Battle of Poelcappelle

The Battle of Poelcappelle (9 October 1917) marked the end of the string of highly successful British attacks in late September and early October 1917, during the Third Battle of Ypres. Only the supporting attack in the north achieved a substantial advance. On the main front the German defences withstood the limited amount of artillery fire achieved by the British after the attack of 4 October. The ground along the main ridges had been severely damaged by artillery fire and rapidly deteriorated in the rains, which began again on 3 October, in some areas the ground became a swamp. Dreadful ground conditions had more effect on the British, who needed to move large amounts of artillery and ammunition to support the next attack. The battle was a defensive success for the German army, although costly to both sides. The weather and ground conditions put severe strain on all the infantry involved and led to many wounded being stranded on the battlefield. Early misleading information and delays in communication led Plumer and Haig to plan the next attack (the First Battle of Passchendaele 12 October) under the impression that a substantial advance had taken place at Passchendaele ridge.

Strategic background
The attack being prepared at Cambrai for late November, the troubles in the French Army stemming from the Nivelle offensive in April and the forthcoming French attack at Malmaison on the Aisne, made it important that the British kept the initiative in Flanders, whence large numbers of German divisions had been drawn from the French front. At Verdun on 20 August the French Army had achieved a substantial local success. There was no German counter-stroke or counter-offensive as the local Eingreif divisions were in Flanders. By October 1917, many German divisions on the rest of Western Front had been engaged in Flanders, some more than once; maintaining pressure in Flanders also constrained German operations in Russia and Italy. After the Battle of Broodseinde on 4 October, the first of the Black Days of the German army, Sir Douglas Haig believed that the German forces opposite Ypres were close to collapse, due to the large number of Germans taken prisoner and encouraging intelligence gleaned from the battlefield.

Tactical developments
On 28 September, Haig met General Gough and General Plumer, commanders of the Fifth and Second armies to explain his intentions. After the victories of 20 and 26 September, the fine weather, the disarray of the German defenders and the limited prospect of German reinforcements from the Russian front, Haig decided that the next attack (on 4 October, which became the Battle of Broodseinde) would conclude the period of strictly limited advances. The following step would be a deeper advance, with provision made for exploitation. Haig wanted reserve formations of infantry, artillery, cavalry and tanks to be ready to extend a successful attack. Gough and Plumer replied over the next couple of days that they felt that Haig's proposals were premature and that exploitation would not be feasible until Passchendaele ridge had been captured from Passchendaele north to Westroosebeke, which would probably take two more steps at three-day intervals and then another four days to repair roads over the captured ground. Haig explained that although a collapse of the German defence (which was necessary to allow an exploitation of the attack due on 10 October) was not certain, he desired the arrangements to be made, since they would also be available for a later date.

At another conference on 2 October, Haig announced that operations at Ypres would continue for as long as the weather permitted and that six divisions were being moved from quiet fronts to the Fifth Army and the Canadian Corps was being moved to the Second Army. The arrangements made for immediate exploitation, should the attack intended for 10 October be an outstanding success, were that each attacking division was to keep its reserve brigade lightly equipped and accompanied by artillery (two 60-pdr batteries, two 6-inch howitzer batteries and four field artillery brigades). If the brigades conducting the morning attack reported a big success, their reserve brigades would prolong the advance in the afternoon. The reserve brigades of the attacking divisions of I and II Anzac Corps, were to reach Drogenbroodhoek in the south, (3000 yd beyond Broodseinde) Passchendaele station on the Morslede road in the centre and gain touch with the Fifth Army on the Westroosebeke road north of Passchendaele. A reserve division of each corps was to be at readiness behind the front, which the Director-General of Transportation (Major-General Nash) undertook (with three hours notice) to have on the battlefield in 3½ to 4 hours. The reserve divisions would be ready on the following morning to advance beyond the reserve brigades, if German resistance had crumbled. A cavalry division was given to each army to operate with the reserve divisions and two tank battalions were attached to the Second Army and a tank brigade to the Fifth Army, to exploit the firmer going should the advances take place.

