Yser Front

Yser Front
	Part of The Western front of World War I
Date	October 1914 – November 1918
Location	Belgium
Result	Belgian victory
Belligerents
Belgium ; France ; United Kingdom ; United States	Germany
Commanders and leaders
Albert I	Rupprecht Wittelsbach

Last updated November 01, 2024

The Yser Front (French : Front de l'Yser, Dutch : Front aan de IJzer or IJzerfront), sometimes termed the West Flemish Front in British writing, was a section of the Western Front during World War I held by Belgian troops from October 1914 until 1918. 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 largely static for the duration of the war.

Background

During the early campaigns of 1914, the Belgian army had been pushed out of the fortified cities of Liège, Namur and Antwerp by the German advance. Although they succeeded in delaying the Germans at some actions, they were forced to withdraw, first to Antwerp, and into the far north-west of Belgium. By October 1914, the Belgian forces were holding a position along the Yser and Ieperlee canal. After months of retreat, the Belgian forces were considerably reduced and were exhausted. They flooded a large expanse of territory in front of their lines, stretching as far south as Diksmuide. Between 16 and 31 October 1914, the Belgians held off the German army at the Battle of the Yser, suffering 3,500 killed and 15,000 wounded.^[1] The Battle of the Yser established a front line which would endure until 1918.

Geography

The Yser Front stretched along a distance of around 30 kilometres (19 mi)^[2] from the Belgian North Sea coast between Nieuwpoort and Westende, stretching south-east along the Ieperlee, encompassing both Ramskapelle and Pervijze. From Pervijze, the line then arched south-east between the Yser and Ieperlee, down to Oudekapelle and Reninge. Diksmuide had fallen to German forces shortly before the Battle of the Yser.

The front protected a small region of north-west Belgium which remained unoccupied. King Albert I, commander-in-chief of the Belgian Army, established his headquarters in Veurne, one of the salient's only towns.^[3] The Belgian government, under Charles de Broqueville, established itself in exile in Sainte-Adresse, a suburb of the nearby French city of Le Havre.

Aspects

Belgian policy and diplomacy

"I maintain that as long as I am here I will oppose everything which spills the blood of our soldiers uselessly on bloody and repetitive exercises that are doomed to failure. I do not hesitate to say that [...] I find this thinking dangerous, leading to a war of excess dangerous and risking the sacrifice of thousands of men without gain..."

Albert I, in conversation with his minister (December 1916)^[4]

Despite protecting the northern sector of the Western Front, the Belgian army at the Yser refused to participate in Allied offensives for most of the war. King Albert I, in command of the Belgian armed forces, believed that Belgium's neutrality meant that its army should only be used to further Belgium's national interests. Albert was sceptical of the value of offensive warfare, advocated by the British and French, which he believed to be costly and unable to achieve decisive victory.^[1] Albert believed that a mediated peace was inevitable and that it served Belgium's national interest to continue to protect the territory it already held until the Germans could be forced to open negotiations. Consequently, the Yser Front remained generally static for much of the war.^[5] Only after the failure of the Ludendorff Offensive in 1918 did the Belgian Army participate in an Allied offensive, the Hundred Days Offensive, making successful advances into German-occupied Belgium.

On 28 September 1918, in the Fifth Battle of Ypres, the Groupe d'Armées des Flandres ("Flanders Army Group" or GAF), under the command of Albert I with the French General Jean Degoutte as Chief of Staff, composed of 12 Belgian divisions, 10 British divisions of the Second Army and 6 French divisions of the Sixth Army attacked the Germans and advanced up to 6 miles (9.7 km). After the following Battle of Courtrai, the GAF advanced some 40 miles (64 km) more.

Daily life

The front was held uniquely by Belgian forces, which numbered around 221,000 men by September 1918.^[2] Throughout the war, the Belgian Army was supplemented by escapees of military age (évadés) from German-occupied Belgium.^[4] Altogether, around 20,000 Belgian soldiers died on the Yser during the war.^[4] In 1914, the Christmas truce was observed in a number of parts of the line and a few Belgian and German troops met in no-man's land between the trenches.

