On the night of September 26th the front was taken over by the 125th Brigade on the right and the 127th on the left, preparatory to one of the most ambitious attacks ever made by the 42nd or any other division. This was no less than the piercing of the famous Hindenburg trench system, by smashing a way through a two-mile depth of the most strongly and scientifically defended positions in the history of warfare. The enemy had succeeded in withdrawing his battered troops, and had placed fresh divisions in line opposite the 4th Corps front. These were given complete assurance that the British advance would be held up at this “impregnable” line, which would be their winter position, and against which the Allies would fling themselves in vain. German orders issued at this date laid down that not a foot of ground was to be given up here. [Sidenote: _The Objectives, September 27_] The objectives of the 4th Corps and of the corps on its left consisted of two main ridges—the Beaucamp Ridge to the south and the Flesquières Ridge to the north. These were separated by the Ribecourt Valley. From the Beaucamp Ridge three large spurs projected northward into the valley, and these spurs formed the objectives of the Division. The most easterly of the three spurs (which are separated by deep re-entrants and very steep gradients) was known as Highland Ridge, and this is the highest and steepest of the three. East of Highland Ridge the ground drops abruptly to the narrow Couillet Valley, running south to north into the Ribecourt Valley. Beyond the Couillet Valley the ground rises sharply to Welsh Ridge. The great double row of trenches of the Hindenburg Line extended diagonally across the spurs, facing approximately S.S.W.