British offensive preparations


In the early morning of 4 October, news arrived at British Headquarters of the great success of the attack. Brigadier-General Charteris, Chief Intelligence Officer at General Headquarters, was sent from Haig's Advanced Headquarters to the Second Army HQ to discuss a possible exploitation. Plumer did not agree that exploitation was possible, because eight more uncommitted German divisions were behind the battlefield and there were another six beyond them; Plumer preferred to wait until the expected German counter-attacks that day had been defeated. German artillery fire was still heavy and the Flandern II and III lines, behind the attack front could be occupied by the uncommitted German divisions. An attack on these defensive lines would need close artillery support which would be impossible, because the British artillery was behind a severely battered strip of muddy ground two miles wide. As the magnitude of the victory became apparent, Plumer had second thoughts but by 2:00 p.m. accepted that the moment had passed. On the Fifth Army front an attempt to get further forward ordered by Gough, was cancelled when a local German counter-attack was reported to have pushed the 4th Division off 19 Metre Hill.

Rain fell again on 4 October, continued on 5 and 6 October then became a downpour on 7 October. On 5 October, General Birdwood, commander of I Anzac Corps told Plumer that the exploitation was not possible, as the Corps light railway and the Westhoek to Zonnebeke road could not carry forward all the artillery necessary. On 7 October Haig cancelled the exploitation to the second objectives, (red line) intended for the afternoon of 9 October. The rain stopped that night and the ground began to dry on 8 October until late afternoon, when another downpour began. From 4 to 9 October, over 30 mm of rain fell, in a month when average rainfall was 75 mm. According to the Official Historian, the Corps Chief Engineers and divisional Commanders Royal Engineers (CRE) considered that the ground conditions did not create serious transport difficulties to the front line until 4 October and in some places up to 12 October, except in some areas where the ground became impassable, particularly in the area behind II Anzac Corps near the Steenbeek and its tributaries, which was described as "a porridge of mud". Duck-board tracks extended to a mile short of the front line, beyond which was a taped row of stakes (illuminated with lamps at night) but pack animals trampled many of the tracks into the mud.

Extension of the plank roads behind I and II Anzac Corps was impossible, during the rain which began on 4 October, the planks sinking or floating away. The field artillery of II Anzac Corps was not able to move forward as planned from west of the Steenbeek to the Zonnebeke–Winnipeg road. Platforms were improvised to keep them out of the mud but the failure to move forward left them 6000 yd from the morning objective, out of range of the German field artillery beyond Passchendaele by 1000 yd. The field batteries for the 66th Division were placed beyond Frezenburg along the Zonnebeke road, a mile short of the intended position. Conditions for the gunners deteriorated rapidly, with dugouts flooding in the rain. A sharp increase in illness led to breakdowns in the system of reliefs, just when the workload was at its height. Instead of the usual 90 field pieces, in the 66th Division one field brigade only got 25 guns into action and the other was unable to fire until after the attack began. (A gun was "in action" when it was able to open fire on S.O.S. lines and had 200 rounds at hand.) The 49th Division field guns were still along the Wieltje–Gravenstafel road, west of the Steenbeek, with only a few forward on the other side behind Hill 35. Transport of ammunition by pack-animal was only possible to guns kept within 100 - 150 yd of roads. Journeys previously an hour long took 6–16 hours and the ammunition arrived coated with slime. The effect of the rain was not uniform and further north in the area of XIV Corps and the French First Army, the ground had not been damaged as much by shell-fire. Despite considerable difficulty, the field artillery was moved to within 4000 yd of the final objective and ample ammunition and field stores were brought forward. XIV Corps had 49 batteries of 312 18-pdr guns in groups, one for each division, the Guards group having 23 batteries; the medium and heavy artillery being grouped similarly.

Plan of attack


The arrangements agreed by Haig, Gough and Plumer on 2 October, the effect of the victory of 4 October and the disarray of the German defenders, led to the attack planned for 10 October being advanced to 9 October, with a second attack being arranged for 12 October. Attacking a front of 13500 yd, it was intended to capture Passchendaele ridge in two stages. The first objective (red line) would be captured by a morning attack, which if successful and the cause of a general withdrawal by the Germans, would be followed-up by the reserve brigades of the attacking divisions, which would advance to the second objective (blue line) in the afternoon. On 7 October Haig cancelled the afternoon attack to the blue line due to the wet weather.

