DURING THE WINTER MONTHS LOG-ROADS WERE NECESSARY FOR THE LORRIES AND ARTILLERY, AND EVEN THESE SANK IN THE BOTTOMLESS MUD
Period of Comparative Calm
(December, 1914—April, 1915.)
Having failed to pierce the front in the neighbourhood of Ypres, the Germans abandoned their attacks in close formation, and operations in this sector were soon limited to incessant artillery actions, occasionally followed by fierce surprise attacks at isolated points.
Some of the attacks during this period of comparative calm are worthy of note.
On December 10, the Germans launched three attacks against the British troops in front of St. Eloi, only one of which gave any result. The enemy captured the first trenches of the Allies' line, but were driven out on the following night by a counter-attack.
Other attempts were made during the following week, with the same negative result.
On December 17, the Germans attacked in force to the north-west of Ypres. Zonnebeke, Langemarck and Bixschoote were bitterly disputed, and the two last-named villages remained in the hands of the enemy.
These battles were fought in a sea of mud formed by the rain and the flooding of the land by the Belgians.
One Colonel wrote: "The ground on which we are fighting is awful. There is a crust about a foot thick which is comparatively good, but underneath there is bottomless mud. Men standing in trenches four or five feet deep are almost unable to get out, and gradually sink until it takes several men to extricate them."