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The front ran along the Yser river (IJzer) and Yser Canal (Ieperlee) in the far north-west of Belgium and defended a small strip of the country which remained unoccupied. The front was established following the Battle of the Yser in October 1914, when the Belgian army succeeded in stopping the German advance after months of retreat and remained ...
The Battle of the Yser (French: Bataille de l'Yser, Dutch: Slag om de IJzer) was a battle of the First World War that took place in October 1914 between the towns of Nieuwpoort and Diksmuide, along a 35 km (22 mi) stretch of the Yser River and the Yperlee Canal, in Belgium. [4]
The Belgian fortifications on the Yser Front along the canal bank consisted of a trench and a series of bunkers, all designed to halt the German advance. To the north of the Belgian fortifications is an area where the German army successfully crossed the Yser Canal and erected a concrete bunker, only a few yards away from where the Belgian army ...
The Germans had nothing to gain from an attack, so the short Belgian front was an island of relative calm as gigantic battles raged elsewhere on the Western Front. The total of Belgian soldiers killed came to about 2.0% of its eligible young men (compared to 13.3% in France and 12.5% in Germany).
Yser front, 1914 The Battle of the Yser took place in October 1914 along a 35 km (22 mi) long stretch of the Yser river and Yperlee canal in Belgium. [ 44 ] On 15 October c. 50,000 Belgian troops ended their retreat from Antwerp and took post between Nieuwpoort and French Fusiliers Marins at Diksmuide, which marked the end of the "Race to the Sea".
He was promoted to major-general in November and, in 1915, was given command of the 1st Army Division in the Steenstrate section of the Yser Front. [2] During an inspection of his troops at the front in September 1915, he was severely wounded by an enemy artillery shell but returned to service after just two months' convalescence. [2]
In the centre of the front was a 2,000 yd (1.1 mi; 1.8 km) stretch with no crossing over the Yser; no man's land was 65–80 yd (59–73 m) wide. [12] There was very little cover for artillery in the area and machine-guns were vulnerable to stoppages from wind-blown sand. [13]
The Yser Testament (Dutch: IJzertestament), officially entitled Open Letter to the King of the Belgians Albert I (Dutch: Open brief aan den Koning der Belgen Albert I) [a], was an 11-page open letter addressed to King Albert I and published on 11 July 1917 [b] during World War I. [1]