Between the German positions were the Belgian villages of Zonnebeke and Passchendaele. On 31 July, the German defence in depth had begun with a front system of three breastworks: each about apart, garrisoned by the four companies of each front battalion, with listening-posts in no-man's-land. About behind these works was the (artillery protective line), the rear boundary of the forward battle zone (). Companies of the support battalions, ( security detachments () to hold the strong-points and storm troops [] to counter-attack towards them), were placed at the back of the , half in the pill-boxes of the , to provide a framework for the re-establishment of defence-in-depth, once the enemy attack had been repulsed. Dispersed in front of the line were divisional sharpshooter () machine-gun nests called the strongpoint line (). Much of the north of the Ypres–Roulers railway, had fallen on 31 July.