On the southern flank of the attack, X Corps was to attack to hold German reserves around Becelaere and Gheluvelt. To the north of X Corps, I Anzac Corps was to advance on the right flank of the main attack with 1st and 2nd Australian divisions, the 4th and 5th Australian divisions being in reserve. Further north, II Anzac Corps with the New Zealand and 3rd Australian divisions in reserve, was to attack two objectives, the 66th Division advancing along the main ridge north of the Ypres–Roulers railway, to just short of Passchendaele village and the 49th Division either side of the Ravebeek stream, up Wallemolen spur to the Bellevue pillboxes. If the first objectives were reached, the reserve brigades were to attack the second objectives in the afternoon. The second objectives were 800 - 1000 yd ahead of the red line, beyond the village and the main ridge respectively. The reserve divisions were ready to move rapidly forward by train, from west of Ypres to continue the attack the next day.

On the Fifth Army front, XVIII Corps with a brigade each from the 48th and 11th divisions, was to advance 1200 yd up Poelcappelle spur and towards Westroosebeke on the main ridge. XIV Corps was to advance to the south edge of Houthoulst Forest with the 4th, 29th and Guards divisions, as the French First Army conformed on its left. Raids and artillery bombardments were arranged along the rest of the front to try to deceive the Germans as to the objectives of the attacks.

German defensive preparations
Opposite I Anzac Corps the 233rd Division held the line, with the 220th Division as its counter-attack (Eingreif) division. To the north against II Anzac Corps, were the 195th Division and part of 16th Division, with the 20th and 45th Reserve divisions as Eingreif divisions; further north was the 227th Division. The 18th Division held Flandern I near Poelcappelle and 119th Division held Houthoulst Forest. The Germans were also hampered by the weather but as their positions were on the edge of the beaten zone, routes to their front line were in better condition, A German soldier wrote "The ground was unbelievably boggy, we just hardly got forward. The man to my front threatened to disappear in the darkness, so I moved quicker, only to get stuck up to my knees in the morass.... but then the man behind me got stuck as well in the filthy mess.... At long last the two of us were extracted from the bog.".

On 7 October the Fourth Army headquarters rescinded the policy of a reinforced front defence zone, to avoid another disaster like 4 October. Front line regiments were dispersed again, with their reserve battalions moved back behind the artillery protective line. More artillery was to be used against British artillery, to protect the Eingreif divisions as they advanced. The Eingreif divisions were placed closer to the front line, to intervene as swiftly as possible once an attack commenced, despite the risk of being devastated by the British artillery. On 9 October Ludendorff issued a memorandum to all Western Front divisions, complaining that Eingreif divisions were being misused. Dispersal, poorly-timed attacks, disorganisation and poor co-ordination with the artillery had led to high casualties. Ludendorff emphasised that the reserve units of ground holding divisions should conduct hasty attacks (gegenstossen) to push attackers out of their area. Eingreif units should not be used to reinforce ground-holding divisions for hasty counter-attacks but were to be used only for properly organised counter-attacks (gegenangriffe). As far as possible the Eingreif divisions were to avoid casualties, unless lost ground was tactically important enough to recapture.

Second Army
In the X Corps area to the south, the 5th Division attacked Polderhoek Château again with the 15th Brigade. The Château ruins were reached behind a creeping barrage and the pill-boxes in the area were engaged but mud clogged weapons and German machine-gun fire from Gheluvelt forced the brigade back to the start line. A new attack was prepared for the night but later cancelled. Further north the 95th Brigade attacked astride the Reutelbeek, advanced past Cameron Covert and was then stopped by German machine-gun fire. The 21st Division, between the 5th and 7th divisions was not part of the attack. Two battalions of the 22nd Brigade of the 7th Division managed to assemble on time despite the sodden ground and advanced at 5:20 a.m. to the blue line, which had been the final objective of the 21st Division in the attack of 4 October. Within 30 minutes green flares on the objective (blue line) showed that it had been captured. A report arrived that the commanding ground around Reutel had been captured and many Germans shot while fleeing but the advance had been held up at Juniper Cottage and that German guns in a gap near Judge Copse were holding up the infantry. A reserve platoon was sent up but was also unable to clear the copse. Eventually two companies captured the area with an attack from the south-east. The Germans shelled the area all night and all next day but no counter-attack was attempted.

