It was in July-October 1917 that the Franco-British offensive gave us back, in that region, a corner of Belgian land. A few Belgian units participated on the 27th of October to the last assault which drove the enemy back beyond Luyghem, Kippe, Aschoop and reached, on the right, the outskirts of Houthulst forest. The effort had to be followed up, our troops had to extend to the North of Dixmude, the progression of the Allies; our artillery preparation was ended, the Belgian army only waited for the signal!
But a run of unfavourable circumstances: the russian defection, the Caporetto incidents and the continual rain obliged the allies’ chief staff to suspend the offensive. One had to be resigned and wait, but it was a great deception to the Belgian soldier.
The 11th of November 1917, the 4th army division relieved a French division at Merckem. The state of the field after the battle, is depicted in the following extract from the order of the division commander dated the 14th of November. “In order to avoid, during the relieves, the sinking of the men in the excavations which are hollowed out all over the track, it is advised to gather the men in groups of five, holding one to one another with a rope and thus lending each other mutual help.”
Nineteen hundred and seventeen was, in fact, the year of offensives with long artillery preparations, which transformed the battle fields into masterpieces of devastation. The soil ploughed up by thousands of projectiles formed a vast field of hollows, filled with water by the autumn rains. Nothing else was seen in this desolate landscape but a few cut down trunks of trees and the monstrous concretes of the Germans, which were sometimes demolished and overturned.
However, it was absolutely necessary to remain on the chaotic ground. The positions had to be established strong enough to repulse the counter-attacks. At first it was only a system of shell holes surrounded by blocks of concrete which had been deserted by the enemy. It was a dreadful hard winter for the 4th army division. When the engineers and infantrymen at the price of terrible labour, had repaired and rebuilt the roads and tracks which facilitated and rendered possible the relieves, the rational and defensive organization of the sector was undertaken. Successive lines showed themselves, and were bound between by intermediate lines and a well organized plan of defence was able to be applied.
The “Grand-Père” (Grand-father) concrete dug-out, the remains of which have been preserved, was one of the posts best known among of the advanced positions of Merckem. It formed a rather prominent salient which was always a temptation to the enemy and provoked him to many sudden attacks, generally preceded by violent artillery fires demolishing all the surroundings.
The 4th army division managed to repulse two attempts and that at two days’ interval: one on the night 26–27 and the other 28–29 of November 1917. They were more like trials on the part of the enemy to stake out our advanced positions.
During the occupation of the sector by the 3d army division, the raids became real attacks to reconquer the “Grand-father”. The 15th of February 1918, the enemy was thrown back in his own lines; but on the 7th of March, he managed to take a footing and bring machine-guns in the concrete shelter, from where our counter-attacks drove him out on the evening of the 8th.
It was decided then, to rectify the advanced line by suppressing the salient of the grand-father, and also the one, constituted by three little posts of Aschoop, which also was subjected to the enemy’s fires.
The last german raid on the “Grand-father” was on the 27th of March 1918, which hastened the decision, taken on the 29th of the same month, to abandon after destruction the salients of the Grand-father and Aschoop.