THE LOMBARTZYDE SECTOR.
Aeroplane Map.
Just north of the canal was an old fort, the former bridge-head of Nieuport; on the official maps it is called the “Palingbrug,” but it was always known as the “Redan.” The ramparts of this fort had been tunnelled into to provide accommodation for reserve troops, and these tunnels were fairly safe from ordinary shell fire. There were also a few pill-boxes scattered about the Redan and one of these, which contained about six rooms, was occupied by Battalion H.Q. In dry weather it was fairly comfortable, but, as it had been cracked in numerous places by shell fire, the water fairly poured in when it rained. Just over the room which was occupied by the Commanding Officer was a great shell hole; a working party filled this in with much labour and it was lucky they did so, for, the very next night, another shell burst on the exact spot. Had the hole not been filled in, it would have been a bad look out for the Colonel.
The approaches to the sector were almost worse than the sector itself. To reach the south side of the canal one must pass through Nieuport, which was always a most “unhealthy” place. On arriving at the canal one had the choice of four bridges—perhaps! To the east was a series of six bridges, one after the other, crossing the different branches of the canal and called, for some unknown reason, the Cinq Ponts. All these were very heavily-built structures of masonry which could hardly be demolished by shell fire. Then, from east to west, came Vauxhall Bridge, Crowder Bridge and Putney Bridge. These were wooden structures, four to six feet wide, floating on the water of the canal. Parties of Royal Engineers were permanently stationed by these bridges to repair them as soon as they were shot away. The crossing of the canal was always an adventure. The man who wanted to get to the other side first noted the areas of enemy shelling, and, when he had decided which was the quietest bridge, rushed across it as fast as he could go. No one ever loitered on or near a bridge. At night things were even more uncertain. In the dark, the middle of a bridge might be missing without one knowing it, and several men had duckings as a result. Somewhere at the bottom of the Yser Canal lie the remains of a bottle of whisky and a dozen eggs, abandoned by a Battalion runner when he had to swim for it. When the tide was up the bridges lay level on the water; but at low tide the ends sloped at an angle of about forty-five degrees, and the quickest method was to sit down and slide to the bottom.
Whilst the Battalion was holding the sector its transport lines were at Coxyde Bains. It was quite impossible to do any cooking in the line. Apart from the fact that smoke would be almost certain to draw enemy fire, the men were far too short of accommodation for themselves to think of building trench kitchens. So all food was sent up ready cooked.
By far the worst feature of the sector was the great activity of the enemy artillery. This was mainly the result of two factors. In the first place, the weight of fire which could be brought to bear was exceptionally great. All the following artillery groups could be concentrated on Nieuport:—
1. The coast defence batteries between the line and Ostend. In the normal way these had little to do, and often they were switched round to fire into Nieuport.
2. The batteries on the Dunes Sector, which had little to do unless the British attempted an attack across the Canal.
3. The artillery on the Lombartzyde Sector itself, which was exceptionally powerful.
4. The guns covering the inundated Belgian front, where an attack by either side was practically impossible.