Our infantry withdrew from the line for a rest on the 12th October. The artillery, however, merely changed the scene of their labours, and about ten days later marched straight up from their former positions into action in the neighbourhood of Wancourt, to cover the 51st Division; the trench mortar batteries in the meantime were temporarily distributed between the 3rd and the 16th Divisions. On the 29th we had the misfortune to lose a valuable officer in Lieut. H. Sutherland, signalling officer of the 312th Brigade, who was killed very soon after his brigade had joined the 51st Division. My own headquarters had meanwhile moved to Haplincourt, and on the 30th October I learned from the G.O.C.R.A. of the 4th Corps that a big attack was to be made in the direction of Cambrai within about three weeks, in which the 62nd Division was to play a leading part. It was, in fact, to attack and capture the village of Havrincourt, a position of enormous strength protected by an elaborate system of trenches and barbed wire entanglements, and forming one of the strongest portions of the formidable Hindenburg line. [Sidenote: Nov. 1917.] The method of attack was to be an entirely new departure. There was to be no artillery preparation; in other words, not one gun beyond the normal was to be fired until the moment of assault, or what is technically known as "Zero." Then the barrage was to begin, and the infantry were to assault preceded by tanks. In addition to my own brigades, I was to have under my command for the operation the 77th, 93rd, and 16th Brigades, i.e. twenty batteries in all.