On July 15-16, the British progressed beyond the German second position--carried along a three-mile front--and established their advance-posts in the vicinity of the German third position. By this time the Germans had recovered from their set-back of the 14th and offered an aggressive defence. Counter-attacking at the point of the salient in the Allied lines at Delville Wood, they succeeded in slipping through, but they were held in front of Longueval. On the 20th and 23rd, the Allies delivered a general attack. The British 4th Army was now confronted by the enemy in force all along the line. However, the village of Pozières, one of the strong-points of Thiepval Plateau, to the west, was carried by the Australians on July 25. The French advanced their lines as far as the ravine, in which runs the light railway from Combles to Cléry. Hidden in a hollow of the ground, Guillemont resisted the British assaults of July 30 and August 7. On August 12, the French 1st Corps continued its thrust eastwards, turning Guillemont from the south. The Zouaves and 1st Cambrai Infantry Regiment entered Maurepas. More to the south, the 170th Infantry captured the fortified crest lying 1 km. 500 m. west of Cléry. The British hung on to the western outskirts of Guillemont. [Illustration: DELVILLE WOOD NORTH OF LONGUEVAL _(p. 60)_.] 2.--The Surrounding and Capture of the Main Centres of Resistance On September 1, the British lines, still hanging on to the southern slopes of the Thiepval Plateau, followed the crest of the ridge north of the villages of Thiepval, Bazentin-le-Petit and Longueval, in front of the outskirts of Delville Wood, were then deflected south-east and joined with the French lines in the ravine of the Combles railway. The French lines surrounded Maurepas, then followed the road from Maurepas to Cléry. Thiepval and Combles seemed impregnable. Instead of making a frontal attack against these positions, the Allies first turned and then surrounded them by a succession of thrusts. In addition to their successive lines of defence-works, which included a number of villages, the Germans had transformed the little town of Combles, lying entirely hidden from view at the bottom of an immense depression--into a redoubtable fortress. A large garrison was safely sheltered in vast quarries connected by tunnels with the concrete defence-works. The Surrounding and Capture of Combles In September, four Allied thrusts were necessary to encircle and capture Combles _(see p. 80)_. The Attack of September 3 Ginchy and Guillemont formed the British objective. On the 3rd, in spite of machine-gun fire from Ginchy, the Irish carried Guillemont, which had resisted for seven weeks. Progressing beyond the village they reached and captured Leuze Wood, 1 km. 500 m. west of Combles. On the 9th, they enlarged their gains by the conquest of Ginchy _(see p. 4)_. The German positions connecting Combles with Le Forest and Cléry formed the French objective.