There is no doubt that the demonstration was a success. The enemy must have suffered a good deal from our shell fire, while the casualties in the 20th Division were only about 50. The dummies were most realistically worked so that the enemy was thoroughly deceived and certainly concentrated his artillery on the area of the 60th Brigade. A German communiqué dealing with this demonstration came later into our hands. It ran: “A strong attack by the enemy was stopped at his trenches.”
All this time mining, sniping, and other activities inseparable from trench warfare continued on both sides. Patrols were constantly at work at night examining the German line, noting the state of the wire and the position of new works and showing much coolness and daring in collecting all the information they could. 2nd Lieut. M. L. Cope of the 11th R.B. won the M.C. while out with a patrol on the night of the 16th of October. He raided and bombed a German listening post, killing two of the enemy and routing the rest, and obtaining two greatcoats and a rifle. When his bombs were exhausted he followed up with his revolver and emptied the chambers into the Germans at six yards’ range. Having no more ammunition he immediately went to the assistance of a severely wounded man, whom he helped into cover. The action for which Lieutenants G. Meredith and H. H. de D. Monk, both of the 11th K.R.R.C., were awarded the M.C. may also be given here, though it occurred on the night of the 24th-25th of November. These two officers were reconnoitring with their company officer when the latter was killed. For over an hour, under continuous and heavy fire and over flooded and difficult ground, they dragged the body back until they reached our trenches.
On the 31st a new breastwork was made in order to straighten off a re-entrant near the Duck’s Bill—a projecting trench on the extreme right of the Divisional line. The Meerut Division on the right carried on the work towards the south. One thousand men of the 20th Division were employed in three reliefs, and between 8 P.M. and 3 A.M. they built the breastwork throughout the whole length to a height of four feet. The work was continued the following night until stopped by heavy and continuous rain.
Brig.-General Ross, who had commanded the 61st Brigade since June 1915, left the Division on the 13th of November to take command of the 6th Division. He was succeeded by Brig.-General W. F. Sweny.
During November two more changes were made in the extent of the Divisional front. On the 10th the Indian Corps was relieved by the XIth Corps, a division of which—the Guards—took over the right of the 20th Division line on the 14th. The 60th Brigade thus relieved moved to Laventie in Divisional reserve. The two battalions of the 23rd Division being then no longer required returned to their own area. At the same time the 11th D.L.I. look up their regular duties again as a pioneer battalion.
A further move between the 21st and the 24th left the Division holding the sector from east of Picantin to west of Le Bridoux with the Guards Division on the right and the 23rd on the left. Divisional headquarters was now at Sailly-sur-la-Lys. Two brigades were in the line and one in reserve, and they relieved each other in regular sequence every ten days. The headquarters of the Divisional Artillery moved to Sailly on the 27th, by which date the artillery units were settled in the new area and organised in two groups, the right and the left, with C/92 Battery acting as a counter-battery.
During the remaining two months which the 20th Division spent in this area operations were chiefly confined to artillery bombardments. There was a raid by the 59th Brigade in December, and a modified gas attack was carried out the night before the Division moved out of the line, but otherwise the task of keeping the enemy occupied and damaging his defences fell principally to the artillery, whose accurate fire also played an important part in supporting the infantry raid. On the 20th of November the enemy’s line had been shelled with the object of destroying his mine shafts and as much as possible of his trenches. Other bombardments in which the Divisional Artillery took part were carried out on the 28th and 30th. Although considerable damage was done there was very little retaliation. Between the 6th and the 10th of December the German position at Turk’s Point Salient, just south of La Boutillerie, was shelled with good results, the heavy artillery co-operating both in this bombardment and in another which took place on the 3rd of January.
On the night of the 15th/16th of December a raid was carried out by the 59th Brigade. For seven days beforehand the artillery fired on the German wire, cutting eight lanes in it though only four of them were intended to be used. These lanes were kept under machine-gun fire at night, but in spite of this the Germans put up a certain amount of new wire which had to be cut by infantry parties on the night of the raid. A detailed reconnaissance was carried out and all arrangements were made with the greatest care.
The attack was originally timed to be launched at 1 A.M. but was put off till 2 to allow the moon to set. The night was then dark with a little rain falling, and a slight wind blowing from the German trenches.
Two attacks were made, one by the 10th R.B. on the right, the other by the 11th K.R.R.C. on the left.