Trenches Thiepval

The 36th (Ulster) Division arrived on the Somme in the winter of 1915 and by mid-March 1916 the front line trenches between Beaumont Hamel and Thiepval were installed, replacing the Scottish regiments which had held this sector of the line for them. At the time, the forest not only contained trenches with names such as Elgin Avenue and Ross Castle, but also trenches from the French period of this sector earlier in the war.

At 07:30 on 1 July 1916, Ulster soldiers attacked their first line at Thiepval Wood, the Schwaben Redoubt, or Hansa Stellung, on the other side of Mill Road.
Within 2 hours the 36th Ulster Division managed to overwhelm 5 lines of German trenches on the plateau around the site of today's Ulster Tower and Mill Road Cemetery.
The German counter-attack was planned to be launched by 3 groups: Group 1 commanded by Major Präger, Group 2 commanded by Major Beyerköhler and Group 3 commanded by Major Roesch. These assault groups, consisting of units from B.R.I.R. 8, I.R. 180 and R.I.R. 119 attacked the Schwaben Redoubt from the north and east at 4:00 pm.
Unfortunately at the end of the day, after 14 hours of fighting, the 8th and 9th Royal Irish Rifles, penetrating into the Schwaben Redoubt and beyond, were forced to withdraw by their own artillery, by German machine-gun fire and fierce German counter-attacks, back to Thiepval Wood. The Ulster Division's advance on 1 July was the most advanced of any British Army unit!

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