on 16 July were also costly failures. The 8th Division planned to recapture Delville Wood on 18 July and the most advanced troops were withdrawn late on 17 July, for a bombardment which began at using the heavy guns of groups and , the field artillery of the 8th Division and three batteries of the 12th Reserve Division, about guns and guns, heavy guns and howitzers. The German bombardment turned Delville Wood into an "inferno", before slackening at around during a British attack. After German troops from I Battalion, Reserve Infantry Regiment 104 and II and III battalions, Reserve Infantry Regiment 107, attacked the wood in several waves from the north-east, as eight companies of Infantry Regiment 153 of the 8th Division attacked from the north, to reach a line from Longueval to Waterlot Farm road. Another attack from the north and north-west by five companies of Infantry Regiment 26 of the 7th Division, reached the southern edge of the village. The attacks were not co-ordinated but were led by companies of (Storm Troops) and (Flamethrower) detachments, which fell into confusion in the wood; after dark parts of II Battalion, Infantry Regiment 52 of the 5th Division reinforced the troops in the wood and the village. On 19 July, the Germans in the wood endured massed British artillery-fire; Infantry Regiment 52 and part of Grenadier Regiment 12 were sent into the wood and the village, where Infantry Regiment 26 had appealed for relief before it collapsed. A British attack early on 20 July reached the village, where two companies were overwhelmed and taken. By 20 July, Infantry Regiment 26, which had been at full strength on 13 July, was reduced to and with Infantry Regiment 153, was relieved by Grenadier Regiment 12, which held Delville Wood and Longueval with Infantry Regiment 52, under the command of the 5th Division. German 1st Army 20 July – 3 September The German defence of the Somme was reorganised in July and the troops of the Second Army north of the Somme were transferred to the command of a re-established 1st Army under the command of Below, overseen by General von Gallwitz the new commander of the 2nd Army and . During a British attack on 23 July the 5th Division had to engage nearly all of its troops to resist the attack, which threw the defence into confusion. In anticipation of more British