The attack of the 4th Ersatz Division on Nieuport had failed, partly on account of the flanking fire from Admiral Hood's flo tilla; while that of the XXII. Corps against the bridgehead at Dixmude had been checked by Meiser's Brigade. But in the night of the 21 st-22nd the 6th Reserve Division made a surprise cross ing of the Yser in the Tervaete salient and threw over 21 bat talions to the west bank. Concentrated artillery fire prevented the division from making any progress on the 22nd, but a gallant counter-attack, in which four battalions of grenadiers and cara bineers faced death with superb indifference, broke down com pletely under their machine-gun fire, owing to the exposed nature of the ground. The following night the Germans passed a second regiment into the bend without, however, extending their ground.
On the 24th, the whole of the III. Reserve Corps and half of the 44th Reserve Division, covered by a bombardment from io heavy howitzer batteries and i5o field guns, broke through the front at St. Georges-Tervaete, only to find the Belgians deployed behind the Nieuport-Dixmude railway embankment, together with the French 42nd Division which had arrived in the meantime.
Finding themselves checked in this direction, the Germans re newed their attack on Dixmude. After a four hours' bombardment (in which 21 and 42 cm. howitzers were employed amongst others) which turned the town into a mass of burning ruins, the 43rd Reserve Division delivered its assault at midnight, driving its guns through the middle of—and even in advance of—its infantry. In spite of a threefold attempt it was completely re pulsed by the 12th Belgian Regiment, assisted by some French companies of marines. A new attack on the night of the 25th
26th met with the same fate.
Opening of the Nieuport Sluices.—The battle had been in progress for eight days. Over a total of 48,000 rifles the losses amounted to 15,000 in all ranks. Many guns had been put out of action, by excessive use of rapid fire ; the munitions were nearly exhausted, the men at the end of their tether. Neither the British nor the French, both hard pressed at Bixscoote, Lange marck and Zonnebeke, were able to send reinforcements. Having no reserves, the Belgian commander decided to call in the sea to his assistance.
On the 26th and 27th all the pioneers were set to stop up the 22 culverts of the Nieuport-Dixmude railway embankment so as to prevent the liberating tide from invading the Belgian posi tions. On the 27th at dawn a first attempt by the sluice of the Furnes canal, at high tide, failed to yield an effective result. Fresh attempts on the 28th and 29th proved that the inflow of water from this canal was too slight and too slow. Actually, another sluice, that of the Noordvaart, promised a larger delivery but as it lay in No Man's Land its utilization appeared hazardous. Fortunately, the Germans—also being weary—remained rela tively quiet during that time. On the 29th, however, their artillery blazed forth again, and it seemed that a new attack was imminent. The Belgian command, acting on information from a waterman named Geeraert, determined on an audacious coup. During the night a party of pioneers opened the Noordvaart sluice under the noses of the enemy. Driven by a strong gale the sea water rushed through in a flood. At dawn on the 30th, the three divisions of Beseler's corps attacked along the line of the railway, taking possession finally of Ramscapelle and Pervyse ; but the drains were now overflowing; the flooded meadows soon made it impos sible for the Germans to advance or even to stay; no alternative was left to them but a hasty retreat. The battle of the Yser was won and The left flank of the Allies definitely saved. Checked along the coast line, the Germans moved the weight of their attack farther inland and made their desperate assault on Ypres. The Belgian army, in scrupulous observance of the spirit of the obli gations of neutrality, had, from Aug. 4 to Oct. 31, 1914, gloriously defended its honour, paying the price with its blood and also with the loss of practically the whole of its territory. (See also YPRES, BATTLES OF, See Tasnier and Van Overstraeten, L'armie beige dans la guerre Mondiale (1926). See also WORLD WAR: BIBLIOGRAPHY.