Corps' right rested. The fighting was bitter and bloody, so much so that on the 28th the II. Corps, much reduced, had to be relieved by the Indian Corps, under Willcocks.
Meanwhile the French XVI. Corps, which had detrained its leading division on the 26th, was sent forward to reinforce the French IX. Corps S. of Houthulst forest, in order to participate in a new advance in the direction of Roulers. This attack, car- ried out on the 28th, failed to make much progress, and in the evening the French VIII. Army's line, which was held from N. to S. by the 4th Cav. Div., the Sgth and 87th Territorial Divs., the sth and 7th Cav. Divs., the 3ist Div. (XVI. Corps), the IX. Corps, and the 6th Cav. Div., ran from the Yser just above Dixmude by the W. and S. edges of Houthulst forest W. of Poelkapelle and Passchendaele to Becelaere. To the left this line connected with the French Marine Fusiliers at Dixmude; to the right with the British I. Corps. Despite the slight progress made on the 28th, d'Urbal's orders were still for the continuance of the offensive.
Final Stages of the Battle on the Yser, Oct. 26-Nov. 4. We left the Belgians and French on the evening of the 25th, re-form- ing their lines behind the embankment of the Nieuport-Dix- mude railway, with orders to hold that line at all costs until the full effect of the inundation should make itself felt, and forbid any further German attacks. This could hardly be before the 3ist, and meanwhile the III. and XXII. Reserve Corps were bringing up their artillery over the river, pushing forward patrols to occupy the ground up to the new Allied position, and making all preparations for a renewal of the attack. By the evening of the 29th these preparations were completed. Only one bri- gade of the 4th Ersatz Div. was left facing Nieuport, the Marine Div. being brought forward to fill its place; the rest of the Ersatz Div. thus became available for the decisive attack against the Belgian centre. At 6:30 A.M. on the 3oth this assault took place under cover of a violent bombardment. The first rush carried the Germans up to within a few yards of the railway embank- ment; bombing their way forward they swept over it and, taking the defenders in enfilade, drove a wide gap in the Allied line from Ramscapelle to Pcrvyse, both of these villages falling into their hands. The Belgian 2nd Div. was broken through and the situation was critical in the extreme. A counter-attack by four French and Belgian battalions was immediately put in by Gen. Grosetti, commanding the French 42nd Div., and succeeded in holding up the enemy flood. A second counter-attack, delivered about 4 P.M., penetrated into Ramscapelle, where fighting con- tinued to rage furiously all night. On the flanks of the attack the Allied line of defence had held fast, and the 4th Ersatz Div. and the XXII. Reserve Corps had been held up.
The crisis was past. The German intention was to renew the attack on the 3ist, but at 11:30 P.M., as orders to this effect were being prepared, a staff officer from one of the divisions arrived at the headquarters of the III. Reserve Corps with the report that in view of the rise of the river the attack could not be continued. A belt of water 2,000-3,000 yd. wide and reaching as high as a man's waist covered the country behind the German front-line units and threatened to cut them off from their com- rades unless they were hastily withdrawn. Accordingly, on the 3ist the III. Reserve Corps was ordered back to the E. bank of the river, only weak rear parties being left to cover the move- ment. By 9 A.M. the Belgians were once more in possession of Ramscapelle and the railway embankment. Farther to the S. the positions held by the XXII. Corps on the W. bank of the river N. of Dixmude were also menaced by the rising tide of water, and the troops holding them were withdrawn on the night of Nov. i. B.y the morning of the 2nd there were left of all the German gains on the left bank of the Yser only the villages of Schoorbakke and St. Georges and two farms N. of Dixmude.
On either flank of the Allied line where bridgeheads existed over the river, the first days of Nov. saw a series of small attacks with the object of improving the local positions. Such opera- tions took place on Nov. 3 and 4 in the Nieuport sector, when Lombartzyde was occupied temporarily but lost again. A French attack also took place on the 3rd E. of Dixmude, and
others on the 4th against St. Georges and Schoorbakke, but generally speaking, the Germans maintained their positions.
