The Battle of Pozières was a two week struggle for the French village of Pozières, and the ridge on which it stands, during the middle stages of the 1916 Battle of the Somme. While British division were in action during most phases of the fighting, Pozières is primarily remembered as an Australian battle. The battle ended with the British forces in possession of the plateau north and east of the village and in a position to menace the German bastion of Thiepval from the rear. However, the cost had been enormous and in the words of Australian official historian Charles Bean, the Pozières ridge is "more densely sown with Australian sacrifice than any other place on earth."