by the 113th Brigade of the 38th (Welsh) Division on 25 August, during the Second Battle of Bapaume. Background 1914 Contalmaison village is north-east of Albert on the D 104, north-west of Mametz Wood, to the south of Pozières between Longueval and La Boisselle, at the junction of several roads, atop a spur with a good view in all directions. In 1914, there was a church and a château just to the north, a chalk pit nearby and the seventh-largest village on the Somme. The XIV Reserve Corps ( [Lieutenant-General] Richard von Schubert then Hermann von Stein from 14 September) began operations west of Bapaume in late September by advancing down the Bapaume–Albert road to the Ancre river, preparatory to an advance down the Somme valley to Amiens. On 28 September, Reserve Infantry Regiment 40 (RIR 40) and RIR 110 of the 28th Reserve Division advanced towards Contalmaison, where French infantry were dug in. By the hill to the north was captured in a costly attack and taken and the village was captured by noon, with three men killed and On 29 September, the attack of the XIV Reserve Corps was stopped by the French around Fricourt and La Boisselle, south of Ovillers. In early November, French artillery reinforcements arrived and bombardments beyond the front line began. On 19 November, two divisions of XI Corps attacked to fix German troops but were repulsed and on 28 November, an attack by the XIV Corps managed to advance the French line by . In early December, IV Corps attacked and gained . The French attacks had been costly and gained little ground; after the end of the Battle of Albert the area round Contalmaison became a backwater except for occasional artillery bombardments into 1916. 1915 In January 1915, General Erich von Falkenhayn, head of (OHL, German General Staff) ordered the construction of a systematic defensive system on the Western Front, capable of withstanding attacks indefinitely, with a relatively small garrison. Barbed wire obstacles were enlarged from one belt wide to two belts wide and about apart. Double and triple thickness wire was used and laid high. The front line was increased from one trench to three, dug apart, the first trench () to be occupied by sentry groups, the second () for the front-trench garrison and the third trench for local reserves. The trenches were traversed and had sentry-posts in concrete recesses