February heralded the commencement of more active operations, but before these started the period in the rest area, for which the 162nd Brigade was due, began to be granted to certain of the batteries. On February 1st A/162 stored its guns in the northern part of Marrières Wood, leaving them there under a guard and eventually handing them over to the 33rd Brigade. At the same time orders were received to build positions east of Marrières Wood for the guns stored there, while the 8th Division got positions ready south-west of Rancourt to be taken up at a later date by "A" and B/156. A/162, with its guns stored away, marched out to rest at Vaux-sur-Somme, to be followed on the 7th by D/162 which went into billets at Sailly-le-Sec; in the latter case, however, two guns were handed over in situ to the 55th Battery to be served by them from there, while the remaining four were left under a guard until such time as the battery should return to man them once more.
With two batteries out at rest, the remainder found themselves engaged in rapidly increasing work. On February 2nd a lengthy bombardment of the enemy trenches was carried out by field and heavy artillery, and the next day began the deliberate cutting of the enemy wire by the 18-pdrs., which was to extend over a very considerable period. To carry this out more effectively the enfilade section of B/162 (which had been in action south of Feuillières) moved to a point on the south side of the Somme east of Clery, where the canal lock adjoined the river; the old position south of Feuillières was taken over by a section of C/162 which moved thither from east of Chapter Wood. At first hostile retaliation was slight, and until about the 8th, with the exception of a severe lachrymose shelling endured by B/162, the work went on more or less unhindered. Gradually, however, the enemy grew apprehensive over the continued cutting of his wire, and his anger was brought to a culminating point on the 7th when the 9th H.L.I. raided the trenches and, after killing ten machine gunners and bombing two dug-outs full of men, returned to their own lines with two prisoners and a machine-gun as proof of their exploit. For their assistance in this raid the batteries received the thanks of General Baird (100th Infantry Brigade) who was especially pleased with the way in which the wire had been cut.
ORDER OF BATTLE.
February—March 1917.
| H.Q.R.A. | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| C.R.A. | Brigade Major. | Staff Captain. | |
| Brig.-Gen. C. F. Blane, C.M.G. | Major H. K. Sadler, D.S.O., M.C. | Capt. W. E. Bownass. | |
| 156th Brigade. | |||
| Lieut.-Colonel C. G. Stewart, C.M.G., D.S.O. | |||
| Adjutant: Lieut. F. L. Lee. | |||
| "A" Battery. | "B" Battery. | "C" Battery. | "D" Battery. |
| Capt. S. Talbot. | Major M. A. Studd, M.C. | Major G. Lomer, D.S.O. | Major W. A. T. Barstow, M.C. |
| 162nd Brigade. | |||
| Lieut.-Colonel O. M. Harris, D.S.O. | |||
| Adjutant: Lieut. R. H. Pavitt. | |||
| "A" Battery. | "B" Battery. | "C" Battery. | "D" Battery. |
| Major G. Fetherston, M.C. | Major V. Benett-Stanford, M.C. | Major A. van Straubenzee, M.C. | Major J. D. Belgrave, D.S.O. |
| Capt. A. E. G. Champion. | |||
| 166th Brigade. | |||
| Broken up. | |||
On February 10th, after a further interval of wire-cutting, another bombardment of the enemy trenches took place. From 1.0 P.M. on that day until 6.15 A.M. the following morning a long and deliberate artillery attack was carried out, finishing with a fifteen-minute intense bombardment which crept over the enemy front line as though to be followed by an assault, and then suddenly dropped back on to the fire trench again to catch such infantry as might have manned the parapet. The enemy was now fully aroused; all day he bombarded the right brigade zone and especially 162nd Brigade Headquarters, and from this day onwards he was always ready to retaliate heavily for any operations carried out against him.
A raid on the 14th by the 4th Suffolks round Pekly Bulge (south of the Clery-Feuillaucourt road) did not tend to calm the increasing activity which was now becoming general, and, although no prisoners were brought to our trenches (four, with their escort, were killed by a heavy German trench mortar while crossing No Man's Land), a great deal of damage and many casualties were inflicted upon the enemy in their dug-outs. On the 19th, however, matters ought to have reached their climax, for on that day should have taken place the attack on Hersfeld Trench, in preparation for which all the previous bombardments and wire-cutting had been carried out. It was postponed, however; postponed until the 22nd because foggy weather had prevented any full examination of the condition of the wire after its bombardment, and because the mud in No Man's Land was so bad as to prevent the infantry from reaching the gaps. In point of fact this attack was again postponed on the 22nd, and finally, after being fixed for March 2nd, was abandoned altogether.
The work now resolved itself into a slow but ever-persistent harassing of the enemy. "A" and D/162 returned into action on February 20th and joined in the general artillery attack which was in progress all along this portion of the front—an attack the result of which ultimately showed itself in the great German retreat to the Hindenburg Line early in March. The operation on Hersfeld Trench had been abandoned, but a new assault by the 8th Division further to the north had been in course of preparation for some time, and now definite steps were taken to carry it out. It will be remembered that at the beginning of the month the 8th Division were preparing battery positions for "A" and B/156 south-west of Rancourt; on the morning of the 21st the leading sections of the two batteries moved up to these positions, and at the same time the right group, temporarily under the command of Major J. D. Belgrave while Colonel Harris was on leave, pushed forward an advance gun of A/162 to a position two hundred yards east of Clery, whence wire-cutting on the group zone could more effectively be carried out. Although no attack on the 33rd Divisional front was to be launched it was essential to employ tactics which would mislead the enemy, and by continual harassing to prevent him from concentrating all his attention upon the 8th Division.
There was, however, another reason for this continual bombardment. Rumours began to circulate that the German Higher Command, finding the present positions if not untenable at least strategically unsound, intended to withdraw to the great trench system known as the Hindenburg Line which for a long time past had been in preparation well to the rear, and which was supposed to be a model of siting and fortified field-work. At first rumours were vague and of doubtful origin; but gradually it became evident, from the explosions which every day could be seen behind the enemy lines, that a great deal of destructive and demolition work was being carried out, all of which pointed to the fact that the area was shortly to be evacuated.
Under these circumstances it was necessary that information should be obtained as to the strength in which the enemy was holding the line, and for this purpose a series of raids was carried out. On the night of February 27th/28th the 2nd Worcesters raided the enemy trenches around Pekly Bulge in two parties, the first party going over at 8.40 P.M. and remaining in the trenches for half an hour, while the second raid started at 1.0 A.M. and lasted for sixty-five minutes. Rumour had it that many of the first party—who were nearly all old hands, and for whose benefit the first raid was said to have been organised—went over again with the second party to complete a few odd jobs which they had not had time to finish thoroughly earlier in the night! Whatever the truth of this story may be, the raid was eminently successful. Twenty-two prisoners were taken, thirty-six of the enemy were killed in hand-to-hand fighting and six dug-outs full of men were bombed. Moreover, the prisoners proved to be men of the 2nd Guards Grenadier Regiment, and this identification, together with the discovery that the German line was still strongly held, was of the greatest value to Headquarters.