The Advance on Ypres

CHAPTER XLVIII. THE ADVANCE ON YPRES

THE PLAN OF THE ALLIED ADVANCE- THE FRENOH CAVAI,RY GROSS .THE LYS-THE ATTACK ON THE ,GERMAN LINE BETWEEN ESTAIRES AND LA BASSEE-THE FIELD OF BATTLE-THE BATTLE OF LA BASS~E-THE FALL' OF LILLE- THE MOVEMENT 0 :" YPRES- AcTIONS OF METEREN AND MONT-DES-CATS-OCCUPATION OF YPRES, BAILLEUL, AND ARMENTTERES-ATTEMPT TO CROSS THE LyS NEAR MENIN-END OF THE ALLIED OFFENSIVE.

HILE the Belgian Army was with banks of the Upper Lys. The comparatively drawing to the banks of the Yser small Allied forces north of the Lys were, W and the British IV. Corps (Sir therefore, fully employed, and the only Henry Rawlinson's) was protect hope fQr Lille lay in the now rapidly ing the flank of the retiring divisions by occu- approaching Il., Ill. and Cavalry Corps of the pying the country between Bruges and Ypres, British Expeditionary Force coming from the . the third attempt of General J ofire to turn the Aisne. right wing of the main German army was in It will be remembered that on the 8th General progress. Lille, the importance of which to the Foch had arranged at Doullens with Sir John French was explained in Chapter XLVI., French that Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien with the p. 479, had been bombarded on October 10. Il. Corps should arrive on the line Aire As detachments of Germans had passed west Bethune by the 11th. This corps was to ward between this town and the Lys and were prolong Maud'huy's Army to ' the north and, to the north of the St. Omer-Aire-Bethune-La pivoting on the French position to the west of Bassee-Lille Canal in the vicinity of Merville, La Bassee, attack in, flank the German troops and as the right wing of the army opposing stationed there. The Cavalry Corps tmder Maud' huy extended to La Bassee, Lille ran the General Allenby, of which the 2nd Division risk of being completely isolated and its garrison (General Gough' s) had marched from Com of French Territorials captured. To obviate piegne on October 3, was, with General this disaster the offensive had promptly to be Conneau's Cavalry Corps, to protect Sir Horace resumed. It had been brought to a standstill Smith-Dorrien's left flank from the attack of after Maud'huy's unsuccessful advance through the Geqnans north and south of the Lys. Arras. "Vhen the Ill. Corps (General Pulteney's) had For a renewed offensive there were available detrained at St. Omer, north of the Lys, which on the 9th the skeleton army of General d'Urbal would not be till the 12th, Allenby-but not based on Dunkirk and the British 7th Infantry Conneau-was to move to Pulteney's left Division and 3rd Cavalry Division round wing, General d'Urbal's 87th and 89th Ten'l Bruges. Ypres was in the hands of the Ger torial Divisions under Genery Bidon, to be mans and the latter were operating on both supported later by four French Cavalry Divisio~s 15 16 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. l.mder General de Mitry, the British Cavalry fOl't.re::;.·cs, and the s uppression of recruit in g in France for twenty.Ave years. Corps and the Ill. Corps were to sweep the 5. An a lli an ce with GeJ'rnan~ ' Il~ai n s t Great Britain Germans east of the line Dixmude-Ypres ~md Russia, and a commerciru trea,ty with Gernlany Conunes and effect a jlmction with the British for twenty-five years. l Jnrier t he CO llllll e- rcia l tr ~aty , German merchandise was to enter Fran ce free of dut,y, IV. Corps (Sir Hem'y Rawlinson's) and t.he and French patent fees ,\'ere not to Le pa,vable by Belgian Army. Into Dix~nude were to be Germans. thrown a body of :B rench Marines under R ear ' Vhether .M. Clmnenceau were ill-informed or Admiral Rornarc'h; into Nieuport, at the not as to Count B ernstorff's statements, there m.outh of the Yser, a division of Fren ch troops could be little doubt that if the Allies were commanded by General Grossetti. defeated and France conquered, a treaty on Obviously, this plan for the employment of some such lines as the above would be imposed the British Expeditionary Force--mimts the on the French. " France," had written General 1. Corps (Sir Douglas Haig's), which it was Bernllardi, "must be so completely crushed calculated would not reach St. Omer till about that she can never again cross our path." October 19-contemplated, besides the saving On October 9, 2,000 French Dragoons froHl of Lille, the probability that the Germans north Aire were ordered by General Conneau to dis of the Lys might make a rush for Calais and lodge the German cavalry lining the south bank Dunkirk or endeavour to envelop and destroy of the Lys from Merville to Estaires. The the British IV. Corps and the Belgian Army crossings at those places were covered by retiring behind 'it. Otherwise the _ Corps of machine guns, and after sunset they were· Allenby and Pulteney would have remained illuminated by searchlights. The French corll south of the Lys, and supported Smith-Dorrien mander assembled his men on the nort.h bank in his advance on Lille. at a point west of Merville where the current. Foch's decision to leave Smith-Dorrien with was very swift and the water deep. The Ger Maud'huy to save, if they could, Lille, was a mans had regarded the river as unfordable at wise one. The misty weather had hampered this point, but a trooper who was a good aerial reconnaissance, and the numbers of the swin~er stripped and, pulling after hin'! a. Germans north of t.he Lys could only be guessed. liO'ht line swam to the right bank. The line V\T eighed against the preservation of the Belgian a: the ot~er end was tied to a heavy rope and Army, of Rawlinson's Corps, the forces of when the dripping soldier stepped out of the d'Urbal, oi. Calais and Dunkirk, the safety of water he hauled the rope across and fastened Lille and its garrison had to be subordinated to it securely to the trUIlk of a tree. The other the major interests of France and the Allies. end was similarly secured and, assisted by the The stakes were too tremendous for senti rope, the men on horseback filed one by one Inen1Jal reasons connected with Lille to affect across the river during the night. At daybreak Joffre and Foch. Nearly the whole of B elgiUIn (October 10) t h e whole force had passed safely had been overrun by the Germans and, accord and the hostile horsemen retired in the direction ing to M. Clemenceau, Count Bernstorff, the of Estaires. * German Ambassador at Washington, had de The character of the fighting m \vhich clared that t.he only conditions of peace which Conneau 's Cavalry was engaged was ,veIl the Kaiser would grant. to France were:

1 The cession to Germany of all the territory north * It was east of Estaires, at Sailly, that Lie utenant. • and· e~;;t of a straight lin e dr~wn from the mouth of the vVallon. the well-known rider. feU a victilfl t.o German Sornrne to Lyons-in other words, the reduction of perfidy. He was advancing with some D:.agoons to millions of French Olen and women to a worse position seize the crossing of the Lys; at that pomt. Some than that of the Alsatians before the war; the loss of distance from the village which was held hy the Germans some of the most venerated p laces and monuments in t,he party entrenched itself. They beat off an a,ttack Franoo--e.g., the battlefields of Valmy and Montmirail, and shot several German scouts. Soon eleven " pea. the Cathedral of Reims and the cottage of J oan of Arc; sants" with pie'ks a nd spades over their shoulders were the acquisition hy the Germans of the rich coal country £een moving towards the French, VI'hen these round Lille, of the vineyards of Champagne and Bur " peasants" were within 40 yards or so of the trenches, gundy, and the extension of the German frontier to the they suddenly dropped their st.olen impleme?t." and outskirts of Paris and 'Lyons. drawing concealed revolvers emptied th~rrl tnt,o. the 2. The surrender to Germany of Algiers, Tunis, and French while t,heir comrades in front of the vlllage all other French Colonies, and also the French Pro opened' a general fusilade. A ball struck Lieutenant tectorate of Morocco. Wallon in the chest. He dropped to the ground. 3. The payment to Germany of a vVar Indemnity of Sergeant Rossa, in spite of the w.otmded z.nan' s protests, £400,000,000. dragged him to the rear and placed hlm on a cart. 4. The transfer to Germany of 3,000,000 rifles, 3,000 Shortly after he expired. The eleven " peasants" were guns, and 40,000 horses; the dismantling. of all French shot and the village taken. THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 17

FRENCH INFAN1RY GUARDING THE RAILWAY LINES SOUTH OF LA BASSEE. described in the Standard on the antl:ority of through its lines, in gaining ground without a w01.mded French officer. " There are no arousing the attention of the .enemy, obtains longer," h e said, "massed charges in which an indisputable advantage." He illustrated t housands of 11.1.e11. collide in formidable shock, the point by two examples. but engagernents of detai1 , in which ruse and A regiment of French Cavalry was deputed d ecision play the greatest part. The side which to cross from the south to the north bank or'the s ucceeds in sl.rprising the other, in filtering Lys. The Germans had here broken down the 18 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE W AR.

