Three weeks of active trench warfare followed. The enemy shelled this sector heavily almost every day. On the night of the 1st of June the trenches of the 12th R.B. were badly blown in, but fortunately the casualties were few. A/92 Battery during a severe shelling on the 3rd had three guns damaged, and by the 8th seven 18-prs. and six howitzers in the Divisional Artillery were out of action, most of them knocked out by the enemy’s fire. The 59th Brigade, coming into the line on the 6th of June, was heavily bombarded both that day and the next, and Noreuil and Lagnicourt were persistently shelled. At the same time the line had to be strengthened as much as possible, active patrolling maintained, and raids on the enemy’s trenches carried out. A very successful raid was carried out on the night of the 12th/13th of June by a platoon of the 7th Somerset L.I. under 2nd Lieut. C. J. Lewin. The barrage on the enemy’s trench was so good that the raiding party was able to advance close up to it; as soon as it lifted the Somersets attacked, fought their way through the wire, and charged with the bayonet. Then the enemy bolted. Nine men were seen to fall, nine others were left dead in the trench, and the rest ran into the barrage, leaving in our hands a prisoner belonging to a unit which had not been identified before on the Divisional front. Our casualties were three men slightly wounded. 2nd Lieut. Lewin was awarded the M.C. and Lance-Sgt. A. Harley and Pte. A. J. Gibbs the M.M. for this raid. The 12th King’s sent three patrols up to the enemy’s line on the night of the 23rd/24th. They met with a good deal of opposition and all three had fights with parties of the enemy, but they obtained very useful information. The next night “B” Company of this battalion raided a sunken road south-west of Riencourt, eight guns of the 61st Machine Gun Company assisting with indirect fire. The wire was found to be very strong--thick and treble fenced--but some of the party got through, securing a useful identification from a few of the enemy dead who were left in the trench and who had evidently been killed by the barrage. During this period there were two changes at Divisional Headquarters. Lieut.-Colonel E. M. Newell succeeded Lieut.-Colonel Rolland as C.R.E., and Major Stratton, who had commanded the Divisional Signal Company since it had been formed in England, was transferred to the IXth Corps. The latter was succeeded by Capt. A. G. Brace, M.C., who commanded the company until the end of the war. Between the 20th and 22nd the Divisional Artillery was relieved and on the 23rd marched to the neighbourhood of Fricourt, with headquarters at Meaulte, to refit. The rest of the Division moved out in the following days, and on the 29th this sector was taken over by the G.O.C. 62nd Division.