DIXMUDE.

Dixmudewas a small ancient town of some 4,000 inhabitants, situated in the midst of fields on the right bank of the Yser.

It was entirely destroyed. Of the town's monuments and buildings, traces of the parish-church of St. Nicholas only remain(on the left side of the square). The chevet dated from the 14th century, the rest of the building being early 16th century. The church contained a magnificent rood-loft of finely carved white stone (1540). Above the high altar was a fineAdoration of the Wise Men, by Jordaens (1644). The rich ancient furnishings comprised: a marble font with a bronze cover (1626), choir-stalls, pulpits, a "Calvary" altar, a carved oak organ-loft, wrought copper chandeliers, candlesticks, etc.

From the heap of stones and débris—the remains of the church tower—there is a good view of the ruined town. In the same square stood the Hôtel-de-Ville, Gothic in style, built about 1870. It was entirely razed(Photo below).

Dixmude, seen from the ruined Church (1919).

Dixmude. The Hôtel-de-Ville, before the war.

The left-hand road leads to the bridge over the Handzaeme Canal, one of the most picturesque parts of Dixmude. Close by, to the left of the road, stood theBéguinage, comprising some twenty houses grouped around a small chapel, and a fine garden. The place is now overrun with weeds.

Dixmude was the scene of most desperate fighting from October 15 to November 10, 1914. The French Naval Brigade—6,000 men commanded by Admiral Ronarc'h—with a brigade of the Belgian 3rd Division under General Meiser, and a few battalions of Senegalese troops, held out heroically for a month against enemy forces six times more numerous and supported by masses of heavy artillery.

On October 16, along the roads encumbered with refugees from the region of Thourout, the Marines, in their retreat from Melle to Ghent, reached Dixmude in the pouring rain, accompanied by the Belgian batteries under Major Pontus. Under enemy pressure the advanced positions of the town were abandoned.

At that time, the river formed the only line of defence against the enemy thrust, there being no trenches, shelters, or wire entanglements.

In spite of great fatigue, due to the forced marches, the Marines and Infantry, with the help of somecompanies of Belgian Engineers, organised defences in the vast plain. Trenches were made round the town, 1 km. beyond its outskirts, whilst the bridges, footways and dikes of the Yser Canal were fortified at the same time.

The Chevet of the church before the war.(Photo E. Thill.)

The defences of the bridgehead of Dixmude were divided into two sectors, separated by the Caeskerke Road.

Having no aeroplanes or heavy artillery, the 6,000 French Marines, with 5,000 Belgians of the Meiser Brigade—11th Regiment (Col. Leermans) and 12th regiment (Col. Jacques)—were attacked by three German Army Corps.

After an unsuccessful feint attack on October 16-17, the Germans, having meanwhile received reinforcements and siege artillery from Antwerp, renewed their assault with increasing violence.

On the 20th, at 11 a.m., the first big shell fell in the town. In conformity with the Burgomaster's orders, the civilians left the town, except the Carmelite Nuns and a few other persons, who were forced to leave a few days later.

A street in Dixmude, in 1918.

The Yser at Dixmude, before the war.(Photo Nels.)

The first shells fell on the church, which was burnt. Fires broke out everywhere and soon destroyed the town. The troops stoically awaited the attack, which came simultaneously from the north, east and south.

The assaulting columns were in massed formation, sixteen lines deep. They were literally mown down, and after a desperate struggle their scattered remnants were thrown back on their starting positions.

The attack continued on the following days, without appreciable enemy gain. Whenever, by force of numbers, they penetrated the defences, reserve sections of Marines drove them back at the bayonet's point.

Admiral Ronarc'h.

Dixmude was none the less in imminent danger. German troops crossed the Yser at Tervaete, and slipped along the left bank of the river with the intention of turning the position. In the thick of the battle and in spite of the incessant frontal attacks, Admiral Ronarc'h dispatched two battalions to the threatened point. Although the men were "half-dead with the cold and lack of sleep", a front was improvised between the Yser Canal and the embankment of the Nieuport-Dixmude railway. The manœuvre was a difficult one, but by prodigies of heroism the new line stood firm and became fixed.