GERMAN PRISONERS IN CHARGE OF SPAHIS. bridges and their guns commal1.ded all the Allies, which was, indeed, on e of the most fords. In the middle of the night a reservist, marked features of the war. and four trooFer3, like the Dragoon who swam The French a nd British Cavalry h abitually across the Lys between Aire and Merville, routed the vaunted German horsemen. Re plunged into the river at a spot where it was membering the past history of the Prussian unfordable. They reached the left bank and Cavalry, an explanation is not difficult. Cavalry insta.lled c ~bles which permitted a bridge to be is an arm particuli;Lrly liable to impressions. rapidly constructed. An hour later the whole On the results of the first collisions largely regiment was north of the Lys. depend the future conduct of the arm. Thus The other incident occurred between La it was that Frederick's cavalry won for him Bassee and Estaires. At dawn some 600 the battles of the Soar, Hohenfriedberg and Uhlans, taking ad vantage of a thick fog, Rosbach. For the ab ove reason forty yeft,rs occupied one among the numerous villages later it went clown before t.he French horse at, that stretch like a chain from the La Bassee· Allerstadt and J en a like corn before the sickle, Lille Canal to the Lys. A captain, with the and made no further effort during the war. officer who told the story , was sent with 80 It cut but a sorry figur8 in 1866, but in 1870 Cuirassiers to r econnoitre. In half an hour they did good service. In this war the encounters were three hundred yards from the village, and of the German with the ~ritis h Cavalry were halted. Dismourlting, a sergeant and four men a revelation to the former. Their previous crept forward through the dense fog. They training led them to think themselves invincible. found the Uhlans camped in the streets or The belief was as erroneous as it was in 1806, resting in the houses. On h earing this the and, after the first few shocks, they selo0m tried Cuirassiers resmned their march. Suddenly a to meet the British cavalry, and n early always German p atrol appeared through the fog. It fled before them. The same was true when was immediately captured, and the French rode they were opposed to the Fren ch. The moral 'on. Close up to the village church the French. of their opponents was superior to theirs, and captain gave the order to charge. The German s this was because the individual m en were offered little r esistance; many were lrilled and more rationally trained, b etter led and b etter wounded; 250 were made prisoners ; the rest fled. luanceuvred. This example shows the repeatedly-proved Conneau's Dragoons were south of the Lys inferiority of the German Cavalry to that of the on' the 10th. The n exi day (October 11 ) THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 19

General Cough with the 2nd Cavalry Division with some of these that th~ French dragoons cleared the Gennan cavalry from some woods who had crossed the Lys above Merville and north of the B ethune-Aire Canal. The Gen er al Gough's cavalry had come in contact. Division placed itself astride the Lys, its right The task allotted to Sir Horace Smith v,'ing in touch with the left of the H. Corps, Dorrien with the 1I. Corps was to pierce wruch . had crossed the canal and was moving through t.he German line between E staires in a north-east erly direction. Gough's left on the Lys and La B assee ; he would b e aided joined hands with the Divisional Cavalry of the by Conneau's Cavalry Corps on his left. The 6th Infantry Division (UI. Corps) near Haze Allied troops were then to wheel to the right brouck. against the right flank of the Germans en The right of the German front rested on trenched r01.llld La Bassee, which wOl.ud thus Mont-des-Cats, a hill som e 500 feet high" from b e exposed, while, to hold the latt er fast., which radiate spurs like fingers from the palm Maud'huy was to attack them in front. of the hand" * at the western end of the long The locality in which Sir Horace was to ride south-west of Ypres. Mont-des-Cats is operate was the "Black C01.llltry" of France, opposite t.he little hill on which stands Cassel, " similar," as Sir John French observes, "to and is eight miles or so north-east of Haze that usually f01.llld in manufacturing districts brouck and a little to the ' south of a straight and covered with mining works, factories. line drawn from Cassel to Ypres. From Mont buildings, &e." The desperate and bloody des-Ca.ts the German line ran south through Battle of Charleroi (August 21-2) had been Meteren to Estaires on the Lys and from Es fought 1.lllder analogous circumstances. taires due south for three miles through very , Like the rest of the plain of the Scheldt, the intricate country. It then t 'urned slightly to c01.llltry was very flat. The word " plain," the south-east, "passing about three miles however,. wruch is associated with long and east of Beth1.llle" through La Bassee to Ver uninterrupted vi~ws, does not convey an ade melles. ,;y est of the German front were de quate idea of ,the district between the Lys tached bodies of cavalry and infantry. It was and the Beth1.llle-La Bassee-Lille Canal. The military Eye-witness at the British Headquarters * The Eye-witness, October 17. ~k et.ched the landscape in graphic language_

MACHINE GUN SECTION GUARDING A ROAD. ot.::> 7YesclJ!plrlrlf 0

o{Yde 0

t.::> i--L

JIatlffo/s Chzff Jloads . I (( I Miles I 5 10 Kilometres I ( ( ( ( ~ o o 5 10 huhtb OPt?r 100 Tlldres aOOP8 seal8Pez, RB MAP TO ILLUSTRATE THE MOVEMENTS OF THE ALL1ED FORCES FROM OCTOBER 11 TO OCTOBER 21. 22 THE TI1JiES HISTORY OF THE liV AR.

BRITISH INFAN TRY: EXAMININ G ARMS.

" It is mainly," he says, "an industrial region, streets of which were commanded by Inachine and, with its combination of mining and agri g1.ms. To hide them from observation these culture, might be compared to our Black were often placed in the centre of roo ns. Country, with Fen land.c; intersp ersed between \ Vhen the village was in danger of b eing t.l1ken the coal mines and factories. In some direc incendiaries 'set fire to the houses on the out tions the villages are so close together that t.his skirts and, under cover of the flames, the district. has been described as one immen.se d efenders retired to the trenches behind t he town, of which the vl1rious parts are in some village. If the British or Fren ch put the fires places separated by cultivatIOn, and in others by out and themselves occupied the village it was groups of factories bristling with chimneys. h eavily sh elled . The cultivated portions are very much enclosed, Another difficulty en c01.mtered wa.c;; this. and are cut up by high, unkempt h edges and Some of the villages on the line of lnarch were ditches." h eld, others were left undefended. It was not Such was the new field of battle as it appeared l.mtil the cavalry, cyclist s and adyance guards to Sir John French and the officer on his Staff had thoroughly reconnoitered a village and, if who supplied the descriptive accounts of the it was held, drawn the enemy's fire, that t h e. movements of the British Expeditionary Force. troops b ehind could be brought through it. The enemy h a d barricaded themselves in many The danger of ambushfls in this n etwork of of the villages. N early all these villages were buildings and mounds was v ery great, and t h e defended by a series of narrow, inconspicuous ambushes of t he past 'were by po means as trenches. Driven from these trenches the d angerous or as difficult to detect as those of Germans r etired into the village itself, the modern warfare. In 1914 two or three men THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 23 hidden with a machine g un might destroy a been sent to strengthen the front between column of soldiers. Mont-des-CatsandEstaires. Had then, d 'Urbal's The soldier of 1914 had, in fact, to be as Divisions, with the ll. and Ill. Corps and the meticulously vigilant as the modern surgeon. Cavalry Corps, b een lmable to pierce or Behind every embankment, spoil heap, hedge, turn the German line the IV. Corps (Sir H enry in thickets, in houses, cottages, factories, as Rawlinson's) might have been ca-iJght b etween well as in villages, might b e lurking Germans the Germans advancing through Ghent to with rifles and mitrailleuses. Broad and deep Ostend and the army facing d'Urbal and Sir dykes traversed the fi elds and m eadows between J oIm French. B y thrusting the ll. Corps the v illages, and, if the troops had to deploy on against the fl ank of the army engaged in a either side of a v illage, farm, or factory, they desperate struggle with Maud'huy's force were likely to' b e met by these obstacles, for Sir John French destroyed the last chance the t h~ crossing of which planks or ladders had to Germans had of overwhelming Sir Henry Raw be carried. linson's Corps and the B elgian Army. The Sir J olm French and Sir Horace Smith vanguard of the B elgians reached Furnes on Dorrien were n ot Hindenburgs and Klucks. October 12, the day Sir Horace commenced They regarded the soldiers entrusted to them his attack. Other points had their weight. If as their comrades, and not as " cannon-fodder "; Sir H orace and General Maud'huy had cleared to attempt to surprise the villages by clothing the enemy from L a Bassee, Lille would have their men in the dress of German soldiers or still surrendered, but the effect of a victory at French p easants or workmen was in the eyes La Bassee might have been decisive on the of British officers dishonourable ; to place long-drawn Battle of Arras. The tenacity prisoners, much less civilians, in front of a with which the Germans continued to hold on column of attack was to the Allied leaders as to La B assee shows the importance they an abominable crime. The appropriate tactics a.ttached to it in their scheme for crushing from the British and French standpoints was lVIaud'huy. to deluge the villages and buildings occupied hy On the other hand, if Maud'huy had been the enemy with common shell and shrapnel, driven to the Somme, the main communications and when the enemy's n erves were shaken and their :r:nachine guns destroyed or buried in the ruins, to order an attack with the bayonet, which the Germans seldom faced. Unfor tunately, as mentioned, the weather was misty, and the flatness of the country and its enclosed nature rendered it very difficult even for howitzers to find and get the range of a village unless, indeed, its presence was indicat.ed by f1 church or a factory chimney rising above the trees surrounding it. Met with su ch difficulties it might have been expected that the Ill. Corps would h ave halted on the edge of the " Black Country" or joined the H. Corps and the Cavalry Corps to the n orth of the Lys ; and, as Lille fell on Octo b er 13, it may be plausibly argued that either course would have been preferable to that which was actually adopted. Had, however, Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien not attacked, the Germans might have poured most of the troops contained by him across the Lys, employed them against ~ir H enry Rawlinson's and Geneml d 'Urbal's forces, and turned the line of the Yser. Indeed, if the British n. Corps h ad followed t.he IH., t he Germans between the Lys and the La Bassee-Lille Canal would have certainl~ MAJOR-GENERAL H. de la P. GOUGH. THE TI1YIES HISTORY OF THE TV AR.

