eme right, which gave them
possession of another stage of the descent along the minor spur
running in a northerly direction. The whole of the south side of the
Ancre to the edge of Grandcourt was now firmly held by British troops.

In the night of November 21, 1916, after a heavy preparatory
bombardment by trench mortars, the Germans carried out a successful
trench raid on British lines south of St. Elie. A considerable part of
the British front-line trench was demolished by German fire and
twenty-six British were taken prisoner by the raiders.

The clear weather that prevailed along the Somme front at this time
encouraged German, French, and British airmen to engage in raiding
expeditions. On November 24, 1916, British machines attacked and
routed a formation of twenty German aeroplanes, and held possession of
the field without losing one machine. At other points the British
flyers smashed eight German machines and drove several down to earth
in a damaged condition. In these encounters the British lost three
aircraft of various types.

In Lorraine three British aeroplanes fought an engagement with a
considerable number of German machines. The result was that the
British drove down an enemy machine in the forest of Gremecy,
remaining masters of the field without incurring any losses
themselves. On the Somme front there was incessant activity among the
French airmen, who fought about forty engagements, during which they
brought down five German machines. Quartermaster Sergeant Flachaire
destroyed his sixth machine near Manancourt and Lieutenant Doullin his
tenth south of Vaux Wood.

CHAPTER XIII

WEATHER CONDITIONS--MOVEMENTS AROUND LOOS

November, 1916, the fifth month of the Battle of the Somme, drew to an
end with fog and drizzling rain, the whole fighting area a drab
expanse of mud and pools of water. For two months there had not been
an interval of more than three or four days of fine weather at a time,
and the ground had grown steadily more and more water-logged, which
greatly hampered military operations. Except on the Ancre, where the
British had taken 7,000 prisoners, no other important victories had
been won by them, but each day marked some gain, and in the aggregate
the ground won, the casualties inflicted, and the slow but continuous
attrition of the enemy were of importance. The British claimed that in
November alone they had taken prisoner between 9,000 and 10,000
Germans and had put out of