The land on which the Butte de Warlencourt stands was bought by the Western Front Association in 1990. The Western Front Association announced in October 2018 its sale "at fair market value" to Bob Paterson who was chairman of the WFA between 2014 and 2016. Following concerns raised, Paterson offered to sell the site back to the Western Front Association. The site is easily found when driving or cycling along the Albert-Bapaume road. A brown tourist road sign points the way off the road. It is possible to drive part of the way towards the site but it is recommended that you park somewhere suitable once you are just a few yards once off the road.
The Butte is said to be an ancient burial mound. It was captured by German forces in 1914 and lay a considerable distance behind the location near to La Boisselle where the front line eventually settled and then remained until 1916.
It lies just south of the Albert-Bapaume Road, and beyond Le Sars, which was captured by the 23rd Division on 7 October 1916, the limit of the British advance at the end of the Somme Battles of 1916. The whole ridge was covered with trenches, wire entanglements, and the Butte pierced with subterranean galleries and bristling with machine gun and mortar emplacements, formed the key to a German fortress of the greatest strength, an impregnable obstacle to the advance on Bapaume. Incessant attempts to capture it were made by British troops during October and November 1916, and the fighting during the first two weeks of November being particularly fierce. The Butte was momentarily captured on 5 November by the 6th, 8th and 9th Battalions Durham Light Infantry but was retaken in a counter-attack by the Prussian Guard. Casualties in this area were heavy. During the winter of 1916-17, the Butte remained a prominent feature of the trench landscape and was frequently the target of concentrated British artillery fire but it was not until after a terrific bombardment on 25 February 1917 that the Butte was finally taken during the German withdrawal from the Somme. Only fragments of the surface defences remained and the whole ridge was covered with graves, its very shape having been altered by the constant pounding of shells. Memorial crosses were erected both by the German defences and the British and South African Units that attacked and finally captured it.”
The Butte was recaptured by advancing German forces during the Operation “Michael” offensive on 25 March 1918. It was once again in Allied hands from 26 August 1918 when retaken by the British 21st Division.