NEWS FROM THE FRONT. Germans in the trenches writing hurried letters home. of d 'Urbal's, Sir John French's and now King It is notified that the troops must no lon~ e r count on the reguJar a rrival of supplie3. They must, there Albert's Army would have b een cut, and the fore, utilize the resources of the country as much and as whole of the Allied Forces n orth of Bethune carefully 9.S possible. would have had to be based on Btaples, The regulation for the u~e of t h e iron rations must be strictly observed. Boulogne, Calais and Dmucirk. Needless to say, their position would have been most pre In spite of all precautions complaints are continually carious: most, if not ail, of the gigantic army being received that supply and ammunit ion column., hurled a week or so later by the Kaisp-r into the con tantly fail to arrive because they are st o p~ ed and tmloaded by tmauthorised p ersons. It is a~ain notified battle which goes by the name of Ypres that only t.he authorit ies to whom the supplies, &C' ., are would have been directed against t.hem, and, consigned have the right to take d eli very of them. in the event of defeat, they would have had to To t errorise the B elgians and the French the embark at three small ports, an undertaking disciples of B ernhardi had relaxed the bonds which, in the days of guns and howitzers with of discipline; they h ad encouraged the m en t o a range of from five to ten miles and of sub murder, rape, burn, get drunk and loot. It marines and bomb-dropping airships and aero was not to be expected that, after their d e planes, might have led to a frightful catas b aucheries and crimes, the soldiers wowd trophe. To add Smith-Dorrien's Corps to rigidly obey the call of duty and behave with Maud'huy's' Army and to help Maud'huy to the carefulness of ordinary men. achieve a victory or to avoid a defeat was, The n. Corps had reached the Aire therefore, the wisest course open to J ofire, B ethune Canal on October 11. As r elated, it Foch and French. But it led to a t errible crossed the Canal the same day, its left wing strain being put on the heroic body of troops moving in a north-easterly direction. Sir John who at the Battle of Le Cateau had saved the Fren ch decided that 011 t he 12th this wing was British Expeditionary F orce from annihilation. to be brought up in the direction of Merville, H appily the n. Corps was no longer opposed from which the Uhlans had been driven b y the by troops of the same quality as those they had French Dragoons of Conneau 's Cavalry Corps, met in August, n or were the conditions tmder who h ad crossed the L ys east of Aire. Sir which they opposed them so unfavourable. Horace Smith-D orrien was then to ly. ove to the Judged by the following Order of October 7 to line Laventie-Lorgies. The former place is a the German 14th R eserve Corps, the directors little to the south-east of E staires, the latter of that vast organisation, the German Army , a few miles to the north of L a Bassee. H e were already experiencing difficulties in feeding would then b e threatening the flank of and munitioning the soldiers : the army struggling with Maud'huy's. On THE TI J'ylE8. HISTORY OF THE WAR. 25

October 12 the 5th Division (Sir Ch a.rles cursing each oth er. At last the order was F erguson's ) "connected up " with Maud'huy's given to the Brit ish to fix bayonets and charge. left, north of Annequin, whi.ch is south of the With a yell they rush ed forward and, in the can al and to the west of L a B assee. expressive language of a corporal, "dug 'em To count er this man CB uvre the Germans out sam e as you'd dig bully b eef out of a can." extended their right. The 3rd Division (Sir Thcn they rushed for the villages b ehind the Hubert Hamilton's) now d ployed on the left trenches, cleal'ing t h e enemy out and capturing of the 5th Division and t he whole of the n. a mitrailleuse. For two miles the chase con Corps ad van ced to t h e attack, but, owing to the tinued. obstacles already described, they could make In the morning of October 14 the battle was li ttle h eadway. Several counter-attack s, how continued., the advance being in the same ever, were r epulsed with h eavy loss to t h e direction. enemy, who abandoned a number of machine It was on this day that the 3rd Division and g uns. Conneau 's Cavalry Corps joined in the t he nation suffered a h eavy loss. While riding h attle, following the r oa.ds b et ".... een E staires alon g the lines t he Commander of that Division> and Fleurbaix, L aventie, Vieille Chapelle, Sir Hubert Harnilton, was st.ruck by ::1 shrapnel L acouture and Richebourg. The German s were bullet. H e fell from his horse and died in1. ddeat eel in almost every en counter. At Vieille mediately afterwards. At night he was buried Chapell e the church was bombarded and left in the churchyard of the little village of L acou in ruins, a nd in the kitchen of a house a French ture, three French Chasseurs b eing interred Chasseur engaged in an Homeric contest with n ear him. An eye-witness described the scene a U hlan . Thrusting and cutting at the German, to a T imes Correspondent: the Frenchman drove him into the b ack yard, The darkness of the night wa;; profound and the where both foIl mortally wounded. They were mourners had a diffi Cl ulty in disting uishing the fel1.t.m es of t heir n eigh hours. The group which gath ered r ound buried in a n eighbouring field. Richebourg the grave a t the entrance of the little village of L acoutnl'e was set on fire by the Germans as they re included the General Staff of the 3rd British Divi~ ion, d elegates of the H eadquarters Staff, the officer::; of the treated. The first building burned was a n. Army Corps, led by General Smith-Dorrien in p erson, factory whjch gave employment to the village. and some French officers attached to the British General On October 13 Sir H orace Smith-Dorrien, St ~ ff. pivot ing on Givenchy-a village t wo miles due west, of La B as::;ee-wh eeled to the south and endeavoured to get astride the La Bassee-Lille road in the n eighbom'hood of FourneR . Thence h e would menace the en emy's position on the high grolmd south of L a Bassee. In the cOl1rse of the advance, n ear Pont Fixe, the Dorsets a nd other regiments of the 7th Brigade es pecially distinguished them selves. They, like t he en emy, were entren ch ed. During the night the Germans sapped towards t hem, and they towards t.he Germans. At daybrf;lak a British she ll dropped into and burst in one of the advan ce t ren ch es of the enemy. Five Germans were t ak en prisoners. " I saw the fellows," wrote a vvar correspondent of the Daily Chronicle, souw cl ays later, ,. and they undoubtedly b f' longed to the last line of the GenTIan Reserve. One felt sorry for t hem, they looked starved, dirty a nd wea ry to death." The British g LUlS sh elled, and t h e infa ntry fi red at the Germans t ill 5 p.m., wh en the latt er abandoned all but the last trench. By t hi.s ti rne only a ploughed field and a couple of ditches divided the two infa ntries, GRAVE OF GEN. HUBERT HAMILTON and the Ro ldiers on either side 80uld be heard At Lacouture. 26 THE TIlYlES HIS TORY OF THE WAR.

INDIANS NEAR LA BASSEE.

