The fighting in the advance-positions.

THE BATTLE OF THE YSER.

The Franco-Belgian troops had hardly taken up their defensive positions when, on October 15, the guns began to roar in the direction of Dixmude.

On October 16 and 17, strong German reconnoitering parties, supported by field artillery, came into contact with the Allies' positions.

On the 18th, the enemy hurriedly attempted to crush the defenders, before reinforcements arrived. After a violent bombardment, a powerful attack was launched against the Mannekensvere-Schoore-Keyem-Beerst line, held by units of the Belgian 2nd, 1st and 4th Divisions.

Assault after assault was beaten off, but finally, after very heavy losses, fresh enemy masses carried Mannekensvere and Keyem, where they were held by the volley fire of the Belgian 75's. The defenders of Mannekensvere withdrew behind the Yser, while those of Keyem (units of the 1st Division) held their ground on the right bank of the river. The same night a spirited counter-attack gave them back their lost positions.

On the 19th, the attacks doubled in fury, the enemy's main effort being made against the two wings.

Nieuport and the advanced lines of Lombartzyde were violently bombarded. The Belgian 2nd Division stood firm, and beat off three German assaults.

On the right wing, the Germans, driven out of Keyem on the previous day, attacked this village again and also Beerst, further south. Under a terrific artillery fire, the defenders gave way.

However, the Belgian 5th Division and the French Marines debouching from Dixmude, captured Vladsloo and Beerst, in spite of considerable losses. With their left threatened, the enemy's efforts before Keyem weakened.

This brilliant counter-offensive was held by a new menace. Strong enemy columns were signalled to the south-east, debouching from Roulers and marching on Dixmude.

The 5th Division and the Marines fell back upon their original positions before Dixmude, their retreat bringing about the fall of Beerst and Keyem, whose defenders withdrew beyond the Yser.

On the 20th the Germans threw themselves against the advanced positions of Lombartzyde. The defenders were supported by the artillery of the British monitors, whose guns swept the coastline. To the south-east of Lombartzyde, Groote-Bamburg Farm was first lost, then reoccupied after a spirited counter-attack.

The Germans redoubled their costly efforts, and succeeded in getting a footing in Lombartzyde in the evening, but were unable to debouch.

Only after five days of sanguinary fighting, were the enemy able to reach the Allies' main line of defences, formed by the Yser and the two bridgeheads of Nieuport and Dixmude.

The situation was none the less critical, and the battle waxed more and more furious. The Yser front was continuously deluged with shells. The Belgian batteries of 75's were unable to engage the German heavy guns. None of the villages could be held; Nieuport and Dixmude were in flames.

Supported by the Brigade of French Marines, the remains of the six Belgian Divisions still defended, single-handed, the twelve-mile front between St. Jacques-Cappelle and the sea. They were reinforced by the 6th Division near Lampernisse and Pervyse, thus strengthening the centre.

Against these depleted, exhausted and ill-revictualled troops, crushed beneath a continuous bombardment, the Germans brought up heavy reinforcements from Roulers.

Nieuport and Dixmude formed the bastions of the Allied defences, and their capture meant the falling of the Yser and the railway lines into the enemy's hands.

The brunt of the German attack was directed against Dixmude.

The French Marine Brigade and the mixed brigade of the Belgian 3rd I. D. under the command of Admiral Ronarc'h, were deployed in a semi-circle, about 500 yards from the outskirts of Dixmude, resting on the Yser. A second line was established along the canalised river.

On October 20, after an artillery preparation which lasted all the morning, the enemy made an unsuccessful attack on Dixmude. A fresh attack the same night was likewise repulsed. Meanwhile the town continued to burn.

On the 21st, at dawn, the bombardment redoubled in violence. The Germans attacked again, only to be mown down and repulsed.

In the afternoon, new enemy reinforcements delivered converging attacks of great violence, combining them with a furious thrust against the Schoorbakke Pass, situated half-way between Dixmude and Nieuport. At both points the German rush was broken.

In exasperation, the enemy threw fresh battalions into the battle. This time the blow was aimed directly at the town itself and the canal to the south, but the defence remained unshaken. Simultaneously, the Germans were threatening the entire front, and in particular, the bridgehead of Nieuport. This town suffered the same fate as Dixmude.

Still the Yser remained impassable. Both Dixmude and Nieuport held out, and the end of the day registered a fresh enemy check.

After their failure before Nieuport and Dixmude, the enemy made a surprise attack against the centre, on the night of the 21st.

Between Nieuport and Dixmude, the easterly loop in the Yser at Tervaete facilitated flank, enfilade and rear firing, and was consequently a weak point in the defences.

