Sir Douglas Haig maintains his relentless pressure on the Flanders
front. In concert with the French, he attacked on a wide front on Friday week, from the Menin road northward to the swamps west of Houthulst Forest. The Canadians forced their way along the main ridge to the southern outskirts of Passchendaele. English troops pressed through the flooded ground at the foot of the ridgo oast of Poelcappelle. The French on the left crossed the St. Jansbeek, with the water up to their shoulders, and took the village of Draeibank. Continuing their advance last Saturday and Sunday, with the help of the Belgians on their loft, the French cleared the Ypres-Dizmude road to a point beyond Morckem, and thus began to encircle Heuthulst Forest on the west just as we are flanking it on the east. On Tuesday our men renewed the attack on a narrow front. This time the Canadians carried the high position known as Crest Farm and advanced to the western edge of Passchendaele, while to the north the Londoners and the Naval Division heroically struggled a little further through the slime. We now hold two-thirds of the ridge which is the main bulwark of Flanders. It is only the deep and tenacious Flanders mud, not the enemy, which delays our irresistible advance towards the plain of Brugee.
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