occupied it with slight resistance from the
Belgian army, which was reforming its broken ranks to the south, between
Ostend and the French frontier, and preparing to contest the passage of
the Kaiser's forces across the River Yser. Moving northward from Lille,
the Allies encountered the Germans at Armentieres, which was occupied
by a Franco-British force and there was also fierce fighting at Ypres,
where there is a canal to the sea. For more than a week the Belgians
gallantly held the banks of the Yser in spite of the utmost endeavors of
the Germans to cross, and it was not until October 24 that the latter
finally succeeded in getting south of the river, with the French seaport
of Dunkirk as their next objective point. Bloody engagements were fought
at Nieuport, Dixmude, Deynze and La Bassee.

At this time the battle line formed almost a perpendicular from Noyon in
France north to the Belgian coast, south of Ostend. A battle raged for
several days in West Flanders and Northern France and both sides claimed
successes. The losses of the Allies and the Germans were estimated
in the thousands and the wounded were sent back to the rear by the
trainful. In the Flemish territory the flat nature of the terrain, with
its numerous canals and almost total absence of natural cover, made
the losses especially severe. The passage of the Yser cost the Germans
dearly and Dixmude was strewn with their dead. And their advance could
get no farther.

The necessity of holding the French ports, Dunkirk and Calais, was
fully realized by the Allies, who threw large reinforcements into their
northern line. The Germans also drew heavily on their center and left
wing to reinforce the right, and for a while the forces opposing one
another at the extreme western end of the battle front were greater than
at any other point. The Germans were firmly held on a line running from
south of Ostend to Thourout, Roulers and Menin, the last mentioned place
being on the border north of Lille. Flanking attacks being no longer
possible, as the western flanks of both armies rested on the North Sea,
the Germans were compelled to make a frontal assault along the line
formed by the Belgian frontier. As the Belgian troops, assisted by
a British naval brigade, were pushed back from the Yser, they were
gradually merged into the army of the allies, by whom they were received
with the honors due the men who had made, for twelve long weeks, such
a gallant and determined