[86] These ‘reinforcements of newly arrived British troops’ are imaginary.
[87] The Germans, attacking along the Menin road, succeeded in breaking our line at this point and captured two guns which had been pushed up into the front trenches. However, the 1st Scots Guards, though taken in flank, held on north of the road till a counter-attack by the 1st Black Watch re-established the line, while south of the road a counter-attack by the remnants of the 2nd and 3rd Brigade cleared the Herenthage Wood completely, but did not regain the front trenches a little eastward. Further to the right Lord Cavern’s detachment (Brigadier-General Bulfin had been wounded on 1st November, and his battalions had come under Lord Cavan’s orders) and the remnants of the 1st Grenadiers and 2nd Border Regiment (7th Division) held their own successfully and inflicted very heavy losses on the Germans, i.e. Deimling’s left wing.
[88] The credit for the gallant defence of Wytschaete on this day belongs solely to the French; no British troops were in action there.
[89] After the capture of Messines and Wytschaete the severity of the fighting in this quarter died down rapidly. The French made some attempts to recover Wytschaete, while the Germans managed to capture Hill 75 (Spanbroekmolen), but could advance no further, and the British Cavalry Corps established itself firmly in trenches north-east of Wulverghem. Supported by the artillery of the 5th Division, it maintained itself on this line till relieved by the infantry of the 5th Division about the middle of November.
[90] The chaplain of the Guard Cavalry Division, ‘Hofprediger’ Dr. Vogel, in his book ‘3000 Kilometer mit der Garde-Kavallerie’ (p. 212), says the attack was made and failed, but ‘next day the English abandoned the farm: this may have been due either to the power of our 8-inch howitzers, or to the moral effect of the attack of the Guard Dragoons.’
[91] What other British troops were present in the Ypres salient except the I and IV Corps this narrative does not pause to state, for the simple reason that there were none. The I Corps was not relieved, though some French battalions were put into the line near Veldhoek; but in the course of 5th November the remnant of the infantry of the 7th Division was relieved by the two composite brigades from the II Corps composed of battalions which had had three weeks’ fighting near La Bassée and had then to be thrust in after only two or three days’ rest to hold some of the most difficult parts of the line south-east of Ypres. The 7th Infantry Division when relieved amounted to less than a third of their original strength, without taking into account the drafts that had joined since they landed, which amounted to 2000 or more. Most of the battalions of the 1st Division were in scarcely better case.
[92] These ‘successive lines of rearward positions’ did not exist except on paper during the period to be included in the ‘Battle of Ypres,’ i.e. to 17th November.
[93] During the period 2nd-11th November the most serious fighting on the British front was between 6th and 8th November. On the 6th the Germans attacked near Zwarteleen and gained ground, some of which was recovered by a fine counter-attack delivered by the 7th Cavalry Brigade (cf. [page 93], line 30), while further counter-attacks by the 22nd Infantry Brigade, brought back just as it had been drawn out for a rest, and by portions of the 1st Division further improved the line next day. On that day (7th November) a sharp attack on the 3rd Division, which had now taken over the line south of the Menin road, gained a little ground east of the Herenthage Wood. This part of the line was again attacked in force on 8th November, and the line was broken near Veldhoek, but was restored after some sharp fighting and several counter-attacks. Further north again, in Polygon Wood and to the east of it, the 2nd Division, though repeatedly attacked, more than held its own. In the fighting near Veldhoek a prominent part was taken by two battalions of Zouaves who had filled a gap in the line of the 1st Division.
[94] St. Eloi is hardly situated ‘on high ground,’ as it is on the down slope where the Warneton-Ypres road descends into the low ground after crossing the north-easterly continuation of the Messines-Wytschaete ridge.
[95] The allusion is not understood.