General Gillain.
Chief of the General Staff of the Belgian Army.
The sector of the inundated plain was held throughout by the Belgian Army. That of the dunes and Nieuport was held in 1914-1915 by the French Tirailleurs, Zouaves, and dismounted cavalry, grouped under the command of General de Mitry, and the brigade of Marines; in 1916, by a division of the 36th Corps (General Hély d'Oissel); in 1917, by regiments of the British 4th Army (General Rawlinson) which attacked along the coast in co-operation with British warships.
Finally, the Belgian Army, completely reformed and newly equipped, took over the entire sector of the Yser, and extended its lines as far as the outskirts of Ypres.
The enemy front was held by the German Marine Corps and Landwehr units.
For four years, the whole sector in front of the Yser Plain remained relatively quiet, with occasional daring raids or short bombardments.
Before Dixmude and Nieuport, the operations were more active. The "Boyau de la Mort", in front of Dixmude, cost the Belgians some losses, the trench, which ran alongside the Yser, being enfiladed. The enemy's rifle fire came mostly from the Flour Mill (photo, p. [124]), a large concrete building on the banks of the Yser, which it was difficult to destroy with the heavy artillery, on account of its proximity to the Belgian lines (about thirty yards away).
The liveliest part of the sector was that in front of Nieuport.