In the centre the 7th D.C.L.I. found great difficulty in advancing through the mass of ruins and wire, especially east of the Lens--Arras road. Only the two officers--2nd Lieut. Howe and 2nd Lieut. Wedge--and six men finally succeeded in forcing a way through the houses. This party pressed forward to an enemy machine-gun post consisting of four men. In the fight that ensued three of the enemy were killed, and the fourth was wounded and taken prisoner. The machine gun also was captured, and bombs were thrown into a dug-out which could not be blown up as the R.E. party had not been able to get through. By this time the half-hour allotted to the raid had expired, so the party turned back, being guided by the German prisoner through a gap in the wire on the Lens--Arras road. A nest of machine guns fired a little during the raid, but for the most part this fire was kept down by our artillery and trench mortars. The total casualties in the D.C.L.I. were ten men wounded. Four or five of the enemy were actually killed, and judging from the number of ambulances seen from our observation post on the following day our artillery and trench mortars must have inflicted considerable loss. The report on this raid states: “Too much cannot be said for the splendid co-operation of the artillery, trench mortars, and M.G.C., which meant such a lot towards the success of the venture.” There is no doubt that the raid was a complete surprise. The enemy’s first S.O.S. did not go up until seven minutes after zero. The platoon of the 7th Somerset L.I. on the left advanced in two parties. These succeeded in penetrating the enemy’s defences, but they were unable to secure an identification. Eventually the parties returned with only three casualties. The raid of the 11th K.R.R.C., timed to begin at 12.30 A.M., was carried out by “C” Company with one N.C.O. and six men of the 83rd Field Company R.E. The objective was a trench between the north-east corner of Avion and the Bull Ring.