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Updated: May 8, 2025
The Germans stubbornly contested the British advance, but were unable to gain any material advantage except at Ginchy, occupied by the British, who were driven out of all but a small portion of the place.
"We start our intense at twelve o'clock, every gun we have in this section is going to fairly give Bosche jumps; in fact he will have to find a 'better 'ole." This remark caused considerable laughter. "I am going to get my scenes from 'Ginchy Telegraph'; it seems a very likely spot by the map. Shall I get there about eleven o'clock and fix up?" "Good," said one.
Foch fought off many determined German counter-attacks in the Somme sector, and continued their advance, the French gaining Maurepas and the British moving closer to Guillemont and Ginchy, driving the Germans back along eleven miles of front and capturing Thiepval Ridge and other important positions near Pozieres.
The British gained ground toward Ginchy and Guillemont and took over 200 prisoners, including some officers. During the night the Germans delivered repeated attacks against the positions the British had captured, but only in one instance did they succeed in winning back a little ground.
On the same day on which the British took Guillemont and reached Ginchy and Leuze Wood; on the same day on which the French pushed their line almost to Combles; at the same time as the British attacked Thiépval from the front, the Australians, for the fifth time, delivered a blow at the wedge which they have all the while been driving into Thiépval from the back, along the ridge whose crest runs northwards from Pozières past Mouquet Farm.
There he lay and there a German lay opposite him, except when attacks were being made. Not getting the northern edge of the woods the British began sapping out in trenches to the east toward Ginchy, where the map contours showed the highest ground in that neighborhood. New lines of trenches kept appearing on the map, often with group names such as Coffee Alley, Tea Lane and Beer Street, perhaps.
On that day the British at last mastered the Quadrilateral east of Ginchy, and thus prepared for the great success which attended the next general attack on the 25th. It was the best day of the whole campaign. Lesboeufs and Morval fell on the north of Combles, while the French took Rancourt on the south-east, and away to the west Gough's army made the surprising seizure of Thiepval.
Since life has been a constant slipping from one good-bye to another, why should we fear that sole good-bye which promises to cancel all its forerunners? There you have a passage which, in the light of events, seems strangely prophetic. Kettle certainly got his "good lines" at Ginchy. He gave his life greatly for his ideal of a free Ireland in a free Europe.
"Well, then, I'd not like to be the drunken man that tried to find his keyhole in that town!" It was a pity, perhaps, that the Irish who assisted in the taking of Ginchy, which completed the needful mastery of the Ridge for British purposes, could not have taken part in the drive that was to follow.
On the evening of August 26, 1916, the British captured several hundred yards of German trenches north of Bazentin-le-Petit and pushed forward some distance north of Ginchy. After gaining a trench of 470 yards south of Thiepval and taking over 200 prisoners, the British on August 24, 1916, joined up with the French forces on the right, where important progress was made around Maurepas.
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