Michael Stedman - La Boisselle (Battleground Europe)

Other guides in the Battleground Europe Series:

Walking the Salient by Paul Reed

Ypres - Sanctuary Wood and Hooge by Nigel Cave

Ypres - Hill 60 by Nigel Cave

Ypres - Messines Ridge by Peter Oldham

Ypres - Polygon Wood by Nigel Cave

Ypres - Passchendaele by Nigel Cave

Ypres - Airfields and Airmen by Michael OConnor

Ypres - St Julien by Graham Keech

Walking the Somme by Paul Reed

Somme - Gommecourt by Nigel Cave

Somme - Serre by Jack Horsfall & Nigel Cave

Somme - Beaumont Hamel by Nigel Cave

Somme - Thiepval by Michael Stedman

Somme - La Boisselle by Michael Stedman

Somme - Fricourt by Michael Stedman

Somme - Camoy-Montauban by Graham Maddocks

Somme - Pozieres by Graham Keech

Somme - Courcelette by Paul Reed

Somme - Boom Ravine by Trevor Pidgeon

Somme - Mametz Wood by Michael Renshaw

Somme - Delville Wood by Nigel Cave

Somme - Advance to Victory (North) 1918 by Michael Stedman

Somme - Flers by Trevor Pidgeon

Somme - Bazentin Ridge by Edward Hancock and Nigel Cave

Somme - Combles by Paul Reed

Somme - Beaucourt by Michael Renshaw

Somme - Hamel by Peter Pedersen

Somme - Airfields and Airmen by Michael OConnor

Arras - Vimy Ridge by Nigel Cave

Arras - Gavrelle by Trevor Tasker and Kyle Tallett

Arras - Bullecourt by Graham Keech

Arras - Monchy le Preux by Colin Fox

Hindenbuig Line by Peter Oldham

Hindenburg Line Epehy by Bill Mitchinson

Hindenburg Line Riqueval by Bill Mitchinson

Hindenburg Line Villers-Plouich by Bill Mitchinson

Hindenburg Line - Cambrai by Jack Horsfall & Nigel Cave

Hindenburg Line - Saint Quentin by Helen McPhail and Philip Guest

Hindenburg Line -Bourlon Wood by Jack Horsfall & Nigel Cave

Cambrai - Airfields and Airmen by Michael OConnor

La Basse - Neuve Chapelle by Geoffrey Bridger

Loos - HohenzoUen by Andrew Rawson

Loos - Hill 70 by Andrew Rawson

Fromelles by Peter Pedersen

Mons by Jack Horsfall and Nigel Cave

Accrington Pals Trail by William Turner

Poets at Wan Wilfred Owen by Helen McPhail and Philip Guest

Poets at Wan Edmund Blunden by Helen McPhail and Philip Guest

Poets at War: Graves & Sassoon by Helen McPhail and Philip Guest

Gallipoli by Nigel Steel

Gallipoli - Gully Ravine by Stephen Chambers

Gallipoli - Landings at Helles by Huw & Jill Rodge

Walking the Italian Front by Francis Mackay

Italy - Asiago by Francis Mackay

Verdun by Christina Holstein

Boer War - The Relief of Ladysmith by Lewis Childs

Boer War - The Siege of Ladysmith by Lewis Childs

Boer War - Kimberley by Lewis Childs

Isandlwana by Ian Knight and Ian Castle

Rorkes Drift by Ian Knight and Ian Castle

Stamford Bridge & Hastings by Peter Marren

Wars of the Roses - Wakefield/ Towton by Philip A. Haigh

English Civil War - Naseby by Martin Manx Evans, Peter Burton and Michael Westaway