Just like the rest of the Western Front, life on the front line was poor, with soldiers forced to live and sleep in unsanitary trenches, in mud ploughed up by artillery fire.^[4] Typhus was a major problem among Belgian troops on the Yser Front, where up to 7,000 soldiers died from diseases contracted there.^[4]

Politics and the Flemish Movement

Within the Belgian army, the experience of the Yser Front had led to political upheaval. Of the Belgian soldiers on the Yser, between 65 and 80 percent were Flemish, speaking Dutch, while many of the Walloons spoke dialects such as Gaumais or Walloon.^[6] The language of command, however, was French and many Flemish soldiers felt resentful at their treatment by the French-speaking officer class.^[6] For the Flemish troops, the disquiet culminated in 1916 with the establishment of the Frontbeweging ("Front Movement") which gained a membership of 5,000 soldiers.^[7] Although part of the Flemish Movement, the Frontbeweging called for greater regional autonomy in Belgium, rather than Flemish independence, and the creation of Dutch-speaking regiments.^[7] Its most celebrated work was the Open Letter to the Belgian King Albert I , drafted by Adiel Debeuckelaere, in 1917 which aired many of the movement's grievances.

Although the Frontbeweging was unsuccessful in the short term, it succeeded in creating a dedicated political party, the Frontpartij , in post-war Belgium after the German defeat delegitimized many other parts of the Flemish Movement implicated in collaboration with the occupation authorities.

Related Research Articles

Diksmuide is a Belgian city and municipality in the Flemish province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the city of Diksmuide proper and the former communes of Beerst, Esen, Kaaskerke, Keiem, Lampernisse, Leke, Nieuwkapelle, Oostkerke, Oudekapelle, Pervijze, Sint-Jacobs-Kapelle, Stuivekenskerke, Vladslo and Woumen.

The Yser is a river that rises in French Flanders, enters the Belgian province of West Flanders and flows through the Ganzepoot and into the North Sea at the town of Nieuwpoort.

The First Battle of Ypres was a battle of the First World War, fought on the Western Front around Ypres, in West Flanders, Belgium. The battle was part of the First Battle of Flanders, in which German, French, Belgian armies and the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) fought from Arras in France to Nieuwpoort (Nieuport) on the Belgian coast, from 10 October to mid-November. The battles at Ypres began at the end of the Race to the Sea, reciprocal attempts by the German and Franco-British armies to advance past the northern flank of their opponents. North of Ypres, the fighting continued in the Battle of the Yser (16–31 October), between the German 4th Army, the Belgian army and French marines.

The Battle of the Yser 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. The front line was held by a large Belgian force, which halted the German advance in a costly defensive battle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pervijze</span> Deelgemeente in West Flanders, Belgium

Pervijze is a small rural village in the Belgian province of West Flanders, and a part ("Deelgemeente") of the municipality of Diksmuide. Pervijze has an area of 12.23 km² and almost 900 inhabitants.

The Yser Towers are a monument complex near the Yser river at Diksmuide, West Flanders in Belgium. The first tower was built in 1928–30 to commemorate the Belgian soldiers killed on the surrounding Yser Front during World War I and as a monument to Christian pacifism. However, it subsequently became an important political symbol for the Flemish Movement and was destroyed in 1946 as a result of its association with Flemish nationalist collaboration in German-occupied Belgium in World War II. The current tower was rebuilt alongside the remains of the original and copied its design. It was finished in 1965. It remains a site of political significance to Flemish nationalists and is the center for their annual Yser Pilgrimage (IJzerbedevaart).

The 43rd Reserve Division was a unit of the Imperial German Army in World War I. The division was formed in August 1914 and organized over the next two months. It was part of the first wave of new divisions formed at the outset of World War I, which were numbered the 43rd through 54th Reserve Divisions. The division was disbanded in 1918 and its assets redistributed to other divisions. The division was part of the XXII Reserve Corps and was raised through the depots of the elite Prussian Guard, and thus recruited throughout Prussia.

The Fifth Battle of Ypres, also called the Advance in Flanders and the Battle of the Peaks of Flanders is an informal name used to identify a series of World War I battles in northern France and southern Belgium (Flanders) from late September to October 1918.

The Battle of Courtrai was one of a series of offensives in northern France and southern Belgium that took place in late September and October 1918.

The German invasion of Belgium was a military campaign which began on 4 August 1914. On 24 July, the Belgian government had announced that if war came it would uphold its neutrality. The Belgian government mobilised its armed forces on 31 July and a state of heightened alert was proclaimed in Germany. On 2 August, the German government sent an ultimatum to Belgium, demanding passage through the country and German forces invaded Luxembourg. Two days later, the Belgian government refused the German demands and the British government guaranteed military support to Belgium. The German government declared war on Belgium on 4 August; German troops crossed the border and began the Battle of Liège.

Armand Léopold Théodore, Baron de Ceuninck was the Minister of War of Belgium, serving in the last year of World War I.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yser Medal</span> Award

The Yser Medal was a Belgian campaign medal of World War I, established on 18 October 1918 to denote distinguished service during the 1914 Battle of the Yser in which the Belgian Army stopped the German advance of the German invasion of Belgium.

