The ground sloped south-west from Bazentin ridge, divided by Willow Stream, which rose in Trônes Wood and flowed past the ends of the Mametz and Fricourt spurs.

British patrols reported the retirement overnight and at noon on 2 July, troops of the 17th Division occupied the village and captured Fricourt Wood in the mid-afternoon.

The 3rd Guard Division was hurried forward from Valenciennes, to hold the ground in front of the second position and British attacks began on Shelter and Bottom woods up the slope towards Contalmaison.

At the end of July 1915, fresh troops were observed moving into the French positions north of the Somme and were identified on 1 August, at Thiepval Wood as British soldiers ("dressed in brown suits").

[3] In January 1915, Erich von Falkenhayn, the German Chief of the General Staff (Oberste Heeresleitung) issued instructions on defensive policy, which required the existing front line to be made capable of being easily defended by small numbers of troops.

[6] British planning for the offensive began in April, with a Fourth Army proposal for a methodical advance to the high ground around Thiepval, thence to the Bapaume–Péronne road.

Diversion of French divisions to Verdun and the assumption by the British of the main role in the Somme offensive led to revisions of the plan towards a more ambitious attempt at strategic attrition, by a breakthrough and a battle of manoeuvre with distant objectives.

In late May 1916, a spoiling attack was planned from Foucaucourt, south of the Somme, to St Pierre Divion north of the river, intended to reach a depth of 16 mi (25 km).

In the XV Corps area, both divisions were to attack behind a creeping barrage, some starting from support trenches behind the British front line, due damage caused by German artillery-fire and mining and some from no man's land, after crawling forward just before the end of the bombardment.

If the German defence collapsed, the 17th (Northern) Division, in corps reserve, would pass through and advance beyond Mametz Wood, up the north side of Caterpillar Valley, to Bazentin le Grand, Longueval and Ginchy.

Reinforcements later in the morning were also caught by machine-gun fire in no man's land and the survivors were unable to make progress beyond the existing 20th Brigade position.

The wood was captured by a frontal attack, combined with bombers moving down Hidden Lane, before parties advanced to the objective at Apple Alley.

Half of the right flank battalion of the 63rd Brigade tried to advance five minutes before zero hour, crawling across no man's land but were forced back by machine-gun fire.

The two support companies were also caught in no man's land and only 104 men reached the front trench, where the troops consolidated and defeated three counter-attacks from Fricourt.

The left battalion reached the leading troops and bombed along communication trenches, occupying Lozenge Alley up to the Sunken Road to secure their right flank.

The advance continued when the creeping barrage moved on, across the top of the spur towards Sunken Road, as German parties and the leading troops engaged with bombs and bayonets.

On the right of XV Corps, Number 3 Kite Balloon Section was able to order a bombardment on a party of Germans who had counter-attacked Danzig Alley.

The support companies were caught by machine-gun fire from the left, the detachments intended to bomb down communication trenches to Willow Valley and Fricourt, being nearly annihilated.

The preliminary bombardment failed to cut the wire, due to faulty fuzes and only small gaps were made, the German dugouts in the area were found untouched.

On the 7th Division front, the last company of the right-hand battalion of the 20th Brigade, advanced at 1:00 p.m. and despite being caught by machine-gun fire from the Shrine, arrived in time to exploit the attack on Fricourt at 2:30 p.m.

The 20th Brigade was reinforced by part of a supporting battalion, to attack through Mametz towards Bunny Trench, past troops who had already worked forward into the east end of the village.

Very little German firing took place on the 21st Division front overnight, many wounded were recovered and supplies were brought up without interference, although there was an acute water shortage in the captured area.

[31] The preliminary bombardment was particularly effective on the front of the 28th Reserve Division and was more destructive on 1 July, when the artillery batteries in the valleys near Montauban and Mametz were destroyed along with their ammunition, few of the guns being withdrawn to the second position.

[36] Machine-guns in the second position failed to work and local counter-attacks were not able to retrieve the situation, as the British advance around Mametz outflanked the garrison in Fricourt, where the defence was hampered by fog, gas and smoke.

The damage caused by the bombardment, the narrowness of no man's land and the surprise of the Russian sap, allowed the British to break in, while most of the garrison was under cover.

The density of the destructive bombardment was much greater than elsewhere and a lack of deep dugouts, led to most of the defenders congregating in those under the front trench, which reduced the capacity of the surviving German infantry to withstand the attack.

The infantry advance took four minutes to reach the empty British front line, which had been bombarded by German artillery during the intense fire in the hour before zero and 600 prisoners were taken in Mametz.

The afternoon attack of the 20th Brigade achieved an advance sufficient to guard the left flank of the division and during the day, the 7th divisional artillery fired c. 7,000 rounds of field gun ammunition and c. 900 howitzer shells.

German troops assumed that the British were being routed and attacked the 51st Brigade, which had been reduced to about 600 men, frontally and incurred losses which were considered to be the worst in the March battles.

During the afternoon the village was captured and Cubbon's Composite Brigade, assembled from rear area personnel and stragglers, filled the gap between Fricourt Wood and the dismounted cavalry by 4:30 p.m.[49] The 52nd Brigade occupied Fricourt and managed to stop the German advance but on 26 March a general retirement of the V Corps divisions was ordered and the village was evacuated at 4:45 p.m.[50] In the afternoon, air reconnaissance saw that the British defence of the line from Montauban and Ervillers was collapsing and the RFC squadrons in the area, made a maximum effort to disrupt the German advance.