The Canadians, who had taken Crest Farm and planted them-
selves on the outskirts of Passchendaele a week before, finished their task on Tuesday by taking the whole village and the adjacent hamlets of Mosselmarkt and Goudberg. The operation was so well planned and supported by such overwhelming fire that the Germans were demoralized and our losses were happily very light. Among the four hundred prisoners taken was the commander of the position. The enemy had been ordered to hold Passchendaele at all costs, and. to retake it, if lost, at any sacrifice, but up to Wednesday evening he had failed to make a single counter-attack. With Passchendaele firmly in British hands, the lower northern slopes of the ridge which descend to Houthulst Forest should soon be made untenable. The enemy now has to face the prospect of a winter in water-logged trenches in the plain, overlooked from our ridge line and shelled unceasingly, as our gallant men were in the Ypres Salient when the Germans held that fatal ridge. If he decides to retreat, he most abandon the coast of Flanders.
