he British forces were co-operating with
General Maunoury's Sixth French Army on their left. The so-called race
for the sea was, in fact, a race for the flank of the opposing army. On
the 20th of September De Castelnau's army formed up on the left of
Maunoury and at first made some progress, but was pushed back by the
reinforced army of General von Buelow, and was held on a line extending
from Ribecourt on the Oise to Albert. On the 30th of September General
Maud'huy's army came into position on the left of De Castelnau, along a
line extending from Albert to Lens, while at the same time cavalry and
territorials occupied Lille and Douai on the German right. This army in
its turn was opposed by the German Sixth Army sent up from Metz, which
pushed the French behind Arras, occupied Lens and Douai, and began to
shell Lille. General Maud'huy could do no more than fight to hold his
ground till another army should come to his relief on his left. For this
purpose the British army was shifted from the Aisne to its natural
position in defence of the Channel ports, and came into action along a
line extending northwards from La Bassee. The actual line was fixed by
a series of fierce engagements culminating in the battles of Ypres,
1914.

The Allied plan was to hold the French and Belgian coast and to take the
offensive in the north. With this purpose in view the Seventh Division
of the British army and the Third Cavalry Division, both of which came
under the command of Sir Henry Rawlinson, were disembarked, from the 6th
of October onward, at Zeebrugge and Ostend. But Antwerp was taken by the
Germans on the 9th of October, and the first business of this famous
force was to cover the Belgian retreat along the coast. The German
Fourth Army was being rapidly pushed forward into Belgium; Lille
capitulated on the 13th of October; Zeebrugge and Ostend were occupied
by the Germans on the 15th. Still the idea of a counter-offensive was
not abandoned, and the works and defences of Zeebrugge were left intact
in the hope of its speedy recapture. On the night of the 1st of October
the British army had begun to move northwards from the Aisne. By the 9th
of October the British Second Corps had detrained at Abbeville and
received orders to march on Bethune; on the 12th the Third Corps began
detraining and concentrating at St.-Omer and Hazebrouck, and
subsequently moved up to Bailleul and Armentieres. A week later, on the
19th, the First Corps unde