After the Battle of Bazentin Ridge on 14 July 1916, High Wood lay undefended for most of the day but delays in communication and confusion caused by orders and counter-orders from British corps headquarters, which had overlapping responsibilities, led to the occupation of High Wood being forestalled by German reserves, which had moved forward to counter-attack British troops in the villages of Bazentin-le-Grand and Bazentin-le-Petit.

Both sides had many casualties and chronic communication problems; inclement weather grounded aircraft, obscured the view and slowed movement on the roads, which had been severely bombarded and turned to mud as soon as it rained.

The Germans lacked the resources to make many big organised counter-attacks and those at High Wood and the vicinity were often as costly and ineffective as corresponding British attacks.

[2] General Henry Rawlinson, the Fourth Army commander, planned an attack at dawn on 14 July, when there would be insufficient light for German machine-gunners to see far ahead.

The British infantry was to cross up to 1,200 yd (1,100 m) of no man's land in the dark and assemble close to the German second line.

[7] The Fourth Army attacked High Wood with divisions from XV Corps on 14 July, during the Battle of Bazentin Ridge.

The 7th Division advanced and two battalions managed to occupy the southern half of the wood, after German reserves had arrived and counter-attacked several times.

On the right flank, a squadron from each of the 7th Dragoon Guards and the 20th Deccan Horse of the 2nd Indian Cavalry Division, had been ordered forward at 7:40 a.m. but took until early evening to make their way across trenches and devastated ground.

[8] The 20th Deccan Horse made the only cavalry charge of the Battle of the Somme, against III Battalion, Infantry Regiment 26 concealed in crops east of the wood.

The crew of an aircraft of 3 Squadron RFC saw the infantry and cavalry advance and the pilot dived at the German troops, strafing them from a height of 300 ft (91 m).

The 16th Battalion, King's Royal Rifle Corps and the 2nd Worcester were sent forward as reinforcements but were back on the start line by 4:00 p.m.[14] Two German infantry companies worked southwards from the Switch Line for 500 yd (460 m) later in the evening but a renewal of the counter-attack was found to be impossible, due to the tremendous volume of British barrage fire and the presence of British reconnaissance and artillery-observation aircraft.

[15][b] The 33rd Division attacked again at dusk on 19 July, when a battalion from the 100th Brigade pushed advanced posts towards the wood from Bazentin-le-Petit as a flank guard.

[20][c] Fog covered the area around High Wood until 22 July when vague reports of German digging in front of the Switch Line were confirmed.

German sources reported that the shelling was of painful accuracy and prevented the troops in High Wood from being relieved, despite the number of casualties.

Worn guns, defective ammunition and inaccurate information about the location of British infantry positions were blamed for short-shooting.

[28] On 18 August, a battalion of the 33rd Division attacked the wood, using the flame throwers and thirty oil drums thrown by Livens Projectors but the flame throwers failed and the projectors were buried by British artillery-fire which fell short; the pipe pushers fouled tree roots in the wood and one was deflected backwards, blowing a crater into the trench line of one of the attacking battalions.

[32] On 3 September, a 1st Brigade battalion of the 1st Division attacked in High Wood as part of the fighting for Guillemont, making another attempt to use the flame-throwers and Livens Projectors.

A 178th Tunnelling Company mine, with 3,000 lb (1,400 kg) of explosives, was sprung under the strong point at the east corner of the wood thirty seconds before the infantry advance.

The pipe pushers blew back and a mortar bomb dropped short and set off the oil drums in the Livens Projectors, causing much confusion among the attackers.

An attack on the south-west face of the wood also reached the objective and two companies of the 15th (Scottish) Division got into the western corner and repulsed a German counter-attack with Lewis-gun fire.

Another counter-attack was defeated at 8:00 p.m. but the British then withdrew, except for one company which retired at 4:00 a.m.[35] On 8 September, the 1st Division attacked the west end of the wood at 6:00 p.m. with two battalions.

The 34 Squadron crew made a second sortie and at 12:30 p.m., watched as parties of Germans began to surrender to bombers working forward along the edges of the wood.

[42] Several hundred soldiers of Bavarian Infantry Regiment 23 of the 3rd Royal Bavarian Division were taken prisoner, along with six machine-guns and two heavy howitzers and the survivors of the 141st Brigade captured the wood by 1:00 p.m. As night fell, the division had no organised front line, except on the extreme right and only the first objective had been captured, although this gave the British observation of the German defences north-eastwards to Bapaume.

In four days of fighting, the division had suffered over 4,500 casualties and the 141st Brigade was so depleted that after the occupation of the wood, it was reorganised into a composite battalion.

[48][49][e] Peter Liddle wrote that beyond imposing a delay, the German policy of unyielding defence and counter-attack failed and ought to be judged on the same terms as British and French methods.

[52] William Philpott criticised the weeks of costly, small, narrow-front attacks against a skilful and determined defence by the Germans, yet Gallwitz "had no better tactical method", which reduced operations to a battle of wills.

[54] J. P.Harris wrote that on the German side, conditions were worse and the British improved the accuracy of their artillery-fire, with the help of aircraft observation.

[57][f] Gary Sheffield wrote that criticism of Haig underestimated the difficulty in balancing tactical, operational and strategic demands; line straightening attacks were costly but were better than imposing complicated manoeuvres on the infantry.

[65] Ted Hughes describes his uncle Walter (16th King's Royal Rifle Corps) wounded from a German sniper's bullet and lying out in No Man's Land after one of the 33rd Division attacks in Walt - I: Under High Wood.

[66] The stench of rotting corpses in the wood was overwhelming and it inspired Ewart MacKintosh to write a parody of Chalk Farm to Camberwell Green.