In the I Anzac Corps area north of X Corps, the 1st Australian Division raided Celtic Wood with disastrous results, only fourteen of 85 men returning unwounded. 2nd Australian Division was to cover the right flank of the 66th Division, south of the Ypres–Roulers railway by pivoting to its right. The 6th Australian Brigade on the right flank, attacked towards Daisy and Dairy Woods on a 1200 yd front but were quickly stopped by German machine-gun fire until later in the day, when the woods were outflanked from the north and the objective was reached. Two battalions of the 5th Australian Brigade advanced 1200 yd to the north-western end of the Keiberg spur; the battalions were understrength and were unable properly to mop up German troops who had been by-passed. German reinforcements were able to infiltrate behind the Australians, which threatened them with encirclement. Before troops from the 66th Division could come up, the Australian brigade withdrew 800 yd with heavy losses; during the withdrawal, British troops were seen advancing north of the railway. By the time reinforcements were ready to attempt another advance to support them, the British troops had also retired, so the 5th Australian Brigade consolidated on the first objective.

II Anzac Corps conducted the main attack. Two brigades each from 66th and 49th divisions, assembled behind Frezenberg and Potijze, about 2.5 mi from the jumping off line. The brigades were expected to cover the distance in five hours but the dark, rain, awful state of the ground and fitful German artillery fire caused serious delays. Both divisions reported at 2:30 a.m. that some battalions would not be ready at zero, 5:20 a.m. When the creeping barrage began, the troops who had arrived, spread out and followed the barrage. The creeping barrage was difficult to follow, because much of the artillery was out of action, some of the rest fired inaccurately from unstable platforms and many high-explosive shells were smothered by the mud.

The 66th Division battalions of the 197th Brigade on the right advanced quickly on sandy going, despite lagging far behind the creeping barrage. German infantry from the 195th Division found in shell holes were taken prisoner and the British reached the final objective (blue line) at 10:00 a.m., a patrol finding Passchendaele village empty. Soon after arriving the rain stopped and in the better visibility, German machine-guns and field artillery began to fire from the right flank. At midday both flanks of the brigade were swung back to find neighbouring units, which the centre troops mistook as a withdrawal and followed, all the brigade ending up at the red line. After stopping a German counter-attack in the late afternoon, the division withdrew slightly to gain touch with the 49th Division on the left and find cover from the machine-guns on the Bellevue spur. The 198th Brigade on the left had to struggle through mud and flooded trenches north of the Ravebeek. German machine-gun fire from the pill-boxes at Bellevue 500 - 800 yd away, stopped the infantry half way to the red line, despite a further attempt to advance by the supporting battalions.

The German pill-boxes at Bellevue were able to stop the 198th brigade, because the attack by the right brigade of the 49th Division stalled in the swamp astride the Ravebeek, only a few parties managing to get across. The creeping barrage was thin and moved at 100 yd in six minutes, which proved too fast for the infantry. The barrage was lost on the right at the marshy edges of the Stroombeek and small-arms for from German riflemen and machine-gunners fired through the British barrage, particularly from Bellevue and the Yetta Slopes. Peter Pan was captured and by 6:40 a.m. the first objective (red line) was reached. An attempt by following waves to leap-frog through the troops on the red line failed quickly, due to the volume of fire from the Bellevue pillboxes. One attack got to within 40 yd of Bellevue and a later attempt at a flanking attack was stopped by machine-gun fire. The attack on the Yetta Houses was also raked by machine-gun fire and on the left stopped 100 yd short of the position. More troops moved up during the morning and filled gaps in the line. The final position reached was 100 – beyond the first objective, from which a line of posts ran from south of Wolf Farm to the eastern edge of Wolf Copse and from there to the south-east of Wolf Copse, with an advanced post 150 yd south-east of Wolf Copse. A support line was dug along the first objective and several small counter-attacks were driven off. Troops from a reserve battalion were sent up to the vicinity of Peter Pan and more troops occupied the old British front line. Around 9:00 a.m. a company managed to work round Peter Pan and capture the pillboxes, which allowed the advance to continue up to the barbed wire, found 150 yd from Bellevue. More wire had been spread around the pill-boxes, which at this point were part of an uncaptured length of Flandern I and more German machine-guns were hidden in shell-holes. After several attempts to attack the troops dug in half-way up the slope.

