The newly-won positions were consolidated next day, October 21st. In the afternoon there was heavy enemy shelling with H.E. and gas; and low-flying aeroplanes were active over the front. The Germans were by no means done for; they meant to resist stubbornly any further advance, and had brought artillery from other sectors into position. During the night of the 21st-22nd the 125th Brigade relieved the 127th, and the enemy shelling continued at intervals during the day and night of the 22nd. It was unusually heavy at midnight, and the assembly of the brigade for the attack was made under most unfavourable conditions, the number of casualties among the Fusiliers being serious. The advance of the Third Army was resumed in the early hours of the 23rd October, the Fourth and First Armies co-operating. The 42nd Division held the left of the 4th Corps front, with the 5th Division on the right, and the 3rd Division, 6th Corps, on the left. At 3.20 a.m. the Divisional and New Zealand Artillery put down a barrage which lifted at the rate of 100 yards in six minutes. The Division’s final objective was, roughly, the line of the River Harpies from the north of Beaurain on the right to Vertigneul in the centre, and to the outskirts of Romeries, north-east of Vertigneul, on the left. The advance was to be made in three bounds, and the New Zealanders would then pass through the 125th Brigade at 8.40 a.m. and continue the advance, supported by the divisional artillery and two companies of the 42nd M.G. Battalion. [Sidenote: _Capture of Vertigneul, October 23_]