The redoubt had been built as part of the fortification of the Somme front by the German 2nd Army (General der Infanterie Fritz von Below) after the open warfare of 1914.

On 1 July, the First Day on the Somme, troops of the 36th (Ulster) Division occupied part of the redoubt before being forced out by German counter-attacks.

The leading waves continued to advance, reached the C line and then the corner of Schwaben Redoubt at 8:48 a.m., by when the supporting battalion survivors had occupied their objectives but cross-fire from German machine-guns then prevented movement forwards or backwards.

[13] The left hand battalion of RIR 99 had repulsed the attack on Thiepval but the centre and right, from the village to the Ancre south of St Pierre Divion, had been overrun, the troops having been trapped underground and taken prisoner.

As soon as the British bombardment lifted, the only reserves nearby, the recruit battalion of IR 180 and a machine-gun company, occupied the Grandcourt Line around Thiepval.

Auwäter ordered the counter-attack to begin immediately by three groups, from the north-east, east and south-east, to forestall an Irish wheeling movement against Thiepval and Ovillers.

[18] The rest of the counter-attack force was ordered not to wait and Oberstleutnant Bram reached Stuff Redoubt to command the attack during the afternoon, having had to move on foot via Courcelette through the British bombardments.

Moving around the redoubt was difficult due to the number of shells that had been fired into the area, tearing up the ground, the maze of trenches and the constant British barrage.

In the centre, the counter-attack began from Staufen-Feste (Stuff Redoubt), with three companies of BRIR 8 but was promptly engaged by British artillery and forced under cover.

The advance was continued along Hessen Weg, which led from Courcelette to Thepval and then moved into the open opposite the south-eastern corner of Schwaben Redoubt.

Messages were sent back to the 26th Division headquarters for a bombardment and at 9:00 p.m., the divisional artillery began to fire on the redoubt, from the north-east to the south-east for one hour.

As II Battalion, BRIR 8 arrived, the troops had been sent forward piecemeal and gradually began to overwhelm the defenders, much assisted by better artillery support, which by 10:00 a.m. made the Irish hold on Schwaben Redoubt untenable.

Preparations began, amidst rain and mud, for the capture the rest of the redoubt and higher ground just beyond to gain observation over the Grandcourt valley.

The 11th (Northern) Division advanced with the 34th Brigade on the right, which attacked with two battalions; a bombing party rushed forward to Mouquet Farm thirty seconds before zero to guard the dugout exits.

The rear waves were nearly caught by the German counter-barrage but the 5th Dorset, moving up in support to the British front line was hit and had many casualties, including the four company commanders.

The battalion reached Midway Line, which ran from Mouquet Farm to Schwaben Redoubt north of Thiepval, which was defended by six trench mortars.

The commanders of the two attacking battalions went forward to investigate and found scattered groups of men in an empty battlefield, with German machine-gun fire coming from Zollern Redoubt and Mouquet Farm.

The news failed to reach the 9th West Yorkshire, which arrived at the jumping-off line in Zollern Trench on the east side of Stuff Redoubt, just after 3:00 p.m. and attacked, despite there being no sign of the Green Howards on the left.

The British barrage lifted as soon as the advance was noticed and the battalion, which had not seen the ground before, dodged to the left, round the wreckage of shell-holes and mud filled trenches.

The defenders of Hessian Trench to the west of the redoubt were surprised and captured, a field artillery brigade firing in support of the Howards as soon as they were seen to advance.

The Green Howards took 80 prisoners and two machine-guns for minor losses and gained touch with the 33rd Brigade on the left and with the West Yorkshires in the redoubt on the right.

Parties from two battalions acted as ammunition carriers and at 9:00 p.m. the 11th Manchester bombed forward along a trench from Zollern Redoubt, towards the Canadians to the north-east.

A Stokes mortar bombardment was arranged as well as the usual creeping barrage and three companies of the 6th York and Lancaster reached Hessian Trench, most of which was captured.

The British Nieuport 16 fighters remained a match for the newer, faster, German aircraft and began to escort bomber formations.

Long-range bombing raids were successful and offensive patrols to protect the corps squadrons over the battlefield shot down two German aircraft and drove down 13 more.

Destructive and creeping bombardments were used but the fighting took place on slopes full of trenches, shell-craters and dugouts, which made it difficult for artillery to fire in close support.

After the loss of Stuff Trench beyond Stuff Redoubt, Erich Ludendorff the Erster Generalquartiermeister (First Quartermaster General), deputy to the Chief of the General Staff of OHL and Crown Prince Rupprecht, the army group commander for northern France, were willing to contemplate a retirement from the salient that had formed around St Pierre Division and Beaumont Hamel.

The 28th Reserve Division positions in the Ancre valley were exposed to British ground observation and made Grandcourt a death trap.

Ludendorff and Rupprecht considered a retirement from the salient that had formed around St Pierre Division and Beaumont Hamel as the Germans had been pushed off the west end of Bazentin Ridge.

[45] In 2009, William Philpott wrote that it had taken the Reserve Army/5th Army more than a month to capture the north end of the Thiepval Ridge against a reinvigorated German defence.