Schwaben Redoubt - First Assaults

First Assaults

The Schwaben redoubt was first assaulted by troops of 36th (Ulster) Division on 1 July 1916, the opening day of the Battle of the Somme. The redoubt was the objective of 109 Brigade, which attacked on the division's right with 9th and 10th Battalions, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers making the assault. Advancing at 7:30am, the troops crossed no man's land, captured the redoubt and advanced to a reserve trench 500 yards beyond it. By 8:30am the troops had reached the Mouquet Switch line and the eastern face of the redoubt.

While 109 Brigade succeeded in capturing the redoubt, their advance created an untenable narrow salient approximately 1000 yards deep and 200 yards wide. The failure of adjacent units, such as the Ulster division's own flanking units and of neighbouring divisions (the 29th Division to the north and the 32nd Division to the south) made it impossible for the troops occupying the redoubt to be reinforced or resupplied. Though holding out in the redoubt all day, 109 Brigade was eventually forced to withdraw, having exhausted its ammunition in the face of repeated German counterattacks. Small parties remained in the German front line at 10:30pm. The division's assault cost 5,104 casualties; the severity of these losses left an enduring psychological scar on Northern Ireland. The redoubt then remained in German hands, helping to prevent the British capture of the fortress-village of Thiepval.

The redoubt was assaulted again on 3 September by troops of 49th (West Riding) Division. The assault failed, at the cost of 1,800 casualties, in the face of German machine gun fire.