The Bavarian attack managed to advance half-way to Carnoy but was held up nearly 0.62 mi (1 km) short of Maricourt and the troops dug in after dark.

Obstacles of barbed wire up to 3 ft 3 in (1 m) high, fencing and knife rests were to be kept ready to keep French patrols out of the trenches.

Recruit battalions of troops undergoing advanced training were moved closer to the front to occupy the second and third positions if needed; the 2nd Army had about 240 guns and howitzers, which were outnumbered 6:1 by the British artillery.

[19] If the first phase succeeded and the attack further west captured Fricourt, XIII Corps was to wheel to the right by pivoting on Favière Wood and Dublin Redoubt.

As the final objectives were reached, strong points were to be built by a Field Company section of the Royal Engineers (RE) and detachments from two pioneer battalions, which were attached to each brigade.

On 25 June, heavy artillery-fire predominated, smashing trenches and blocking dugouts, setting fire to supply dumps and causing large explosions in Montauban.

Eight minutes later the 89th Brigade attacked on the right of the division, the two leading battalions advancing quickly across the 500 yd (460 m) of no man's land with slung rifles, in extended lines of companies, about 100 paces apart.

The battalions moved forward east of Talus Boisé (wooded slope) which was sheltered by Railway Valley and further on, the infantry was protected by a smoke screen along Dublin Trench, raised by the leading brigades.

A German machine-gunner behind the former German front line trench near Breslau Alley caused many casualties to the brigade, having already engaged the 18th (Eastern) Division but the troops reached Train Alley fifteen minutes early and waited for the bombardment to lift, during which the machine-gun nest on the left flank was located and silenced by a Lewis gun crew.

[15] At 11:30 a.m. the British heavy artillery began to bombard La Briqueterie and at 12:30 p.m., a company of the 20th King's Liverpool Regiment of the 89th Brigade advanced from Dublin Trench behind a creeping barrage.

[34] 9 Squadron Royal Flying Corps (RFC) flew over XIII Corps and an observer watched the troops of the 30th Division advance to a line from Dublin Trench to Glatz Redoubt, at 8:30 a.m. Another aircraft arrived at 10:00 a.m. and the crew saw the reflectors sewn onto the small packs of the infantry glinting, as they advanced from Glatz Redoubt along Train Alley towards Montauban.

The crew saw a German field artillery battery setting up in Bernafay Wood and attacked the gunners with machine-gun fire, from an altitude of 700 ft (210 m).

As the crew flew back, they saw the 16th Manchester enter Montauban and troops of the 18th (Eastern) Division coming up on the left, flying low over the ridge to wave at the infantry.

Balloon observers and the crews of artillery-observation aircraft spent the day spotting German artillery and directing counter-battery fire onto them, although the quantity of shell-bursts was so great that only approximate corrections could be given.

On the east side of the crater area, some German soldiers had survived the bombardment but those in the west end had been swamped by a flame projector and killed.

Machine gunners in the crater area were able to fire along no man's land into the left of the 55th Brigade battalions on the right flank, which caused many casualties, confusion and delay.

[43] The 54th Brigade on the left advanced up the south side of Mametz Spur between the craters of the two mines and crossed the German front and support trenches, until a machine-gun at The Triangle caused many casualties in the right-hand battalion, before being rushed.

On the extreme right the division was close to the first objective and on the left had reached it but in the centre, most of the 53rd Brigade was held up in front of Breslau Support Trench and the troops near The Loop were still pinned down.

The redoubt was on the flat top of the Montauban Spur and had not been extensively bombarded and as the infantry advanced behind a creeping barrage against massed machine-gun and rifle fire, the attacks broke down in front of the German wire.

[44] An outflanking attempt was made from the west, British troops got into Maple Trench and fired along the south face of the redoubt, where the German infantry had their heads and shoulders above the parapet.

The Germans in the trench and Montauban Alley resisted attempts to move eastwards and an inconclusive bombing fight began, ending the advance of the 53rd and 54th brigades.

The remaining British troops in the area, were able to advance to the Montauban–Mametz road by 3:00 p.m. and then take part of Montauban Alley at 5:15 p.m. after a mortar bombardment, at which the German survivors retreated into Caterpillar Wood.

[50] Reserve Infantry Regiment 51 (RIR 51) was ordered to advance south of the Bapaume–Albert road past Combles to enter the north-eastern corner of Montauban.

To the south, RIR 51 arrived at La Briqueterie in an exhausted and disorganised condition, looking like "a mass of drunken men", who were forced back by machine-gun fire.

Patrols went forward and found Bernafay Wood nearly empty but before the attack, it had been stressed that the division must prepare to defend Montauban against German counter-attacks which were considered inevitable.

The Bavarian Official History recorded that BRIR 6 suffered 3,000 casualties, only 500 men surviving, most in units which had not been engaged; only a few stragglers turned up the next morning.

A German heavy artillery bombardment began at 12:30 p.m. from an arc between Maurepas to Bazentin-le-Grand and as a counter-attack loomed, the British withdrew at 3:00 p.m. to Bernafay Wood.

At 4:00 a.m. on 10 July, the British advanced in groups of twenty, many getting lost but some reaching the northern tip of the wood, reporting it empty of Germans.

[61] A second battalion advanced north-eastwards, veered from the eastern edge to the south-eastern fringe and tried to work northwards but was stopped by fire from the strong point.

[64] 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.