PART V
THE TERRAIN
The terrain over which the plan of the allies was to be tested must next be grasped if we are to understand the causes which led to its ultimate failure.
That terrain is most conveniently described as an oblong standing up lengthways north and south, and corresponding to the sketch map overleaf. That oblong has a base of twenty miles from east to west, a length from north to south of thirty-five.
These dimensions are sufficient to show upon what a scale the great plan of the allies for cutting off Souham at Courtrai was designed.
At its south-eastern corner the reader will perceive the town of St Amand, the furthest point south from which the combined movements of the allies began; while somewhat to the left of its top or northern edge, at the point marked “A,” the northern-most body connected with that plan, the body commanded by Clerfayt, was posted at the origin of the movement.
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The object of the whole convergence from the Scheldt on one hand, and from Clerfayt’s northern position upon the other, being to cut off the French forces which lay at and south of Courtrai from Lille, and the main line of the French army, it is evident that the actual fighting and the chances of success or disaster would take place within a smaller interior oblong, which I have also marked upon the sketch map. This smaller or interior oblong measures about sixteen miles at its base by about twenty-five miles in length, and includes all the significant points of the action.