The XV Corps, which in the meantime had extended its left wing to the COMINES-YPRES canal, won ground daily, especially on the 6th November, when the 39th Division delivered a heavy attack near KLEIN ZILLEBEKE and drove the recently arrived French troops from their position, capturing four hundred prisoners in the farm buildings. The troops, advancing with their bands playing, also stormed parts of ZWARTELEEN, a village widely scattered among the woods and meadows. The artillery fired at point-blank range, as the November mist made observation impossible at any distance. French counter-attacks and an attack by British cavalry, which attempted to make good the retirement of the French, were repulsed. Their casualties were heavy, the 1st and 2nd British Life Guards being decimated. The enemy's counter-attacks on the 7th and 8th November, in which the much weakened 7th British Division, as well as the Zouaves, took part, had also no success. On the 8th November the 148th Infantry Regiment captured the fortified position along the western edge of VELDHOEK; with a strong counter-attack the French made a bid to recover the lost ground. Lieutenant-Colonel Linker, the gallant regimental commander, hastily gathered together all the supports within reach, including _Landwehr_ men of the 54th Reserve Division, and led them forward to meet the advancing enemy; he himself was mortally wounded at the head of his victorious followers. The French hurriedly retired, suffering considerable loss.[93] The II Bavarian Corps was kept busily employed by the hostile counter-attacks near the canal; the enemy offered very stubborn resistance in order to keep possession of the high ground from which YPRES can be seen. The Bavarians, however, not only maintained their positions, but, by an irresistible attack on the 9th and 10th November, took the high ground on which ST. ELOI is situated.[94] To the 5th Bavarian Infantry Brigade is due all the credit for this fine feat. The enemy remained for a long time in the houses of ST. ELOI, but the high ground was of primary, perhaps even decisive, importance; for it gave us a bird's-eye view of the country east of YPRES, where the mass of the British field artillery was in position. The fighting further south which the troops of the Group Gerok had in and north of WYTSCHAETE was equally heavy. The northern edge formed the dividing line between the Groups Gerok and Urach. The enemy kept the village under heavy fire in order to hinder the work of our observers, the mere sight of a man anywhere being sufficient to draw his artillery fire. Our stereo-telescopes were therefore used through loopholes in the ruins or at the chimney openings, and the observers were often far safer on such lofty perches than our reserves in the cellars of the battered village. Only slow progress could be made in the woods lying to the north-west.