Owing t o t h e proximity of t h e enemy absolute silencj3 strongly held. The n ext day this village was was ob~erved, except for the low voice of the priest, .advantage being taken of a lull in the attack. .Just at captured by the 9th Infantry Brigade, and at the moment wh en the priest was saying t.he la.st prayers dark the village of H erlies, south-east of the guns began to r oar again, and projectiles whistled -over the hea.ds of the mourners. The German attack Aubers, was carried at the point of the bayonet was directed from a dif'tan ce of a few htmdred yardf'. after a fine charge. "The Brigade," remarks The moment was well chosen, for the volleys fi red by the Sir John French, "was handled with great .t.roops of the Allies in honour of t he d ead, gloriously fallen for the common cause, were at t.he sam e time dash by Brigadier-General Shaw." At this volleys of vengeance. Crackling reports of rifles con time the belief .was that the n. Corps was tinued round the ruined church, but the voice of the priest, reciting the last words of the Requiem, lost being opposed by a portion of the 14th German ·nothing of its calm and cleame:::.;;. Corps, by several battalions of J aegers, and by Soldiers in single file 9.cted as an escort to the cemetery the 2nd, 4th, 7th and 9th German Cavalry beside t.h e little church, which is now a mass of ruins in -consequence of the bombardment. Divisions. With the capture of H erlies the offensive of Afterwards Sir Hubert Hamilton's body was Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien came to a n end. ·removed and reburied in his native land. The Kaiser was about to begin the counter Among the wreaths on his tomb was one from offensive, which is known to the public under Lord Kitchener. - Hamilton had been among the name of the Battle of Ypres. Sir Horace the ablest of Kitchener's pupils; he had b een Smith-Dorrien had not been able to drive t he his Military Secretary in India, and had shown Germans out of their p osition at La Bassee nor marked ability in t.he retreat from Mons and to save Lille . .at the battles of the Marne and Aisne. Before describing the bombardment and The death of th~ir leader was avenged by surrender of Lille let us look at some details of the 3rd Division on the 15th when, as Sir John the fighting b et ween the Lys and the canal, Fren ch wrote, "they fought splendicUy." The which have some value in completing the ·dykes in their way were crossed with planks, picture of the war. The British " Eyewitness" and they "drove the enemy from one en states : trenched position to another in loop-holed villages. ,. By nightfall they had thrust the Parts of the region where fighting has been in progress Germans off the Estaires-La Bassee Road, and now present a melancholy aspect. Many of the once prosp erous homest eads and ham.1.etR are li t.erally torn they were established on the line Pont de Ham to pieces, the walls still standing pitt.Po d by shra.pnel balls. 'Croix Barbee. On the 16th the left of the and in some of the villages the churche8 are smouldering ruins. Dead horses, cows, and pigs which have bee n n. Corps was in front of Aubers, which was caught in the hail of shrapnel litter t·he v illage streets. THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 27

)ClO d a mong the carc ases and de!Jn's wander the wretch ed Fren ch which distinguishes them from most inhabita n ts, who have r eturned to see what they can industrial r aces. The Germans affected to save from t.he wreckage. H ere, blocking up a narrow side street is a d ead horse still ha.rnessed to a trap, and treat the, French as dee:adent. A -walk through -beside it is str etched the corpse of a J-ager; close by , in Lilla should have disp elled that illusion. an enclosure where a sh ell has found them, lie som e thirty ca.valry horses; a litt.lc farther on is laid out a row of In 1792, when the I'rus3ians and Austrian.s German dead, for whom graves are being dug by t he endeavoured to reimpose the yoke of. the p easants. Bombon despotism on France, Lille had been The work of burial falls to a g reat extent on the :inha bitants, who, wit h OUI" soldiers, take no little care in vaiUly bombarded by the Austrians. A bom marking the last resting -pla.ces of their countrymen and bardmentin 1914 was not so likely to be ineffec their Allies, ei ther by Ji et le wooden cro:'JSes or else by flowers. Amid ~ t the g raves sf!attered a ll over the ttlal, for the weapons employed had fifty times countryside a r e the rifle pit,s, tren ch es and gun emplace m e nts, which those now resting below the sod h elped to d efend or to at,tack. From these the progre!';s of the fighting can be traced , and even its nature, for t.h ey vary from car efully con strncted and cunning ly placed works to the hastily shaped lair of a German sniper, or the roadside ditch, with its sides scoop d out by the e ntrench ing implem e nt!'; of our infantry.

The unfortunate inhabitants, too, had to Buffer from friends and foe alike. For the British had had to destroy the farms and cottages which had sh eltered a large number of industrious families. Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien, we have seen, began his advance towards Lille on October 11. But on the 10th the Germans, unable to break their -way into the city, had resorted to their favourite procedure. They bombarded Lille with their heavy artillery. Th ~ city had been seized by them in August and a war indemnity levied on it. It was a flourishing town of _over 200,000 inhabitants; the fine public buildings and the splendid Art Museum bore witness to its prosperity, and to the innate culture of the

AN INTERRUPTED GAME OF CARDS. 28 THE TIlYIES HISTORY OF THE WAR.

LILLE DURING THE BOMBARDMENT. , the pO'wer of those brought to bear on the t.own Museum was damaged, some quarGers of the a hlmdred and twenty-two years before. city were in flames. The Germans, who after On October 10 a srnaU body of Gennan wards systematically pillaged the to"wn cavalry rode up to the Town Hall and inquired packing up and dispatching to Germany for t.he Mayor. While they were demanding furnit.ure, linen, and even clothing-slimt for . hostages, French horsemen arrived, ' and the the fire engines of the n eighbouring p laces and Germans, after a brief encounter, fl ed. At, the flames were finally subdued. According 5 p.m. the bornbardment began, a shell bursting t.o the official r eport 882 buildings, amongst above the Town Hall. It ,vas t.he first of them some of the finest, had been d estroy_ed several. A panic started and the streets were and 1,:300 d amaged, but the loss of li fe had been soon a seething Inass of excited Inen and women small. The Mayor, Bishop and Prefect and flying for refuge to their cellars. A Taube several cO"Lmcillors were taken as !tostages. hovered and dropped a bon1.b, which killed a boy A gentleman who was in Lille during the and a horse, and inj ured a "oman. At "7 p .m. the bombardment and for a week after t.he German bombardment increased in violence and several occupation writes as follows : houses in the Rue Nationale were d estroyed. The two m ost prominent buildings in Lille were The night was comparatively ca.lm. On untouched by the si1ells, but the splendid art ~all ery had suffered. There were holes through the roof, but. October 11, from 8 a,m. to nightfall shells I do not know what damage was done to the ·pictures. feU incessantly. Numerous public buildings, In the R.ue d e la Gare two soli d blocks of builrlings were destroved. and from the Place de la Republique t,o the houses and factories ,\" ere on fire, and t.he Gare dU Nord the buildings were terribly' d a m aged. The p eople ",Tere flying in all directions. The next Cafe Jean, known to every Englishman and American day, at 6 a ,m., the Cern1.ans r esumed their who h as visited Lille, \vas in ruins. The Germans on the entry behaved well. They were work of destruction. Far off couJd be heard apparently under strong a nd admirable discipline. They the French a.rtillery replying to the German set them selves at once to put out the fires. Buildings were dynamited to prevent t.he flamfls from spreading. heavy guns. On the 13th, as there was no The ordinary police were left in cha.rge of the town, hope df succour, to save the city from total a lthough there were German soldiers stationed in all the streets. The p eople wel'e told t.o remain within their destruction it was surrendered. Five or six h OLlses \\-ith the blinds down. Civilians with arms in thousand shells had b een fired into it, the Art th61 ir p ossession were t old that thei' were liable to be THE TIlYlES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 29

shot at once. Owners of motor·cars wertJ bidden t.o had , I hasten to inform you of my pr e~e nt. po, ition. On report the fact to the ft llLhol'ities. The Germans com the 5th October came t,he order that. the XIXth Co rps mandeered a ll t he horses, m o tor' Cl1 r ~ , and bicycles-in should leave tho Third Army and form part of the First fact, every means of transpurt. . Army under General Kluck. The march from St. During the bombardment few C'ivUlans suifered . I Hill egras to Lille, 180 kilometres ( 108 m il es) in five days saw one civilian d ead in t.he street. Among the defenders was very exhausting. In Lille hostile infantry was was a small party of Algerian troops. While t hey were reported, and we were engaged in street and house defending the gat.es one man WEI,S 18ft in cha,rge' of the fi g hting on t.he 13th and. 14th, and it was only b.v the horses, jus t. off the Rue de la Gare. A shell burst just 19th 'H eavy Artillery tha.t the town was compell ed to by him, and I saw the man and t hirteen horses lying dead surrender. Lille has a lready been taken by us three in a heap. times, and if troops or supply columns are attacked a6ain For a week after the German occupai.ion I remained the p lace will be razed to t.he 6roulld. The shell fi re, in the t own. No attempt w~ s made by the German;; to although it only lasted an hOllI', has cost the town a t dig trenches. I saw twenty-five big glll1S brought into least a hundred buildin6s. H ere, al so, in Lille the 77th the city. Field Artillery h<:1s many of om COI'llra.cles on its con· My papers were inspected by t h e German military science. authorities, whb were satisfied of my neutrality. and I Of prisoners we have absolutely none at presflnt, left Lille and camE? to England through B el6 iul11. _-\.s since t.he wretches put on civilian clothes, and then onfl we passed through we saw entrenchments and barbed can look in vain for "oldiers. ' Ve lie fiv e miles from wire defences being constructed around the towns. Lille and are to holel .up the English who have land ed. This w ill be n o li6ht task, since we are not fully informed The' German soldiers entered Lille- accom as lO their strength. It gives one the impression that panied by bands playing their favoLU'ite music. the war will last a long time. ' Veil, I shall h old out They were singing and smoking, but mai1.Y even if it goes on for another year. In front of us we can hear h eavy g; uns, so we may easily have more were in a state of complete exhaustion. A fi 6 htin ~ to-clay. ' Ve have had no p ost for fourteen days, prominent resident who e~caped from the city for the country here is very unsafe. stated that several soldiers lay down on the Thus Lille-like Liege, Namur, Charleroi, pavements and slept for h ours ancl that sorne touvain, Malines, Brussels, Antwerp, Mons,. of the cavalrymen could scarcely. sit their TOLlrnai, Valenciennes, Maubeuge, Cambrai, horses. Later, regiments of white-haired old Douai, Rethel, ·Mezieres, Sedan, Montme,dy, men, and boys between the age of 16 and 18, St. Quentin, Laon - was in the possession in brand new uniforms arrived. They h ad been of the Germans. The da.y before (October 12) t bld that France was conquered and that t hey they had seized Ghent; the day after they WEre were to b e reviewed by the. Kaiser in Paris ! to occupy Bruges, and, on October 15, Ostend. The feelings of some of the Germans may be North of the Lys, however, the tide of invasion surmised from the letter below found on the h ad turned. Th ~ Britis ~1. Ill. Corps and body of a dead soldier: Cavalry Corps with d'Urbal's Territorial D~vi P erenchies, near Lille, sions and Cavalry were driving the en emy from 16t h October. 191 4. Ypres and its vicinity at the very moment D ear Brother:-Taking the opport1.ll1ity of a five hours' pause, which is the first chance of writing I haVf~ w hen the Germans entered Lille.

