of German shells. Meanwhile, the German counter-barrage across No man's land and on their own line meant that in the absence of the communication trenches no help to could be got up to the attacking battalions isolated in the German lines. They were driven out or mopped up by the end of the afternoon. The remainder of 1/3rd Londons were kept in the reserve trenches; nevertheless, by the end of the day, the battalion had suffered over 150 casualties. The Gommecourt attack had been a diversion and no further attack was made in the area. The reduced battalions of 56th Division had to hold their line until 20 August. After being relieved, the 56th Division moved to the southern Somme sector, where it trained with the first tanks to arrive in France. Somme On 5 September 1916, the 56th Division went back into the line during the Battle of Ginchy. 168th Bde attacked before dawn with partial success, but lost direction, and their relief later in the day by 167th Bde caused some problems. For the Battle of Flers–Courcelette on 15 September, 167th Bde attacked towards Bouleaux Wood with two of the new tanks in support. The attack went in at 06.20, but one tank had broken down, while the other was hit by a field gun and set on fire after giving early support. Because neighbouring troops could not take the flanking strongpoint known as 'the Quadrilateral' the brigade's attack made little progress and the attack was called off in the afternoon. It was the same story when the division made a second attempt on 18 September, but at least the Quadrilateral fell. When the division attacked again on 25 September (the Battle of Morval), German resistance began to crumble, and by midnight 167th Bde was in the lower part of Bouleaux Wood and beyond the derelict tank from the 15 September fighting. In early October, 167th Bde occupied a line of linked-up outposts in a sea of mud, and the planned attack on 5 October. It went in on 7 October (the Battle of Le Transloy) and 167th Bde on the left was fairly successful, but in the follow-up attack at 15.30 on 8 October, 1/3rd Londons failed to make any appreciable advance against machine gun fire. The division was relieved the following night. There followed months of light training and line-holding in the Neuve Chapelle sector while