The history of the Twentieth (Light) Division

by Valentine Erskine Inglefield

The G.O.C. had not assumed command of this sector more than an hour, and the relief was not yet completed, when he received verbal instructions that the 20th Division would be required to move south as soon as it had been relieved by the 36th and 50th Divisions. Definite orders arrived next day, and the relief began at once. On the 23rd and 24th, units concentrated in the back area about Steenwerck and Hondeghem, where the 60th Brigade rejoined, and on the 25th and 26th the Division, leaving the artillery still at Ypres, went south to Doullens.

Chapter IV
THE SOMME
24th of July to 7th of September 1916

The line between Beaumont Hamel and Hebuterne—Move to the Somme area—Battle of Guillemont.

(Vide [Map II.] [and Sketch B.])

As soon as all units were concentrated in the district round Doullens, the 20th Division was ordered to relieve the 38th in the hilly country between Beaumont Hamel and Hebuterne. Accordingly the 29th of July found the Division once more in the line, though not yet in the area of the great offensive which had been progressing since the first of the month between the Ancre and the Somme.

Brig.-General W. E. Banbury, C.M.G., took over command of the 61st Brigade on the 28th of July from Brig.-General Sweny, who had returned to the Brigade a few days earlier, but was still suffering from the effect of his wounds.

The right of the new line rested about half a mile north-west of Beaumont Hamel on the south side of a spur known as Redan Ridge, overlooking the village, which lay in a narrow valley some hundred feet below. From the crest of Redan ridge the line ran rather east of north into somewhat lower ground, facing Serre and extending to a point 1200 yards north-west of it. Here it formed a salient and turned back, rising to the Divisional left flank at a place known as Sixteen Poplars on the Hebuterne-Puisieux road about 1000 yards from Hebuterne. The 61st Brigade held the right of this line, the 60th the centre opposite Serre and the 59th the left, with Divisional Headquarters at Couin. The 38th Divisional Artillery remained in the line to support the 20th Division, whose own artillery was still at Ypres. The Division was now once more in the XIVth Corps, which had taken over that day from the VIIIth, and which consisted of the Guards, 6th, 20th and 25th Divisions; on the right of the 20th was the 25th Division and on the left the 56th.

Although this country was now outside the main battle area, attacks had been made on the 1st of July between the Ancre and Serre and north of Hebuterne, with a view to holding the enemy reserves and occupying his artillery. To meet these attacks the enemy had concentrated a large force of artillery, with the result that when the 20th Division took over the line the trenches were in an appalling state and the ground still covered with dead. The front line could be held only by advanced parties, and it had to be reclaimed; in places where it was too much damaged and full of dead bodies it had to be filled in and a new line dug in front of it. Communication trenches had to be put in good order for 500 yards behind the front line, deep dug-outs made, the battlefield cleared and a new line built within 200 yards of the enemy, wherever there was a greater distance than this between the opposing trenches. To assist in this task the 3rd Battalion Grenadier Guards was attached to the 20th Division from the 1st to the 7th of August; on the departure of this battalion, a field company of the Guards Division came to help. The field companies of the Division were employed in the areas of their respective brigades, and the 11th D.L.I. and large parties from the battalions in reserve were constantly at work.

GUILLEMONT, 3^RD-4^TH Sep^t 1916. Sketch B.