Their area of attack was a line running southwards and slightly east, between Serre to Beaucourt, on the edge of the River Ancre. The overall British plan was to attack over a reasonably compact front, with XIII Corps in the north, between Hebertune and Serre, tasked with protecting the flank of V Corps. Serre was one of the last attacks of the fateful Somme campaign, and while history has rightly remembered the 1st July as being a horror story of monstrous proportions, little has been made of the Hull Pals attack at Serre. The four copses, where the attacks began, and clearly marked on the trench maps as separate pieces of woodland, are today one longer piece of woodland, encompassing John, Luke and Mark Copses. The German trenches are marked in red whilst the British trenches are in blue. The lines here had changed little since the 1st of July. Shown above is a trench map dating from October 1916, showing Serre village and the surrounding area.
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