On October 26, 1917, the British and French armies north, northeast, and east of Ypres renewed the offensive. The attacks began in a cold rain that had been falling for several hours. Haig's troops first advanced from a point near St. Janshoek westward through the southern fringe of Houthulst Forest to the neighborhood of Nieuemolen. The other assault was on both sides of the Ypres-Menin highway along the Gheluvelt Ridge toward the town of that name. Bellevue Spur, west of Passchendaele, was crowded with machine guns, but the British entered it an hour after the attack began. The Germans concentrated a heavy artillery fire on Bellevue, while the British were fighting arduously with rifle, bomb, and bayonet among the concrete fortifications. Through Wolf Copse, near Bellevue, that had been the scene of many sanguinary struggles, the British swept on, gaining Polderhoek Château, north of Gheluvelt, where there was close, intense fighting before the Germans were forced to yield.
On the same date the French continued their drive against the German positions along the Aisne. On the right of their attacking front they captured the village of Filain and pushed their lines forward north of Chevregny. In the Champagne area French trenches at Maisons de Champagne were heavily bombarded. Two surprise attacks attempted by the Germans were crushed. On the Flanders front, this day, the French captured the village of Draeibank, Papagoed Wood, and a number of fortified farms. Several hundred German prisoners were gathered in during these operations.
According to the reports made by French aviators scouting on the front, the Germans were preparing a retreat, for beyond the Ailette Valley fruit trees had been cut down and farms destroyed, just such destructive measures as the Germans had employed when they retired on the Somme in the spring of the year.
The French line now ran along the southern side of the Aisne-Oise Canal without a break, from westward of Vauxaillon to the town of Filain. French guns could now enfilade the German positions in three directions: northwestward of Anizey-le-Château, along the valley of Laon, and through the Ailette Valley, threatening the German lines on the Chemin-des-Dames Ridge.
German prisoners from the Empress Elizabeth's Guards Regiment captured during the recent French advance had been without food for three days and complained bitterly of their officers, who had slipped away and left them without commanders during the struggle.
The Germans had seven divisions in action during the first day's fighting here, and when it was evident that the tide of battle was running against them, fresh divisions were rushed up which had recently arrived from Galicia. The reenforcements reached the battle field only to fall under the murderous fire of French guns, or were taken prisoner, catastrophes which only added to the general confusion that seems to have reigned among the Teutonic forces.
French troops on the Flanders front began another dashing drive on October 27, 1917, capturing all the German positions on a front of two and a half miles. The advance was made on both sides of the road between Dixmude and Ypres. On the right the French gained the western outskirts of Houthulst Wood, capturing the villages of Verbrandesmis, Aschoop, Merckem, and Kippe, and also a system of strongly fortified farms. Again the French had to wade through morasses into which they sank waist deep, but there was no holding the brave "poilus" back. Soaked with mud and water they had to attack heavily defended hamlets and innumerable concrete blockhouses bristling with machine guns, but every objective was won.
West of Passchendaele the Canadians were improving the positions in this sector which they had captured in the first stages of the battle, across the neck of the Bellevue Spur. The Germans had endeavored by repeated counterattacks to force them out of this dominating height, and there were anxious moments for the Canadians, when, as the result of a struggle at close quarters, they were forced to yield ground. But they quickly rallied, and in a fierce onslaught drove out the Germans and recovered the position.
Northwest of Verdun, near Chaume Wood, the German Crown Prince's army made a strong assault on French positions on October 29, 1917. The attack was preceded by a bombardment of intense violence. The German infantry pressed forward impetuously in the face of a blasting fire from rifles and machine guns and penetrated French positions north of Courrières Wood. But they were only able to hold the ground for a short time, when the French struck back and forced them out, dispersing the invaders, who fled to their own lines.
On the Flanders front the Canadians continued to forge their way forward toward Passchendaele. In the morning of October 30, 1917, they attacked the outer defenses of that place. At Meetscheede village, a mass of ruins, there stood a number of concrete blockhouses, strongly manned, and the struggle that developed here was fierce and bloody. The place was only won by the individual cunning of the Canadians, who hid among the shell craters, dashing forward separately and in groups whenever there was a slight pause in the enemy's fire. It was slow, hard work, and costly, but they slogged away until the German guns were silent. Beyond Meetscheede stood another row of blockhouses, and more intense fighting ensued, but at length the Germans gave up and started to run, but very few were said to have escaped.