Editing Hawthorn Ridge Redoubt (section)

==Background==

===1914–1915===
{{See also|Battle of Albert (1914)}}

The [[26th Reserve Division (German Empire)|26th (''Württemberg'') Reserve Division]] {{lang|de|(Generalmajor}} Franz von Soden) of the [[XIV Reserve Corps (German Empire)|XIV Reserve Corps]], arrived on the Somme in late September 1914, attempting to advance westwards towards Amiens. By 7 October, the advance had ended and temporary scrapes had been occupied. Fighting in the area from the Somme north to the Ancre, subsided into minor line-straightening attacks by both sides.{{sfn|Sheldon|2006|pp=28–30, 40–41}}{{sfn|Duffy|2007|p=149}} Underground warfare began on the Somme front, which continued when the [[British Expeditionary Force (World War I)|British Expeditionary Force]] (BEF) took over from the French [[Second Army (France)|Second Army]] at the end of July 1915.{{sfn|Sheldon|2006|p=65}} Miners brought from Germany late in 1914 tunnelled under Beaumont-Hamel and the vicinity to excavate shelters in which infantry companies could shelter and against which even heavy artillery could cause little damage.{{sfn|Duffy|2007|p=143}}

[[File:XIV Reserve Corps advance from Bapaume, 27-28 September 1914 png.png|thumb|{{centre|Diagram of the 26th ({{lang|de|Württemberg}}) Reserve Division and the 28th ({{lang|de|Baden}}) Reserve Division attacks towards Albert, late September 1914}}]]
On the Somme front, a construction plan of January 1915, by which Falkenhayn intended to provide the western armies with a means to economise on infantry, had been completed. Barbed-wire obstacles had been enlarged from one belt {{cvt|5|–|10|yd}} wide to two belts {{cvt|30|yd}} wide and about {{cvt|15|yd}} apart. The front line had been increased from one trench to three, {{cvt|150|–|200|yd}} apart, the first trench ({{lang|de|Kampfgraben}}) to be occupied by sentry groups, the second ({{lang|de|Wohngraben}}) to accommodate the front-trench garrison and the third trench for local reserves. The trenches were [[Traverse (trench warfare)|traversed]] and had sentry-posts in concrete recesses built into the parapet. Dugouts had been deepened from {{cvt|6|–|9|ft}} to {{cvt|20|–|30|ft}}, {{cvt|50|yd}} apart and large enough for {{nowrap|25 men.}} An intermediate line of strong points (the {{lang|de|Stützpunktlinie}}) about {{cvt|1000|yd|m}} behind the front line had also been built. Communication trenches ran back to the reserve line, renamed the second line, which was as well built and wired as the first line. The second line was built beyond the range of Allied field artillery, to force an attacker to stop and move field artillery forward before assaulting the line.{{sfn|Wynne|1976|pp=100–101}}

===1915–1916===
On New Year's Eve 1915, a small mine was sprung under Redan Ridge north of [[Beaumont-Hamel]], followed by German mine explosions on {{nowrap|2, 8 and 9}} January. British mines were blown on {{nowrap|16, 17 and 18}} January 1916 and both sides sprung mines in February; the Germans then dug a defensive gallery parallel to the front line to prevent surprises.{{sfn|Sheldon|2006|pp=62, 98}} On the night of {{nowrap|6/7 April}} a German raid by II Battalion, Reserve Infantry Regiment 119 (RIR 119) took place near Y Ravine, against the 2nd South Wales Borderers of the [[29th Division (United Kingdom)|29th Division]] and caused 112 casualties, for a loss of three killed and one man wounded. A big raid by the British on 30 April was seen by alert defenders and repulsed by small-arms fire and artillery as soon as it began. A report by the local German commander, showed that the preparations for the raid had been noticed a week before the attempt.{{sfn|Sheldon|2006|pp=108–109}}

After the [[Second Battle of Champagne]] in 1915, construction of a third line another {{cvt|3000|yd|m}} back from the {{lang|de|Stützpunktlinie}} had been begun in February 1916 and was nearly complete on the Somme front by 1 July.{{sfn|Wynne|1976|pp=100–101}} Divisional sectors north of the Albert–Bapaume road were about {{cvt|3.75|mi}} wide.{{sfn|Duffy|2007|p=122}} German artillery was organised in a series of {{lang|de|Sperrfeuerstreifen}} (barrage sectors). A telephone system was built with lines buried {{cvt|6|ft}} deep, for {{cvt|5|mi}} behind the front line, to connect the front line to the artillery. The Somme defences had two inherent weaknesses which the rebuilding had not remedied: The first was that the front trenches were on a forward slope, lined by white chalk from the [[subsoil]] and easily seen by ground observers. The second was that the defences were crowded towards the front trench, with a regiment having two battalions near the front-trench system and the reserve battalion divided between the {{lang|de|Stützpunktlinie}} and the second line, all within {{cvt|2200|yd}} of the front line, accommodated in the new deep dugouts.{{sfn|Wynne|1976|pp=100–103}}