The cessation of the offensive did not, however, mean inaction. From November, 1916, to the end of January, 1917, raids were incessantly carried out in the enemy trenches. Early in February, 1917, a violent and incessant bombardment was the forerunner of fresh attacks. From February 8 onwards, the British made considerable progress along the Beaucourt-Miraumont road. _After leaving Beaucourt, keep along this road._ A great heap of red bricks, on the right, by the side of the river Ancre, is all that remains of Baillescourt Farm, the defence-works of which were captured on February 8, 1917. A few days later, the British reached the outskirts of the important position of =Miraumont=. [Illustration: MIRAUMONT. RUINED CHURCH ON THE LEFT.] This large village was divided by the Ancre and the Albert-Arras railway, the village proper being situated on the north bank. The smaller agglomeration of houses lying on the south bank, known as Petit-Miraumont, was the first to fall into the hands of the British, after desperate fighting. The approaches to Petit-Miraumont had been covered with successive lines of trenches, bristling with barbed wire entanglements, redoubts and concrete blockhouses for machine-guns. All these positions had to be carried one by one. The village itself was only captured on February 24, 1917. Two days later, Miraumont-le-Grand, defended only by a rearguard company and a section of machine-gunners, was easily carried by the British. This marked the beginning of the "strategical withdrawal" which, the following month, ended with the capture of Bapaume, Miraumont (7 km. to the west) being one of its advance fortresses. Lost again in the following year, Miraumont was one of the few positions which the Germans fiercely defended at the time of the British counter-offensive of August, 1918. They tried all they knew to stop the British advance on Bapaume at this point. The fight lasted all day on August 24, and the German retirement began only after the capture of Grandcourt and Thiepval (on the south) and of Irles and Loupart Wood (on the north-east) threatened them with complete encirclement. That night, a strong detachment of British troops slipped into the fortified ruins of the village, held by picked machine-gunners. A fierce struggle followed in the dark. At daybreak the German garrison attempted a sortie, and succeeded in encircling the British detachments. However, a British aeroplane, which was hovering over the scene of the struggle, signalled that reinforcements were coming, and finally the Germans were encircled, and several hundreds of them taken prisoners. [Illustration: GERMAN MONUMENT IN FRONT OF MIRAUMONT CHURCH (1917).]