FRENCH SEARCHLIGHT Thrown on attacking Germans. 30 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR.

The turning movement prepared by J uffre edge of the sea were dunes. Hedges and and French, north and east of the Aire-Lille belts of trees restricted the view; the main Canal, had on the centre and left been more roads, though straight, were badly paved; successful than on the right_ This was due to the by-roads were winding. two causes. The obstacles had been fe",-el'. On October 11 the whQle of the coast and and lAss serious than those encountered by r eclaimed marshland was in the hands of the Smith-Dorrien's and Conneau's Corps; the Allies, and the German line, as already men enemy had been less nwnerous. tioned, stretched from Mont-des-Cats (south From the Lys to the sea is a distance on an of the road from Cassel through Poperinghe average of thirty miles. While the population to Ypres) to Meteren (on the road from Cassel of Lme was over 200,000, that of Ypres, one via Bailleul to Armentieres) and thence to of the largest towns in the inland portion of t he Estaires on the Lys. This position could be oblong Aire-Ghent-Zeebrugge-Ca.lais was under turned from the north by an adv ~n ce of d'Urbal's 20,000-10,000 less than that of Armentieres, troops from Dunkirk through Bergues and on the south bank of the Lys to the north-west Poperinghe to Ypres or on the south by Con of Lille. Crossing the Lys one passed from an neau's cavalry crossing the Lys east of E staires. industrial to a. rural neighbourhood, to villages To t,he rear it was threatened by the move instead of towns, to farmhouses instead of m ent of Rawlinson's Corps from Bruges. By villages. Except for the hill on which Cassel the 10th the head of Byng's Cavalry Division stands and for the Mont-des-Cats, and the long was at Thourout; and on the 12th the 6th ridge which stretches from it eastward, the Cavalry Brigade held the line Oostnieuwkerke whole district was either flat or gently undu Roulers, the 7th that of Rumbeke-Iseghem. lating. Next to the coast were reclaimed The a.im of the Germans was to remain on marshes drained by canals and dykes. On the the defensive until th0 army released from

A BELGIAN LOOK-OUT IN FLANDERS. Finding Ranges. THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 31

WOUNDED BRITISH IN THE STATION AT BOULOGNE.

Antwerp, and the reinforcements which had were also to the disadvantage of the Germans. crossed the Scheldt and were now hurrying There can be no question that they believed to the Lys, joined hands with them. They took they were being attacked by a much larger every advantage of the ground, concealing force than was actually the case. The reporte themselves in ditches, woods, and villages, of their air-scouts were defective, and the and behind hedges, and a network of telephone Allied Cavalry, assisted by armoured motor wires warned them of the Allied movements. cars, screened the a-dvance of the infantry. The line, however, they had to defend was • From now onward the armoured motor-car longer than that from Estaires to La Bassee, began to play an important part in the schemes and, while the commander opposing Smith of J ofire and French for defeating the invaders. DorrieI\ and Conneau had one wing resting on One of the many examples of their use is given the Lys and the forces from Estaires to lVIont by the British Eye-witness: des-Cats, the other on the Canal La Bassee On the 16th the crew of one of our armoured motor· Lille, the right wing of the Germans north of cars obtained iniormation that a party of hostile cavalry w as in a farm. They enlisted help from ten men of the the Lys was in the air, while their left wing was n earest battalion, who stationed themselves on one side threatened by the movements of Conneau and of the farm while the motor-car waited on the other. Smith-Dorrien south of the Lys. B eing unabJe to bolt their quarry, our men carried fire to the farm, which had the desired effect and resulted in The resistance of Lille was another important two Uhlans being killed and eight captured, no casualties factor in the situation. Troops badly needed being sust,a.ined by the attacking party. between Estaires and lVIont-des-Cats had to be The Belgians showed special aptitude for held back till Lille surrendered. The inhabi this kind of warfare. They" appeared to regard tants of Lille and the French Territorials there Uhlan-h1.mting as a form of sport," and often have the gratification of knowing that, like ventured miles ahead of their own troops, the Belgians in Liege, they largely contributed and seldom failed to return with spoils in the to the coming success of the Allies. If Lille shape of helmets, lances, and rifles. At the had surrendered on the 9th, and not on the opening of the war the Germans had scored 13th, it may be doubted- whether d'Urbal and heavily with their miniature forts on wheels, the British would have reached the canal from but with every day their superiority in the Comines to Ypres, and from Ypres to the Yser. mere machinery of war was diminishing. The misty and, occasionally, rainy weather It will be recollected that on October 11 and the hostility of the civilian population General Gough with the 2nd Cavalry Division 32 THE ' TIMES HIS TORY OF THE W A R ~

GERMANS ON THE DUNES Watching the Allied Fleets.

had driven the German Cavalry from woods of the Ill. Corps, consisting of the 19th to the north of the Bethune-Aire Canal, and Infantry Brigade and a Brigade of Field linked up with the Divisional Cavalry of the Artillery, moved eastward to the line St. 6th Di.vision (part of the' Ill. Corps) in the Sylvestre-Caestre-Strazeele Station. Three n eighbourhood of Hazebrouck. On the 11th miles out of Hazebrouck the 1st North Stafford General PUlteney had practically completed shire R egiment came under shell fire at 7.30 a.m. t.he detrainment of that corps' at St. Omer, and "Lost Private Ward," notes a , non-com mo~ed it east to Hazebrouck, in and around missioned officer, "about two yards in front which tovm it r~mained during the 12th. of me---:-struck dead by a shell. He had just The same . day a Taube ventured over St. lighted a cigarette, and said it might be his Omer and dropped three bombs on the Rue last." Through Strazeele the Staffordshires Carnot, killing a laundress and a small child in ad vanced to Merris, south of Meteren, "where her arms and wounding a man. I t was i.mme we remained in position under shell-fire for diately pursued 'by five French aeroplanes. 7! hours, holding up the Bosches." Merris a The" passenger" was shot by the pursuers in few days before had been the scene of an act of the head. The Taube swerved, but the pilot atrocious ·cruelty. Uhlans had pursu ed an old managed to right it and flew away at full speed, m an to the" Bon Bourgeois" Inn. H e had Anot her shot struck the pilot and the machine hidden in an oak cheet. Discovered, he was. " fell like a stone t.o the ground .." At PradeUes, at once shot with a revolver. on the road from Hazebrouck to Bailleul, a At St. Sylvestre and Caestre the British were. German officer wished on the 12th to make on the main road between Cassel and BaiIleul ; S0111.e observations from the tower of the church. at Caestre they were across. the single line H e applied to the Abbe Bogaert for the k ey. railway from H azebrouck through Pbperinghe The Abbe could not find it. H e was taken to to Ypres ; at Strazeele Station they were on Strazeele) where he was murdered. Extra the double-ljne railway from H azebrouck ordinary and horrible as such incidents as the t hrough Bailleul to Armentieres and Lille. The above would have seemed in July, in October Germa;n s held the ridge of the Mont-des-Cats. they attracted little attention. b,etween Godewaersvelde (on the railway from On Tuesday, the 13th, the advanced guard Caestre to Poperinghe) and B ailleul. They

