In case that the enemy managed to enter the trap or to reach our trench, the garrison of the fortlet was to shut itself up in it and resist from within during a length of time sufficient to be relieved by a counter-attack delivered by the “Cavalier” which had been alerted by the buzzer.
During the Franco-British offensive of October 1917 numerous fires were carried out by our artillery to prepare the eventual cooperation of the Belgian forces. That artillery action brought on to us energetic retaliations which did a lot of damages to the line at Roode-Poort.
The numerous raids of our troops in the German lines proved the efficiency of our fire, which had reduced the enemy’s trenches to mere ruins.
When the 1917 offensive was stopped the life resumed its normal and dull course; the 5th infantry division was set at work to repair the damages and restore to our positions their former power.
Our attack of September 1918 had a repercussion upon the whole sector overlooked by the Cavalier.
The first battle had brought the Belgian Army on the Clercken ridge. The intention to hinge the new front to the old one including the Dixmude town, induced the 5th line Regiment to get hold of Trench “One”, “111”, as well as of the first work North of Dixmude. And this was to be the only alteration brought on the front round kilometer 16.
From the 15th to the 17th of October, under the victorious onrush of the second battle, the front was split up from Nieuport to Dixmude and the Germans were compelled to a hurried retreat.
The front of the Yser was definitively cleared, the Rider and the Death Trench had ended their glorious mission.
It is important to note the powerful organizations of the enemy, facing the “Death Trench”, notably the enormous concrete of German sap-heads on the leftbank of the Yser, with their iron-plated loopholes and firing ranges, overlooking all the surrounding districts.
The Rider is a work of the greatest interest. It may be considered as a small museum concerning the trench warfare. In the minimum space it utilized in a most judicious way all defensive and offensive implement such as accessory defences and all kinds of liaison systems, which were coordinated to bring the highest efficiency.