by Paul Van Pul
On this matter Foch could offer King Albert some solace: if the Belgians could resist another forty-eight hours on the Yser he promised help. At 8:00 a.m. Joffre had cabled Foch that he proposed sending an active division to the north and by lunchtime: ‘The 42nd Division will detrain in Dunkirk starting the 19th …’
All in all Foch was quite disappointed about this first visit to Belgian High Command. His flamboyant theories on warfare collided with the common sense of a rather timid young man, not even a soldier by profession. His temper rose anew, his impressive theatrical personality once again took over and he attempted to inject a feeling of patriotism by stating:
Nations that want to live need to defend themselves. The world would not understand that the Belgian Army would not be at our side at the very moment that we are to embark upon the conquest of Belgium. I myself, a Soldier of the Republic, I can assure Your Majesty that our cause is a just and exalted one and that Providence will grant us victory. 2
After this emotional outburst Foch took his leave. It seems that the king shortly afterwards made the tactful remark to Colonel Brécard: ‘I am happy to hear a French general talk like this.’
The general’s quick-tempered, theatrical behaviour did not evoke the same emotions with the Belgian king as it did with Foch’s own fellow officers. The monarch nevertheless was impressed with his sincere determination. It provided a much-needed boost to the royal morale.
In France itself the General Staff did not share King Albert’s premonition of an imminent major German push along the Belgian coast. On the opposite side of the Flanders’ front line though, the same day Duke Albrecht von Württemberg, Commander of the newly formed Fourth German Army, assigned the specific objectives to his different army corps.
It was a German custom that prominent members of the German Royal Houses led some of the different armies, in name at least. Although the orders came straight from German, or rather Prussian, High Command sometimes the leading royal would overrule these orders at his own army headquarters and have ‘his’ army act independently, much to the displeasure of the Heeresleitung and sometimes even to the detriment of the overall conduct of the war.
The goals of Duke Albrecht’s Fourth German Army were to be reached within three days, by 19 October. The 3rd German Reserve Army Corps, still in the Bruges area, was to head towards Dunkirk while the 22nd Reserve Army Corps was to follow behind and reach the Yser between Nieuport and Dixmude. The 23rd, east of Thielt, was to arrive halfway between Dixmude and Roulers while the 26th and 27th were to converge 10km east of Ypres. German High Command saw this as the ultimate move to outflank the British army. Evidently speed was of the essence.
If Foch had been able to read the German Orders he would undoubtedly have sided with King Albert. The weary Belgians had still some very difficult days ahead.
It is interesting in this regard to note that Lieutenant André Tardieu depicted a remarkable scene related to these eternal ‘outflanking manoeuvres’ by both sides in the conflict. One late afternoon in October, Foch, dragging Tardieu by the arm towards the muddy fields, said:
Let’s have a walk! In all this confusion we had better refresh our minds by a walk in the open air. Did you notice that since the beginning of the war, we, just like the Germans, are always late? Without these delays the war would have been over by now. Because of them, the war continues. They sent me here to manoeuvre, but late. I do what I can, but it is not brilliant. This endless alignment of opposing forces bores me.
In the evening, back in Doullens, Foch had time to sit down and write his daily report to the Generalissimo. First he described his meeting with Sir John French in St Omer and then his inspection of the defence of Dunkirk. On his visit to Furnes he could confirm the measures taken by the king in order to prepare a stubborn defence of the Yser line. He added: ‘The King and the President of the Cabinet [Baron de Broqueville] … have understood that these days it is Belgium’s existence that is at stake.’
Apparently Foch saw himself as having finally succeeded in convincing the Belgians that in order for their country to have any future they had to stick to their guns on their own soil.
Although he knew from Joffre that the 42nd Infantry Division would arrive in Dunkirk from 19 October onwards and could be used to reinforce the Belgian Army, his explanation on the matter was ambiguous: ‘Albeit this is not indispensable, I would have reinforced the [Belgian] left with a quality unit, if I had it available. I only had a territorial division. It seemed to me, in everyone’s interest, that it was better to put nothing.’Or was it perhaps a matter of ‘… let them suffer a bit longer’?
Then he continued with an overview of the French forces in the region: Ypres on the right, Dixmude in the centre and Dunkirk on the left. That Dunkirk, and not the Belgians, was indeed his main concern we learn from his postscript: ‘Yet, if you do possess troops of real value to put on the Belgian left, they will do well from all points of view.’
From a second report to Joffre, the same evening, we can conclude that Foch leaned heavily on the patriotic sense of the Belgians to resist along the Yser River. As an alternative he could always count on the Dunkirk defence and have the Belgians eventually fall back on an inland position between Ypres and Dunkirk.
The ‘Belgian left’ was, of course, the coastal area with the main road from Ostend to Dunkirk. This narrow strip of sandy high ground along the shore was now indeed the most vulnerable sector of the Dunkirk defence and the obvious route for a large scale German assault on the French port city. Directing the Belgians away from here, towards Ypres, would allow Foch to have the defence of this dry land taken over by French troops.
