Owing to the very large numbers of troops massed on the front at the time of the attack, the German losses, which included 4,500 prisoners, were particularly heavy.
A DIFFICULT CROSSING. BRITISH AND BELGIAN SOLDIERS
Fifth Phase
(October 9—12, 1917.)
To completely clear Ypres, a few strongly fortified villages beyond the line of crests captured on October 4 had still to be taken. These formed the objective of the attacks of October 9 and 12.
On October 9, in spite of the appalling weather, the British attacked again on a front stretching from St. Janshoek (a mile north of Bixschoote) to the south-east of Broodseinde. The French were holding a front rather less than two miles in length to the north of Bixschoote, and had for objective the southern edge of Houthulst Forest.
The signal to attack was given at 5.30 a.m. Despite the rain, which had been falling incessantly for several days, the infantry crossed first the canal in flood, then a veritable sea of mud, and captured Mangelaere and Veldhoek. They advanced rather more than a mile and reached the south-western edge of Houthulst Forest, after having captured numerous strongly fortified farms and blockhouses.
The British sector extended from the north-west of Poelcappelle to Broodseinde, and formed a front of some seven miles.