2017 Battlefield Tour Page 26

The Butte de Warlencourt is an ancient burial mound that was used as an observation post by the Germans who fortified it with tunnels and deep bunkers and surrounded it with several belts of barbed wire. It is located a few miles south of Bapaume at the side of the D929, an old Roman road, as straight as an arrow and was the line of the British Axis of Advance from Albert to Bapaume.

Originally it was on the German 3rd line of defence, the Gallwitz Riegel (Gird Trenches). A railway line from Bapaume led to a goods yard and large military supply depot just in front of the Butte. When Pozieres was taken by the Australians on 22 Sept the view from the Butte dominated the new British Front Line and the Germans used it for artillery observation to good effect. Despite repeated attempts the British never captured the Butte, it became the new front line when the Battle of the Somme ended in Nov 1916.

In Jan 1917 two Companies of Gordon Highlanders mounted a raid on the Butte. Moving closely behind an artillery bombardment screening parties advanced beyond the Butte to block any reinforcements from the German trenches.The main force attacked the Butte and a nearby quarry, taking several prisoners and destroying dugouts. At the Butte, twelve Germans surrendered but when others refused, mortar bombs and hand grenades were thrown into tunnel entrances.

The Gordons lost 17 casualties, one of the twelve prisoners disclosed that the garrison of the Butte had been 150 men, suggesting that 138 German troops had been trapped and died there when the tunnel entrances were blocked.

The Germans gave up the Butte voluntarily in Feb 1917 when they withdrew to the Hindenberg Line leaving the Butte free for the 2nd Australian Div to occupy.

It was recaptured by the Germans again in the Spring Offensive of 1918 and finally recaptured by the British in Aug of that year in the Second Battle of Bapaume.

*** On 5 October 1916 during the Battle of the Somme, Adolf Hitler was serving as a Regimental dispatch runner with the 1st Bn, 16 Reserve Infantry Bavarian Regiment at Le Barque, 3/4 mile to the NE of the Butte de Warlencourt. Just days after Hitler’s deployment, a British shell exploded outside the entrance of the dugout in which he sleeping. While several of his fellow soldiers were killed, Hitler was wounded in the left thigh. He was evacuated back to a hospital near Berlin, returning to his regiment in early 1917. Fate saved him, if only he had been outside having a fag at the time.