Heavy losses
4 October is a particularly bloody day for the Germans. They plan a major counterattack and place all their troops in the front lines. This is how they want to preserve the Flandern I position. By chance, this action is planned shortly after the Australian attack so that the waiting German troops get the full brunt of it. The shelling that precedes the Allied attack takes them completely by surprise and losses are high. Besides wounded, there are numerous prisoners of war and dead bodies lying all over the battlefield. One of them is Otto Bieber. He is buried in Tyne Cot Cemetery along with three other unknown Germans.
Australian losses are also heavy. The 10th brigade loses 25 officers and 889 men. That is about a quarter of their total. The losses of the four ANZAC divisions add up to 8,075 men. Nevertheless, 4 October is considered a successful day. The offensive stalls again afterwards, resulting in tens of thousands of casualties.
Cemeteries
Deplorable battlefield conditions make the establishment of permanent war cemeteries impossible. Here and there, dead are buried at a rapid pace. Inaccurate tracking of locations and enemy shelling cause many graves to be lost. Those that are known are subsequently grouped together. It is only after the war that permanent, grouped cemeteries such as Tyne Cot are established. Thus, it happens that some bodies are reburied up to twice.
