[a] The battle was fought on a front from Courcelette in the east, near the Albert–Bapaume road, to Thiepval and the Schwaben Redoubt (Schwaben-Feste) in the west, which overlooked the German defences further north in the Ancre valley, the rising ground towards Beaumont-Hamel and Serre beyond.

Thiepval Ridge was well fortified and the German defenders fought with great determination, while the British co-ordination of infantry and artillery declined after the first day, due to the confused nature of the fighting in the mazes of trenches, dugouts and shell-craters.

Organisational difficulties and deteriorating weather frustrated General Joseph Joffre's intention to proceed with vigorous co-ordinated attacks by the Anglo-French armies, which became disjointed and declined in effectiveness during late September, at the same time as a revival occurred in the German defence.

The German defenders on the Somme front struggled to withstand the preponderance of men and material fielded by the Anglo–French, despite reorganisation and substantial reinforcement of troops, artillery and aircraft from Verdun.

The Reserve Army commander, Lieutenant-General Hubert Gough, was less certain but did lay stress on the supports crossing the danger zone swiftly.

[1] The 18th (Eastern) Division (Major-General Ivor Maxse), moved south after three weeks' battle training in the Third Army area, joining II Corps on 8 September.

All company, battalion and brigade commanders reconnoitred the ground and a lecture was given by Brigadier-General Philip Howell, the II Corps Chief of Staff.

Howell briefed the division on the local situation and recent experience which the unit commanders found helpful, having only been in Flanders since August.

Royal Engineer field companies, pioneers and two battalions of infantry dug about 2,500 yd (1.4 mi; 2.3 km) of assembly and communication trenches and existing positions were also improved; supply dumps were prepared over four nights of digging.

The road from Authuille to Thiepval was repaired and hidden behind a brushwood screen, which enabled supplies to be moved up and wounded to be brought down, with little German shelling.

The division arranged a stratagem, whereby the assembly and Hindenburg trenches were to be left empty after the first waves had advanced and the reserve battalion held back, to avoid the German counter-barrage.

On the left the corps was to take Thiepval in the second stage and then reach Schwaben Redoubt, which overlooked the slope down to St Pierre Divion.

On the afternoon of 24 September a detachment of the Special Brigade fired 500 lachrymatory (gas) shells into Thiepval, which silenced German trench mortars by 5:00 p.m. A preliminary operation to capture Mouquet Farm began on the evening of 24 September, when a company from the 11th Division reached the farm, before a German bombardment and a bombing attack covered by accurate machine-gun fire, forced the British back.

The plan to avoid the German counter-barrage worked and the first objective, at Schwaben Trench on the right and the Pozières–St Pierre Divion road on the left, was reached in 12 minutes.

The advance was stopped by German machine-gun fire after another 250 yd (230 m) and the troops fell back to Zollern Trench at dark and then tried to bomb forward.

[17] On 28 September, a cavalry patrol moved forward on the right of the 6th Brigade, 2nd Canadian Division at dawn but was quickly stopped by machine-gun fire.

[b] GHQ Wing and Corps squadron air observers on contact patrol, watched the infantry advance behind the creeping barrage and enter Thiepval with two tanks, which prompted some German soldiers to run away.

At 1:10 p.m. British troops were photographed in Hessian Trench and air observers were able to report the capture of Thiepval, save for the north-west corner.

South of Miraumont a 4 Squadron air observer reported c. 1,000 German troops on the road, who were scattered by British heavy artillery.

[22] Next day British offensive patrols met numerous German formations in the morning, before heavy rain interrupted flying.

On 28 September V Brigade aircraft reported the British advances at Schwaben Redoubt and directed artillery fire on 31 gun pits and blew up nine ammunition stores.

Poor weather grounded most aircraft on 29 September but next day was clear, 500 air photographs were obtained and low reconnaissance observed the state of German trenches and wire.

Dust and smoke from the artillery hung in the air during the afternoon and shrouded the British infantry advance to Hessen Weg, where two reserve companies held them up.

By early morning the new divisional front line had been established between Hessen Weg and Staufen Riegel, touch on the left being gained at the Grandcourt–Courcelette road with the right of the 7th Division and the right being extended to the Feste Grüne.

[28] Careful planning for the combined attack at Morval was necessary, due to the French Sixth Army advance diverging east and north-east.

[30] The British pushed on in the next few days towards Stuff and Schwaben redoubts, where the Germans were eventually dislodged in the Battle of the Ancre Heights, which began on 1 October.

Apart from here and at Sailly-Saillisel in the French Sixth Army area, Bazentin ridge had been captured, giving ground observation of the upper Ancre river and the spurs and valleys on the north bank.

[31] The British made better use of their artillery, while German artillery ammunition consumption in September rose to 4.1 million shells from 1.5 million in August but had less effect, much of the ammunition being used inefficiently on unobserved area bombardments, while defensive barrage fire was limited to three-minute periods; up to 25 per cent of the German guns became unserviceable in battle due to mechanical failure.

[36][37] British operations concluded on 30 September, with the capture of a large portion of the Schwaben Redoubt, north of Thiepval, another first day objective which had been attacked by the 36th (Ulster) Division.

The piers of the memorial bear the names of over 72,000 British soldiers, who were killed on the Somme battlefields "but to whom the fortunes of war denied the known and honoured burial given to their comrades in death".