Under cover of darkness, the enemy threw a bridge over the river, near Tervaete, and effected a crossing. The situation was critical, as if the front were pierced, the two centres of resistance, Nieuport and Dixmude, which until then had proved impregnable, would be taken in the rear.

In a supreme effort, units of the Belgian 1st Division counter-attacked furiously, and in spite of terrible losses, held the enemy. Reinforcements of Grenadiers and Carabiniers succeeded, in a further attack, in driving back the Germans across the river, and in reoccupying their positions. However, on the night of the 22nd, the enemy recaptured Tervaete, but the Belgians remained masters of the line between the two ends of the loop.

On the 23rd, the situation was still very critical. To fill the gaps in the fighting line and to "hold out to the last, in spite of all", in accordance with the orders of the Belgian General Headquarters, the last reserves were thrown into the battle.

Fortunately, the first French reinforcements,—the famous "Grossetti" (42nd) Division which General Foch, at Fère-Champenoise, in the centre of the battle-line at the Marne, had thrown against the flank of the German columns, thereby turning the scales at the psychological moment(See the Michelin Guide: The Marshes of St. Gond—part 2 of The First Battle of the Marne),—arrived at this juncture.

The first units to arrive relieved the exhausted Belgians before Nieuport. Meanwhile, the bombardment of the town and bridgehead had reached an incredible degree of violence.

In the centre, the situation was still more serious, the exhausted remnants of the Belgian 1st and 4th Divisions having reached the limit of endurance.

The enemy threw ten battalions with machine-guns and artillery into the loop at Tervaete. The bridgehead of Schoorbakke, attacked from the rear was captured.

On the 24th, the 83rd Brigade of Grossetti's Division was moved to the centre, to oppose the German thrust, at the time when the enemy had just carried the Union Bridge.

Encouraged by the advantage which they had just secured, the Germans renewed their efforts against Dixmude, where their left wing was being held in check.

They had already gained a footing on the left bank of the Yser, north of the town, and were threatening to outflank it from the west.

General Grossetti, commanding the 42nd Division.

A supreme effort was made against the bridgehead, no less than fifteen assaults being delivered on the 24th.

The fierceness and horror of the struggle were indescribable, the men grappling with one another in pitch darkness.

However, the Germanfurorspent itself against the heroism of the Belgian Infantry and French Marines who, for more than a week, remained in the breach day and night.

Dixmude remained inviolate.

Pontoon Bridge across the Yser.

October 25 brought a pause in the German thrust, the enemy being visibly exhausted.

But the Belgian Army also was exhausted; many of their 75's were out of action through intensive firing; scarcely a hundred shells per gun remained. Would they be able to hold out against another desperate assault?

The General Staff were considering a retreat on Dunkirk—which would have spelt disaster—when, informed of this by telephone, Foch hurried to the G. H. Q. where he arrived during a sitting of the War Council. In despair, the last dispositions for the retreat were being discussed, when in his simple unaffected way, Foch indicated a line of resistance and suggested inundating the country. "Inundation formerly saved Holland, and may well save Belgium. The men will hold out as best they can until the country is under water".(CommandantGrasset's, "Foch").

To Staff-Captain Nuyten, assisted by Charles Louis Kogge, a "wateringue" guard of long experience and thoroughly acquainted with the working of the system of canals and locks, was entrusted the task of carrying out the plan.

The plain between Dixmude and Nieuport, being level with the sea, is protected at Nieuport against high water by a system of locks (sketch opposite). The canals and the Yser are dammed by embankments. The railway itself runs along a wide straight dike three to six feet in height.

Under bombardment, Belgian Engineers transformed this railway embankment into a water-tight dike, by stopping up all the openings through which the roads passed and then made wide breaches in the embankments of the drainage-canals, so as to allow the water to spread. The whole plain, between Nieuport and Dixmude was thus transformed into a vast basin closed on the Belgian side by the railway embankment, the latter being at the same time organized as a line of resistance.

Certain locks were secretly opened at high-tide, through which the sea gradually and imperceptibly invaded the basin.

While the sea was thus preparing to play its all important rôle, a fresh enemy attack forced the Franco-Belgian troops, on the 26th, to withdraw behind the railway. Orders were given to hold the latter at all cost.

Nieuport and Dixmude were still holding out. At Dixmude, two battalions of Senegalese relieved the most exhausted units of the defenders.

Behind the railway, units of the 42nd Division and a few battalions of Territorials supported the desperate efforts of the Belgians.

On the 26th and 27th, while the bombardment continued, the water began, little by little, to invade the trenches of the enemy, who, however, did not yet realise the position.

On the 28th, the water began to rise and, on the 29th, spread southwards.

An extremely violent bombardment on the 29th preceded the Germanattacks of the 30th, against the railway. Thanks to theirminenwerfer, the Germans gained a footing on the railway, and advanced as far as the villages of Ramscappelle and Pervyse. It was a critical moment, the main line of resistance being pierced.

