The Gheluvelt Plateau was a sea of mud, flooded shell craters, fallen trees and barbed wire. Troops were quickly tired by rain, mud, massed artillery bombardments and lack of food and water; rapid relief of units spread the exhaustion through all the infantry, despite fresh divisions taking over. The Fifth Army bombarded the German defences from Polygon Wood to Langemarck but the German guns concentrated their fire on the Plateau. Low cloud and rain grounded British artillery-observation aircraft and many shells were wasted. The 25th Division, 18th (Eastern) Division and the German 54th Division had taken over by 4 August but the German 52nd Reserve Division was left in line; by zero hour on 10 August, both sides were exhausted. Some troops of the 18th (Eastern) Division quickly reached their objectives but German artillery isolated those around Inverness Copse and Glencorse Wood. German counter-attacks recaptured the Copse and all but the north-west corner of Glencorse Wood by nightfall. The 25th Division on the left reached its objectives by and rushed the Germans in Westhoek. Both sides suffered many casualties during artillery bombardments and German counter-attacks.
