[47] _This account does not tell the story of 29th October very intelligibly. The British front had been readjusted, and was now held by the 2nd Division on the left, from the junction with the French to west of Reutel, thence to the 9th kilometre on the Ypres-Menin road by the 1st Division, thence to Zandvoorde by the 7th Division with the 3rd Cavalry Division on their right. Under cover of a mist the Germans (apparently the 6th Bavarian Reserve Division) attacked in force against the junction of the 1st and 7th Divisions, broke through at the 9th kilo cross-roads, and rolled up the battalions to right and left after very severe fighting, in which the 1st Grenadier Guards and 2nd Gordon Highlanders of the 7th Division distinguished themselves greatly by repeated counter-attacks. The resistance of the troops in the front line delayed the Germans long enough to allow the reserves of the 1st Division to be put in, and their counter-attacks recovered all but the most advanced trenches. The Germans did not ever penetrate as far as Gheluvelt, and their final gain of ground was inconsiderable._ [48] _It is interesting to notice that this account treats the fighting on the La Bassée-Armentières front as quite distinct from the main battle for Ypres. During the period 20th-29th October the II and III Corps had a hard defensive battle to fight, the only assistance they received being on the arrival on 23rd October of the Jullundur Brigade and the divisional troops of the Lahore Division, which replaced General Conneau's French Cavalry at the junction between the two Corps. As the net result of this fighting the II and III Corps were forced back to a line running north by east from Givenchy, west of Neuve Chapelle, past Bois Grenier, south-east of Armentières to the Lys at Houplines, part of the 4th Division continuing the line on the left bank of the Lys to the junction with the Cavalry Corps just south of Messines. The German attacks on this front were strongly pressed, and the strain on the II and III Corps was very severe._ [49] _In view of the reiterated statements about the superior numbers of the Allies, it is worth pointing out that this new Army Group by itself amounted to about two-thirds of the original strength of the British forces engaged between La Bassée and Zonnebeke. For its Order of Battle see at end of book._ [50] _If the flooding of the country by the Belgians had barred the further advance of the Germans along the coast, it had equally covered the German extreme right against any chance of a counter-attack, and enabled them to divert the III Reserve Corps to the south; the Belgians, however, were in no position to deflect any forces to the assistance of their Allies._ [51] _No mass attacks were made by the British on 30th and 31st October. It will be noticed that the French IX Corps is spoken of here as though it had been an additional reinforcement; it had been in action on the Zonnebeke area since 24th October._