The left brigade found a bridge on the Gravenstafel road and got forward several hundred yards beyond the Ravebeek up Wallemolen spur, before being stopped at 9:30 a.m. by the machine-guns in the Bellevue pill-boxes and a field of uncut barbed wire 25 - 40 yd wide in front of the pill-boxes, obstructing the whole divisional front. In ignorance of the cause of the check, 49th Division headquarters sent forward its brigade and divisional reserves, which were either pinned down or held back on Gravenstafel spur as the cause of the check was realised. In the afternoon both brigades were near the red line, struggling with 2,500 casualties.

The right of the 66th Division rested on the railway beyond Keerselaarhoek below the main ridge, then north past Augustus Wood to the Ravebeek. The 49th Division line began in the valley at Marsh Bottom, then along the bottom of the Bellevue slopes above the Ravebeek, to Peter Pan and Yetta Houses, to the XVIII Corps boundary at Adler Farm. Small groups were isolated further up the Bellevue slopes on the western edge of Wolf Copse, Wolf Farm and a cemetery on the northern boundary.

Fifth Army


In XVIII Corps a brigade each of the 48th Division and 11th Division 14½ hours on the night of 7–8 October to reach the front line through mud and rain. When the brigades attacked they were swept by machine-gun fire from the fresh German 16th Division, which had crept forward in the dark and occupied shell-hole positions, so close to the British jumping-off line that the British barrage overshot them. The British attack lost the barrage which was as ineffective as elsewhere due to shells being smothered and moved far too fast at 100 yd in four minutes. Fortunately the German barrage arrived after a delay of seven minutes and was equally ineffective. The British destructive bombardment on German positions was much better than the creeping bombardment and caused considerable German casualties but mostly left the poillboxes untouched, from which a great amount of small-arms fire caused severe British casualties with cross-fire and traversing fire, while positions dug into the ruins of Poelcappelle gave the Germans means to enfilade the British attack. The advance was stopped 100 - 200 yd beyond the front line, on the left at the Brewery near Polcappelle, from which the troops withdrew to the jumping-off trenches to reorganise. As this move was seen, the remnants of other units in the left and centre conformed. On the right the German defence had been far less determined and more ground could have been taken but for the failure on the left. The ground was consolidated and reinforcements were brought up between Pheasant Farm and Retour Crossroads. Prisoners reported many casualties in the German division opposite, due to it being fresh and willing to fight to hold its ground. After the fighting ended, both sides recovered wounded without firing on each other.

In XIV Corps the 4th Division attacked with one brigade on an 800 yd front. The limited progress of the XVIII Corps attack to the south, kept the advance to just beyond Poelcappelle and a new line was consolidated beyond the Poelcappelle–Houthoulst road.

To the north the 29th Division had a final objective 1650 yd forward on the right and 2500 yd on the left. The attacking troops moved up the night before in torrential rain, the Royal Newfoundland Battalion on the left flank taking 4½ hours to move six miles to the front line. The advance was made in three stages, with an hour to consolidate behind a standing and smoke barrage, at each of the first and intermediate objectives. The rain stopped at midnight and the attack began at 5:20 a.m. On the right German machine-guns at Olga Farm caused many casualties and a delay but the first objective was reached on time. The surviving troops advanced on Condé House by rushes from shell-holes, taking 200 prisoners when they reached it. Fire from two German pill-boxes then stopped the advance and a German counter-attack began from the pill-boxes. The German infantry attacked in eight waves and were engaged by rifle and machine-gun fire. At 8:55 a.m. the barrage for the advance to the third (final) objective began and smothered the remaining German infantry; German resistance collapsed and the final objective was reached at 10:00 a.m.

