The Capture of Oppy Wood was an engagement on the Western Front during the First World War on 28 June 1917. The Battle of Arras of 1917 ended with the Germans in possession of a fortified wood to the west of the village of Oppy, which overlooked British positions. The wood was in area and contained many German observation posts, machine-gun nests and trench mortars. New German defensive tactics adopted after the Battle of the Somme of defence in depth and rapid counter-attack, had been enforced on the German 6th Army after the disaster of 9 April, the first day of the Battle of Arras. The British attack of the Third Battle of the Scarpe was defeated everywhere bar Fresnoy, which was captured by the 1st Canadian Division. The attack on Oppy Wood by the 92nd Brigade of the 31st Division, was a costly failure. The area was defended by the 1st Guard Reserve Division and the 15th Reserve Division, which did not need the support of specialist (counter-attack) divisions.
A second attack took place on 28 June, as part of a series of feints, intended to simulate a threat to the cities of Lens in the First Army area and Lille in the Second Army area. The attack was conducted by the 15th Brigade, 5th Division and the 94th Brigade, 31st Division, which advanced on a front extending from Gavrelle in the south to the north of Oppy Wood. After a hurricane bombardment, the objectives were captured with few British losses and German counter-attacks were defeated by artillery-fire. An attack at the same time by the 4th Canadian Division and the 46th (North Midland) Division, astride the Souchez river, also succeeded. Operations to continue the encirclement of Lens by an attack by the Canadian Corps on Hill 70 to the north were postponed until August due to a shortage of artillery. The feint attacks failed to divert German attention from Flanders, which included the transfer of ten divisions to the 4th Army, despite claims by the 6th Army command that the British were preparing an offensive towards Lens; the operations did divert German attention from the French front further south.
Background
Strategic developments
Before the Third Battle of the Scarpe, the cancellation of the French part in the Nivelle Offensive seemed certain. A continuation of British attacks towards Cambrai would be pointless in the absence of French operations to the south and Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig decided to continue operations on the Arras front to reach a good defensive line, then to conduct surprise attacks to keep German troops in the area. Preparations were made to begin operations in Flanders, with the attack at Messines to begin in early June. Despite uncertainty about the French attack on the Aisne, which was due from 4 to 5 May, a plan for an attack by the British Fifth Army, Third Army and the First Army on a front, went ahead and the First Army objectives were given as Oppy and Fresnoy.
The move of the bulk of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) to Flanders in late May and June, left the First Army with twelve divisions to hold a front from Arras northwards to Armentières on the Lys river. During the period needed to prepare the offensive at Ypres after the Battle of Messines threats to Lens and Lille were planned for the end of June. The First Army was to operate on a three-corps front, in which XIII Corps was to advance between Gavrelle and Oppy on a front, while to the north the Canadian Corps and I Corps was to attack on both banks of the Souchez river towards Avion.