At General Headquarters in Furnes, the staff officers could heave a sigh of relief. The German columns that had reached the line Ostend/Roulers on the 15th, had seemingly not moved on the 16th. Only a light unit had advanced on Dixmude but had been beaten back by the fusiliers marins and two Belgian units. A bizarre incident nonetheless happened just outside Dixmude. It ties in with the mysterious ‘royal telephone call’ of 13 October after which the installations of the Deynze railway station had been blown up by Belgian engineers.
The French Marine Fusiliers, patrolling the railway near Dixmude suddenly witnessed a locomotive pulling three cars coming from enemy lines. At great speed the train rammed a lone locomotive abandoned in the station. As a result two of the carriages jumped the tracks and rolled over. After careful examination of the steaming wreckage the machine proved to be unmanned, but a note was found, apparently written by a soldier taken prisoner by the enemy. It read that 50,000 to 60,000 Germans were marching west.
Rolling stock was not only used as a weapon but was also a target. Here we see a few destroyed cars on a Belgian track apparently far behind the front line. The load consisted apparently of steel pipes. Victim of an aerial bombardment?
Thys Family Archive.
The 16 October was also Second Lieutenant Lucien François’ first day as commander of the engineer’s detachment at the lock complex in Nieuport. Since their arrival on 14 October, the engineer troops had been billeted in the house of the lock-master. In the ensuing days, as the defence of the bridgehead north of Nieuport was taking definite shape, François received several orders related to the destruction of the various passages across the different waterways. Also any equipment in the surroundings that the enemy might seize to attempt a crossing, like barges or rafts, was to be destroyed.
At some point François had an argument with a Belgian artillery officer who was supposed to retreat across the bridges with his gun battery. The officer maintained that he would not let certain barges be sunk for he wanted to keep them in reserve in case he had to withdraw in another direction than the one that had been assigned to him. Did he perhaps expect to be evacuated by sea? François nevertheless had the vessels later destroyed by Corporal Ballon.
Furthermore he got listings of the various army units that had to return from the bridgehead before any demolition could take p
lace.
The remaining citizens of Nieuport saw a bleak future in front of them. The Reverend Father Jules Vermeulen expressed their feelings as follows:
On Friday the sixteenth the Germans arrived in Westende and immediately started digging trenches between Westende and Lombartzyde. They had let the Germans pass, without a fight, in Ghent, Bruges and Ostend. We thought that they would let them through in Nieuport also without fighting. But no, the Army Brass decided to halt the Germans, at least for some time, at the Yser.
This was the death sentence for Nieuport. As in previous centuries the town would again be the sacrifice for the well-being of the country. The bridges were turned, trenches were dug in all the streets, and machine guns were installed on the quays and near the locks. Nieuport was put in a state of defence.
The next day a German high-level meeting took place in occupied Ghent, the ancient capital of the Counts of Flanders. Three high commanders and their respective chiefs-of-staff came to discuss the various options open to them in Flanders. General Erich von Falkenhayn, Chief of the Oberste Heeresleitung, presided over the gathering together with Duke Albrecht von Württemberg, Commander of the Fourth Army and Crown Prince Rupprecht von Bayern,3 commanding the Sixth Army. Since the middle of September von Falkenhayn had taken over as Chief of the General Staff from Count von Moltke the younger.
The Sixth Army, between Arras and Ypres, was facing the British while the newly formed Fourth Army was to advance between Ypres and the Channel Coast. Depending on the actions of the BEF both German armies would react differently. If the British continued their flanking manoeuvre east, the Sixth Army would hold its position and the Fourth Army would run into the British flank from the north.
If, on the other hand, the BEF turned north to face the Fourth Army, the Sixth Army would go on the offensive and try to separate the British from the French. The last possibility, a British retreat, would be answered by the Sixth Army with a pursuit along the upper Lys River while the Fourth Army would push south into the British flank.
Evidently the Germans did not reckon with the presence of the Belgian Army. It had been withdrawing, albeit slowly and reluctantly, since the beginning of the war and it was expected to continue to do so.
Along the Yser front line on 17 October it was another day without widespread German action. Only sporadic bombardment of Dixmude in the south reminded everyone of the proximity of the enemy. In spite of the cold the soldiers were relieved that the rain of the previous days had stopped. Now at least their shivering bodies stayed dry. But there was mud everywhere the men turned. The heavy wet clay stuck to every object that came in contact with it. Digging or walking, it was all a gruellingly slow affair, so it was no surprise that in the relative quiet of the flat and naked countryside one could hear men, painfully bent over, swearing and gasping for air.
At 08:30 King Albert left La Panne for Furnes. Here the news coming in from the front line was more upbeat. Three French cavalry divisions had occupied the north and south side of Houthulst Wood supported by the Belgian First Cavalry Division. Meanwhile a British cavalry division was operating south-west of Roulers. But the enemy was definitely getting near. Information arrived at General Headquarters that the Fourth Ersatz Division was marching from Ostend towards Lombartzyde while the Fifth Reserve Division was on a parallel course but more to the east. The Sixth Reserve Division was concentrating 7km east of Dixmude. Further messages warned of major westbound troop movements inland.