i I' I~ THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 33

were in force at Meteren four miles or so to the north of it. On the 12th Cough's Division east of Caestre and two miles west of Bailleul. had ridden through ,Fletre (between Caestre and The Fourth German Cavalry Corps and some Meteren) and on the 12th-13th engRged the J aeger Battalions were known to be occupying right of the enemy at lVIont·des.·Cats. In this the neighbourhood of Meteren and were believed action Prince ::\1,ax of Hesse was mortally to be supported by the advanced guard of wounded. He lies buried in the grounds of the an~th~r German Army Corps. The high ridge mon~stery which crowns the hill, together of the Mont-des-Cats extends eastward to with three British officers and some German the road from Arme~tieres to Ypres. I tends soldiers. This day a cavalry patrol came sud rOlmd VI ytschaet:e and, south of W ytschaete, denly upon a German machine gun detachment. round Messines. The subaltern gave the order to charge; the Sir John French now ordered General Pul Germans were killed and scattered and the teney to push toward the road between iumen gun captured, For his gallantry an~ deter heres and "\Vytschaete. The latter village is four mination at Mont-des-Cats Lieutenant C. J. n:liles south of Ypres, seven from Armentiere",. Aris of the 16th Lancers obtained a D.S.O. In heavy rain and fog and through very en H e had charged and driven off a German closed country the Ill. Corps marched for patrol, and alt.hough twice wounded, persisted ward. Th8 artillery gave little assistance in sending in his report to his squadron leader. because objects could not b e seen distinctly; It was on the 13th-14th that French and the roads and fields were bad going. By night British troops marched into Ypres. fall, however, the British had routed the enemy On t,he 14th the 1st Cavalry Division joined in aJ] directions and captured Meteren, and up with the 2nd, and the whole Cavalry Corps Oultersteen e to the east of Merris. " We lost," under General Allenby moved north, and in says the non-commissioned officer, "another face of considerable opposition seclITed the .seventeen men in taking Oultersteene. . . . . Were not the villagers pleased to see us! But .whRt a toll! I do not take into account the battalion or brigade-only my company. ,iVe got two machine guns, a dead German officer, with the Iron Cross; cycles. R epaid our losses," he adds, " with interest." On account of thei r deeds at Meteren the Medal for Distinguished Conduct was awarded to Sergeant E. Howard of the 1st Royal Lancaster Regiment, to .SergeaIlt H. Duckers of the 2nd Lancashire Fusiliers, to Sergeant G. A. Hodges of the 2nd Essex Regiment, and to Private C. Rowley of the 1st Royal 'Varwick shire Regiment. Howard, at very great risk to hirnself, h a d crawled to 12 men of his platoon who had ceased firing. He found they were all dead. Duckers had handled his 'platoon with remarkable skill, both at Meteren and on other occasions. Hodges, shot through the shoulder, continued in cornmand of his platoon and led it forward to the firing line. Rowley had volunteered under a heavy rifle fire to go back from the firing line to the support trench, a distance of some 300 yards, for ammunition. He r eached it and, laier, r ecrossed the same piece of ground "Lmder similar conditions. Meanwhile General Gough, .to the left of the Ill. Corps, had nO'~ been inactive., . As had been ar anged, the Cavalry Corps, after the MORTAR CAPTURED IN A GERMAN alTi va.l of the Ill. Cor'p ~_. had move9-. ,to _ ~he TRENCH. 34 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. high ground above Berthen round "Vestontre, The next day (October 14) considerable whose Mayor, it will be remembered, had been bodies of Germans. believed to belong to tl e lashed across the face by a German cavalryman. 12th Corps, were reported to be moving Further to the north the 87th and 89th French from .t-\1.e vicinity of BaIleul towards Wervicq Territorial Divisions were marching from the and 1\lenin. Consequently Byng, followed by direction of Dunkirk on Poperinghe, Vlam~r Capper, was directed on Ypres with orders to tinghe and Ypres. The 3rd Cavalry Division reconnoitre to the south-west. At 9 a.m. (Byng's) on the 13th had reconnoitred towards Byng's Division was at Ypres and the 6th Ypres and Menin.* Patrols had been sent Cavalry Brigade proceeded to the line La forward towards Comines and Wervicq. At Clytte-Lindenhoek. Near Ypres the Brigade Comines-the birthplace of the historian Phili p with rifle and revolver fire brought down a de Comines, who deserted Charles the Bold Taube. The pilot and observer fled to the woods, for Louis XL-the canal from Ypres enters the but were captured. Accompanied by arrnotu'ed Lys. Both places are on the Lys between motor-cars, the advance guard pushed on Menin and Armentieres. The 7th Infant,ry towards N euve Eglise, killing and capturing Division (Major-General Capper's) had occupied numbers of the retreating enemy. No Roulers, menaced by the Germans from Thielt, "fonned bodies" were, however, lTIet with. and Sir'Henry Rawlinson ordered Byng to hold From the direction of Bailleul heavy firing was the line Dadizeele-Iseghem. t heard, At dusk the 7th Cavalry Brigade moved into billets at K emmel, west of the * The latter town is on the L ys a few miles west of Ypres-Armentieres road; the 6th were 'at Courtrai. It was at Menin that Scharnhorst, the Hano verian who reformed the Prussian Army after the Jena Wytschaete in touch with Gough's Cavalry catastrophe, had first distinguished himself in war. Division, with which they had established con t Roulers had a population of over 25,000; on June 13, 1794, the French tmder Pichegru and Macdonald h e ..:l tact during the day. On the 15th, the day of the h ere defeated the Austrians under Clerfait. The Battle German entry into Ostend, Byng' s division rested. of Roulers had been the prelude to that of Fleurus, the As the Germans, issuing from Ostend, Bruges, first battle in which a captive balloon was used--by the French-for military purposes. and Ghent, might be expected to advance on

MOTOR FOR HEAVY TRANSPORT WORK. THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 35

GERMAN CAMP OUTSIDE OSTEND.

Y pres, Sir John French on the 16th placed The · day before the German Army coming the 3rd Cavalry Division round Langemarck from Ostend had commenced its attack on the and Poelcapelle north-north-east of Ypres and Allies defending the Yser. south of the Fort3t d'Houthulst. The Division, A glance at the map will show that on October with the 7th Cavalry Brigade leading, moved 14 the Germans, who were originally on the via Ypres and Wieltje to the line Bixschoote line Mont-des-Cats-Meteren-Estaires, were in Poelcapelle. It was reported that the enemy imminent danger of being enveloped and in large numbers were in the Foret d'Houthulst their retreat cut. The operation orders of the and Oostnieuwkerke, and a patrol of the 2nd 6th Bavarian Cavalry Division which were Life Guards was obliged to withdraw from captured stated that, the right of the line Staden. There was intermittent fighting during having been forced to withdraw, the left was the afternoon, and at dusk Fren ch troops compelled to follow the movement. relieved the 7th Cavalry Brigade, which was -While Rawlinson's Corps moved against' the then billeted at Passchendaele, south-east of German rear, and while the French Territorial Poelcapelle. The 6th Cavalry Brigade was south . Divisions and the Cavalry Corps crumpled up of it at Nieuwemolen. The 7th Infantry the German right, the Ill. C0rps moved on Division extended east of Y pres in the wooded towards Bailleul, ·which was entered at district from Zandvoorde through Gheluvelt to 10 a.m. on October 14, and where many Zonnebeke, south of Nieuwemolen. Support wounded Germans were captured. The town ing Sir H enry Rawlinson's Corps was General had been pillaged; a war-tax of £2,000-paid by Bidon with the 87th French Territorial Division the farmers of the n eighbourhood-imposed, in Ypres and Vlamertinghe, and behind it, and several houses burned. Fourteen men of on the road to Dunkirk, the 89th French military age had been shot. There was a Territorial Division in Poperinghe. Sir H enry lunatic asylum in the town. With Teutonic Rawlinson was to support the Cavalry Corps humour, the Germans turned the hLmdred and the Ill. Corps on the Lys if he was not inmates out of doors. These poor creatures ~ttac ked by the Germans advancing from wandered about the country and many were Ghent, Courtrai, Bruges, and Ostend. afterwards found dead by the roadside or in The n ext day (October 17) four French the woods. * That night the Ill. Corps occupied Cavalry Divisions under General de Mitry the line St. J ans Cappel-Bailleul. deployed on Byng's left and drove the vanguard of the Germans from Ostend and Bruges ·out of * See the aCcolmt given by a native of Bailleul in th" Daily Chrom:cle of October 26: "The Germans," he the Foret d'Houthulst. says, "are not ~oldiers so much as brigands and assassins.' 36 THE TINIES HISTORY OF THE WAR.