The left brigade advanced to the right of Bear Copse, which was specially bombarded by Stokes mortars, inducing the German garrison to surrender. The Broembeek was crossed by the Newfoundland battalion, which advanced up the Ypres–Staden railway, capturing German dug-outs in the embankment and reached the first objective on time. The advance to the second objective found much reduced German resistance and the final objective 700 yd further on was reached. A counter-attack was defeated at noon and then a retirement of 200 yd was made, in the face of another counter-attack later in the afternoon but German infantry left the area vacant.

The Guards Division was to cross the Broembeek and close up to Houthoulst Forest, on a front from the Ypres–Staden railway to the junction with the French army near Craonne Farm. Considerable preparatory work was done before the attack; 355 mats, 180 foorbridges and enough wire to cover 3000 yd of front was carried forward by the pioneer battalion; much digging was done but the rain destroyed trenches as they were built. The two attacking brigades moved up late on 7 October in torrential rain. The rain stopped at midnight on 8/9 October and the morning was fine with a drying wind. The barrage came down prompt at 5:30 a.m. and after four minutes began to creep forward at a rate of 100 yd in eight minutes. Crossing the Broembeek was easier than expected, as the German infantry nearby surrendered readily. Little German resistance was encountered on the right except from a German pill-box at Egypt House, whence the Guards pulled their right flank back under sniper fire, as they waited for Newfoundland troops of 29th Division to come up. The left brigade bypassed a German strong-point and reached the final objective, taking the strong-point later in the afternoon. Consolidation was hampered by German snipers in Houthoulst Forest and German aircraft appeared over the new front line, which was 2500 yd forward on the Veldhoek–Vijwegen spur. No counter-attack was made until the evening, beyond the right flank on the 29th Division front, which withdrew a short distance. On the left of the Guards Division, German troops massing at the junction with the French 2nd Division were dispersed by machine-gun fire from gunners, who had advanced to the final objective with the infantry and also by British artillery fire.

Ire Armée
The 2e Division d'Infanterie of 1 Corps attacked on the left of the Guards Division, crossed the Broembeek and captured Veldhoek, close to Houthoulst Forest, an advance of 2500 yd.

Air operations
High winds, rain and low cloud returned to the battlefield on 4 October. Heavy rain fell on 7 and 8 October, severely hampering air operations. No artillery observation was achieved between 5 and 9 October. German artillery behind the Passchendaele Ridge and Gheluvelt Plateau was not detected and counter-battery fire was almost absent from British preparations. Wire cutting by the artillery which got into action was inadequate, in areas where there was no ground observation. Little flying was attempted during 9 October but II and V Brigade aircrews managed fifteen contact and seventeen counter-attack patrols at very low level. The progress of the attack was reported with some accuracy and 354 zone calls were made against German artillery and parties of infantry, 21 German artillery batteries being engaged for destruction and 33 for neutralization. Over XIV Corps, aircraft from 9 Squadron flew through the barrage to observe the infantry's progress, losing five aircrew casualties. "Army" aircraft made reconnaissance flights over the German lines and shot down four German fighters for one loss and one pilot wounded.

German Fourth Army counter-attacks
The 233rd Division, opposite I Anzac Corps did not need the support of the 220th (Eingreif) Division. To counter-attack the II Anzac Corps the 16th Division and 195th Division in the front line were supported by parts of the 20th Division and 45th Reserve Division. The 240th (Eingreif) Division was sent forward at midday to support the 6th Bavarian Division near Polecappelle, moving on approach routes under an "enormous" weight of fire and managed to regain some captured ground. At 7:00 p.m. the British attacked again, the battle eventually subsiding with minor gains of ground by each side. After numerous German counter-attacks during the night, the final positions of the attacking divisions except near Reutel, opposite Passchendaele and near Houthoulst Forest were the same as their starting positions. The German Official Historian considered that the battle was a costly defensive success.

