During the Battle of Flers–Courcelette (15–22 September) the Germans were forced back from Flers and the survivors retired to (Gallwitz Riegel), a defence line which ran in front of Gueudecourt.

Next day a combined operation by infantry, aircraft and a tank inflicted many casualties on the defenders and forced the survivors to surrender, after which the village was occupied and consolidated.

To exploit the success, British cavalry went forward to probe the area around the village but were repulsed by machine-gun and artillery-fire from improvised German defences on Transloy Ridge.

Gueudecourt became a backwater until 1918, when the village was lost on 24 March during Operation Michael, the German spring offensive and was recaptured for the last time on 28 August, by the 17th (Northern) Division, during the Second Battle of Bapaume.

On 25 September, during the Race to the Sea a French attack north of the Somme against the II Bavarian Corps (General Karl von Martini [de]), forced a hurried withdrawal.

The 4th Bavarian Division further to the north, defeated the French territorials and then attacked westwards in the vicinity of Gueudecourt, towards Albert, through Sailly, Combles, Guillemont and Montauban.

[3] The XIV Reserve Corps attacked on 28 September, along the Roman road from Bapaume to Albert and Amiens, intending to reach the Ancre and then continue westwards along the Somme valley.

[4] On 22 July, an air reconnaissance by 9 Squadron Royal Flying Corps (RFC) observed the German defences from Combles to Gueudecourt and reported that they were extensive but unoccupied.

On 15 September, an RFC aircraft flew overhead as a tank drove from Flers to Gueudecourt, where the garrison had fled and then saw it hit and set on fire.

The ground to be taken was on the east side of Bazentin ridge, which ran north-west from the Somme to a hollow facing north-east with Combles at the west end.

Spurs ran down the eastern slope generally to the north-east, in the direction of the Péronne–Bapaume road, before the ground rose again from St Pierre Vaast Wood to Sailly-Saillisel, Le Transloy, Beaulencourt and Thilloy.

The first stage was an advance to the third of the objective lines set for 15 September and to the Gird Trenches (Gallwitz Riegel) south of Gueudecourt, beginning at 12:35 p.m.

Morale in the 21st Division had declined and on 24 September, 150 men of the 10th King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry (KOYLI) tried to report sick.

The forward troops were reorganised and a runner sent back to call on the reserve companies was wounded en route and the message was not delivered.

[18][a] The 15th DLI advanced from the front of the 64th Brigade and occupied the Gird Trenches; after receiving reports from the Welsh Guards that they could walk in the open unmolested, the XV Corps headquarters ordered patrols into Gueudecourt.

[20] Around noon, a squadron of the 19th Lancers of the 1st Cavalry Division advanced from Mametz and Flers towards Gueudecourt, only to be engaged by artillery and machine-guns from the right flank.

The depth of advance and relatively light British casualties during the Battle of Morval was partly due to the improvement of the tactical methods in the Fourth Army, particularly in infantry–artillery co-operation.

[23] The German defenders had been forced out of their prepared defences and had to fight in improvised positions but had still managed to withdraw all but two field guns.

[26] The greatest distance advanced by the British during the Battle of the Somme, was about 6 mi (9.7 km) to the foot of the Butte de Warlencourt and just east of Gueudecourt.

[27] On 2 November, Rupprecht wrote in his diary that the British were digging in west of Delville Wood to Martinpuich and Courcelette, which suggested that winter quarters were being built and that only minor operations were contemplated.

Infantry attacks diminished but British artillery fire was constant, against which the large number of German guns in the area could only make a limited reply, due to a chronic shortage of ammunition.

The area of the memorial was seized by Newfoundland troops from the Germans on 12 October 1916 and marks the farthest point of advance of British units during the Battle of the Somme.