In this action some of the heaviest fighting was done by the French marines.  Some slight advantages were also gained by the Allies in the neighborhood of St. Eloi and Klein Zillebeke.

Following these minor successes, attack was made upon the German lines on the west side of Wytschaete, a village which the Germans had succeeded in holding during the great battle of Ypres.  To the west of this village is a wood called the Petit Bois, and to the southwest is the Maedelsteed spur, an eminence on hilly ground.  From both of these places the Germans covered the village, prepared to hold it against all comers.

Major Duncan, commanding the Scots, and Major Baird leading the Royal Highlanders, attacked the Petit Bois, and in the flare of terrible machine gun and rifle fire, carried a trench west of the woods, while the Gordon Highlanders advanced upon the spur, taking the first trench.  They were, however, obliged to fall back to the position from which they had started, with no advantage gained.  This engagement at Wytschaete gave a good illustration of the difficulty of fighting in heavy, winter ground, devoid of cover, and so water-logged that any speed in advance was next to impossible.  Just prior to the battle the ground had thawed, and the soldiers sank deep into the mud at every step they took.

On December 15, 1914, the Germans attacked a little to the south of Ypres, but no definite result was obtained.  On the following day the Allies replied by an onslaught at Dixmude with a similar result.  The Germans attempted to turn and strike at Westende the next day.

Roulers was temporarily occupied by the Allies on December 18, 1914, and in another location, about twenty-five miles farther southwest, in the neighborhood of Givenchy, the Allies’ Indian troops were put to the test.  The attack was launched on the morning of the 19th.

The Lahore and the Meerut divisions both took part.  The Meerut division succeeded in capturing a trench; but a little later on a counterattack, launched by the Germans, forced the Indians back.  The Lahore division, including the First Highland Light Infantry and the Fourth Gurkhas, took two lines of the enemy’s trenches with hardly any casualties.  These captured trenches were at once occupied, and when they were full to capacity, the Germans exploded the previously prepared mines, and blew up the entire Hindu force.

At daylight on the morning of December 20, 1914, the Germans commenced a heavy artillery fire along the entire front.  This was followed by an infantry charge along the entire line between Givenchy and La Quinque Rue to the north.  The defense of Givenchy was in the hands of the India Sirhind Brigade, under General Brunker.  At ten o’clock the Sirhinds became confused and fled, enabling the Germans to capture Givenchy.  The Fifty-seventh Rifles and the Ninth Bhopals were stationed north of La Bassee Canal and east of Givenchy, and the Connaught Rangers were waiting at the south of the canal.  The Forty-seventh Sikhs were sent to support the Sirhind Brigade, with the First Manchesters, the Fourth Suffolks, and two battalions of French Provincials, the entire force being under command of General Carnegy.  All these mixed forces now essayed a combined counterattack in order to recover the ground lost by the Sirhind Brigade, but this failed.