By this time the Germans had recovered from their set-back of the 14th and offered an aggressive defence. Counter-attacking at the point of the salient in the Allied lines at Delville Wood, they succeeded in slipping through, but they were held in front of Longueval.
On the 20th and 23rd, the Allies delivered a general attack. The British 4th Army was now confronted by the enemy in force all along the line. However, the village of Pozières, one of the strong-points of Thiepval Plateau, to the west, was carried by the Australians on July 25. The French advanced their lines as far as the ravine, in which runs the light railway from Combles to Cléry.
Hidden in a hollow of the ground, Guillemont resisted the British assaults of July 30 and August 7.
On August 12, the French 1st Corps continued its thrust eastwards, turning Guillemont from the south. The Zouaves and 1st Cambrai Infantry Regiment entered Maurepas.
More to the south, the 170th Infantry captured the fortified crest lying 1 km. 500 m. west of Cléry.
The British hung on to the western outskirts of Guillemont.
DELVILLE WOOD NORTH OF LONGUEVAL (p. [60]).