From September 27 to October 1, the fighting was bitter and incessant, both redoubts and the Hesse Trench changing hands several times. Finally, the British remained masters of these positions, but were afterwards held by the following trenches--the Shiff and Regina--to which they had to lay siege. Progress was very slow, in spite of incessant grenade fighting, and when winter arrived, they had not yet conquered the whole of these trenches. [Illustration: THE RUINS OF THIEPVAL.] [Illustration: WHERE THE CHÂTEAU OF THIEPVAL USED TO STAND.] The recapture of the Thiepval Plateau by the Germans at the end of March, 1918, did not give rise to any important engagement, no special effort being made to defend it. In the same way, it is said that when the British finally drove out the Germans a few months later (August 24, 1918), they did not lose a single man. Everything was pounded to bits by the shells. Of the one-time flourishing village, nothing remains. A shapeless mass of broken stones marks the site of the Castle _(photo above)_. The place has become a desolate waste overrun with weeds and grass. Here and there traces of the defence-works: redoubts, trenches, etc., and the graves of British and German soldiers, conjure up visions of the bloody struggle which took place there. _Return to Pozières, take again N. 29 on the left, towards Bapaume._ [Illustration: RUINS OF SARS VILLAGE. N. 29 NEAR BAPAUME.] [Illustration: SARS. RUINS OF GERMAN MONUMENT IN CEMETERY ON THE RIGHT OF N. 29.] _Five kilometres beyond Pozières, =Sars=, which stood on both sides of the high road, is reached (photo, p. 50)._ It was taken on October 7, 1916, by the British, who advanced beyond it, but were then held, as in spite of repeated assaults the Germans had maintained themselves on the Warlencourt Ridge (Hill 122), to the east, which dominates the whole district. Sars is the nearest village to Bapaume, taken by the British in the course of their offensive of 1916. It was about 9 km. from their trenches (in front of La Boisselle), and 6 km. this side of the first houses of Bapaume. In 1918, on the contrary, it took the British only three days to cross the strip of ground, 7 km. wide, which separated their starting trenches from Le Sars village, captured on August 25. Sars was wiped out. At the entrance, in a small shell-torn wood on the right, are the remains of a German cemetery, completely devastated. The base of a German monument can still be seen _(photo above)_. _Continue along N. 29 for about 1 km. beyond Sars; 150 yards to the right, =Warlencourt Ridge=_ stands out. _Go there on foot._ [Illustration: SARS. A CHINESE CAMP.] [Illustration: WARLENCOURT RIDGE, SEEN FROM N. 29.] Warlencourt Ridge Warlencourt Ridge is as tragically famous in the British Army as the Mort-Homme is for their French comrades-in-arms.