h.dirix
The insane war, 1914-1918....... Part7
What the town of Ypres was for the British, the Yzer was to the Belgians.
The Yzer is the only river in Belgium that flows into the North-Sea and the basin is surrounded by lowlands.
After several attacks by the German Army, known as the battle of the Yzer, there was fierce fighting for possesion of the Diksmuide-Nieuwpoort railway embankment.
However, the Belgian and French army managed to push back the German army further and further.
In the night of 29 to 30 october, the sea locks in the coastal town of Nieuwpoort were opened to ward off new attacks by the German army and during flood the entire vast polder was flooded.When the polder had turned into an immense and inaccessible expanse of water, the German army reached a stalemate.
The front on the Yzer was deadlocked and the German emporer left the Yser front discouraged, because he had not succeeded in capturing the sea ports of Nieuwpoort and Zeebrugge.
The armies dug into trenches and bombarded each other constantly, gaining not any meter ground.
The cities of Ramskapelle, Nieuwpoort and Diksmuide were incessantly taken under heavy artillery fire and were thus shot to rubble.
Among other things, the German super gun "Langer Max" was used for this heavy bombings.
Everything in the battle of the Yzer shows also insanity and lack of strategic insight because it was abandantly clear that the seaports were not to be captured in any way!
40.000 Belgians and 15.000 French soldiers lost their lives on the Yzer front.
What we see in the picture is a command post of a battery of howitsers of the Belgian army that was then in the middle of the indunation.
On the roof of the bunker lie the so-called "Vaderlanderkes", jute sacks filled with sand an clay that offered some protection against shell impacts.
It was an extremely comfortable hiding place at a good distance from the front with sleeping accomodation and electric supply, a luxury that the average front soldier could not claim....
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
The insane war, 1914-1918....... Part7
What the town of Ypres was for the British, the Yzer was to the Belgians.
The Yzer is the only river in Belgium that flows into the North-Sea and the basin is surrounded by lowlands.
After several attacks by the German Army, known as the battle of the Yzer, there was fierce fighting for possesion of the Diksmuide-Nieuwpoort railway embankment.
However, the Belgian and French army managed to push back the German army further and further.
In the night of 29 to 30 october, the sea locks in the coastal town of Nieuwpoort were opened to ward off new attacks by the German army and during flood the entire vast polder was flooded.When the polder had turned into an immense and inaccessible expanse of water, the German army reached a stalemate.
The front on the Yzer was deadlocked and the German emporer left the Yser front discouraged, because he had not succeeded in capturing the sea ports of Nieuwpoort and Zeebrugge.
The armies dug into trenches and bombarded each other constantly, gaining not any meter ground.
The cities of Ramskapelle, Nieuwpoort and Diksmuide were incessantly taken under heavy artillery fire and were thus shot to rubble.
Among other things, the German super gun "Langer Max" was used for this heavy bombings.
Everything in the battle of the Yzer shows also insanity and lack of strategic insight because it was abandantly clear that the seaports were not to be captured in any way!
40.000 Belgians and 15.000 French soldiers lost their lives on the Yzer front.
What we see in the picture is a command post of a battery of howitsers of the Belgian army that was then in the middle of the indunation.
On the roof of the bunker lie the so-called "Vaderlanderkes", jute sacks filled with sand an clay that offered some protection against shell impacts.
It was an extremely comfortable hiding place at a good distance from the front with sleeping accomodation and electric supply, a luxury that the average front soldier could not claim....
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA