The Race to the Sea.
The northward movement of the armies became more pronounced. The cavalry divisions of the Corps commanded by Generals de Mitry and Conneau advanced towards the Plains of Flanders.
Simultaneously, the British Army was relieved on the Aisne, and drew nearer to their threatened coast bases, in the region of Saint-Omer. By October 19, they were completely installed in their new positions from La Bassée to Ypres, thus prolonging northwards the Army of General de Maud'huy. Between the British left and the North Sea Coast, there still remained a gap, crossed from west to east by the roads leading to the Channel Ports. It was this gap which the Belgian Army, after its escape from Antwerp, was destined to stop.
The fall of Antwerp and the Belgian retreat.
To capture Antwerp, the Germans adopted their usual tactics. Concentrating their powerful siege artillery—which had previously destroyed the forts of Liége, Namur and Maubeuge—in the sector south of the Nethe, they effected a breach in the outer line of forts, and having crossed the Nethe, with a loss of nearly 50,000 men, they attacked the inner line of forts, so as to be able to bombard and reduce the town.
After consultation with the French General Staff, it was decided to abandon the town, in order to save the Belgian Army.
Leaving a small number of troops in the forts, with orders to mask the evacuation of the town, the Belgian Army, after destroying everything likely to be of use to the enemy, crossed the Escaut by night, together with the British forces, which, as early as September, had been despatched to help in defending the city. These troops withdrew westward, via St. Nicolas and Ecloo. On October 9, Antwerp capitulated.
To protect the flank of the columns retreating towards Bruges, the French Marine Brigade, a detachment of Belgian Cavalry and volunteers, and the British 7th Division took up positions in front of the eastern outskirts of Ghent.