German postcard map of the Western Front in Flanders, looking south and including Lille, Arras, Calais, and Ostend. In the Battle of the Yser in October, 1914, the Belgian Army held the territory south of the Yser Canal, visible between Nieuport, Dixmude, and Ypres (Ypern). Further north is Passchendaele, which British forces took at great cost in 1917.
Der KanalStraße von CalaisThe English Channel and the Strait of CalaisReverse:Panorama des westlichen Kriegsschauplatzes 1914/15 Von Arras bis Ostende.Die Panorama-Postkartenreihe umfaßt mit ihren 9 Abschnitten Nr. 400 bis 408 den gesamten westlichen Kriegsschauplatz von der Schweizer Grenze bis zur Nordseeküste.Panorama of the western theater of operations 1914/15 from Arras to Ostend. The panoramic postcard series includes nine sections, with their No. 400-408 the entire western battlefield from the Swiss border to the North Sea coast.Nr. 408Wenau-Postkarte Patentamtl. gesch.
"The only intelligence of importance collected during the day was to the effect that the enemy seemed to be retiring from before Dixmude and Nieuport; and that aviators had seen an unusual amount of rolling stock at Roulers and Lichtervelde stations, and had noticed troops, apparently from the north, engaged in what seemed to be entraining at Thourout and Lichtervelde.Sir John French telegraphed to Lord Kitchener late at night that both he and General Foch agreed in thinking that the Germans were transporting troops to the Eastern theatre and could not now succeed in the Ypres or Calais direction. Even if violent enemy attacks took place, they would, he added, be made only for the purpose of covering a retirement."
In the Battle of Flanders, the Germans had first tried to break through the line held by the Belgian army that ran between Nieuport on the North Sea coast and Dixmude further inland. On October 27, 1914, the Belgians opened the locks that held back the sea, and inundated the flat farmland of Flanders, stopping the German advance. As the waters spread, the Germans turned inland to Ypres where the British Expeditionary Force stood between the Belgians and the French left. The German army conducted repeated and violent attacks, but they slowed on November 3. Despite the activity reported by aviators and others, British commander Sir John French and French General Ferdinand Foch thought the Germans were moving troops to the Eastern Front after the failure of the German-Austro-Hungarian advance of September and October. The Germans had, however, not yet completed their efforts to break through at Ypres.
Military Operations France and Belgium, 1914, Vol. II, October-November by J. E. Edmonds, page 378, copyright © asserted, publisher: MacMillan and Co., Limited, publication date: 1925
1914-11-03, 1914, November, Battle of Ypres, Ypres
