Episode 141: Thiepval 1916: Storming the Impossible Ridge

By late September 1916, the British Army stood ready to attempt something it had failed to do on the war's bloodiest day: capture Thiepval. Once a village, now a fortified maze of underground cellars and interlinking tunnels, the position had repelled the 36th Ulster Division on 1 July and become a symbol of German resistance ever since. Two and a half months on, a very different British Army launched its assault at 12:35pm in broad daylight, now backed by concentrated artillery, dedicated counter-battery fire, and lessons paid for in blood. Was this the moment the British Army finally proved it had learned to fight the Somme, or would Thiepval's fall come at too high a cost to feel like victory at all?

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