Bull’s Eye: Difference between revisions

[[File:Sketch of German defences by Lonsdales.jpg|thumb|250px400px|Sketch of the [[Granatloch]] (quarry) German defences by the Lonsdales during thetheir [[Night raid on the Leipzig Salient (5 June 1916)|night raid]] on [[5 June|5]]/[[6 June]].]]

The '''Bull's Eye''' was a series of German [[trench|trenches]] located north-east of the fortification known as the [[Leipzig Redoubt]], also known as the [[Granatloch]], on the bulging prominence of the [[Leipzig Salient]] near the villages of [[Authuille]] and [[Thiepval]]. The trenches were constructed in a rectangular formation, comprised of [[dug-out]]s at least 22ft below ground and linked both the quarry and the Thievpal track or road trench, which runs from [[Authuille Wood]] to Thiepval.<ref>{{Michael Stedman|pageno= (2005). ''Thiepval: Battleground Somme''. Pen & Sword Books Ltd. ISBN 1844153509. p.48}}.</ref> The redoubt and immediate area was built with unrivalled German engineering along a section of frontage that was strongly-held with [[machine gun]] posts and inaccessible barbed wire. It was a formidable sight and it was the scene of a [[Night raid on the Leipzig Salient https://thelonsdalebattalion.co.uk/wiki/Night_raid_on_the_Leipzig_Salient_(55_June_1916) June 1916)|daring night right]] on the [[5 June|5]]/[[6 June]] 1916, undertaken by the [[https://thelonsdalebattalion.co.uk/wiki/11th_(Service)_Battalion_Border_Regiment_(Lonsdale) Lonsdale Battalion]] in a bid to obtain vital intelligence about the Bull's Eye, the quarry and to recover as many prisoners as possible.

Five members of the raiding party's lives were lost, a further seventeen wounded and a [[Sergeant (rank)|sergeant]] was missing. Despite the tragic loss of [[Lieut.]] Barnes, who himself was shot dead whilst looking for his missing revolver on returning to [[No Man's Land]], [[Percy Wilfred Machell|Colonel Machell]], commanding officer of the Lonsdale Battalion, [https://thelonsdalebattalion.co.uk/wiki/Percy_Wilfrid_Machell Colonel Machell], wrote of the mission as a "complete success." In addition to taking eleven German prisoners and twenty-five others killed, the "men did splendidly." <ref>{{Colonel H.C. Wylly|pageno=, C.B. (1925). ''The Border Regiment in the Great War''. Gale & Polden Ltd. ISBN 1847342728. p.77}}</ref>

[[Category:Glossary of words and phrases]]