English Civil War - Marston Moor by David Clark

Napoleonic - Hougoumont by Julian Paget and Derek Saunders

Napoleonic - Waterloo by Andrew Uffindell and Michael Corum

WW2 Pegasus Bridge/Merville Battery by Carl Shilleto

WW2 Utah Beach by Carl Shilleto

WW2 Gold Beach by Christopher Dunphie & Garry Johnson

WW2 Normandy - Gold Beach Jig by Tim Saunders

WW2 Omaha Beach by Tim Kilvert-Jones

VVW2 Sword Beach by Tim Kilvert-Jones

WW2 Battle of the Bulge - St Vith by Michael Tolhurst

WW2 Battle of the Bulge - Bastogne by Michael Tolhurst

WW2 Dunkirk by Patrick Wilson

WW2 Calais by Jon Cooksey

WW2 Boulogne by Jon Cooksey

WW2 Das Reich - Drive to Normandy by Philip Vickers

WW2 Hill 112 by Tim Saunders

WW2 Market Garden - Nijmegen by Tim Saunders

WW2 Market Garden - Hell's Highway by Tim Saunders

WW2 Market Garden - Arnhem, Oosterbeek by Frank Steer

WW2 Market Garden - Arnhem, The Bridge by Frank Steer

WW2 Market Garden - The Island by Tim Saunders

WW2 Channel Islands by George Forty

WW2 Normandy - Operation Bluecoat by lan Daglish

WW2 Normandy - Epsom by Tim Saunders

WW2 Normandy - Mont Pinon by Eric Hunt

WW2 Walcheren by Andrew Rawson

Battleground Europe Series guides under contract for future release:

Somme - High Wood by Terry Carter

Somme - German Advance 1918 by Michael Stedman

Walking Arras by Paul Reed

Mons by Jack Horsfall and Nigel Cave

WW2 Normandy - Operation Goodwood by Ian Daglish

WW2 Normandy - Falaise by Tim Kilvert-Jones

WW2 Bridge at Remagen by Andrew Rawson

VVW2 Juno Beach by Tim Saunders

Somme - Redan Ridge by Michael Renshaw

Villers-Bretonneux by Peter Pedersen

With the continued expansion of the Battleground series a Battleground Series Club has been formed to benefit the reader. The purpose of the Club is to keep members informed of new titles and to offer many other reader-benefits. Membership is free and by registering an interest you can help us predict print runs and thus assist us in maintaining the quality and prices at their present levels.

Please call the office 01226 734555, or send your name and address along with a request for more information to:

Battleground Series Club Pen & Sword Books Ltd,
47 Church Street, Barnsley, South Yorkshire S70 2AS

Series editor
Nigel Cave

By the same author:

Salford PALS
Manchester PALS
Somme - Thiepval
Great Battles of the Great War

First published in 1997
Reprinted 2003

LEO COOPER
an imprint of
Pen Sword Books Limited
47 Church Street, Barnsley, South Yorkshire S70 2AS

Copyright Michael Stedman 1997, 2003

ISBN 0 85052 540 3

A CIP catalogue of this book is available
from the British Library

Printed by CPI UK

For up-to-date information on other titles produced under the Leo Cooper imprint,
please telephone or write to:
Pen & Sword Books Ltd, FREEPOST, 47 Church Street
Barnsley, South Yorkshire S70 2AS
Telephone 01226 734555

This is the fourth book in the Battleground Europe series to cover a part of the old July 1st 1916 front line. In it Michael Stedman examines the actions of units and individuals as they battled around the small Somme villages of La Boisselle, Ovillers and Contalmaison on that first day and in the subsequent wresting battle that followed to secure them. Such narratives, perhaps not in such detail, have existed before, but now they are put firmly in the context of the country over which they were fought and the lasting memorials that have remained. These latter range from the dramatic excavation in the ground caused by a mine and which is now known as Lochnagar Crater to the beautifully secluded cemetery at Becourt to the poignant stone that commemorates the place near which Captain Francis Dodgson fell on 10th July 1916. Any visitor will have a much clearer idea of what happened in this small part of the Somme front once they have read this book and walked the routes that it recommends.