| Battle of the Yser | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of theRace to the Sea on theWestern Front in theFirst World War | |||||||||
 Depiction of combat between Belgian and German forces | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||||
 Belgium France United Kingdom |  German Empire | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
| King Albert IÉmile DossinAugustin MichelJules JacquesPierre Ronarc'hPaul GrossettiHorace Hood | Albrecht of WürttembergHans von Beseler | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
| Belgium: 52,000 men[1] France: 6,600 men (1,450 infantry)[2] Britain: 3monitors auxiliary ships | 60,000–85,000 men[1] | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| Belgium: 3,500 killed[3] 15,000 wounded[3] | Germany: Heavy | ||||||||
 | |||||||||
TheBattle of the Yser (French:Bataille de l'Yser,Dutch:Slag om de IJzer) was a battle of theFirst World War that took place in October 1914 between the towns ofNieuwpoort andDiksmuide, along a 35 km (22 mi) stretch of theYser River and theYperlee Canal, inBelgium.[4] The front line was held by a largeBelgian force, which halted theGerman advance in a costly defensive battle.
The victory at the Yser allowed Belgium to retain a small strip of territory, with Germanyin control of 95 per cent of Belgian territory, which madeKing Albert a Belgian national hero, sustained national pride and provided a venue for commemorations of heroic sacrifice for the next hundred years.
On 2 August 1914, the Belgian government refused passage through Belgium to German troops and on the night of3/4 August theBelgian General Staff ordered the Third Division toLiège to obstruct a German advance. The German army invaded Belgium on the morning of 4 August.[5] Covered by the Third Division, the Liège fortress garrison, a screen of the Cavalry Division and detachments from Liège andNamur, the Belgian field army closed up to the riverGete and by 4 August, the First Division had assembled atTienen, the Fifth Division atPerwez, the Second Division atLeuven and the Sixth Division atWavre, covering central and western Belgium and communications towardsAntwerp. German cavalry appeared atVisé early on 4 August, to find the bridge down and Belgian troops on the west bank; the Germans crossed at a ford and forced the Belgians to retire towards Liège. By evening, it was clear to the Belgian High Command that the Third Division and the Liège garrison were in the path of a very large invasion force.[6]
With information that five German corps and six reserve corps were in Belgium and with no immediate support available from the French army andBritish Expeditionary Force (BEF), the Belgian field army was ordered to withdraw towards theNational Redoubt on the evening of 18 August and arrived on 20 August. At an engagement between the First Division and the German IX Corps near Tienen, the Belgians suffered1,630 casualties.[7][8] TheBelgian government ofCharles de Broqueville leftBrussels for Antwerp and the Belgian capital was occupied unopposed on 20 August, as the Belgian field army completed its retreat to Antwerp. The GermanSiege of Namur ended with a Belgian capitulation on 24 August, as the field army made a sortie from Antwerp towards Brussels.[9][10] The Germans detached theIII Reserve Corps from the 1st Army to mask the city and a division of theIV Reserve Corps to occupy Brussels.[11][12]
On 1 October, GeneralHans Hartwig von Beseler ordered an attack on the Antwerp fortsSint-Katelijne-Waver,Walem and theBosbeek andDorpveld redoubts by the5th Reserve and Marine divisions. By11:00 a.m. Fort Walem was severely damaged, FortLier had been hit by a 16 in (410 mm) shell, Fort Koningshooikt and the Tallabert and Bosbeek redoubts were mostly intact and the intervening ground between Fort Sint-Katelijne-Waver and Dorpveld redoubt had been captured. A counter-attack failed and the Fourth Division was reduced to4,800 infantry. The Belgian commanders ordered the left flank of the army to withdraw to a line north of theNete, which covered the gap in the outer defences and kept the city out of range of German super-heavy artillery. Proclamations warning the inhabitants that King Albert I and the government would leave Antwerp were put up during the day.[13] Early on 9 October, German troops found some forts of the inner ring empty; Beseler ended the bombardment and summoned the military governor, GeneralVictor Deguise, to surrender. About 30,000 men of the Antwerp garrison surrendered and the city was occupied by German troops. About33,000 soldiers of the garrison (c. 30 percent of the Belgian Army) fled north to the Netherlands, where they were interned for the duration.[14]
During the siege of Antwerp, the German and French armies fought theBattle of the Frontiers(7 August – 13 September) and then the German armies in the north pursued the French and the BEF southwards into France in theGreat Retreat, which culminated in theFirst Battle of the Marne(5–12 September), followed by theFirst Battle of the Aisne(13–28 September). Reciprocal attempts by the Franco-British and German armies to envelop the northern flank of the opposing army, theRace to the Sea took place throughPicardy,Artois andFlanders(17 September – 19 October. The "race" ended on theNorth Sea coast of Belgium, when the last open area fromDiksmuide to the North Sea was occupied by Belgian troops from Antwerp.[15]
