of the line and sent north to a quiet sector for rest and refit, though there was the usual trickle of casualties associated with trench holding and raiding. Ancre The Somme Offensive was still going on at the end of October when the 31st Division returned to the sector for the Battle of the Ancre, which was to be the last big operation of the year. Serre had still not been taken, and the 92nd Brigade was assigned to the attack alongside 3rd Division (the rest of 31st Division was still too shattered to take part). A 48-hour preliminary bombardment began on 11 November, and the brigade moved into the trenches on the night of 12/13, along communication trenches clogged with mud. Zero hour was 05.30 on 13 November, and fog, light rain and a smokescreen reduced visibility to a few yards, so that the leading battalions initially had little difficulty, but the 3rd Division on their right made no progress. Small-scale fighting went on all day, and Private John Cunningham of the 12th East Yorks won a Victoria Cross (VC) for fighting on alone when all the rest of his team of bombers became casualties. At the end of the day the brigade had been driven back to its starting positions and suffered over 800 casualties. The Division remained on the Ancre through the winter of 1916–17, following up the Germans when they retired to the Hindenburg Line in the Spring of 1917. Oppy Wood In 8 April 1917, the division left the Ancre and moved to the Arras sector for the Arras Offensive. After a period of training and trench-holding, the division moved into assembly trenches opposite Oppy during the night of 2/3 May, under shellfire. The British creeping barrage started at 03.45 and the 92nd and 93rd Brigades set off, in the dark and mist, into severe machine gun fire from Oppy Wood. 92 Brigade was held up in No man's land and suffered severe casualties. 2nd Lieutenant Jack Harrison of the 11th East Yorks was awarded a posthumous VC. Casualties in the 12th East Yorks had been so severe that it was temporarily reduced to two composite companies attached to the 10th and 11th Battalions respectively. A fresh attack on Oppy Wood was arranged for 28 June. This time the attack was to be made by the 94th Brigade with the 92nd Brigade in support. The