r, north of
Ypres, to the coast of the channel. For Ostend, too, had fallen into
their hands by October 15, after the English and Belgian troops had
been taken away by an English fleet; the Belgians were transported
to France where they were re-formed while the English marines were
sent back to England.

In the meantime the Germans were drawing on reenforcements from
the Vosges and the Champagne districts and every day their numbers
increased. West Flanders was swarming with German cavalry, and
about this time they were as far west as Hazebrouck and Cassel,
and only twenty-five miles distant from Dunkirk.

By October 20, 1914, the allied line was in position from Albert
to the sea, a little short of 100 miles, eighty as the crow flies.
From south to north the allied front was commanded by General Maud'huy
from Albert to Vermelles; General Smith-Dorrien from Vermelles
to Laventie, opposite Lille; General Poultney, from Laventie to
Messines; General Haig from Messines to Bixschoote; General de
Mitry had French and Belgian mixed troops defending the line from
Bixschoote to Nieuport and the sea, supported by an English and
French fleet.

For days this fleet under the British Admiral Hood had shelled the
coast defenses under General von Beseler's command. As the naval
guns had a far better range than General von Beseler's artillery,
it was an easy matter to hold the coast at Nieuport Bains, and even
six miles inland without subjecting any of the ships to the fire
of the German guns.

On the German side General von Buelow held the front against General
Maud'huy, the Bavarian Crown Prince against General Smith-Dorrien,
while the Duke of Wuerttemberg commanded the forces on the balance
of the line to the sea. It is estimated that upward of thirty army
corps covered the German front.

Throughout the balance of October, 1914, and well into November,
1914, a great many different actions and some of the heaviest fighting
of this period took place all along this line. On the 21st the new
German formations pressed forward in great force all along the
line. On the south of the Lys the Germans assaulted Violaines.
On the north of the Lys in the English center a fiercely contested
action took place near La Gheir, which village the Germans captured
in the morning. The German Twenty-sixth Reserve Corps pressed on
to Passchendale, where they met with stout resistance from the
English-Belgian forces.

On October 22, 1914, the Germ