been cut off while observing
from a point of vantage.

It is agreeable to record that our men were very well treated by their
captors, who were Saxons, being placed in cellars for protection from
the bombardment of our own guns.

On our left our troops advanced against the German 26th Reserve Corps
near Passchendaele, and were met by a determined counter offensive,
which was driven back with great loss. At night the Germans renewed
their efforts unsuccessfully in this quarter.

At one point they tried a ruse which is no longer new. As they came up
in a solid line two deep they shouted out: "Don't fire; we are the
Coldstream Guards."

But our men are getting used to tricks of this kind, and the only result
of this "slimness" was that they allowed the enemy's infantry to
approach, quite close before they swept them down with magazine fire.

Apart from the 400 dead found near our lines in our centre, our patrols
afterwards discovered some 300 dead further out in front of our left,
killed by our artillery.

Thursday, the 22d, saw a renewal of the pressure against us. We
succeeded, however, in holding our ground in nearly every quarter.

South of the Lys the enemy attacked from La Bassee, and gained Violaines
and another point, but their effort against a third village was repulsed
by artillery fire alone, the French and British guns working together
very effectively. On the north of the river it was a day of minor
attacks against us, which were all beaten back.

The Germans advanced in the evening against our centre and left, and
were again hurled back, though they gained some of our trenches in the
latter quarter. By this time the enemy had succeeded in bringing up
several heavy howitzers, and our casualties were considerable.

On Friday, the 23d, all action south of the Lys on our right was
confined to that of the artillery, several of the hostile batteries
being silenced by our fire? In the centre their infantry again
endeavored to force their way forward, and were only repulsed after
determined fighting, leaving many dead on the ground and several
prisoners in our hands. North of the Lys attacks at different points
were repulsed.

On our left the 23d was a bad day for the Germans. Advancing in our
turn, we drove them from some of the trenches out of which they had
turned us on the previous evening, captured 150 prisoners, and released
some of our men whom they had taken.

As the Germans retreated our guns