Battle of the Ancre Heights
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| Battle of the Somme |
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| Albert – Bazentin – Fromelles – Pozières – Mouquet Farm – Guillemont – Ginchy – Flers-Courcelette – Morval – Thiepval Ridge – Le Transloy – Ancre Heights – Ancre |
The Battle of the Ancre Heights was a prolonged battle of attrition in October 1916 during the Battle of the Somme. Lieutenant General Hubert Gough's Reserve Army had finally managed to break out of the positions it had occupied since the start of the Somme fighting (1 July) and Gough intended to maintain the pressure on the German forces on the high ground above the River Ancre. However, in three weeks of fighting the greatest advance achieved was little over 1,000 yards.
The Canadian Corps, commanded by Lieutenant General Sir Julian Byng, was heavily involved in the fighting on the Ancre heights. The Canadian 4th Division was also involved, attached to the British II Corps. The Canadians were far from impressed with Gough's conduct of the battle and expressed reluctance to serve under his command again. In 1917, when the corps was commanded by a Canadian, General Arthur Currie, and had endured the hell of Passchendaele, this dislike, which had been born on the Somme, turned to outright refusal.
The battle of the Ancre heights was the prelude to the final act on the Somme, the Battle of the Ancre, which began on 13 November.
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