The history of Belgium in World War I traces Belgium's role between the German invasion in 1914, through the continued military resistance and occupation of the territory by German forces to the armistice in 1918, as well as the role it played in the international war effort through its African colony and small force on the Eastern Front.

The De Broqueville government in Sainte-Adresse refers to two successive Belgian governments, led by Charles de Broqueville, which served as governments in exile during the German occupation of Belgium in World War I. They were based in Le Havre in northern France after October 1914. The first government, known as the First de Broqueville government, was a Catholic government which was elected in 1911 and continued until 1916, when it was joined by Socialists and Liberals expanding it into the Second de Broqueville government, which lasted until 1 June 1918. In November 1914, the vast majority of Belgian territory was under German occupation. The only portion of Belgium that remained controlled by the Kingdom of Belgium in exile was the strip of territory behind the Yser Front.

The German occupation of Belgium of World War I was a military occupation of Belgium by the forces of the German Empire between 1914 and 1918. Beginning in August 1914 with the invasion of neutral Belgium, the country was almost completely overrun by German troops before the winter of the same year as the Allied forces withdrew westwards. The Belgian government went into exile, while King Albert I and the Belgian Army continued to fight on a section of the Western Front. Under the German military, Belgium was divided into three separate administrative zones. The majority of the country fell within the General Government, a formal occupation administration ruled by a German general, while the others, closer to the front line, came under more repressive direct military rule.

The Lange Max Museum (LMM) is devoted to the German 38 cm SK L/45 "Max" gun and the German occupation of Koekelare and the nearby area in World War I. The focus on the German side of the war makes it a unique museum in Belgium. The museum is named after the nickname of the German gun "Lange Max", which was one of the biggest guns in the world in 1917, and is located in Koekelare.

The Dodengang is a World War I memorial site located near Diksmuide, Belgium. The site is located about 1.5 kilometres (0.93 mi) from the IJzertoren in the centre of the city, and is set directly on the banks of the Yser Canal.

Lieutenant-General Louis Bernheim was a Belgian career soldier and general, best known for his service during World War I. He is also notable as one of Belgium's highest ranking soldiers of Jewish origin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hendrik Geeraert</span> Belgian World War I hero

Hendrik Geeraert was a Belgian folk hero who, during the interwar period, came to symbolize the Belgian resistance movement against the German forces in World War I. He became famous among Belgian soldiers in 1914 after the Battle of the Yser where he, serving as a Nieuwpoort skipper, opened the sluices of the Yser River, flooding the polders and bringing the German advance to a halt.

References

1 2 De Schaepdrijver 2006, p. 171.
1 2 Dumoulin 2010, p. 137.
↑ Dumoulin 2010, p. 110.
1 2 3 4 5 Dumoulin 2010, p. 138.
↑ Dumoulin 2010, pp. 137–8.
1 2 Dumoulin 2010, p. 140.
1 2 Dumoulin 2010, p. 141.

Bibliography

Amez, Benoît (2013). Vie et Survie dans les Tranchées Belges: Témoignages Inédits. Brussels: Editions Jourdan. ISBN 978-2-87466-318-5.
De Schaepdrijver, Sophie (2006). La Belgique et la Première Guerre Mondiale. Brussels: Peter Lang.
Dumoulin, Michel (2010). L'Entrée dans le XXe Siècle. Nouvelle Histoire de Belgique (Rev. ed.). Brussels: Le Cri. ISBN 978-2-8710-6545-6.

External links

La vie sur le front de l'Yser at the Musée royal de Mariemont
Stabilisation du front sur l'Yser at Commemorer 14-18
On the Yser Front, 1914 at British Pathé.
IJzerfront 14-18

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[FOOTNOTEDe_Schaepdrijver2006171-1] 1 2 De Schaepdrijver 2006, p. 171.

[FOOTNOTEDumoulin2010137-2] 1 2 Dumoulin 2010, p. 137.

[FOOTNOTEDumoulin2010110-3] Dumoulin 2010, p. 110.

[FOOTNOTEDumoulin2010138-4] 1 2 3 4 5 Dumoulin 2010, p. 138.

[FOOTNOTEDumoulin2010137–8-5] Dumoulin 2010, pp. 137–8.

[FOOTNOTEDumoulin2010140-6] 1 2 Dumoulin 2010, p. 140.

[FOOTNOTEDumoulin2010141-7] 1 2 Dumoulin 2010, p. 141.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]