October 25th.
At 7 a.m. the 44th Battalion attack the portion of Regina Trench remaining in German hands—between the Quadrilateral and the 11th Brigade block east of the Pys Road—but meeting with very heavy enfilading machine-gun fire from the Quadrilateral the men are quite unable to reach their objective. The 11th Brigade have bombed eastwards from the block in Regina but as the 44th Battalion do not arrive the Germans are enabled to concentrate a strong bombing counter-attack and drive our men back to their original post. The Corps decides to make this portion of the Regina Trench part of the objective in the later operation.
October 26th.
The 12th Brigade relieves the 10th and 11th Brigades in the line. Hostile artillery active south of the Albert- Bapaume Road. German troops observed in large numbers in the Grandcourt Trench and our heavy guns concentrate on this point.
October 27th.
Operations postponed once more. The Germans endeavouring to complete new defensive works between the Regina and Grandcourt Trenches, but making little headway, owing to our continued artillery and machine-gun fire.
October 28th.
Enemy shelling vigorously in the area south of the Albert-Bapaume Road. The 78th Battalion sends out patrols to locate new enemy lines. The roads are very bad, and great difficulty is experienced in transporting the ammunition to the guns.
October 29th.
The bad weather prevents operations, but our artillery and machine-gun barrages effectually prevent the Germans from working on their new defences.