The results of the fighting in the West from 1st October to the end of the year may be summed up very briefly. Both in Champagne and on the British front between the La Bassée Canal and Lens, the Germans made fierce counter-attacks; but nowhere did they win more than momentary successes. On the 8th of October they assembled behind the Chalk Pit, and came on in four great waves, marching shoulder to shoulder, only to be shattered to fragments by our fire. Five days later we launched an attack against the German line between the Hohenzollern Redoubt and Hulluch; but though we won a thousand yards of trenches we could not remain in them. By this time nearly all the Redoubt and Fosse 8 had been recovered by the Germans, and on 13th October we began a three days' attack upon these positions. The North Midland Division covered itself with glory during two crowded days of incessant battle. The most desperate hand-to-hand fighting took place, and many notable deeds of gallantry were done. We won the main trench of the Redoubt, but no more. At the end of October our line was a little farther forward than it had been at the beginning of the month; but when we came to reckon up the losses of friend and foe, it was hard to say on which side the balance lay. Thereafter, to the end of the winter, both sides settled down to the long weariness of trench warfare. CHAPTER XLV. BRAVEST OF THE BRAVE.--I. The fighting on the Western front from the beginning of the September offensive to the close of the year abounded in heroic incidents, and many Victoria Crosses were won. In this and the next chapter I shall give you brief accounts of those who received the highest award of valour. Captain Anketell Montray Read, 1st Battalion, Northamptonshire Regiment. Near Hulluch, on the morning of 25th September, Captain Read, though suffering from gas, went out several times to rally men who had lost their units and were retiring. Utterly regardless of danger, he formed them up and led them back to the firing-line. While carrying out this gallant work he was mortally wounded. On several former occasions he had shown outstanding bravery. Lieutenant George Allan Maling, M.B., R.A.M.C. During the great offensive of September, Lieutenant Maling slaved unceasingly for twenty-six continuous hours in attending the wounded out in the open and under heavy fire. He ministered to no less than 300 men, but was at last flung down by the bursting of a high-explosive shell that killed several of his patients, wounded his assistant, and stunned him. When he had recovered, a second shell covered him with a torrent of earth; nevertheless "his high courage and zeal never failed him, and he continued his gallant work single-handed." Second Lieutenant Frederick Henry Johnson, 73rd Field Company, R.E.