replacing McCay who took over a depot command in England. In the early part of 1917, the division took part in the operations on the Ancre, before the Germans sought to reduce the length of their line, withdrawing to prepared positions along the Hindenburg Line. Beginning on 24 February 1917, having endured a bitter winter on the Somme, the division joined the pursuit, skirmishing with the German screen covering the withdrawal. On 17 March 1917, the 30th Battalion attacked towards Bapaume, the objective of the previous year's Somme offensive, and found the town abandoned, a smoking ruin. The 15th Brigade, being employed as an advanced guard (or flying column), pushed south of Bapaume until, having lost touch with the British Fourth Army units on its flank, was ordered to halt. By 24 March 1917 the headlong advance had ended and a period of cautious approach to the Hindenburg defences began as the Allies began approaching the German outposts and resistance began to grow. On 2 April 1917, the 14th Brigade, which had taken over the advance from the 15th, captured the villages of Doignies and Louverval, suffering 484 casualties and taking 12 prisoners in the process, before the 5th Division was relieved by the Australian 1st Division on 6 April. When General Edmund Allenby's British Third Army launched the Battle of Arras on 9 April 1917, the Australian divisions—part of General Hubert Gough's British Fifth Army since the Somme fighting—were called on to participate in an attempt to break the German flank on the Hindenburg Line at Bullecourt. The 5th Division at this time was part of I Anzac under Lieutenant General William Birdwood. It avoided the first of the fighting but was thrown into the closing stages of the Second Battle of Bullecourt, having taken over from the 1st Division. The division arrived on 8 May 1917, and was tasked with holding the line to the east of Bullecourt and to consolidate the initial gains. On 12 May, the division helped advance the line on the flank of the British VII Corps, after which a strong German counterattack was repulsed on 15 May. After the Bullecourt fighting subsided, the 5th Division was relieved by the British 20th Division, and was withdrawn from the line around 25 May and placed in corps reserve, in order so that it could rest and carry out further training. During this time, the division