The French advance was fortunately timed. The Germans in the first line were in the act of changing troops. A division newly arrived from the Russian front was about to take possession. Before they could realize the situation the French had dashed in among them, and, killing a great many, dispersed the others in every direction. After a brief pause, to allow the British on the right to advance, the French proceeded to their next objective, the village of Mangelaer, which was quickly won. The British had gained in the forward movement to the depth of half a mile on a front of about a mile, stretching from Draeibank to Wyndendreeft. Every point was won which they had fixed on as their objective, and more than a thousand prisoners were captured during the push. The French had gained about 1,200 yards in the two stages of their advance, taking over 300 prisoners and a large number of guns. On the day following the British were forced to relinquish a few of their advanced posts, but in the main the positions gained in the advance were securely held. Recent rains had transformed the battle field into a vast swamp, in which men sank to their knees, and even waists. Despite the unfavorable conditions of the terrain, Field Marshal Haig began another offensive early in the morning of October 12, 1917, along the entire front in Flanders. In less than three hours his assaulting troops had gained ground to an average depth of 800 yards, which brought them within 500 yards of the village of Passchendaele. Further operations were brought to a standstill by a heavy fall of rain, and the British command decided to make no further attempts to attain their objectives that day. The storm did not abate until the following morning, when the appearance of the sun cheered the much-bedraggled troops. But days of fair weather must pass before the boglands that constituted the battle area could dry up and admit of any important infantry operations. The Germans indeed ventured a few counterattacks in the hope of wresting from the British positions won in the last advance, but these were smashed by artillery fire. [Illustration: French soldiers are bringing German prisoners from Malmaison Fort, the dominating position on the Craonne Plateau, which was taken by the French October 26, 1917. The Germans overran the position again in their drive of May, 1918.] The British carried out night raids on enemy trenches in the Flanders front on October 15, 1917, and near Roeux, east of Arras. On the Aisne front the French were successful in repulsing German assaults and carried out daring attacks on enemy trenches in the Champagne and Argonne.