Bapaume distant. The German commander ordered "At any price Hill 160 Pozières ridge must be recovered." Final counter-attack By 5 August the brigades of the 2nd Australian Division were exhausted and were to be relieved by the 4th Australian Division. While the relief was underway on the night of the Australians were subjected to an extreme bombardment, because the salient they occupied could be shelled by the Germans from all directions, including from Thiepval which lay to the rear. On the morning of 6 August, a German counter-attack tried to approach the O.G. Lines but was met by machine gun fire and forced to dig in. The bombardment continued through the day, by the end of which most of the 2nd Division had been relieved. From its twelve days in the line, the division had suffered At on 7 August, shortly before dawn, the Germans launched their final counter-attack. On a front of they overran the thinly occupied O.G. Lines, catching most of the Australians in shelters in the old German dugouts and advanced towards Pozières. For the Australians, the crisis had arrived. At this moment, Lieutenant Albert Jacka, who had won the Victoria Cross at Gallipoli, emerged from a dugout where he and seven men of his platoon had been isolated, and charged the German line from the rear. His example inspired other Australians scattered across the plateau to join the action and a fierce, hand-to-hand fight developed. Jacka was badly wounded but as support arrived from the flanks, the Australians gained the advantage and most of the surviving Germans were captured. No more attempts to retake Pozières were made. Aftermath Analysis Since taking over the Pozières sector, Gough had planned to drive a wedge behind (east of) the German fortress of Thiepval. Having secured Pozières and the neighbouring section of the O.G. Lines, the Reserve Army attacked northwards along the ridge towards the German strong point of Mouquet Farm which protected the rear of Thiepval. I Anzac Corps would carry the advance along the ridge and II Corps would keep in line on the left, systematically reducing the Thiepval salient. Initially the task fell to the 4th Australian Division, which had already suffered 1,000 casualties resisting the final German counter-attack. When the Australian ordeal on Pozières ridge was over in September, they were replaced by the Canadian Corps who held the sector for the remainder of the battle.