert Gough which had been holding the line north of the road since shortly after the opening of the offensive on 1 July.

The weeks of bombardment had reduced the ridge to a field of craters and it was virtually impossible to distinguish where a trench line had run.

Lines made the eastern end of Pozières vulnerable and so the Australians formed a flank short of their objectives.

[b] During 23 July, some Australians went prospecting across the road, captured a number of Germans and with minimal effort occupied more of the village.

With British activity now declining elsewhere on its front, the German IV Corps opposite Pozières, was able to concentrate most of its artillery against the village and its approaches.

The western approach to the village, which led from Casualty Corner near the head of Sausage Valley, received such a concentration of shellfire that it was thereafter known as "Dead Man's Road".

At its peak, the German bombardment of Pozières was the equal of anything yet experienced on the Western Front and far surpassed the worst shelling previously endured by an Australian division.

Simultaneously on the Australian's right, the British 1st Division made an attempt to capture Munster Alley, the section of the Switch Line where it intersected the O.G.

The division's commander, General Gordon Legge, lacked the experience and confidence of Walker and succumbed to pressure from Gough.

The dust raised by the shelling prevented the Australian artillery observers from directing their field guns on wire cutting.

Including the attack and the preceding day of preparation the 2nd Division lost over 3,500 men; the 7th Brigade had to be withdrawn to reserve, so great were its losses.

To avoid the confusion of a night advance, the plan was to attack at 9:15 p.m. just before dark at which time the crest of the ridge and the mound of the Pozières windmill would still be discernible.

Lines on the eastern edge of the Pozières ridge, the Australians now looked over green countryside, the village of Courcelette close by and the woods around Bapaume 5 miles (8.0 km) distant.

While the relief was underway on the night of 5/6 August the Australians were subjected to an extreme bombardment, because the salient they occupied could be shelled by the Germans from all directions, including from Thiepval which lay to the rear.

At this moment, Lieutenant Albert Jacka, who had won the Victoria Cross at Gallipoli, emerged from a dugout where he and seven men of his platoon had been isolated and charged the German line from the rear.

Jacka was badly wounded but as support arrived from the flanks, the Australians gained the advantage and most of the surviving Germans were captured.

Since taking over the Pozières sector, Gough had planned to drive a wedge behind (east of) the German fortress of Thiepval.

Lines, the Reserve Army attacked northwards along the ridge towards the German strong point of Mouquet Farm which protected the rear of Thiepval.

When the Australian ordeal on Pozières ridge was over in September, they were replaced by the Canadian Corps who held the sector for the remainder of the battle.

After the battle it became apparent that General Birdwood had lost much of his Gallipoli popularity through his failure to oppose Gough's impetuous desire for "quick results" and his "lack of thought" at Pozières.

[13] Wilfrid Miles, the official historian, praised the initiative shown by small units of men in clearing the Germans from positions in the village but attributed much of the casualties to Australian inexperience and their "reckless daring".