Sir Douglas Haig, with the First Army Corps, was sent Oct. 19 to capture Bruges and drive the enemy back toward Ghent, if possible. Meantime the Belgians intrenched themselves along the Ypres Canal. Sir John French commends the valor of the Belgians, who, he says, exhausted by weeks of constant fighting, maintained these positions gallantly. Because of the overwhelming numbers of the Germans opposing them, he says he enjoined a defensive role upon the three army corps located south of Ypres. While Gen. Haig made a slight advance, Sir John says it was wonderful that he was able to advance at all, owing to the bad roads and the overwhelming number of Germans, which made it impossible to carry out the original plan of moving to Bruges. The fighting gradually developed into bayonet charges. Field Marshal French says that Oct. 21 brought forth the hardest attack, made on the First Corps at Ypres, in the checking of which the Worcestershire Regiment displayed great gallantry. This day marked the most critical period in the great battle, according to the Commander in Chief, who says the recapture of the village of Gheluvelt through a rally of the Worcestershires was fraught with much consequence to the Allies. After referring to some of the battles in which the Indian troops took part, Field Marshal French says: "Since their arrival in this country and their occupation of the line allotted to them I have been much impressed by the initiative and resource displayed by the Indian troops. Some of the ruses they have employed to deceive the enemy have been attended with the best results and have doubtless kept the superior forces in front of them at bay. Our Indian sappers and miners have long enjoyed a high reputation for skill and resource. Without going into detail I can confidently assert that throughout their work in this campaign they have fully justified that reputation. "The General officer commanding the Indian army describes the conduct and bearing of these troops in strange and new surroundings to have been highly satisfactory, and I am enabled from my own observations to fully corroborate this statement." Sir John French goes on to say that, while the whole line continued to be heavily pressed, the Germans' efforts from Nov. 1 have been concentrated upon breaking through the line held by the First British and the Ninth French Corps and thus gaining possession of the town of Ypres. Three Bavarian and one German corps, in addition to other troops, were all directed against this northern line.