20.—The Bridge-Head at kilometer 19.500 (Right Bank).

When the Belgian front was stabilized (November 1914), it was in part covered by floods, before which our posts soon became powerful main-guards.

Two well distinctive floods had been spread; the first during the battle of the Yser, was extended between the river and the railway line Nieuport-Dixmude having the paved road Oostkerke kilometer 16 of the Yser as Southern limit; the second, subsequent to the fall of Dixmude was created at the request of the French troops from the 14^th of November 1914. All the land situated at the East of the Yser, between the Houtensluisvaart and the road embankment of Knocke to Drie Grachten was flooded (this was realised, thanks to the great difference of water level of the two river-banks. The one on the right bank being inferior to the one on the left).

Between the kilometer 16 of the Yser and Houtensluisvaart the obstacle of water did not exist. The enemy, at Dixmude occupied the right bank of the Yser, which alone separated the adversary lines. At the South of the railway line of Dixmude to Zarren, the German positions followed a course almost parallel to the road of Woumen, comprising the strongly organized points such as the cemetery of Dixmude, the Castle of kilometer 19 and several farms. Our troops continued to follow the left bank of the river.

After the victory of the Yser, the constant idea of our staff was to reconquer the most ground possible. The Belgian army built on all practicable spots; posts of various degrees of importance, and this principle was applied to the sector of Nieucappelle on a very large scale.

It was decided to establish on the right bank of the Yser, at the South of Dixmude, towards kilometer 19, to the close contact of the enemy a bridge-head which would be afterwards widened, in order to create a starting position to permit our army to take and offensive. It was Major Panhuys who was charged with this perilous operation, with a group composed of his own battalion (the 1^st battalion of the 2^d foot jagers), re-enforced with a company of machine-gunners and a company of cyclists. It was important to take the enemy unawares. All was put in action to that end, each one having his definite mission to accomplish. During the night of the 21^st to the 22^d of December 1914, a night cold and dark, the group crossed the river in two places and managed to instal itself on a position uniting the little wood of the peninsula of kilometer 19.500 with a bend to the North, facing the cemetery of Dixmude. The enemy being taken by surprise, could not till dawn offer an efficient resistance: but already our troops had organized the ground and maintained their positions in spite of firing, counter-attacks and severe bombardments.

Bridge-head of kilometer 19.500 of the river Yser in June 1915.

The heroïc group, who had performed the operation with such valour and spirit, was mentioned in despatches by decision of the H. M. the King.

It was of the utmost importance to strengthen the occupation, but there could be no question of working by day, the enemy holding the watch and sway over the land, and especially over the knoll of Woumen (castle of kilometer 19). So our troops were kept to the task without respite.

Afterwards the extension of the bridge-head to the South, for months saw added to the companies on guard, picket companies and detachments of pioneers, nightly erecting parapets and communication trenches, building shelters, casting footbridges over muddy ground, covering the positions with wire netting work, regulating the current of the waters at Sparken and Waalevaardeken by locks and dams, multiplying and rebuilding the footbridges on the river etc., in a word executing the thousand and one labours required by an advanced position to render it strong and powerful, durable if not comfortable and give to the troops of the principal resisting position real and positive security.

Then, arose the question of progressing towards the East and towards the North. The works of extension were commenced, but it was soon realised what a great effort and incessant sacrifice such an enterprise would demand, that about Mai 1915 the bridge-head was brought back to its former line. During the course of the war, the evolution of fighting methods altered and likewise the mission of the advanced positions and the effective forces of the garrisons which held them. For this reason, when the bridge-head of kilometer 19.500 was created, and which had to resist to the utmost, it required more than one battalion to guard it; and in 1918, a few posts of section or squad sufficed, the mission of the advanced ones having simply become at this place, for watching purposes in case of a defensive, or kick off in the case of an offensive.

To give one an exact idea of the enormous effort that the bridge-head of the kilometer 19 cost, one needed to see the development and extension it had taken in May 1915 and be equally penetrated with the idea, that all the work had been done at the price of heavy losses, although it had been done by night, under the bullets and shrapnells, in bad weather and often with reduced means. This bridge-head contributed greatly to maintain an offensive spirit in the minds of the infantrymen, it served also as a base to many patrols towards the enemy’s organizations and notably to a famous raid on the castle of kilometer 19 on the night of the 28^th to the 29^th of October 1917, which was a brilliant success, led by Captain Dendal, who brought back materials and prisoners.

Several times the Germans tried to rush the bridge-head of kilometer 19, but without any result whatever.

And then during the offensive of September 1918, it served as a starting trench to the troops of the Belgian 4^th division, for the victorious assault which ended by the liberation of Dixmude.