To completely clear Ypres, a few strongly fortified villages beyond the line of crests captured on October 4 had still to be taken. These formed the objective of the attacks of October 9 and 12. On October 9, in spite of the appalling weather, the British attacked again on a front stretching from St. Janshoek (a mile north of Bixschoote) to the south-east of Broodseinde. The French were holding a front rather less than two miles in length to the north of Bixschoote, and had for objective the southern edge of Houthulst Forest. The signal to attack was given at 5.30 a.m. Despite the rain, which had been falling incessantly for several days, the infantry crossed first the canal in flood, then a veritable sea of mud, and captured Mangelaere and Veldhoek. They advanced rather more than a mile and reached the south-western edge of Houthulst Forest, after having captured numerous strongly fortified farms and blockhouses. The British sector extended from the north-west of Poelcappelle to Broodseinde, and formed a front of some seven miles. On the right, the Manchester Regiment and the Lancashire Fusiliers advanced from 1,600 to 2,000 yards in the direction of Passchendaele, and carried the line beyond the crests occupied on October 4. In the centre, many farms, redoubts and blockhouses were captured. [Illustration: FIFTH STAGE: THE BRITISH ATTACK HOUTHULST FOREST AND APPROACH PASSCHENDAELE] To the north, the capture of Poelcappelle was completed, the British joining hands with the French on the outskirts of Houthulst Forest. More than 2,000 prisoners were taken. [Illustration: SIXTH STAGE: BY NOV. 6, YPRES WAS COMPLETELY CLEARED] =Sixth Phase= (_October 22--November 6, 1917._) After a short rest, during which the new positions were consolidated--in view of enemy counter-attacks--the battle broke out afresh on October 22. The attack of the 22nd was, in reality, only of secondary importance, but thanks to the progress made, it was possible to carry out the operations of the 26th on a larger scale than originally intended. In order definitely to consolidate the captured positions, it was still necessary to take the village of Passchendaele, which stands on the high ground dominating the plain of Flanders to the east of Ypres and from which Roulers is visible. A fresh offensive was accordingly begun at dawn on October 26. In the French sector, the troops, after wading through the St. Janshoek and the Corverbeek streams with the water up to their shoulders, stormed the village of Draeibank, Papegoed Wood, and many fortified farms. The next day fresh progress, to a depth of more than a mile, was made on both sides of the Ypres-Dixmude Road, along a front of two and a half miles. The villages of Hoekske, Aschhoop, Merckem, and Kippe were captured, and the western edges of Houthulst Forest reached.