Fortified Embankment at Ramscappelle.

The defenders pulled themselves together for a last effort, and after a violent concentration of artillery fire, counter-attacked.

On the 31st, at nightfall, the 42nd Division and Belgian units—remnants of battalions belonging to the 6th, 7th and 14th line regiments—charged furiously with the bayonet, to the sound of the bugles. The enemy was thrown into disorder, Ramscappelle recaptured, and the line re-established.

Imperceptibly but relentlessly the floods invaded the enemy's entrenchments, turning their retreat into a rout; their dead, wounded, heavy guns, arms and munitions were swallowed up in the huge swamp. The Battle of the Yser was over.

The Belgian Army, whose original mission was to hold out for forty-eight hours, had, with the help of 6,000 French Marines, fought first single-handed, and then with the support of a single French Division, continued the struggle until October 31, thus fighting for fifteen days without interruption.

The Allies' Supreme Resource: The Inundations.

Belgian Patrols on rafts.

Throughout these 360 hours of deadly strife, the entire Belgian forces had been in the thick of the battle, without respite. Crouching in their shallow half-formed trenches, or in the muddy ditches, with no shelters, ill-fed, and fully exposed to the inclement weather, the men nevertheless stood firm. In their tattered muddy uniforms, they scarcely looked human. The number of wounded during the last thirteen days was more than 9,000, that of the killed and missing over 11,000. The numbers of sick and exhausted ran into hundreds. The units were reduced to skeletons. The losses in officers were particularly heavy; in one regiment only six were left.

Thanks to the sacrifices stoically borne, the Belgian Army barred the way to Dunkirk and Calais; the Allies' left wing was not turned, and the enemy failed to reach the coast, from which they expected to threaten England in her very vitals.

For the Germans, the battle ended in total and bloody defeat. For Belgium the name "Yser", which their gallant king caused to be embroidered on the flags of his heroic regiments, is that of glorious victory.(Comm. WillyBreton).

Building a temporary bridge.

Temporary Bridges across the inundated Plain.

The useless sacrifices on the Yser did not turn the Germans from their plans for taking Calais.

They now attempted to pierce the Allied front in the neighbouring sector, between Dixmude and Ypres, where the 87th Territorials, 42nd Division, (withdrawn from the Yser front), and the 9th Corps strengthened the defences.

On November 9, the bombardment grew more violent. On the 10th, from Dixmude to Bixschoote, along the whole of the canalised Yser and the Yser-Ypres canal, huge masses of enemy troops attacked in deep column formation.

After prolonged sanguinary street fighting, in which the French Marine Brigade again distinguished itself, Dixmude succumbed. The Germans were, however, unable to cross the Yser, and the respective front lines became fixed on the canal embankments. The battle spread eastwards, around the salient of Ypres(See the Michelin Guide: "Ypres and the Battles of Ypres".)

The Cloth Hall at Ypres, in 1919.See the Michelin Guide: "Ypres, and the Battles of Ypres".

The Cloth Hall at Ypres, in 1919.

See the Michelin Guide: "Ypres, and the Battles of Ypres".

Photos, pp.19-21.

The front-line became fixed in the partially inundated maritime plain of Flanders, in the oozy soil of which it was impossible to make any trenches. The defence-works,boyaux, and battery emplacements consequently took the form of superstructures, strengthened with piled-up sacks of earth(photos, pp.19-21).

Being above the ground, these defences were easily marked down by the German gunners and levelled with each bombardment. Thus the fruit of weeks of hard work was wiped out again and again.

The ground, soaked with the frequent rains and churned up by the shells, quickly became a vast quagmire which swallowed up everything.

During the first winter, all the heavy materials used in the construction of the shelters, etc., as well as the food and munitions had to be carried by the men,—combatants, stretcher-bearers and fatigue parties alike wading knee-deep in the slime.

Little by little, the situation improved. Narrow-gauge railways were laid down to bring up supplies and munitions to the front lines. Stronger and more comfortable shelters were built, together with casemates and concrete observation-posts right up to the front lines.

Nieuport-Ville was connected to Nieuport-Bains by two tunnels through the dunes, propped, brick-paved and lighted by electricity. Along the coast were deep lines of barbed wire. Concrete cupolas sheltered naval guns. Further south, in the dunes, stretched lines of carefully camouflaged huts, parks, stores and rest camps. In places, along the Yser, the inundations did not give absolute protection. Isolated farms built on elevated points and the roads along the dikes rose out of the water, like so many islets. These fiercely disputed points formed a line of small posts and advance guards in front of the main line of resistance, being connected with that along the railway embankment by long foot-bridges built on piles. The line of resistance followed the railway, then curved inwards to the left bank of the Yser, finally passing in front of the town.