Analysis
On the main ridge and Wallemolen spur inadequate artillery support, the German pill-boxes and extensive uncut barbed-wire of the Flandern I Stellung (position) combined with rain, mud, shell-hole machine-gun nests and counter-attacks forced the attackers back towards their start lines. The attacking brigades from the 66th and 49th (British) divisions of II Anzac Corps began the attack exhausted from the conditions of the approach march, some units not having arrived when the attack began. In I Anzac Corps the Australian divisions were understrength after the attack of 4 October and the strain of holding the front until the attack. From 30 September – 14 October, British Expeditionary Force (BEF) shell consumption (most being fired at Ypres) fell from 2.5 million–1.6 million by field artillery, 510,000–350,000 by medium artillery and 153,000–119,000 by the heavy artillery, (German accounts mention "heavy", "indescribably heavy" and "drumfire" bombardments). The attacking troops were subjected to more German artillery fire than in recent battles, due to the lack of counter-battery fire from the British artillery and inadequate air observation during the poor weather before the attack. At places the rain had helped mask the advance but when it stopped, German machine-gunners and field artillery nearby had good observation of the British and Australian infantry. Many wounded soldiers were left stranded on the battlefield, under sniper fire in the mud and rain.

The battle was costly for the Germans; Crown Prince Rupprecht wrote of the "oppressive superiority" of the British artillery, even though the Fourth Army had fired 27 trainloads of ammunition. Units had become mixed up, suffered "very high wastage" and "confusion reigns". Rupprecht and Von Kuhl feared that ground would have to be conceded, to delay the British by making them redeploy their artillery. In the north near Houthoulst Forest, the attack had forced back the German line up to 2500 yd and 2,100 German soldiers had been taken prisoner. The strain was reflected in a Fourth Army order of General Sixt von Armin on 11 October, acknowledging that although fresh ground holding divisions had defeated attacks, some British troops had advanced a considerable distance, with the result that ground was lost despite the intervention of Eingreif divisions. Armin noted that more German troops were trickling to the rear, even on quiet days and ordered that "the sternest measures" should be taken against them and made public. Despite the difficulties and the cost, the German defenders had obtained a considerable defensive success but with the attack on 12 October, Poelcappelle cause a "crisis in command". German losses had risen to 159,000, jeopardising the front and "mentally shocking" the survivors.

Casualties
The 7th Division had 3,877 casualties from 1–10 October. The Official Historian noted 6,957 casualties in the 66th, 49th and 2nd Australian divisions and 10,973 casualties in the Fifth Army for 9–14 October (Poelcappelle and the First Battle of Passchendaele, 12 October). In the Ravebeek valley in the 66th Division area, some of the wounded had drowned in shell-holes which filled with rain. On 12 October an Australian officer found, "The slope . . . . was littered with dead, both theirs and ours.... Here I found about fifty men alive, of the Manchesters.... Some had been there four days already. . . ."(Lieutenant Fisher). The next day another Australian officer reported that "Manchesters were there yet, seven days wounded and not looked to.... Our men gave all their food and water away, but that was all they could do.". (13 October) The New Zealand Division found wounded of the 49th Division, "famished and untended on the battlefield.... Those that could not be brought back were dressed in the muddy shellholes. On the morning of the 12th many of these unfortunate men were still lying upon the battlefield, and not a few had meantime died of exposure in the wet and cold weather. Even before the attack, dressing stations and regimental aid posts as well as the battlefield itself were crowded with the wounded of the 49th Division." The Official Historian quoted from the German Official History that the German losses were very recht (considerable) and that the ordeal "bore no relation to the advantage obtained.". Calculations of German losses by the Official Historian have been severely criticised ever since.

Subsequent operations
The 66th Division repulsed a counter-attack on 10 October. Numerous British divisional reliefs took place before 12 October and a dummy German raid was reported by the 36th Division (XIX Corps) that morning.

Victoria Cross

 * Corporal W. Champ, 6th Green Howards.
 * Private F. G. Hancock, 4th Worcesters.
 * Sergeant J. Lister, 1st Lancashire Fusiliers.
 * Sergeant J. Molyneux, 2nd Royal Fusiliers.
 * Lance-Sergeant J. H. Rhodes, 3rd Grenadier Guards.