The advance was resumed on the 15th in received the Medal for Distinguished Condnct. very foggy weather. The enemy offered a At sunset all the country on the north b:1nk stubborn defence. As Ypres and vVytschaete to some six or seven 111.iles below Armentieres were now in the hands of the Allies Sir J ohn (on the south bank) and all the bridges above French had altered the direction of the Ill. it from Aire east,vard were held by the Allied Corps. H e pushed it to the n orth bank of the troops. vV arneton, six nules or so east of Lys between Sailly a,nd Armentieres. It, Armentieres, was taken in the follo wing will not be forgotten that Conneau's Cavalry circun1.stances : Corps was on the south side of the river in At the entrance to the t own the Germans h ad the region of E staires. B y lughtfall the 6th constructed a high barricade loopholed at the Infantry Division was at Sailly-Bac St. Maur, bottom so that men could fire through it the 4th at Nieppe on the road from B ailleul from a 'l ying position. A squadr on of British to Armentieres. On the 15th· the Cavalry Cavalry r ode up in- 'the dark (Odober 16), Corps had b een ordered to make for the Lys but, n othing daunt ed, ?btained help from the below Armentieres. There ]19,d b een an en artillery, who man-handled a gun into position counter near Messines on the 14th, and Sergeant and blew the barricade to pieces. The cavalry C. Graham, of the 5th Lancers, for engaging then rode into the middle of the town. ,Hardly with his revolver the enemy behind a barricade h ad they reach ed the further end of the large and, although badly wounded in the hand, Place, when" one of the buildings appeared to giving a clear account of his reconnaissance leap skywards in a sheet of flame, a shower of whilst his hand was being dressed, subsequent ly star shells at the same time m aking the Place light as day." The enemy from the houses round the Place fired on the horsemen from rifles and machine-glillS. The squadron retired wit.h the loss of an officer wounded and nine m en killed and wounded. D etermined not to leave the wounded to the mercy of the dervishes of Central Europe, some troopers took off their boots, went back into the Place and succeeded in carrying away their bleeding comrades. Warneton was captured, but the bridge ha d been destroyed.

AN ADVANCED POST. THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 37

Arl11 cn t ieres lies to the south of the Lys. A bridge connects it with ~iepp e . }Vter a few s hells had been fired at the barricade on the bridge the Germans evacuated Armentieres (October 16), leaving b ehind them fifty wounded, riA es, anllllunition, and a motor-car. The river line, almost as far east as Frelinghien, was in British or French hands. Arment.ieres had been systen'latically plundered. The members of the Municipal Council and prominent factory owners had been arrested and held as hostages. The inhabitants, it need scarcely be said, welcomed with joy the British troops. From the condition of the bridges over the Lys it is clear that the Germans had been complet ely surprised by the rapid offensive of the Allies . At '"Varneton the damaged bridge was b eing repaired; at Frelinghien t h e bridge had not been demolished and was defended; further west, a t Houplines, the bridge was destroyed, but at Nieppe both the road bridge and railway bridge leading to Armentieres were only barriea.ded, and the LOADING AN I8-pr. GUN. bridge at Erquinghem, west of Armentieref', m ost skilfully and energetically carried out, was n either defended nor broken. The Lys but, although valuable information was gained in this part of its course flows through a slight and strong forces of the enerllY held in check, depression in the plain. It is from 45 ft. t o the Cavalry Corps was unable to secure pas 7.5 ft. \vide, and only li ft. deep. At places it sages or to establish a permanent footing on the had b een canalized. Many of the bridges ;', outhern bank of the river. On the 17th the were of the draw or swing type. I G. Corps (Pulteney's) was on the line Bois Accordingly, on t.h e 17th, when Srnith Crenier-Le Gheir. The enem.y were holding a Dorrien 's Corps-the right wing of the Allied line from Radinghem through Perenchies to Forces engaged in the b a ttle b etween L a Frelin.ghien and thence along the south bank. of Ba.'Ssee and N ieuport- had ended its offensive the LyR as far as the crossing at \i1{ervicq. and the Germans from Ostend and BrL1ges h ad On the 18th Sir John, trusting to the BAlgians already* begm'l their a ttempt to break through and Fren ch to maintain the line of the Yser, the left wing on the Y ser b et\veen the sea and and to the Cavalry of de :Mi.try and the Terri Dixmude, the 3rd Corps (Gen er al Pulten ey's) t orials of Bidon to stop any German advance had crossed the Lys and occupied Armentieres. on Ypres through or past the Foret, d'Houthulst, " Took up outpost s," writes a non-c01U ordered up Sir Henry Rawlinson's COl'ps--i.e., missioned officer of the 1st North Stafford shires, Capper's Infantry and Byng's Cavalry Divi "near Armentiel'es at \ill ez Macquart and sions--to the support of the Cavalry Corps. dug oursel ves in. " Both banks of t.he L ys up The 7th Infantry Division (Capper's) was to to Frelinghien were h eld by the Allies. To the dri ve the Germans from :Menin on the north north of the Lys the Cava lry Corps h ad t aken bank. of the Lys betvv'een \Varneton and COlU'trai. YVarn eton and were reconnoitring tovvards " I consid0red," says Sir John, "that the pos !\Jenin. " \Vith a view to a further advance se.·sion of Menin const.ituted a v ery important east.," wrote Sir John French in hi;.; dispatch of p oint of passage, and '~ ' ould much fac.ilitate the K 0" emh er 20, 1914, "I ordered Gen eral advance of the r est of the Anny." Sir John AlI enby, on the 15th, to reconnoitre the line still hoped that the offensive of the Allies might of t.he River Lys, and endeavollI' t.o seC LU'0 the be continued. The left of Capper's Division pasl-'ages on the opposite bank, p ending the \vas to b e supported by Byng's Cavalry and . arrival of the IH. and IV. Corps." From by the Fren ch Ca,'alry opera ting on the east tlw 15th to the 19th this reconnaissance was of the F or M d'Houthulst in the n eighbourhood

* The Battle of the Yser bega n 0 11 Oct ober 10. of Roulers. Sir H enry Ha\ylinson repr esent (i~ d 38 THE TIlI,IIES HISTORY OF THE lr AR.

The n ext m orning, Monday, m any German t roops a ppeared from the direction of Bruges and Ghent. They p laced their guns ia three vill ages, Hoogled e, Ardoye, and I segh em. At H oogled e they h ad a sp ecially good position, on the ridge of a hill, which runs stra ight t hrough ,,yest F landers. The Flemish p eople say t ha t the threshold of the church of Hoogled e lies as high as

the top of the tower of Roulers, which is about ~ 4 5 feet I high. The German s placed theii· g l1n s in front of the church of Hooglede, whence they saw Roulers lying below th em. The Fren ch artillery b egan the action, but the Germa ns for a t im e did not an swer. The clock of Roulers h ad struck 12 before they open ed fire, and i t rained s hell s on the town. Its popula tion escaped into the cell ars, a nxiously awaiting the fate of t.heir b eloved town. The bombardment went on. R oofs fell in: walls r eeled. The tower of the church of Notre D am e lean ed over .. A shell fell through the r oof of S t . Michael's Church and did much damage. Flarnes went up on several sides. In the m eantime German infantry t ried to approach the t own. Their advan ced troops fortified t h emselves in railway carriages a t the shunting s ta ti on on th e line B everen -Roulers, but t.h e Fren ch artillery on the Dix-' mude roa d sh elled and destroyed the c arriages. More troops were brought up a nd, towards evening, th e Germans s ucceeded in forcing their way into the t o"vn. The fi ght was continued in t he streets, but the Fren ch were obliged to r etire. They fell b ack in good order , with all their g uns, and took up n e w positions at E a'3 t Nieu A GERMAN RANGE FINDER. kerke, about three miles to the south-west. Night cam e, and from afar one could see the fi erce' glow of burning Roulers. That night, however', t he to Sir John French that large hostile forces were British advanced from Ypres and camped n ear Moors a d van cing upon him from the east and north led e, with the Fren ch lying n ear the old battlefi eld of R oozebeke. east and that his left Bank was severely threaten ed , but Sir John, now that the 1. Corps At t.he same time as R E\, wlinson's movernen t (Sir Douglas Haig's) was d etraining at St. Omer, on Menin the HI. Corps was to move down the decided that Rawlinson's Corps should run the south b ank of the Lys from Axmentieres t o risk of an attack of the Genn:tns on his Bank. assist the Cavalry Corps to cross to the r ight The ·following account by a Flemish gentle b ank. To do this, the enemy between the man of the fighting rOLmd Roulers to the N orth In. Corps and Lille had first to be vigorollsly east of Ypres on Odober 18 and 19 will h el p pushed back. On the night of the 17 ~h the to explain Sir H. Rawlinson's objections t o IH. Corps and Cavalry Corps 'were being opposed Sir John French's p lan :- by the 19th Saxon Corps, released from Lille About the middle of t his m onth thousa.nds of Germa n after its capture, by at least one division of soldieri' appeared in Roulers. On the doors of the houses t he 7th Corps, and by th~' ee or fOLlr divisions of they ch alked the number of inen to b e bille t.ed uncl eI' each roof. The reqnisit,ion s were numerous-carriages, cavalry . R einforcernents for the enem y were barrow.', horses, cycles; h ay, oats, et c. Everything h ad known to be corningup from the direction of Lille. to be· s upplied so· quickly tha t 1',h e inva ders h ad no time D espit.e the oddi': against him, Pulten ey t.o give coupons. But as a. rewa rd they chalked here a nd there on a hOLlse the words" Good p eople . ' atta cked on the 18th, but h e made little pro . On October 17 the German t roop s m arch ed off in the gress. At njghtfa.ll his 6th Division had taken diJ ec ~ ion of Dixmude, toward:,: the coast., to strengt.h en the German forces between Oste lld and Nie uport. A Radinghem and WRS holding R,adinghem, lJa hundred m en remained in occupation of Rouler.·. E arly Vallee, Emi.etieres, Capinghem., and a point n ext morning, Sunday, the cry " ras h eard along the road 300 yards east of Halte. A woundod soldier to Dix rnude, " The Fren ch are h ere ! " Sev e. nteen French m en appeared from the direction of Ypres and two flours described the at-tRck of Em1etieres to a T im es later 200 Fren ch dragoons followed t hem. They con· correspondent: cealed them selves in a little wood. The hundred Ger m an s in the town got t o know their whereabouts, p e rh ap ~ The ach 'an ce b egan early y cst.erda y morning. The through spies. A skil'mish occurred in the little ,Yood, en emy was drive n out by sh ell fire . They retired towarrls and at 3 o' clock in the a ft ernoon only 40 survivors of Lill e and shelled the v ill age il1 their turn. Not a h a bit the German troops wen.t b a cl-;: t o t.h e town. able h ouse W!},s left- st.a.nding. The Allied t roops The sam e e,-ening m an y French troop ,;; m arch ed int o advanced round the village. under a t errible fire, k l, king the t o,;lil1, and m ore arri ved during the night. Th e ~ r cover under the wall,;; of fact ory buildings. The en e my built in the market-place and the s treets barricad es of h ad t.aken the range of the buildings. · Their fire was m a ttresses, sa.ck s, and barrels. Mitrail le uses . were a ccura t. e. An officer with two companions mounted to stat.ioned behind pilla r-boxes and in the porches of corner tho roof of a factory to make observations. A shrapnel houses. Gllns were p laced in position at one of the sh ell bllrst on t.h em at once, and a ll three wel'C killed, approache::: to the town. .In Lh e vlJlage 500 German dead were found. The cart- THE T IlVlES HISTORY OB' THE WAR. ;)9