On the 24th, a bombardment of unprecedented intensity was opened on the town and its defences, including the station of Caeskerke, where the Admiral's headquarters were situated, but the defenders held their ground unflinchingly under the terrible deluge of flying splinters. Towards evening, the enemy made a tremendous effort against the bridgehead of Dixmude. Eleven assaults in the north and north-eastsector, and fifteen assaults in the south-east sector were successively repulsed. The German dead accumulated in heaps, right up to the Allies' trenches. The struggle continued hand-to-hand until midnight, in pitch darkness, the men floundering blindly in the mud.

The Yser at Dixmude, after the war.(See opposite.)

Exhausted by their tremendous efforts the enemy gave way. Dixmude was still inviolate, but on the morrow, as soon as the morning mists had risen, the bombardment began again along the whole line. Little by little the town fell into ruins.

On the night of the 25th, a company of German infantry managed to slip into the town. About a hundred of them crossed the bridge-road and in close formation made a dash for Caeskerke, with fife and drum at their head. That the men were drugged, explains their foolhardy exploit. A few prisoners, including several Belgian doctors, Commandant Jeanniot and some marines were captured. Held up soon afterwards, the Germans attempted to get back to their lines, shooting most of their prisoners at dawn. The doctors and a quarter-master alone were spared, being eventually delivered by a section of French Marines.

The troops under Colonel Jacques, exhausted by the struggle, were relieved by two battalions of Senegalese and a battalion of the Belgian 1st Line Regiment.

Keeping up their daily bombardment, the enemy now directed their main effort between Nieuport and Dixmude. However, they were held by the inundations which soon spread southwards. Moreover, the ceaseless rain had transformed the ground into a veritable sea of mud, which gradually invaded the trenches. Shivering with cold and fever, and up to their knees in slime, the Marines still stood firm.

On November 10 the Germans, infuriated by their repeated checks, attacked again with overwhelming forces. Part of the defences in the southern sector, between the railway and the Eessen road, held by Belgian infantry, gave way beneath the shock, bringing about the fall ofthe sectors on either side, held by the Senegalese troops. The line was pierced in the centre. The enemy swarmed through the breach, crossing the Handzaeme Canal to the north, while to the south, in the direction of the cemetery, they attacked the companies of Marines who continued to resist desperately. The Germans entered the town, the fight continuing from street to street and house to house, with countless surprises and ambuscades. Unarmed prisoners were made to march in front of the assailants, who proceeded to attack the positions on the Yser. Amongst them was Naval-Lieutenant Sérieyx, who, wounded in the arm, had just fought with his men to the last cartridge.

The Minoterie.(Flour Mill.)

On being ordered by the German Commandant to indicate the fordable places in the river, one of which was only some fifty yards away, the French officer, to gain time, made a complicated sketch of the position, placing himself and his men the while in front of the Germans. Becoming impatient, the German ordered the Frenchmen to call on the defenders of the canal to surrender.

"But how can you expect them to surrender", was the calm rejoinder, "seeing that there are ten thousand of them". In reality, they numbered about two hundred.

At this point, heavy rifle fire to the north drew the attention of the enemy elsewhere, seeing which, the wounded officer, exhorting his men to follow him, jumped into the river and swam over to the other side.

When night fell, the bridges and flour-mill—a powerful blockhouse in reinforced concrete—were blown up, the whole of the Franco-Belgian troops having meanwhile been withdrawn behind the embankment of the Yser Canal, which they held under gunfire. The Germans sought to organise the ruins of the unfortunate town, whose destruction was now being completed by the Allies' artillery.

The inundations reached Dixmude, forming an impassable barrier for the enemy.

On November 26, 1914, the French Naval Brigade, which later further distinguished itself on other fieldsof battle, and whose flag was eventually decorated with theLégion d'honneur(fourragère), was mentioned in the Army Orders, in the following terms:

Gave proofs of the greatest energy and devotion in the defence of a most important strategic position.

