October i8, 1917 
LANU & WATER 
only bv the fear of entering into heavy comniitments on the 
East with forces severely reduced arid "with her fate clearly 
deiwndent u]>on the Western fighting where two-fhirds of her 
armies and the overwhelming mass of her material is con- 
centrated in the efiort to stave oft defeat. 
THE WESTERN FRONT 
On the West the week was marked by two successive blows, 
tlic fourth and the fifth of those launched by the British 
Higher Command during the present offensive ; and each of 
these blows was further remarkable for the unprecedented 
rapidity in preparation which it showed. 
On Tuesday, October 9th, \s-as fought an action the news of 
which reached London too late for inclusion in our last issue. 
It was the first of these tvvO last blows and was struck from tfie 
south of Houthulst Forest in the north to the eastern slopes of 
the Ridge just south-east of the Broodseinde Cross Roads on 
the south. On the extreme left the French co-operated 
with us, the British left (on the right of the French) 
consisting of English. Welsh and Irish troops and the Guards. 
In the centre was a Territorial Division comprising the 
Manchester, East Lancashires and Lancashire Fusiliers 
regiments ; on the right b\' Broodseinde were the Australians. 
The attack, which was launched at twenty past five in the 
morning, had again something of the effect of a surprise ; 
especially on the north, between the railway and Poelcappellc, 
where two German di\isions were caught, the one in the act 
of relieving the other. The troops coming in, those of the 227th 
Division, naturally suffered the most. It had rained heavily 
during the mght and the difficulties of the low ground were 
very great. And some hours aiier tne first advance of about 
a thousand, yards the local dilificulties, especially apparently 
those- of transport, necessitated a retirement over about half 
the belt occupied. It was not, by the accounts received, 
undertaken under enemy pressure nor with any recorded loss. 
On the ridge itself an advance of one mile towards 
Passchendaele was effected b\ the Territorial division just 
mentioned, on the left of whom were the Warwickshires and 
certain units from Yorksliire. The objectives fixed here fell 
short of the ruins of Passchendaele. Nevertheless a portion 
of the British forces appear to have entered these ruins for a 
moment, pushing beyond their objectives as was the case last 
week in the .\ustralian advance up the road from Broodseinde. 
They fell back later on to the objectives originally assigned 
for them. 
By the evening of the second day the total amount of 
prisoners was just over 2,000, of whom 400 had been taken by 
the French. 
Rain fell at intervals during and after the advance, and the 
chances of a repetition of the attack seemed to grow worse 
and worse. Nevertheless, after so short an interval as onlv 
three days from the inception of the fourth blow a fifth was 
launched at 25 minutes past five in the morning of Fridav, 
October 12th. upon much the same front, but excluding tlie 
portion near Houthulst Forest where the French had pre- 
viously advanced. . Very heavy rain had fallen again in the 
night before this attack, which was therefore made under the 
most difficult conditions conceivable. The rain set in again 
with the later morning and the attempt to push the thing 
farther was abandoned. This stroke was also successful 
within its limits, counting before it was over 943 prisoners. 
Later, during the Saturday, heavy rain continued to fall 
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