LAND & WATER 
October 4, 1917 
\ 
troops, roacliinp; the open rountry to the cast of the wood, 
were subjected to counter-attacks of great violence, the last 
of which was preparing as late as the morning of Friday the 
'28th, when it was caught under British artillery tire and 
broken up. None of these counter-attacks succeeded. 
Further to the north again came the chief advance of the 
day, the rapture of the ruins of Zonnebeke, and the establish- 
ment of the British line upon the first slopes of the Passchen- 
daele Ridge proper. At this point, however, the German 
counter-attack somewhat thrust back the line, lea,ving the 
British troops on the evening of Thursday, the 27th, in posses- 
sion of the ruins of the chateau, of the church and of the 
cemetery ; but, according to the accounts received from the 
ncwsiiaper correspondents in the f.ondon Press of Friday 
morning, not carrying the ruins of the station which were 
Still in German hands. North of Zonnebeke all the objectives 
were reached and held. The defensive here was in the 
hands of Saxon 'troops. The attack appears to have been 
delivered by British troops from London and from the Mid- 
lands, A violent artillery fire modified the line here for a 
moment, but it was restored by the Londoners before Thursday 
night. 
The Present Line 
The line through Zonnebeke would seem to run, at the 
moment of writing, so far as its position can be gathered fioni 
the Press correspondents of the ].ondon papers, somewhat 
as it is marked on the accompanying map. 
It will be seen that Zonnebeke lies at the foot of the 
Passchendaele Ridge, which rises up immediately above it by 
a bank some fifty feet in height. The central point of the 
village, is the place where the by-road from the station comes 
into the main road near the church. Tlie main road thence 
goes in eastward up the bank to the summit of the Passchen- 
daele Ridge, where there is a lump rather higher than the 
rest and near it the ruins of a windmill. Where the main 
road crosses the road to Passchendaele (which roughly follows 
the summit of the ridge) you have Broodseynde cross- 
roads with a couple of ruined cottages to mark it, and that 
point commands all the flat country beyond. All the plain 
of Flanders to Brabant lies almost uninterrupted to the view 
from this insignificant elevation at the foot of which the 
British forces now stand in the ruins of Zonnebeke. The 
Germans, so far as one can gather from the newspaper corre- 
spondents, still hold the station and probably the slightly 
higher ground (Hill 40) just beyond. The British hold the 
central point of Zonnebeke and the western half of the 
ruins. They are overlooked from the rising ground beyond 
the eastern half which the Germans retain. 
The total number of prisoners counted after the action was 
sonu'whal inei i.Ooo, but this is but a slight indication of the 
very heavy losses which the enemy on the unanimous testi- 
mony of our own observers and his examined prisoners suffered. 
The density of the counter-attacks which failed was par- 
ticularly remarkable, and was responsible for the greater part of 
this loss. No less than four divisions, for instance, were identi- 
fied first and last in the heavy work in the shallow Reutelbeck 
depression, between the Polygon Wood and the Menin Road ; 
while the total nunVocr of divisions which have had to be 
withdrawn from action on the German side, from the attack 
Approximate Britisit 
line on Tliursday 
evenifza " 1 
lOOOyarals 
of last week to Thursday night last , would seem to be no less 
than ten. The French have remarked in particular how near 
the advance now is to outflanking the great Houthulst \Vood, 
which is the northern pillar of the German defensive position. 
This is true, but that northern pillar will lose its local im- 
portance in ariy case when or if the main ridge is carried. If 
the enemy has to retire before winter on to the flats beyond, 
and if he is observed by his opponent from the heights of the 
Passchendaele Ridge — the last ridge in this part of Flanders 
— his retention of the Houthulst Forest will not, so far as one 
can see, have any further advantage for him. It will simply 
form a large awkward salient with no particular value attach- 
ing to it. . . 
