Thiepval was one of the fortress villages that was held by the Germans on the Somme front in 1916.
The village was destroyed by the bombardment, except for one part of the chateau (the ruins of which contained machine gun nests).
The houses in the village, although flattened, had deep cellars where the Germans held out, and their machine gun posts were not destroyed by the bombardment.
X Corps was the attacking formation here on the 1st of July, 1916.
In front of, and to the south of the village, the 32nd Division attacked (see Leipzig Redoubt below). The 36th Division attacked just to the north of the village (see the seperate page on the Ulster Tower).
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