The German defence of the Somme was reorganised in July and the troops of the Second Army north of the Somme were transferred to the command of a re-established 1st Army under the command of Below, overseen by General von Gallwitz the new commander of the 2nd Army and . During a British attack on 23 July the 5th Division had to engage nearly all of its troops to resist the attack, which threw the defence into confusion. In anticipation of more British attacks a box-barrage was fired around the village and wood. of Grenadier Regiment 8 were taken in a British attack on 27 July, one prisoner calling it the worst shelling he had endured. At German troops were seen massing for a counter-attack and managed to advance through a British protective artillery barrage, to engage the British infantry in a bombing fight. The German attack took part of the east end of the wood but the exhaustion of the 5th Division, which had been reduced to a "pitiable state", required reinforcement by three battalions, mainly from the 12th Division, from