divisions were brought against the British and five against the
French. According to reports from British headquarters in France, the
British troops had engaged thirty-eight German divisions, of which
twenty-nine had been forced to withdraw in a broken and exhausted
state. During the three months' campaign the Allied forces captured
over 60,000 German prisoners, of which number the British claimed to
have taken 26,735. Besides other war material the Allies recovered
from the Somme battle fields 29 heavy guns and howitzers, 92 field
guns and howitzers, 103 trench artillery pieces, and 397 machine guns.

In the afternoon of October 1, 1916, the British troops assaulted the
double-trench system of the main German third line over a front of
about 3,000 yards from beyond Le Sars to a point 1,000 yards or so
east of Eaucourt l'Abbaye. The British troops in the center, directly
in front of Eaucourt l'Abbaye, were held up by the complicated
defenses there, but the troops on the right, carrying everything
before them, swept over the main lines of trench east of the place
until well beyond it they occupied positions on the north, which they
held against all German assaults. The center was meanwhile reenforced
by the arrival of "tanks," which accomplished useful work in clearing
the trenches; these were then occupied by the British troops. On
October 2, 1916, German forces succeeded in pressing through a gap in
the British line, and again occupied trenches before the village,
while the British continued to hold their positions on the farther
side, some of which were a thousand yards to the rear of the enemy.
The following day the British heavily bombarded Eaucourt l'Abbaye and
drew the cordon tighter around it. October 4, 1916, they assumed the
offensive, and driving the Germans out of their trenches, filled up
the gap and entered the town. Eaucourt l'Abbaye, with its old monastic
buildings furnished with immense cellars, crypts and vaults, offered
admirable conditions for prolonged defense. More important than the
occupation of this place was the capture by the British of the
positions around it with over 3,000 yards of the long-prepared German
third line. These gains were won by the British troops at considerable
cost in casualties, while the Germans also lost heavily.

The important part played by the "tanks" in this successful operation
is worthy of record. One of these machines becoming disabled,
continued for some time to