effort in which the place of honor was assigned
to the corps d'elite of the German army.

"It must be admitted that the Guard Corps has retained that reputation
for courage and contempt of death which it earned in 1870, when
Emperor William I, after the battle of Gravelotte, wrote: 'My Guard
has formed its grave in front of St. Privat,' and the swarms of
men who came up bravely to the British rifles in the woods around
Ypres repeated the tactics of forty-four years ago, when their
dense columns, toiling up the slopes of St. Privat, melted away
under the fire of the French."

Ypres was now but a name. Nothing but a mass of ruins reminded
the world of its previous quaint splendor. For Ypres had been rich
in historic buildings and monuments of past days.

With the fall of Antwerp the Germans had made every effort to push
forward strong forces toward the west and had hastened to bring up
new army corps which had been hurriedly organized, their object
being to drive the Allies out of Belgium and break through to Dunkirk
and Calais. Altogether they collected 250,000 fresh men. Eventually
the Germans had north of La Bassee about fourteen corps and eight
cavalry divisions, a force of 750,000 men, with which to attempt
to drive the Allies into the sea. In addition there was immensely
powerful armament and heavy siege artillery, which also had been
brought up from around Antwerp. But in spite of these strong forces
it became clearly evident by the middle of November that the attempt
to break through to Calais had failed for the time being. The flooding
of the Yser marks the end of the main struggle for Calais. The battle
fronts had shifted. Between them there was a mile or two of mud and
water. The Belgians had lost a quarter of their effectives. The
Germans had evacuated the west bank of the Yser and were obliged
to return to the point from which they had started.

* * * * *

CHAPTER XXVIII

ATTACKS ON LA BASSEE AND ARRAS

While the engagement on the Yser was in progress in October, 1914,
fierce fighting was kept up in the second section of the battle
front, pivoting on Givenchy to the south and running east to the
north of the La Bassee-Lille road. In this section the forces of
the Crown Prince of Bavaria opposed the troops under the command
of General Smith-Dorrien.

From October 1 to 3, 1914, considerable fighting went on in the
flats east of Arras between Lens and the River Scarpe.