ridg:es found upon them were of the old Snider type, . the left wing of Smith-Dorrien's force, which with large lead bullets, som6 flattened at the top. I during the 18th was violently but unsuccess have seen two of them. Infantry succeeded in entl'ench inN themselves on t,he farther side of the village. But fully attacked by the Germans between Lille tb~ir trenches were not more than two feet deep, a nd they and La Bassee. The left of Pulteney's R eserve had to lie full length in them. It was here in the trenches that my informant was wounded. A shrapnel struck the. joined hands with the Cavalry Corps, and, pile of earth in front of him, and a bullet from the bursting beyond the Cavalry Corps on the north bank of shell hit him on the head It, wag a glancing shot, whi~h the Lys, the 7th Infantry Division v,'- as advanc infii ct,ed a sevore scalp wound. Just previously he had seen a shrapnel shell burst immediately over the heads of ing on Menin. ~ ix men. .. They aro gone," he thought. But when t,he On October 19 Sir H. Rawlinson-with smoke had (dea.red away all six rose from the ground, Byng's Cavalry Division on his left-tried to un s~a thed. It is dear that in t.h e operations of the past 'Neek Oll[' carry out Sir John French's orders to drive the ' t,roops have gained much ground. They are now, how enemy through Menin, but the ta8k was beyond eveI', coming int,o touch with the main German position at Lille. Our men are now "digging themselves in" his power. His Corps (tho IV.) was ,",orn out by to hold their gr01.md until t,he necessary reinforcements constant marching and fighting, and the Ger can reach them. mans were in overwhelming force. By 10 a .m. The 1st North Staffordshires were engaged the 7th Cavalry Brigade, attacked by bodies of round \V ez Macquart. A non-cornmissioned the enemy from Ronlers, which had b een officer mentions that a Roman. Catholic Father occupied by the Germans, fell back three 1J?;ave his chum and him. a bottle of wine at quarters of a mile to a strong position. "K " ] 0.30 p.m., which gave them sleep. " May God Battery of the Royal Horse Artillery, ",,-hich had bJ ess him for it," h e observes. been attached to the Briga de, came into action The 4th Division held the line from north of -:\loorslede and rendered great assi.st L 'Epinette to the Lys at a point 400 yards ance. The 6th Cavalry Brigade, with "c" south of Frelinghien and thence to a point on Battery, advanced from St. Pieter and, after the Lys half a mile sonth-east of Le Gheir. a brisk little action captured Ledegehem and The Corps R eserve was at Armentieres station, Rolleghemcappelle. But the enemy frOlll. with its right flanl.;: in touch with Conneau's Ronlers continued to press on, and the 7th C~va.lry Corps. South-west., at. Aubers, began Cavalry Brigade was withdra\\'ll to thf' high

BRITISH MOTOR-AMBULANCE WRECKED BY GERMAN FIRE. 40 THE TIMES HISTORY OF 'lHE vVAR.

ground east of lYIoorslede. This exposed the ' would be turned and the Channel Ports. ·laid flank of the 6th Cavalry Brigade and, as large bare to the en emy. " I judged;" says S ir hostile forces were reported advancing from J'ohn, "that a successful movenlent of this Courtrai, it was ordered to fall back gradually kind [on the part of the Germans] would be on Moorslede and thence to withdraw to fraught with such disastrous consequences that

billets at Poelcapelle. Its retir ement w a::; the risk of , [the n., In., IV. J and Cava l{y covered by the 7th Brigade, which, under heavy Corps] operating oh' so extended a h ont ll111s1i shell fire, retreated to Zonnebek e. The Fren ch be undertaken. ,-;-

took over Passchendaele, north of Zonnebek e. On the evening of the 19th Sir John had f1, The pre3sure of the Germans on B yng h n,d personal interview with Sir Douglas H a ig, itnd decided Sir Henry Rawlinson not to attack the latter was instructed to advance with the J\flenin. "He probably exercised a wise jndg I. Corps through Ypres to ThouroLlt. Hi::; Inent," says Sir John French, "in not corn immediate objective was to b e the capture of nutting his troops to this attRck in their some - Bruges. If Bruges were taken the cornmLUli I \vhat weakened condition; but the result was cations of the German s attacking the line of the that the enemy's continued possession of the Y ser would be cut. \\Then Bruges was captw'ed passage at Menin certainly facilita ted his Sir Douglas was, if possible, to drive the en8my .rapid reinforcernent of his troops, and thus towards Ghent. But it 'was left to lum to rendered any further advance impracticable. " decide after he had traversed Ypres whether Through lVIenin ran the railway from Lille to he would move on Bruges or toward::; the L ys. Roulers, and one from Courtrai. Sir John had arranged for de Mitry's Cavalry The I. Corps (Sir Douglas H a ig's) had com to operate on the left, ancl Byng's Cavalry pleted its detrainment on the 19th and was con Division on the rig ht of the 1st Corps. The centrated between St. Omer and Hazebrouck. 7th ]nfantry Division (Capper's) was to "COrl "A question of vital importance," writes Sir form generally" to the mo\'em ents of the 1. Jolm French, " now arose for decision." To Corps. As for the Cavalry Corps and the I [r. which point of the line of battle should the and Il. Corps on the north and south bank::; of 1. Corps be dispatch ed .? The enemy on the the Lys, they were to remain on the defen. ·i ve. Lys, it was apparent, were in very SLlpel'ior The forces which the en emy had accLIDlulated munbers, a.nd the n., Ill., IV. and the Cavalry on tllf~ ir front precluded any other course. The Corps were holding a much wider front tlJ <.Lll Lahore Division of t,he Indian Expeditiona l',\T their strength wa.rranted. Should the 1. Corps Force 'was arriving in its concentration area in b e sent to the line of the Lys? The objection rear of the n. Corps on Octoner I!) and 21). was that the German :1rd Reserve Corps and The 1. Corps on October 20 reached '" lino at least one Landwehr Division were known to from Elverdingh e to the cross-roads one-a:lcl- c.l. be operating in the l'ogion nor h and east of j-I<.1.1t rniles north-west of Zonnebeke. \\' hy Ypres, and that the enemy were bringing lip Bir Douglas HRig was unable to earry out Sir large reinforcements from the east, which [0[, ,) ohn's plan for the eaptme of Bruges will 1)8 several days could only be opposed by two 0 1' d. escribed In a subsequent number. The three French Cavalry Divisions, the two B a ttle' of Ypres was about to begin; the B attle Territorial Divisions and the B elgictn Army, ot the Y SDr had been in progress for fom. d<1Ys. which was badly in need of a rest after its Tile read er mnst not forget that during th e heroic exertions. 1.Jnless, some substantict l fighting from La B assee to Nieuport the B att.les resistance could be offered on the Yser and of Anas and Roye -Peronne eontinlled to the bet\',:een the Yser and Ypres the Allied fi Rnk sout.h along a line of a bout 100 mile:::;.