Editing Battle of the Somme (section)

=== Ancre, January–March 1917 ===
{{Main|Operations on the Ancre, January–March 1917}}

After the [[Battle of the Ancre]] (13–18 November 1916), British attacks on the Somme front were stopped by the weather and military operations by both sides were mostly restricted to survival in the rain, snow, fog, mud fields, waterlogged trenches and shell-holes. As preparations for the offensive at Arras continued, the British attempted to keep German attention on the Somme front. British operations on the Ancre from {{nowrap|10 January – 22 February 1917}}, forced the Germans back {{convert|5|mi|km|abbr=on}} on a {{convert|4|mi|km|adj=on|abbr=on}} front, ahead of the schedule of the [[Hindenburg Line#Alberich Bewegung|Alberich Bewegung]] ({{lang|de|Alberich}} Manoeuvre/Operation Alberich) and eventually took {{nowrap|5,284 prisoners}}.{{sfn|Boraston|1920|p = 64}} On {{nowrap|22/23 February,}} the Germans fell back another {{convert|3|mi|km|abbr=on}} on a {{convert|15|mi|km|adj=on|abbr=on}} front. The Germans then withdrew from much of the {{lang|de|R. I Stellung}} to the {{lang|de|R. II Stellung}} on 11 March, forestalling a British attack, which was not noticed by the British until dark on 12 March; the main German withdrawal from the Noyon salient to the Hindenburg Line (Operation Alberich) commenced on schedule on 16 March.{{sfn|Falls|1992|p = 115}}