ecause it held the sluices and
locks which regulated the overflowing of the Yser territory. If the
means of flooding the land could not be seized, the next best thing
to do was to wreck them.

The Belgians, in the meantime, assumed the offensive, their left being
protected by the Allied fleet and the French forces in the
neighborhood of Nieuport. These troops captured one of the smaller
forts east of Lombartzyde on March 11, 1915. There was also fighting
at Schoorbakke, north of the Yser loop, where the German trenches were
shelled by French artillery. This was on the eastern border of the
inundated section. After destroying the German front in the graveyard
at Dixmude, the French artillerists battered a German convoy on its
way between Dixmude and Essen on March 17, 1915. By March 23 the east
bank of the Yser held a Belgian division. In fact, from Dixmude to the
sea the Allied troops were advancing.

The Germans, however, advanced south of Dixmude. On April 1, 1915,
they shelled the farms and villages west of the Yser and the Yperlee
Canals, and took the Driegrachten farm. Thereupon the Germans crossed
the canal with three machine guns. Their plan was to proceed along the
border of the inundated district to Furnes. But the French balked the
plan by shelling the farm, and the Belgians finished the work by
driving the Germans back to Mercken on April 6, 1915.

In the meantime, from March 15 to April 17, 1915, the bombardment of
Ypres was continued, destroying most of the remaining buildings there.
Engagements of importance had not as yet started on the British front.
The British had a supply of shrapnel, and the British and French
cannon, as well as the rifle-and machine-gun fire, held the Germans in
check until they had time to perfect their plans for a vigorous
offensive. Nevertheless the British needed a much larger supply of
ammunition before they could start on a determined campaign, which was
so much desired by the troops. One of the German headquarters,
however, was shelled effectively by the British on April 1, 1915, and
on the following day mortars in the trenches did considerable damage
in the Wood of Ploegsteert. A mine blew up a hundred yards of the
trenches that were opposite Quinchy, a village to the south of
Givenchy, on April 3, 1915. To offset this the Germans bombarded the
British line at that point. They also shelled Fleurbaix, which is
three miles southwest of Armentieres, on April 5, 1915. The Bri