XIII Corps attacked Guillemont with the 30th Division at on 23 July. The 21st Brigade attacked with one battalion from Trônes Wood and one from Longueval Alley to the north. The bombardment of the village and the trenches in front of it appeared to have been highly destructive, as was a standing barrage by heavy artillery, on a line from Falfemont Farm to Wedge Wood, Leuze Wood, east of Guillemont to the south of Ginchy. The field artillery fired a creeping barrage in four lifts through the village, stopping on the south and east sides, after zero hour. The attack from Trônes Wood reached the German wire with few casualties, where they found uncut wire and were engaged by artillery and machine-gun fire. The wire was forced, despite many casualties and Guillemont entered. The German garrison continued to fight despite many losses and the most advanced British troops were cut off, as German reinforcements arrived and overwhelmed most of the battalion. Communication with the rear had been cut by a German barrage in no-man's-land and a smoke screen, intended to mask the attack from the Germans in Ginchy.