system of four trench lines, the fourth trench being about from the British front line and to be reached at after zero hour. The second objective was the German second intermediate line () just short of Contalmaison and Pozières, to be reached at where the 101st and 102nd brigades were to dig in. The 103rd Brigade was then to pass through and reach the final objective on the far side of Contalmaison and Pozières at and consolidate, ready to attack the German second position further on. 1 July At on 1 July, the infantry of the 34th Division rose from their jumping-off trenches. Within ten minutes, the men in the leading battalions had become casualties from German machine-gun fire, which began as soon as the British bombardment lifted off the German front line. Many of the German machine-guns were in concealed positions behind the front line had not been hit by the bombardment. As soon as the advance of the head of an attacking column was stopped, the rest of the column bunched up and made an easy target. The right-hand column had to advance along the convex slope on the west side of Fricourt Spur, for which the leading companies of the 15th (Service) Battalion (1st Edinburgh), The Royal Scots (Lothian Regiment) (15th Royal Scots) had advanced to within of the German front line before zero hour. When the barrage lifted, the troops overran the German front trench on the higher part of the slope but German flanking fire from Sausage Valley and La Boisselle forced the leading companies on the right eastwards. Parties of the 15th Royal Scots were left behind to attack at Sausage Redoubt and the rest advanced straight up the slope, straying into the 21st Division sector in the XV Corps area on the right. By both battalions were atop the Fricourt Spur but Sausage and Scots redoubts were still occupied by German troops. The infantry continued for about to Birch Tree Wood, before the error in navigation was realised after thirty minutes. The British advance had overrun the junction of Reserve Infantry Regiment 110 and Reserve Infantry Regiment 111 (RIR 111) and got into , separating two infantry companies; some parties reached the , further on. The battalions then turned north, the 15th Royal Scots up Birch Tree Trench in the second intermediate line, towards Peake Woods, with the 16th Royal Scots in support