The Capture of Lesbœufs () [25 September 1916] was a tactical incident in the Battle of the Somme. Lesbœufs was a village on the D 74 between Gueudecourt and Morval, about north-east of Amiens; Le Transloy lies to the north-west and Bapaume is to the north. French Territorials fought the II Bavarian Corps on the north bank of the Somme in late September 1914, after which the front line moved west past the village. Little military activity occurred round the village until the beginning of the Battle of the Somme, when German troops passed through the village in the first weeks of the battle. During the Battle of Flers–Courcelette advances by the right flank corps of the British Fourth Army, brought the front line forward to the trenches west of Lesbœufs but exhaustion prevented the British from reaching their third objective, a line east of Morval, Lesbœufs and Gueudecourt.
A combined offensive was prepared by the Fourth Army and the French Sixth Army but was postponed several times because of inclement weather and the Battle of Morval was delayed until In the British sector, the final objectives of the Battle of Flers–Courcelette were captured, the 52nd Reserve Division garrison in (Gird Trench and Gird Support Trench) and Lesbœufs being overwhelmed by brigades of the 6th Division and the Guards Division. No German troops were available to counter-attack and the village was consolidated. The capture of Gueudecourt next day, linked the new front line between the villages.
Lesbœufs was transferred to the control of the Sixth Army a few days later to enable the French to attack Sailly-Saillisel from the west. British attacks in the vicinity continued during the Battle of Le Transloy During the rest of the winter of 1916–1917, offensive operations in the area diminished to shelling, sniper fire and trench raiding; the area became quiet after the German retreat to the Hindenburg Line in March 1917. The village was captured in March 1918 by the Germans during Operation Michael, the German spring offensive and reoccupied for the final time on 29 August, by the 38th Division, during the Second Battle of Bapaume.
Background
1914
On 25 September, during the Race to the Sea a French attack north of the Somme against the II Bavarian Corps (General Karl Ritter von Martini), forced a hurried withdrawal. As more Bavarian units arrived in the north, the 3rd Bavarian Division advanced along the north bank of the Somme, through Bouchavesnes, Leforest and Hardecourt until held up at Maricourt. The 4th Bavarian Division further to the north, defeated French Territorial divisions and then attacked westwards in the vicinity of Gueudecourt, towards Albert, through Sailly, Combles, Guillemont and Montauban, leaving a flank guard on the northern flank. The II Bavarian Corps and XIV Reserve Corps Hermann von Stein) pushed back a French Territorial division from the area around Bapaume and advanced towards Bray-sur-Somme and Albert, as part of an offensive down the Somme valley to reach the sea. The German offensive was confronted north of the Somme by the northern corps of the French Second Army east of Albert. The XIV Reserve Corps attacked on 28 September, along the Roman road from Bapaume to Albert and Amiens, intending to reach the Ancre and then continue westwards along the Somme valley. The 28th () Reserve Division advanced close to Fricourt, against scattered resistance from French infantry and cavalry.
1916
During the Battle of Albert troops of Bavarian Infantry Regiment 16 of the 10th Bavarian Division, had lost many casualties in the fighting around Mametz and Trônes Wood, III Battalion having been reduced to by the time of the beginning of the Battle of Bazentin Ridge The 7th Company, having been based in the south-east of Longueval, retreated at through artillery and machine-gun fire to Gueudecourt. The survivors saw that the way through Ginchy and Lesbœufs was open to the British but by evening reinforcements had arrived and closed the gap either side of Foureaux (High) Wood. On 27 August, Delville Wood had fallen and a counter-attack was planned for 31 August by three regiments of the 56th Division and the 4th Bavarian Division. Infantry Regiment 88 advanced through Le Transloy, Lesbœufs and Flers, where there were still fields with standing crops, towards the front line.