The Blow on the Yser, November 10, 1914, the sixth in a series of six postcards on the German invasion of France and the forming of the Western Front. The snaking bodies of French commander Joffre and German Kaiser Wilhelm turned to the north after the Battle of the Marne, shaping the Race to the Sea. Joffre has struck the Kaiser a roundhouse blow, sending his helmet flying. In the Battle of the Yser, the Belgian army, determined to hold native ground, inundated the coastal lowland along the Yser River. Behind Joffre's head is the small corner of Belgium they held throughout the war.From L'Attaque & la Riposte — Originale présentation des phases de la GuerreEhrmann, Édition Lorraine, a set of six postcards and envelope.Over maps of the French theater of operations on the western front in 1914 — Luxemburg, Belgium, northern France — cartoon figures of the French and German armies struggle. General Joffre represents the forces he commands. His adversary's upward-pointing mustache indicates Kaiser Wilhelm.
No. 6. 10 Novembre [Le Coup de l'Yser]From "L'Attaque & la Riposte — Originale présentation des phases de la Guerre" — The Attack and the Retort — Original Presentation of the Phases of the War — a set of six postcards and envelope by Ehrmann, Édition Lorraine. No. 6. Le Coup de l'Yser, the Blow on the Yser.The titles of the cards appear only on the envelope: No. 6. Le Coup de l'Yser.1re SérieReverse:Carte PostaleTous les Pays étrangers n'acceptent pas la Correspondance au recto. (Se renseigner a la Poste).Not all foreign countries accepts correspondence on the front. (Ask at the Post Office.)Edition Lorraine
September 18 to November 24, 1914
Western Front
After the Allied victory at the Marne, the German retreat and entrenchment on the heights north of the Aisne River, and his failed attempts to drive the Germans from their positions, French Commander Joseph Joffre attempted to outflank the German right wing. His attack on September 18 began a series of engagements in which the opposing forces tried to outflank the other. Over the course of two months, the line snaked nearly due north with battles [Herwig, p. 114:] in the French region of Picardy from September 22 to 26, then north to Artois from September 27 to October 10, crossing into Belgium along the Yser River, until reaching the English Channel and, with bad weather, ending on November 24.
The armies fought their way north through France from the stabilized line on the Oise River, with attacks following one after another during the three weeks that brought them to Belgium: the French north of the Oise on September 17 and 18; the Germans trying to outflank them further north on the 18th; the French on September 22 at Roye; the Germans further north on September 24, then crossing the Somme and attacking at Albert on September 27 and 28; the French south of Arras on September 30 and the Germans on October 1; the French again north of the city on October 5 at Vimy; the Germans on October 4 through 8 at Festubert and La Bassée.
Relations were poor between Joffre and Sir John French, commander of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF). Sir John wanted to move his forces to protect the ports along the English Channel, retaining the option of leaving the field and returning to England. Joffre wanted to ensure that British forces engaged in battle, but thought them too unreliable enough to cover his left wing. General Ferdinand Foch, who had commanded the French Ninth Army in the Battle of the Marne, was assigned as liaison between the French and British commands. Foch convinced Sir John French to undertake the next attempt to outflank the Germans at Lille, a major industrial city near the Belgian border. The failed British drive to take the French city on October 8 convinced the French that the British were not aggressive enough and led the French to request Sir John's removal.
With a line stretching across France, the opponents crossed the Lys River into Belgium.
North of the French and British lines, what remained of the Belgian Army under King Albert was in the fortress city of Antwerp. On August 17 and 18, von Kluck's German First Army had driven the Belgians to Antwerp before its advance into France. Secure in the city, the Belgians had aided the Allies not only by tying down three German forces, but by sorties from the city on September 7, 8, and 9 during the Battle of the Marne. The British had a strategic interest in keeping Antwerp open and the Belgian Army intact. Joffre thought the city of little strategic value, and that the fortress would be reduced as Belgium's other fortresses had been, and was interested in preserving the Belgian Army as a fighting force, preferably under French control.
Joffre sent reinforcements to protect the Belgian forces, but not to Antwerp as he had told Sir John. Joffre doubted the British, particularly Sir John's, capabilities and commitment, and found the Belgians demoralized, and would not rely on them the protect the coast. Joffre and Foch also wanted the French to have more sway than the British over the Belgians after the war. For these reasons Joffre positioned French forces on the coast and on either side of both the Belgians and the British.
Concerned by the threat posed by the Belgian Army, recently appointed German Chief of the General Staff Erich von Falkenhayn ordered the reduction of Antwerp which the Germans began bombarding on September 28. To protect the city, Winston Churchill, Britain's First Lord of the Admiralty, reinforced the Belgian defense, first, on October 3, with British marines and recently volunteered sailors, and two days later, with an army division, a cavalry division, and Churchill himself. Joffre had been right, and the fortress could not withstand the German siege. On October 6, leaving a garrison in the city, the Belgian Army retreated from Antwerp, moving west to the coast and towards France. Antwerp fell on October 9.
From October 12 to November 11 each side repeatedly attacked in Belgium. The Belgians' movement down the coast helped prevent a German seizure of the Channel ports of Nieuport, Dunkirk, and Calais. Adamant on holding part of his country, King Albert positioned his forces along the Yser River. The Belgians struggled to hold the line. On October 28, they opened the floodgates of the Yser River, flooding the low-lying countryside and stopping the German advance in the Battle of the Yser.
Thwarted in their attempt to seize the coast by the inundation of the land along the Yser, the Germans turned from the coast toward Ypres as the British moved up from the Aisne. From October 21 to November 22, the Germans subjected the British to nearly daily German attacks in the First Battle of Ypres. The Germans were stronger and better led, and the British cracked and broke, falling back until they were steadied by French reserves. By the end of the battle, Britain's small regular army was a broken force.
In the course of the Race to the Sea, Germans forces took many of the high points in the flat and gently sloping terrain: Loretto Heights, Vimy Ridge, Messines Ridge. When the battles ended on November 24, a line that was being entrenched stretched from the English Channel to Switzerland.
Start Date: 1914-09-18
End Date: 1914-11-24
