It was estimated by correspondents who visited the battle area after the fight that the Germans had lost more killed than the number of their wounded and prisoners combined. On one section of the Australian front a thousand bodies were counted. A little farther south there was another lot of over seven hundred.
The manner in which the German defense was conducted showed many flaws, and indicated faulty organization. In the attempts made to stem the advance there was a lack of cohesion among the various units that were thrown out promiscuously along the whole battle front. The German artillery work, too, was weak and showed imperfect planning. A great number of Germans were caught in British barrages, and their officers spoke of the terrifying effect of the British fire, which surpassed anything known on that front and so dazed their troops that it was difficult to get them to follow out orders.
The Germans had been punished so severely that no infantry attack was attempted by them on the following day, and the British were free to consolidate their gains and strengthen their new positions.
In the evening of October 7, 1917, a German attack in force was made east of Polygon Wood in the vicinity of Reutel on a front of about 500 yards. For all they had made great preparations and preceded the assault by a heavy barrage, it was quickly beaten off by British artillery and machine-gun fire. During the day a heavy rainfall had turned the battle ground into a morass; every shell hole became filled to the brim, and for the time any military operation of importance must be abandoned. After the hard fighting they had been through the British troops welcomed a rest, though soaked to the skin, but it was a difficult and painful task bringing in the wounded through the deep, clinging mud.
In the early morning of October 9, 1917, British and French forces in the Ypres area launched an attack north and northwest of that city and were successful in gaining all their objectives.
The French troops, driving forward on the left of the British line north of Ypres, cut through the German positions to a depth of a mile and a quarter on a front of more than a mile and a half. The villages of St. Jean de Mangelaer and Veldhoek and a system of blockhouses were captured, and the advance reached the southern edge of Houthulst Wood, seven miles to the north of Ypres. From the south the British pushed northeast from Gravenstafel Ridge to a point about 1,000 yards southwest of the village of Passchendaele to the heights of that name. Between the Ypres-Roulers railway and the village of Broodseinde, which they occupied, the British forced the Germans down the slopes of Broodseinde Ridge on the eastern side. In these notable advances the Allied troops gained possession of most of the observation points that commanded a view of the great plain of Flanders.
A heavy rain on the day preceding the attack had transformed the battle ground into a quagmire, and many formations of the Allied troops having been without shelter during the night were drenched to the skin when the order came to attack.
The French advance was fortunately timed. The Germans in the first line were in the act of changing troops. A division newly arrived from the Russian front was about to take possession. Before they could realize the situation the French had dashed in among them, and, killing a great many, dispersed the others in every direction. After a brief pause, to allow the British on the right to advance, the French proceeded to their next objective, the village of Mangelaer, which was quickly won.
The British had gained in the forward movement to the depth of half a mile on a front of about a mile, stretching from Draeibank to Wyndendreeft.
Every point was won which they had fixed on as their objective, and more than a thousand prisoners were captured during the push. The French had gained about 1,200 yards in the two stages of their advance, taking over 300 prisoners and a large number of guns.