This line was strengthened by two other lines which took in Ramscappelle, Pervyse, Lampernisse and St. Jacques-Cappelle. A second system of defence-works ran in front of and behind Loo Canal.

General Gillain.Chief of the General Staff of the Belgian Army.

General Gillain.

Chief of the General Staff of the Belgian Army.

The sector of the inundated plain was held throughout by the Belgian Army. That of the dunes and Nieuport was held in 1914-1915 by the French Tirailleurs, Zouaves, and dismounted cavalry, grouped under the command of General de Mitry, and the brigade of Marines; in 1916, by a division of the 36th Corps (General Hély d'Oissel); in 1917, by regiments of the British 4th Army (General Rawlinson) which attacked along the coast in co-operation with British warships.

Finally, the Belgian Army, completely reformed and newly equipped, took over the entire sector of the Yser, and extended its lines as far as the outskirts of Ypres.

The enemy front was held by the German Marine Corps and Landwehr units.

For four years, the whole sector in front of the Yser Plain remained relatively quiet, with occasional daring raids or short bombardments.

Before Dixmude and Nieuport, the operations were more active. The "Boyau de la Mort", in front of Dixmude, cost the Belgians some losses, the trench, which ran alongside the Yser, being enfiladed. The enemy's rifle fire came mostly from the Flour Mill(photo, p.124), a large concrete building on the banks of the Yser, which it was difficult to destroy with the heavy artillery, on account of its proximity to the Belgian lines (about thirty yards away).

The liveliest part of the sector was that in front of Nieuport.

In 1914-1915, the troops under General de Mitry, and later the French Marines, succeeded in clearing the town, by capturing the great dune north of St. Georges and various redoubts on the east.

In 1917, the Germans attacked units of the British 4th Army, which was then taking up its positions, and recaptured the dunes as far as the Yser Channel.

Line of Defence between Nieuport and Lombartzyde(held by the Territorials.)

At top of page:Two German Blockhouses wrecked by shellfire.Underneath:Line of Defence before Lombartzyde.On the left (inset):Belgian trench along the Yser, with splinter-proof Shelters.On the right (upper):Advance boyau on the coast, near the Grande Dune.On the right (lower):German Temporary Bridge partly captured during a raid, with chevaux-de-frise separating the Allied and enemy lines.

At top of page:Donkeys bringing up supplies.—Machine-gun Dog Teams.In the middle:Building road on piles.—Making a log road.At bottom of page:Isolated Post surrounded by water, and raft used for revictualling same.—Front-line Post before the inundated plain.

At top of page:Donkeys bringing up supplies.—Machine-gun Dog Teams.

In the middle:Building road on piles.—Making a log road.

At bottom of page:Isolated Post surrounded by water, and raft used for revictualling same.—Front-line Post before the inundated plain.

The general situation, when the offensive in Flanders was launched.

In 1918, after the fiasco of the enemy's Spring offensives, the initiative passed into the hands of the Allies. The latter, victorious on the Marne, Vesle, Aisne and before Compiègne, continued to press the enemy without respite. The battle spread northwards. On September 28, the "Liberty" Offensive in Flanders began. The group of armies operating in Flanders under the command of King Albert with General Degoutte as Major-General, comprised the valiant Belgian Army, the British 2nd Army, and the French 6th Army.

On the 28th the first two enemy positions, north and east of the Ypres Salient, were captured. On the 29th, the Belgian 4th Division following up this success and pivoting east of Dixmude, captured Eessen to the north and occupied the banks of the Handzaeme Canal(See p.120). Dixmude, outflanked on the north, fell.

All the heights of Flanders were now in the Allies' hands. In danger of being cut off, the Germans began to prepare their withdrawal from the Belgian Coast on September 28.

After an interruption of several days, owing to bad weather, the offensive was continued on October 14.

On October 15, Belgian divisions holding the inundated front, from Dixmude to Nieuport, crossed the Yser in pursuit of the enemy, who hurriedly retreated to the north-east.

The Two Stages in the Flanders Offensive.

On October 17, the Belgian infantry reached Ostend, while their cavalry, before the gates of Bruges, heard the belfry chimes joyfully announce the precipitate departure of the last of the enemy troops. The Allies' advance had been so rapid that the Germans had not time to set fire to the city. On the coast, the port of Zeebrugge, together with huge quantities of stores, fell into the hands of the Belgians.

The whole of the maritime Plain of Flanders was thus liberated. The exhausted, demoralised enemy were in full retreat.

On November 11, beyond Ghent, the Armistice saved them from the utter rout into which their defeat was fast degenerating.

Back to Index Next