British and French forces in Belgium covered the withdrawal of the Belgians and British from Antwerp.[16] The First, Third and Fourth divisions reachedOstend, the Fifth and Sixth divisions arrived atTorhout and Diksmuide and the Antwerp garrison troops moved to an area north-west ofGhent. The Germans4thErsatz Division andLandwehr troops atLokeren andMoerbeke turned east towards Ghent before the withdrawal was discovered. The III Reserve Corps and the 4thErsatz Division were then ordered to turn west and advance onKortrijk, to prolong the main German front, before being sent towards Ghent andBruges, with orders to reachBlankenberge and Ostend on the coast. On 11 October, German troops were detected advancing on Ghent, by which time the Belgian fortress troops had joined the field army. A retreat from Ghent from3:00 to 10:00 p.m. began, after which German troops entered the city. Several bridges were demolished during the retirement, although crowds of civilians on the main road and rail bridges led to them being left intact.[17]
By 18 October, the Belgian, British and French troops in northern France and Belgium had formed a defensive line, the British II Corps assembled with the5th Division fromLa Bassée Canal north to Beau Puits, the3rd Division fromIllies toAubers and three divisions of the French Cavalry Corps (GeneralLouis Conneau) deployed fromFromelles toLe Maisnil. The British III Corps had the6th Division fromRadinghem to Epinette and the4th Division from Epinette to Pont Rouge, the BEF Cavalry Corps with the1st and2nd Cavalry divisions, fromDeûlémont to Tenbrielen. The British IV Corps with the7th Division and3rd Cavalry Division fromZandvoorde toOostnieuwkerke; the FrenchGroupe Bidon and thede Mitry Cavalry Corps covered the ground fromRoeselare (Roulers) toKortemark (Cortemarck), the87th and 89th Territorial divisions fromPassendale (Passchendaele) toBoezinge (Boesinghe) and then the Belgian field army and fortress troops from Boezinge to Nieuwpoort. TheBrigade de Fusiliers Marins (Rear-AdmiralPierre Alexis Ronarc'h) with six battalions, mostly reservists, with 6,670 men of whom 1,450 were fusiliers, a machine-gun company (16 guns) and four machine-guns in each battalion. were sent from Pierrefitte, near Paris to Flanders on 7 October and by 18 October were at Diksmuide (Dixmude).[18]
Part of northern France and north Belgium from thePas-de-Calais to theScheldt estuary had been known as Flanders since the eleventh century. West of a line betweenArras andCalais in the north of France lie chalk downlands covered with soil sufficient for arable farming, and east of the line the land declines in a series of spurs into the Flanders plain. By 1914, the plain was bounded by canals linkingDouai,Béthune,Saint-Omer and Calais. To the south-east, canals run betweenLens,Lille,Roubaix and Kortrijk, the Lys river from Kortrijk to Ghent and to the north-west lies the sea. The plain is almost flat, apart from a line of low hills fromCassel, east toMont des Cats (Katsberg), Zwarteberg (Mont Noir), Rodeberg (Mont Rouge), Scherpenberg andKemmelberg (Mount Kemmel). FromKemmel, a low ridge lies to the north-east, declining in elevation pastYpres throughWijtschate (Wytschaete),Geluveld (Gheluvelt) and Passendale (Passchendaele), curving north then north-west to Diksmuide where it merges with the plain. A coastal strip about 10 mi (16 km) wide is near sea level and fringed by sand dunes. Inland the ground is mainly meadow, cut by canals, dykes, drainage ditches and roads built up on causeways. The Lys, Yser and the upper Scheldt have been canalised and between them the water level underground is close to the surface, rises further in the autumn and fills any dip, the sides of which then collapse. The ground surface quickly turns to a consistency ofcream cheese and on the coast troop movements were confined to roads, except during frosts.[19]
The rest of the Flanders Plain is woods and small fields, divided byhedgerows planted with trees and cultivated from small villages and farms. The terrain was difficult for infantry operations because of the lack of observation, impossible for mounted action because of the many obstructions and difficult for artillery because of the limited view. South of La Bassée Canal around Lens and Béthune was a coal-mining district full ofslag heaps,pit heads (fosses) and miners' houses (corons). North of the canal, the cities of Lille,Tourcoing and Roubaix form a manufacturing complex, with outlying industries atArmentières,Comines,Halluin andMenen, along the Lys river, with isolated sugar beet and alcohol refineries and a steel works nearAire-sur-la-Lys. Intervening areas are agricultural, with wide roads on shallow foundations, unpaved mud tracks in France and narrow pavé roads along the frontier and in Belgium. In France, the roads were closed by the local authorities during thaws to preserve the surface and marked byBarrières fermėes, which in 1914 were ignored by British lorry drivers. The difficulty of movement after the end of summer absorbed much of the civilian labour available on road maintenance, leaving field defences to be built by front-line soldiers.[20]
