During the night the relieving battalions of the AIF 1st & 2nd Divisions – including the 22nd Battalion – were themselves relieved by the AIF 4th & 5th Divisions in preparation for the next blow. So ended with complete success the first phase in Field Marshal Haig’s step-by-step tactics, with the British Army achieving its objectives and even more cleanly than at Messines in June. British and German losses were comparable, between 20,000 to 25,000 men on both sides, of which Australian casualties within the AIF 1st & 2nd Divisions numbered 5,013. However the German troops came out of this battle crushed, and the British comparatively fresh, leading to an air of optimism both in the field, in France and back in England.
Following the Twenty-Second 