In Flanders on Monday the Belgian, French, and British Armies
attacked again on a crescent front of twenty-eight miles from near Dixntude to the Lys above Meain, while our monitors bombarded the German coast batteries. There was no surprise, and the French alone used tanks, but the Allies everywhere over. came the resistance of the enemy in his countless " pillboxes " and fortified cottages and farms. The French took Roulers, the Belgians captured Iseghem, and General Plumer's Second Army penetrated close to Menin. The Allies continued their victorious advance. The Belgians reached Wynendaele, the scene of General Webb's famous victory in Marlborough's day, and Thourout; the French on Wednesday took Lichtervelde and were nearing Thielt; while General Plumer was holding the north bank of the Lys from Comines to Courtrai, and had crossed the river. This manoeuvre, which Lord French tried to carry out in the autumn of 1914 against overwhelming forces, threatened Lille from the north. Moreover, the advance to Thourout aims at the Bruges- Ghent railways supplying the enemy forces on the Belgian coast, the evacuation of which thus becomes necessary. The Belgian advance on Wednesday across the Yser floods forced the enemy to leave Ostend. British airmen alighted in the town on Thursday morning, and the Dover Patrol entered the port in the afternoon.
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