On the morning of the 1st November a thick mist lay over the country, so that the infantry got a few hours’ rest before the continuous shelling of the enemy’s artillery began. As soon as the mist cleared, the battle broke out anew, on a twelve-mile front. In the north the Saxon and Würtemburg divisions of the XXVII Reserve Corps further extended their successes of the previous days. The line was advanced up to the château of Poezelhoek, which was taken from the 1st British Division after a heavy fight.[82]
The divisions of Deimling’s XV Corps attacked with the right wing on the Gheluvelt-Ypres main road and the left on Klein Zillebeke. They advanced but slowly, fighting hard the whole day. The small, dense woods, defended with the utmost tenacity, again made progress very difficult. The 30th Division managed to reach the eastern edge of the Herenthage Wood, where the 3rd British Cavalry Division, supported by infantry, was in position. The wood north of Zandvoorde gave exceptional trouble, but it was finally outflanked on both sides, and its defenders taken prisoner.[83]
The II Bavarian Corps advanced to the attack on both sides of the Comines-Ypres canal, and drove the enemy back as far as the sharp bend in it. The left wing captured the small wood west of Oosttaverne which was defended by Indian and British troops. The treacherous methods of the Indians greatly exasperated our men: crouching in the hedges, and with machine-guns concealed up trees, the defeated Asiatics allowed our troops to pass them, and then got up and stabbed them in the back with their knives.[84] The 6th Bavarian Reserve Division had withdrawn, on the morning of the 1st November, to its positions of the previous evening, and at midday began its attack once more. Confidence and enthusiasm served to obliterate the bad memories of the past night, and the dense lines now rose simultaneously from their positions as if on parade. Very many of their dead or wounded still lay at the foot of the heights, but the gallant division stormed the slopes again, and by 4 P.M. had reached the eastern edge of Wytschaete. It was not possible to push up reserves owing to heavy artillery fire, and at this moment the enemy counter-attacked with two fresh divisions.[85] The Bavarians, who had become disorganised during the assault, were forced to evacuate the village again under cover of darkness, after having actually entered it at about 5 P.M. They had suffered very heavily during the attack, being fired at from flank and rear, for the right wing of the 26th Infantry Division was unable to take all the high ground north-west of Messines until the evening of the 1st November. Fierce street fighting had gone on in Messines throughout the day, till finally the Würtemburg troops gained the upper hand and cleared the enemy out of the village to its western edge. The British were driven back down the western slope of the ridge, and had to entrench themselves in the valley, losing heavily in the operation. As soon as its right wing reached the Messines-Wytschaete road that evening the 26th Infantry Division held almost the whole of the famous ridge, and the preliminary condition for the capture of Wytschaete was obtained. The 6th Bavarian Reserve Division, however, was not able to carry out a third assault without assistance, and General von Fabeck during the night of the 1st-2nd therefore advanced the 3rd Prussian Division from its assembly area Wambeke-Garde Dieu into the fighting line, in order to carry forward the attack through and beyond Wytschaete towards Kemmel.
After a comparatively quiet night the battle opened again on the morning of the 2nd November along the whole front of the Army Group Fabeck. His indefatigable troops, some of whom had already endured twelve days of the heaviest fighting that had taken place in the campaign, attacked their strongly entrenched opponent once more. The enemy was at least as strong as they were in fighting units on the battle-front, and besides was able to bring up reinforcements of newly arrived British and French troops.[86]
On the eastern side of the Ypres salient General von Deimling attacked on a front of nearly four miles. His Corps, which had won its laurels in Alsace, in Lorraine and in Northern France, again, in spite of heavy casualties, continued its advance of the previous days. The 30th Division entered Veldhoek and established itself firmly in the north-eastern corner of the Herenthage Wood.[87] The attack had been facilitated by a simultaneous advance of the XXVII Reserve Corps, which had pressed forward some hundred yards north of Veldhoek. Von Deimling’s left wing had advanced in the direction of Klein Zillebeke, but was held up by the difficult wooded country east of Zwarteleen. It had to wait here for assistance from the neighbouring troops on its left.
The II Bavarian Corps had been held up early on the morning of the 2nd November by strong hostile counter-attacks in the sector west of Hollebeke. They were all, however, repulsed and the Corps was even able to make a slight advance on the right wing during the day.
Wytschaete was again the centre of the heaviest fighting on this day.[88] The Bavarian Reserve Division was, at its own request, to attack the village; the enemy’s position immediately south of it was allotted as objective to the 3rd Division. The 42nd Infantry Regiment and an Abtheilung (3 batteries) of the 17th Field Artillery Regiment remained in Army Reserve. At 7 A.M. a fierce artillery duel began, and the enemy, quickly realising the danger threatening him, hurried up strong reserves to Wytschaete. Kiefhaber’s brigade of the 6th Bavarian Reserve Division rose to the assault. Under a hail of shrapnel the youngsters stormed the eastern and southern slopes of the Wytschaete ridge for the third time, though with considerable loss, the enemy’s machine-guns causing great havoc in their ranks. As soon as the foremost of them had reached the windmill the enemy launched a counter-attack; but this time the Bavarians were not content with simply holding their ground; their supports were brought up at the critical moment and pressed forward into the village. Furious street fighting now ensued, and the Bavarians having to deal with every house became greatly disorganised. Taking advantage of this the British and French commanders sent forward fresh masses into the line, trying to turn the balance in their favour at this important point by employing every available man. It was 3.10 P.M. when a cry for help reached the Pomeranian (3rd) Division from their Bavarian neighbours, and it was not uttered in vain. Shortly before, the Stettin Grenadier Regiment had captured the long-coveted high ground south-west of Wytschaete, the struggle for a large farmhouse on it having been especially severe. Without possession of this the south flank of the village could not be held. Count Gneisenau’s Colberg Grenadiers were then sent forward to support the Bavarians, and the enemy was unable to hold out in Wytschaete against the rifle-butts and bayonets of the united Pomeranians and Bavarians. Soon after 5 P.M. the village, as far as its western edge, was in German hands, although the fighting continued till well into the night among the ruins with detachments of the enemy who would not surrender.
By the capture of Wytschaete a fine commanding position had been obtained, but the village itself, once so pleasant to the view, was now terrible to look upon. The church was in flames, and the windmill flared like a beacon in the darkness. Friend and foe lay wounded side by side among the smouldering ruins. The enemy was fully aware of the importance of Wytschaete, but he had been so weakened that he was unable to recover for another big counter-attack. He therefore contented himself with small and fruitless efforts, only one of which succeeded in temporarily entering the village during the 3rd. Nevertheless for the next few days it lay under the constant fire of heavy artillery, though our heroic observers did not allow this to interfere with their work.
Many of the inhabitants still remained in Wytschaete, as in Messines, and it was pathetic to see how they clung to their devastated patches of ground, regardless of danger. In spite of many offers from the Germans, these Belgian inhabitants remained with their last scrap of property, preferring to die by the shell that destroyed their homes.
A small wood north-west of Wytschaete, called the Park, was still a dangerous point. This dense copse was surrounded by a system of trenches and several rows of obstacles. With the help of skilfully sited flanking arrangements and shell-proof shelters, it had been turned into an almost impregnable stronghold, and cost us many days of heavy fighting before it was finally taken.