Deserted horse line near Pommiers Redoubt

Located on top of the Montauban Spur, the fortified military post known as Pommier Redoubt was captured by British forces on the first day of fighting during the Battle of the Somme (1 July and 18 November 1916). The loss of this and other similar front line positions during the Somme Offensive created two salients (outwardly projecting parts of a trench system or line of defense) between Arras and Saint-Quentin and Saint-Quentin and Noyon. Within the salients the weakened German army now occupied defensive positions flanked by the Allied positions. Recognising that it was now in an unfavourable situation the German army conducted a strategic withdrawal sabotaging much of the ground that would subsequently become the new British front line and taking up new positions that could be more easily defended.