WHEN we closed our record of the War in The Year 1914 Illustrated (30 October, 1914) the second great offensive of the German armies in the West was in full swing. The evacuation of Antwerp by the Belgian garrison on 9 October was followed by a desperate effort of the Germans to break through to Dunkirk and Calais along the seashore by Nieuport. It was said the the German Staff had decided that at all cost the Channel ports must be won. The possession of Calais and Boulogne would have given them a base for operations against the English fleet in the Channel, both by submarines and mines, also for a possible invasion of England. On 16 October the right wing of the retreating Belgian army was driven out of the Forest of Houthulst, north-east of Ypres, by the oncoming hosts, and the following day, De Moranville, who was in command, took up a strong position on the east bank of the Ysre, where desperate fighting took place. The Germans, under von Beseler, had the advantage of numbers and the confidence of their recent victories. Further support from new divisions was also hourly expected.
On the evening of the 17 October von Beseler was east of Nieuport and had made plans for a concerted attack the following day. Then an unforeseen foe appeared, and the German right, on the sand-dunes, found itself enfiladed from the direction of the sea by British warships. The Admiralty had taken action at the critical moment. In August three shallow-draught monitors, which had been originally intended for the Brazilian Government for use in the Amazon, were purchased by the British Government and appeared on the Navy List as the Humber, the Severn and the Mersey. On the evening of 17 October these vessels left Dover under the command of Rear Admiral the Hon. Horace Hood, for the Flemish coast. The next day, as we have seen, they began the bombardment of von Beseler's army. Later on, the monitors were joined by other British and French warships and the country for some six miles inland was swept by the almost continuous fire of their guns. The Germans were unable to retaliate and the attack on the Yser became only possible further inland. The warships had averted the immediate peril to Nieuport and the Belgian army, but the Duke of Wurtemberg, who had now taken command of the Germans with fresh troops, made many desperate attempts to cross the river. On the night of 23 October fourteen attacks were made upon Dixmude; the next day about 5,000 men were said to have crossed at Schoorbakke, and on Sunday, the 25 October, things looked very serious for the Allies. But the French had by this time come to the aid of the weary Belgians and heartened them in holding back the invaders.
The last week of October was very wet and the French and Belgians retired from the level of the marshy fields to the Dixmude-Nieuport railway embankment. Then the Belgians devised a new way of staying the onslaught of the enemy. It was from the sea that the Germans received their first check, and they were now to be driven back by the water of the Yser. Under cover of the naval guns the Belgians dammed the lower reaches of the canal near Nieuport, which caused the Yser to overflow and cause floods in the low-lying meadows. At first the water averaged a depth of only a few inches, and the Wurtembergers pressed forward through the floods to Ramscapelle. But, on 31 October, the Belgians had succeeded in opening the sluices of the canals which caused a sudden rise in the water, and the whole country up to the railway became impassable. The Germans were trapped and drowned in their trenches, whilst others were forced to surrender. Some escaped, but the lesson had been so severe that no further attempt was made to reach Calais by way of Nieuport. It is said that the German Emperor was present during the last stages of the attack, and turned back a disappointed and defeated man.
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