The 127th Brigade was now linked up with the 62nd Division, which had passed through the 3rd Division and now occupied Ribecourt. During the afternoon there was a lull in the fighting. The company objectives were in some cases on a frontage of 600 yards, and numbers were now so small that commanders had not men enough to attack on so broad a front. Little parties gained ground as they could, but reorganization and reinforcement were necessary before a further assault on a large scale could be made. On both sides the artillery was on the move, our batteries pushing forward, theirs retiring to avoid risk of capture. It was becoming evident that the enemy’s strength was failing, and that the spirit had been hammered out of him. It had been a soldier’s battle of ding-dong fighting against an enemy possessing the advantage of the strongest possible positions combined with superiority in numbers of men and of machine-guns. To win success against such odds required skill with weapons—bullet, bayonet, and bomb—and also the finest qualities of initiative, resource, determination, and endurance on the part of subordinate leaders and men, and this skill and these qualities had been shown in a high degree. When company, platoon, and section commanders fell, junior N.C.O.s and even privates had proved that they could lead. By sunset more than a thousand prisoners, including two battalion commanders and a complete headquarters staff, had been passed through the divisional cage. The artillery had contributed splendidly to the successful issue of the day, and the rapidity with which they had moved into action in new advanced positions had been remarkable. [Sidenote: _Welsh Ridge, September 28_]