The Battle of Morval, which began on 25 September 1916, was an attack by the British Fourth Army

British Fourth Army

The Fourth Army was a field army that formed part of the British Expeditionary Force during the First World War. The Fourth Army was formed on 5 February 1916 under the command of General Sir Henry Rawlinson to carry out the main British contribution to the Battle of the Somme.-History:The Fourth...

 on the German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

-held villages of Morval

Morval

Morval is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France.-Geography:Morval is situated south of Arras, on the D11 road, completely surrounded by the department of the Somme...

, Gueudecourt

Gueudecourt

Gueudecourt is a commune in the Somme department in Picardie in northern France.-History:During the Battle of the Somme, the town of Gueudecourt had comprised one of the most distant objectives for the British drive that opened on 15 September 1916, a drive that has come to be known as the Battle...

 and Lesboeufs during the Battle of the Somme

Battle of the Somme (1916)

The Battle of the Somme , also known as the Somme Offensive, took place during the First World War between 1 July and 14 November 1916 in the Somme department of France, on both banks of the river of the same name...

. These villages were originally objectives of the major British offensive of 15 September, the Battle of Flers-Courcelette

Battle of Flers-Courcelette

The Battle of Flers-Courcelette, was a battle within the Franco-British Somme Offensive which took place in the summer and autumn of 1916. Launched on the 15th of September 1916 the battle went on for one week. Flers-Courcelette began with the overall objective of cutting a hole in the German...

. The French Sixth Army, which had not been keeping pace with British progress in September, also attacked to try to bring the two armies into line. While the village of Combles

Combles

Combles is a commune in the Somme department in Picardie in northern France.-Geography:Combles is situated on the D20 road, some northeast of Amiens.-History:...

 was finally taken, the French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 were unable to match the British advance and so the problem of a German salient

Salients, re-entrants and pockets

A salient is a battlefield feature that projects into enemy territory. The salient is surrounded by the enemy on three sides, making the troops occupying the salient vulnerable. The enemy's line facing a salient is referred to as a re-entrant...

 at the boundary of the Allied armies remained.