The British attack began on 25 September, when the infantry advanced behind a cloud gas discharge, intended to make up for a lack of artillery and ammunition.

The British front was reorganised for another attempt, which due to delays and bad weather, was forestalled by a German surprise attack on 8 October, from Loos to La Bassée Canal.

Observation increased the accuracy of German bombardments and The Chord was re-captured, leaving the British on lower ground in the west side of the redoubt.

German attacks diminished until 18 March, when five mines were blown, the captured portions of The Chord were re-taken and the British were driven back to the old front line.

[5] After the fighting in March 1916, the British front line near Fosse 8 had become a blunt salient known as the Kink, between the Hohenzollern Redoubt and the Cité St. Elie quarries.

The salient was about 400 yd (370 m) wide and lay on a slight slope down to Fosse 8 and had two outcrops, the Kink on the right and Hussar Horn on the left.

The 170th Tunnelling Company RE had eventually managed to gain dominance over the German miners and by the end of April all of the craters except for one just north of the Kink had been re-captured.

Quick entry and exit from the dugouts was rehearsed and each soldier was shown the gap in the German barbed wire which he was to pass through.

The attack was to begin at 6:00 p.m., led by bombing parties and bayonet men identified by black armlets, carrying wire cutters, spades and ladders.

[8] The 15th (Scottish) Division took over the line around the Kink on 27 April, a day when German artillery and trench mortar fire increased.

[9] At 4:00 p.m. German artillery began to fire on the front of the 15th (Scottish) Division (Major-General Frederick McCracken) and at 4:25 p.m., the shelling fell on the Kink, from Border Redoubt to Clifford Street, in the area of the 13th Royal Scots of the 45th Brigade.

McCracken ordered the reserve brigade to readiness, moved a battalion to Noyelles and manned machine-guns in the Village Line.

The 13th Royal Scots in the first line had been killed, casualties had reduced the rest of the battalion by half and the ground had become a field of shell-holes.

At 6:00 p.m., German infantry moved forward, screened by the craters in no man's land and overwhelmed the survivors in the front line, after a short exchange of fire.

During the night, the British artillery continued to fire at the wrong target and the German infantry were able to consolidate the captured ground undisturbed.

The attacks failed against German machine-gun fire and Brigadier-General Allgood, commander of the 45th Brigade, ended the attempts to bomb along trenches.

At 3:00 a.m. on 12 May, the attempts were abandoned and a new front line was established in Sackville Street, which was consolidated with help from the 73rd Field company RE and the divisional pioneer battalion.

[13] From 12–14 May, a huge volume of German artillery-fire continued to fall in the area of the Kink, which destroyed many trenches and buried men.

The leading company had spent ninety minutes under German artillery and trench mortar bombardment and moved as fast as possible to clear the area.

At 8:30 p.m. another attack was ordered by B Company, two platoons of which had occupied part of Hulluch Alley close to Boyau 98, under fire from heavy artillery all day.

Misdirected British artillery-fire, which remained on the German front line all night, left the attackers to consolidate their gains undisturbed.