Admiral Ronarc'h saluting the Flag of the French Marines.

Until October 1918, the enemy's front lines followed the banks of the canal and the Death Trench, dominated by the ruins of the flour-mill situated upstream from the destroyed bridge-road. For four years, violent raids and bombardments kept this sector, successively held by French Marines, Territorials, Zouaves, and Belgian Infantry, in a perpetual state of activity.

Finally, in September 1918, during the great Liberty Offensive, the Belgian 4th Division attacked the banks of the Yser Canal, turned Dixmude from the east, and in a single rush reached the banks of the Handzaeme Canal. On September 29, Dixmude, reduced to a chaotic waste covered with shapeless masses of débris and tangled barbed wire, and cut up entirely with trenches, was retaken by the Belgians.

Watching a Review of the French Marines.

Eessen Church.

On January 25, 1920, in the presence of King Albert, President Poincaré conferred the FrenchCroix de Guerreon Dixmude, with the following mention.

"Won undying fame in the first days of the War by heroic, never-to-be-forgotten combats. Proved herself worthy of this glory by the fortitude with which she daily supported bombardments and fires, confident that her sacrifices were helping to save the Country and the Common Cause."

From the canal, return to the Grand'Place and take the Roulers Road, turning into the first by-road on the left; 3 kms. beyond the level-crossing, leave the Clercken Road leading to Houthulst Wood, on the right, and keep straight on toEessen(3½ kms.)The belfry of the ruined church was long used by the Germans as an observation-post(Photo above).

In front of the church, turn left and cross the railway. The road leads toVladsloo(large German cemeteries).Behind the church, turn left. On reaching the high road, turn left and enter the village ofBeerst(5 kms.)

Beerst and, further north, Keyem served as advance posts in October 1914 to the Belgian 4th Division which was then defending Tervaete. Violently attacked on October 18, they were lost and retaken, being finally abandoned on the morrow. In a desperate effort to save Beerst, the French Marines captured it twice at the point of the bayonet, covering themselves with glory, but all to no purpose. Beerst was completely ruined. Many cellars, transformed by the Germans into fortified shelters, may still be seen.

On reaching the road to Dixmude, turn left, pass through Dixmude (3½ kms.) and leave the town by the road previously followed. Take the first road on the left toLoo(1½ kms.)

This small, ancient town is situated on the banks of the Yser canal. Its large 15th-16th century Gothic church, formerly an abbey, contains paintings and several fine tombs.

Keeping straight ahead beyond the Grand'Place, in which standsthe Renaissance Hôtel-de-Ville,the tourist will notice, immediately on the left, anOld Gate (Westpoort), a vestige of the ancient fortifications. A sycamore tree, probably some four or five centuries old, near by, is said by the inhabitants to have been used by Julius Cæsar as a picket for tethering his horse.

Loo.1. Westpoort Gate, and the "Julius Cæsar" Sycamore Tree;2. The Grand'Place. The Hôtel-de-Ville (on the right), and the ruins of the Church.

Loo.

1. Westpoort Gate, and the "Julius Cæsar" Sycamore Tree;

2. The Grand'Place. The Hôtel-de-Ville (on the right), and the ruins of the Church.

Return to the Grand'Place, turn to the right, and cross the Yser.Reninghe(5 kms.) (razed) is next reached. To the right of the Square, take the street along which runs the local railway, leaving the church on the left. Before turning, the tourist will notice just beyond the churcha small château dating from 1648(Photo below).Follow the railway as far asOostvleteren(4 kms. 300), where cross the Furnes road to reachWestvleteren, 1 km. 300 further on. Turn to the left, beyond the church of the latter village, keeping straight on toPoperinghe(10 kms.), viaEikhock.

Reninghe.1. The 17th century Château;2. Ruins of the Church.

Reninghe.

1. The 17th century Château;

2. Ruins of the Church.

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