The battle of the Yser, strictly speaking, was over, and the plan of the German Higher Command, to seize the Channel ports and envelop the Allied left flank, had failed thanks to the heroic resistance of the French and Belgian troops. It was estimated that the battle had cost the Belgian army 18,000 casualties, the French some 5,000 (inclusive of the action at Dix- mude on Nov. 10), and the Germans some 28,000.
Crisis of the Battle of Ypres, Oct. 2Q-Nov. 8. In conjunction with the decisive attacks on the Yser line in the N., the German IV. Army was also preparing for a renewal of the assault on the Ypres front. A new army group was formed, under the command of von Fabeck, consisting of the Bavarian II. and the
XV. Corps and the Bavarian 6th Reserve and 26th Div., with some heavy artillery from the VI. Army. This new group, assembling behind the junction of the IV. and VI. Armies, was to come into line on the 28th on the front Wervicq-Deulemont, in order to deliver a decisive attack also on the 3oth. Both the German armies already in line were to cooperate.
Their preparatory attacks commenced on the 29th with ex- treme vigour. The Bavarian 6th Reserve Div., which had pre- ceded the remaining troops of the new group into the battle-line, under cover of the early morning mist drove in the ist and 7th Divs. at their point of junction E. of Gheluvelt. The reserves of the former division threw them back again out of all but the front trenches they had gained; the losses of the assailants were heavy. But this was only the prelude to the drama about to open. During the night of the 29th-3oth the Fabeck group re- lieved part of the VI. Army Cav. in the line and went forward at 9 A.M. next morning. The XV. Corps on the right, moving with its right on the Menin- Ypres road and with its left on Zand- voorde, fell upon the 7th Div. and pushed them out of Zand- voorde after fierce fighting, but were then checked by the I. Corps reserves. On their left the Bavarian II. Corps advanced, and the French XVI. Corps and the British 3rd and 2nd Cav. Divs., after giving up some ground, made head against the enemy just E. of St. Eloi and Wytschaete. The 26th Inf. Div. failed however to dislodge the ist Cav. Div. from Messines; a temporary success by the I. and II. Cav. Corps E. of Ploegsteert wood was retrieved by the 4th Div., and the XIX. Corps also failed to hold their gains at Bois Grenier, against the 6th Div.
The situation of the British, despite the fact that they had for the moment held their front intact, gave rise naturally to considerable anxiety at French's headquarters and the promise of Foch, who visited French at 2 A.M. on the next morning, to dispatch strong reinforcements to the I. Corps on the morrow, must have been very welcome. It was agreed that a French force of five battalions and three batteries under Moussy should be put in near Hollebeke, and another detachment at Becelaere; while the 32nd Div. would be sent to support the cavalry astride the Ypres-Comines canal. Before these forces could be brought up on the 3ist, the enemy renewed his assaults. The 4th Div. in the S. was first attacked shortly after dawn; the action soon spread to the N., where the 26th Inf. Div. strove with the British Cav. Corps for the possession of Messines. The village was lost at 9 A.M., re-entered at i P.M., disputed hotly till dark and finally left in British hands. Farther to the N. the Bavarian 6th Re- serve Div. vainly assailed the front of the 2nd and 3rd Cav. Divs., whose sector was taken over before long by the French
XVI. Corps; but though the latter on their part delivered a series of counter-attacks, they were unable to achieve much.
The main crisis of the battle, however, was played out N. of the Ypres-Comines canal. Here the Bavarian II. and the XV. Corps had, as early as 10:30 A.M., forced back the ist Div. front N. of the Menin roacj and followed this up by a strong attack along the road itself. Eight battalions employed against Ghelu- velt quickly overmastered the two battalions in garrison there, and by i :3O P.M. had seized the village and driven a gap in the British line. The situation was perilous in the extreme; the left of the 7th Div. was enveloped, and the right of the ist Div. forced back in disorder down the Menin road. At the same time