The Belgian retreat continued on11 and 12 October, covered by cavalry, cyclists and motor machine-gun sections. On 14 October, the Belgian army began to dig in along the Yser, the Sixth and Fifth divisions to the north of French territorial divisions, assembled at Boezinge (Boesinghe), then northwards along the Yser canal to theFusiliers Marins at Diksmuide (Dixmude). The Fourth, First and Second divisions prolonged the line north, with advanced posts atBeerst,Keiem (Keyem), Schoore andMannekensvere, about 1 mi (2 km) forward on the east bank. A bridgehead was also held near the coast aroundLombartzyde andWestende, to coverNieuwpoort (Nieuport), with the 2nd Cavalry Division in reserve.[21] On 18 October, the French 87th and 89th Territorial divisions took over the defence of the front line south ofFort Knokke from the Sixth Division, which was moved to the Yser Front. On 21 October, the hard-pressed Belgian Army was reinforced by the French 42nd Division (Major-GeneralPaul François Grossetti).[22]
The Allies assembled a naval force under the British AdmiralHorace Hood with threemonitors,HMS Severn,Humber,Mersey and assorted craft to provide heavy artillery support to the defenders of the seaward flank.[23] The German forces comprised the new4th Army (Albrecht Duke of Württemberg), with the III Reserve Corps from Antwerp and four new reserve corps from Germany, along with cavalry and heavy artillery units. It moved southwards from Bruges and Ostend in the direction of the Yser river, to take the line from Nieuwpoort to Ypres (Ieper).[24]
On 16 October Diksmuide, garrisoned by Belgian and French troops (ColonelAlphonse Jacques), was attacked. Despite many casualties, the Belgians and French held the town. The press, politicians, literary figures and the military manipulated public opinion, making out that the defence of the town was strategically-important and heroic.[25]
On 18 October, the German offensive began and overran Allied troops from Nieuwpoort southwards to Arras. The objective was to defeat the Belgian and French armies and to deprive the British of access to Calais,Boulogne andDunkirk. The III Reserve Corps attacked Belgian defences from Diksmuide to the sea, regardless of loss. The Germans captured advanced posts at Keiem, Schoore and part of Mannekensvere and reached the Yser, despite bombardments from the Anglo-French flotilla, which engaged German troops along the coast as far asMiddelkerke. The 4th Ersatz Division was forbidden to cross the Yser at Nieuwpoort because of the shell-fire from the Allied ships.[26]
On 21 October, the Germans established a small bridgehead on the west bank, despite a counter-attack by the French 42nd Division, which had just arrived and the last bridge was blown on 23 October. Diksmuide was constantly bombarded and attacked but the defenders managed to hold on.Grand Quartier Général, the French high command, planned to flood the land to obstruct the Germans, which would trap the Belgian army between the flood and the Germans or force them to abandon the last part of unoccupied Belgium. The plan was postponed because the Belgian army was preparing to flood the area between the Yser and its tributary canals.[27]
On 25 October, the German pressure on the Belgians was so great that a decision was taken to inundate the Belgian front line. After an abortive attempt on 21 October, the Belgians managed to open the sluices at Nieuwpoort during the nights from 26 to 30 October, during high tides, steadily raising the water level until an impassable flooded area was created of about 1 mi (1.6 km) wide, stretching as far south as Diksmuide.[27]
The Germans attacked again on the Yser front on 30 October, overran the Belgian second line and reached Ramskapelle andPervijze.[28] Belgian and French counter-attacks recovered Ramskapelle and the final attack, planned for the next day was called off when the Germans realised that the land behind them was flooding. The Germans withdrew in the night of 30/31 October.[29] On 10 November, Diksmuide fell and the fighting continued further south until 22 November, in theFirst Battle of Ypres.[30]
The Belgian Army and its allies had managed to hold the last corner of Belgium, ending the Race to the Sea and the period of open warfare. The front line along the Yser River became known as theYser Front and was held by the Belgian Army until 1918.[31] The struggle of the Belgian army to hold on to its territory during the remainder of the war and the experiences of ordinary Flemish infantrymen, led to an increase in Flemish national sentiment and the foundation of theFrontbeweging, the first party of theFlemish Movement, in 1917.[32]
The British official historian,James Edmonds, wrote in 1925, in the second 1914 volume of theHistory of the Great War, that from 18 October to 30 November 1914, between Gheluvelt and the coast, the Germans suffered an estimated 76,250 casualties.[31] In 2010, Jack Sheldon wrote that from 18 to 30 October, the Belgian army suffered 20,000 casualties and that German casualties may have been much greater.[33]
