. Battlefields of the World War, western and southern fronts; a study in military geography . on. If these two for-midable natural obstacles could be conquered, the Channel portsmight be seized, direct communication between England and theContinent endangered, and the left wing of the Allies rolled up orforced to fall back on the Artois upland. In the latter case theAllied line would form a dangerous strategic salient with its apexnear Arras, which, broken at any point by a German offensive,would compel an Allied withdrawal to the line of the Somme. 3 Military Operations of Belgium in Defence
. Battlefields of the World War, western and southern fronts; a study in military geography . on. If these two for-midable natural obstacles could be conquered, the Channel portsmight be seized, direct communication between England and theContinent endangered, and the left wing of the Allies rolled up orforced to fall back on the Artois upland. In the latter case theAllied line would form a dangerous strategic salient with its apexnear Arras, which, broken at any point by a German offensive,would compel an Allied withdrawal to the line of the Somme. 3 Military Operations of Belgium in Defence of the Country and To Uphold HerNeutrality: Report Compiled by the Commander-in-Chief of the Belgian Army forthe Period July 31st to December 31st, 1914, London, 1915, p. 65. 56 BATTLEFIELD OF FLANDERS Thus the German line would be greatly shortened and the fertilefields of Picardy added to the German holdings. The way for anadvance on Paris would once more lie open. The first attack was directed against the line of the Yser fromDixmude to the sea at Nieuport, and both Belgians and French. Fig. 22—The Yser barrier, showing the three main lines ofresistance: the Yser River, the Noord Vaart-Groote Bever-dyk stream, and the Dixmude-Nieuport railway embank-ment. All the area from the railway embankment to a lineeast of the Yser River was ultimately flooded. «quickly concentrated the bulk of their available forces behindthis part of the barrier to meet the shock. A report by the Com-mander-in-Chief of the Belgian army on the Military Operationsof Belgium describes the Yser line as an excellent defensiveposition and tactically a strong one. The left flank rested onthe sea, which was in friendly hands and where the submergedbanks off Nieuport offered fair shelter to a fleet engaged in sup-porting land operations by its fire. The river itself was about 65 BATTLE OF THE YSER 57 feet wide, diked on both sides, and passable only by bridge orboat. Fortunately the western bank commanded
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Keywords: ., boo, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, booksubjectworldwar19141918