During the day separate intelligence reports arrived in Furnes from the French and British armies that a new German Fourth Army was in formation in Flanders, to march between the North Sea coast and the Lys.
General Foch, finally realizing that a major battle was soon to erupt in the north, decided that the 42nd Infantry Division would be sent to reinforce the Belgian left flank.
16 & 17 October
He also informed Belgian General Headquarters that he would strengthen his territorials behind the Ypres Canal. This news allowed the Belgians to withdraw their Fifth Army Division from the canal and bring it in reserve west of Dixmude. As a result the Belgian sector was shortened by some 7km and every kilometre less was a saving in precious manpower.
Now that the defence of the river and the bridgehead north of Nieuport in particular was taking shape, the military became ever more nervous about the presence of the locksmen in this strategic location. It was felt that these civilians apparently did not realize that soon their lives and that of their families would be in danger.
Father Vermeulen:
Saturday October 17 the cannons began to roar. Our guns were located partly along the river at St-Georges, partly by the Groenendyke and partly along the Yser channel between Nieuport and the sea. Added to our guns came the British war fleet that made our whole city tremble and shake.
Until then the people of Nieuport had not worried that much. They hoped that Nieuport would be spared as an open city and that they would shoot at each other over the city and next to it.
But in the afternoon the burgomaster got the following letter from the general of the Belgian Army, sector of Nieuport.
My dear Burgomaster,
I regret to inform you that the Germans will bombard your city and that perhaps our troops will do likewise to stop the enemy entering. As a result I urge you to immediately leave or, if this is not possible, to take refuge in a cellar as soon as the first shells starts to fall.
Yours sincerely etc.
(Signed: Daufresne)
With the thunder of the German guns drawing nearer, the restrictions on Dingens and his men became tighter. Officers, sometimes even soldiers, kept on telling them: ‘Why are you still here? Leave! It is getting dangerous! We took over the locks, there is nothing more you can do.’ But the lockmaster would not give up that easily. These were ‘his’ locks. ‘Don’t try to save your furniture,’ they would say to him, ‘but save your life! Come back in eight days when the battle will be over.’
At the end of 1914 this was, of course, still the prevailing idea of the military on both sides of the conflict and even the population in general. This was a war in motion. The enemy would eventually be stopped somewhere and then be thrown back quickly. This general state of mind explains a lot of situations and the decisions that were taken at the time.
In the city itself the army engineers were taking precautionary measures. The large brick towers were excellent reference points for the German artillery and could not be left standing. The fourteenth century tower of the Grain Hall was the first on the list to go. But the engineers underestimated the strength of the old brickwork. After a first set of charges had been detonated and the smoke had cleared there appeared to be a series of large holes in the tower but the structure was still proudly standing. At noon, after a second set of charges had been installed and detonated the tower gave way and toppled with a thundering noise onto the Market Square.
The Gothic Grain Hall in Nieuport at the end of 1914. Like the other Belgian front-line cities of Ypres and Dixmude, Nieuport too was totally flattened by the end of the war. Today the buildings around the Market Square have been rebuilt and reflect their prewar splendour.
Thys Family Archive.
In the afternoon work on the 300 year old church tower started. All the citizens who had not yet fled crowded together to view the spectacle. But again the engineers did not live up to their name. It took them several attempts before finally, around 18:00 the church tower and its beautiful carillon came down with a horrifying crash. A lot of the worried spectators, mainly the elder ones could not but brush away a tear. The Grim Reaper was floating over the doomed city.
At noon on 17th a message arrived from Sir John French indicating that 6,000 of the enemy were advancing on Nieuport from Ostend. The Field Marshal also anxiously inquired about the arrival of the monitors.
There was genuine British apprehension that the Germans would move troops by sea to La Panne in order to bypass the front line on the Yser. As we have
seen the Belgians, who knew the local topography better, did not worry about such a possibility.
In the afternoon the first cruisers and destroyers of the Dover flotilla arrived off the coast of Nieuport. By 15:00 the three monitors too were able to set sail.
The brand new, ex-Brazilian monitors had been re-named Humber, Mersey and Severn. Although their shallow draught and low freeboard excluded them from navigating in rough seas this characteristic proved to be their main advantage for this type of operation. With their draught of 1.5m they could easily come to within a few hundred metres of the low-water line along the shallow Belgian shoreline and shell with deadly accuracy German positions 4 and 5km inland. This flotilla posed a formidable threat to the Germans. Their efficient and constant bombardment, especially in front of the Second Army Division, would soon force the Germans to shift their main attacks more inland. All in all it was a welcome support to the Belgians, dangerously short of capable heavy artillery.
HMS Humber (ex-Javary)