by a
counterattack to regain the trenches won by the British near
Gueudecourt, but were driven off with heavy losses, considering the
number of troops engaged. The Germans left on the field more than a
hundred dead, and the British captured thirty prisoners and four
machine guns. British aircraft, which continued to operate despite the
heavy weather that prevailed, suffered heavily on November 4, 1916.
One of their machines which had attacked and destroyed a German
aeroplane was so badly damaged that it fell within German lines and
four other British aircraft did not return.

German attempts to wrest from the French the trenches they had won on
November 1, 1916, on the western edge of St. Pierre Vaast Wood were
unsuccessful, though at some points the German troops succeeded in
penetrating the lines. But their foothold in the French trenches was
only temporary, and they were driven out with considerable losses.

On Sunday, November 5, 1916, the French took the offensive south of
the village of Saillisel, attacking simultaneously on three sides the
St. Pierre Vaast Wood, which had been strongly organized by the German
troops. As a result of this spirited attack the French captured in
succession three trenches defending the northern horn of the wood, and
the entire line of hostile positions on the southwestern outskirts of
the wood. At this point the fighting was of the most desperate
description. The Germans fought with great bravery, making violent
counterattacks, which the French repulsed with bomb and bayonet, and
capturing during the operations on this front 522 prisoners, including
fifteen officers.

The British troops, which had won 1,000 yards of a position on the
high ground in the neighborhood of the Butte de Warlencourt on
November 5, 1916, were forced to relinquish a great part of their
gains when the Germans made a violent attack on the following day.

North of the Somme the French made important advances between Les
Boeufs and Sailly-Saillisel. To the south on November 6, 1916, in the
midst of a heavy rain they launched a dashing attack on a front of two
and a half miles. German positions extending from the Chaulnes Wood to
the southeast of the Ablaincourt sugar refinery were carried, and the
whole of the villages of Ablaincourt and Pressoir were occupied by the
French infantry. Pushing forward their lines they also captured the
cemetery to the east of Ablaincourt, which had been made into a
stronghold b