t of the
Courcelette-Pys road was carried on a front of about one thousand yards.

[Sidenote: Enemy losses.]

Throughout these operations the enemy's counterattacks were very
numerous and determined, succeeding indeed in the evening of October 23,
1916, in regaining a portion of the ground east of Le Sars taken from
him by our attack on that day. On all other occasions his attacks were
broken by our artillery or infantry and the losses incurred by him in
these attempts, made frequently with considerable effectives, were
undoubtedly very severe.

[Sidenote: Preparations for attack on the Ancre.]

On November 9, 1916, the long-continued bad weather took a turn for the
better, and thereafter remained dry and cold, with frosty nights and
misty mornings, for some days. Final preparations were therefore pushed
on for the attack on the Ancre, though, as the ground was still very bad
in places, it was necessary to limit the operations to what it would be
reasonably possible to consolidate and hold under the existing
conditions.

[Sidenote: Permanent line of enemy fortifications.]

The enemy's defenses in this area were already extremely formidable when
they resisted our assault on July 1, 1916, and the succeeding period of
four months had been spent in improving and adding to them in the light
of the experience he had gained in the course of our attacks further
south. The hamlet of St. Pierre Divion and the villages of
Beaucourt-sur-Ancre and Beaumont Hamel, like the rest of the villages
forming part of the enemy's original front in this district, were
evidently intended by him to form a permanent line of fortifications,
while he developed his offensive elsewhere. Realizing that his position
in them had become a dangerous one, the enemy had multiplied the number
of his guns covering this part of his line, and at the end of October
introduced an additional division on his front between Grandcourt and
Hebuterne.

[Sidenote: Barrage to cover infantry.]

At 5 o'clock on the morning of November 11, 1916, the special
bombardment preliminary to the attack was commenced. It continued with
bursts of great intensity until 5.45 o'clock on the morning of November
13, 1916, when it developed into a very effective barrage covering the
assaulting infantry.

[Sidenote: St. Pierre Divion taken.]

At that hour our troops advanced on the enemy's position through dense
fog, and rapidly entered his first-line trenches on almost the who