forward under local initiative and captured the Hammerhead early. Outposts went forward at and the two attacking battalions were led forward in single-file, up communication trenches and over ground strewn with wire and abandoned trenches, through two infantry companies, which then drew back into reserve. The jumping-off line was a bank with low trees marked by tape, with a bush on the right flank and Flat Iron Copse on the left, from the German line and closer to a salient called The Snout, which had been bombarded by heavy trench mortars and appeared empty. Stokes mortars went forward but machine-guns were to wait until they could go straight through to the furthest objective. The brigade was ready by telephones still worked and few casualties had been suffered. The 22nd Brigade (Brigadier-General J. McC. Steele) assembled in Mametz Wood, the right-hand battalion with an extra company and a Stokes mortar, making its way up the right side of the wood. The left-hand battalion and the support battalion used the bed of a light railway and the 110th Machine-Gun Company moved out to cover the left flank. By the assembly into four lines along tapes was complete but the right hand battalion could only hide one line and the left-hand battalion three lines in Mametz Wood, because of fallen trees and debris. The six brigades had managed to assemble short of the German line with a trifling number of casualties, the covering parties encountering no small-arms fire, flares or patrols. The troops began to creep forward, the 8th Brigade at at per minute, closing to by The 9th Brigade was only short when the hurricane bombardment began; the other brigades waited for the bombardment and then crawled forward as far as possible. Battle Reserve Army During the night of the Reserve Army (Lieutenant-General Hubert Gough) divisions of X Corps (Lieutenant-General Thomas Morland), either side of the Albert–Bapaume road, continued attacks at Ovillers. The 3rd Worcestershire, 7th Brigade, 25th Division moved up a trench across the road to try to close in from the north-east. From the south-east, the 10th Cheshire (7th Brigade) was repulsed but the 8th Border (75th Brigade) on the left managed a small advance and the 1st Dorset (14th Brigade 32nd Division) also managed to get forward on the west side. To the north-west, battalions of the 96th and 97th brigades of the division, attacked with hand-grenades and took