Battle of Delville Wood Begins

Date: July 14, 1916 • Location: Bapaume, France

This milestone marked the outbreak and beginning of this historic period, which spanned 1916.

The Battle of Delville Wood began as an action within the Battle of the Somme, lasting until 3 September 1916.

The Battle of Delville Wood (15 July – 3 September 1916) was a series of engagements in the 1916 Battle of the Somme in the First World War, between the armies of the German Empire and the British Empire. Delville Wood (Bois d'Elville), was a thick tangle of trees, chiefly beech and hornbeam, with dense hazel thickets, intersected by grassy rides, to the east of Longueval. As part of a general offensive starting on 14 July, which became known as the Battle of Bazentin Ridge (14–17 July), General Douglas Haig, Commander of the British Expeditionary Force, intended to capture the German second position between Delville Wood and Bazentin le Petit.