Contalmaison is a commune in the Somme department in Picardie in northern France. The village is 4 mi (6.4 km) north-east of Albert on the D 104, north-west of Mametz Wood and south of Pozières, at the junction of several roads, atop a spur with a good view in all directions. In 1914, there was a church and a château just to the north, a chalk pit nearby and 72 houses, making it the seventh-largest village on the Somme. Military operations in the area began when the German XIV Reserve Corps advanced down the Bapaume–Albert road and Contalmaison was captured at noon on 28 September, by Reserve Infantry Regiment 40 (RIR 40) and RIR 110 of the 28th Reserve Division which took 20 prisoners for a loss of three men killed and 21 wounded.