The British front line was at right angles to the main road, crossing it level with the site of the memorial to the Tyneside Irish and Tyneside Scottish brigades. It was from here that the men of these units scrambled from their position at 7.30 am on 1 July 1916, ignorant of their imminent death. French and German soldiers had started to dig trenches here in October 1914 and then embarked on a long struggle of mine warfare ; the churned-up pasture land beside the Contalmaison road is a reminder of this distinctive phase of the conflict. On 1 July 1916, ten minutes before the infantry assault, several explosions intended to break the German front line blasted out deep craters identical to the "Lochnagar Crater" preserved at La Boisselle.

This mine crater, 100 metres in diameter and 30 metres deep, is now the only one open to the public. "Lochnagar", where a simple and moving ceremony is held each year at 7.30 am on 1 July, is now owned by an Englishman, Richard Dunning.