operate as a stationary fortress. Later the
"tank" became untenable and the crew were forced to abandon it. While
this was being done the commanding officer of the "tank" was somewhat
severely wounded so that he could not proceed. Two unwounded members
of the crew refused to leave the wounded officer, and for more than
two days they stayed with him in a shell hole between the lines. While
hiding in this dangerous position the wounded officer was again struck
by a bullet, but it was found impossible to get him away until the
British captured the positions around the town.

There was intermittent shelling of the British front south of the
Ancre during the night of October 4, 1916. A successful raid was
carried out by a London territorial battalion in the Vimy area on the
following day, and an assault on the British trenches east of St. Eloi
was repulsed. October 6, 1916, was unmarked by any important offensive
on the part of the belligerents. The Germans continued to shell
heavily the British front south of the Ancre. Three British raiding
parties succeeded in penetrating German trenches in the Loos area and
south of Arras.

An important success was won by the British on the following day,
October 7, 1916, when Le Sars--their twenty-second village--was
captured. The Germans evidently anticipated the attack, for they had
massed a large number of troops on a short front. The town itself was
held by the Fourth Ersatz Division, and the ground behind Eaucourt
l'Abbaye by a Bavarian division. The place, though strongly
fortified, did not offer the resistance that the British troops
expected. Their first forward sweep carried them to a sunken road that
ran across the village at about its middle, and a second rush after
the barrage had lifted brought them through the rest of the place and
about 500 yards beyond on the Bapaume road. In Le Sars itself six
officers and between 300 and 400 other ranks were made prisoners by
the British. The Bavarians between Le Sars and Eaucourt fought with
stubborn valor and gave the British troops plenty of hard work. Owing
to the complication of fortified positions, trenches, and sunken
roads, the ground in this section of the fighting area presented many
difficulties. To the northeast of Eaucourt the determined pressure of
the British troops caused the Bavarian resistance to crumble and the
victors swept on and out along the road to Le Barque. At other points
the British pierced the German line