The British had now invested Douai, and the fall of that place was only a question of hours.
All these important achievements were less spectacular than the great battle in Flanders which began on October 14, 1918, and was fought by the combined Belgian, French, and British troops under the command of King Albert. The whole Allied line advanced on an irregular front of about twenty-five miles from the region of Courtemarck to that of Courtrai, penetrating enemy positions six and seven miles.
The British Second Army under General Sir Herbert Plumer captured the villages of Gulleghem and Heule and advanced as far as the outskirts of Courtrai, having taken nearly 4,000 prisoners and fifty guns. The Belgians and French bagged over 7,000 and eighty guns.
In French Flanders the British carried their lines forward in the neighborhood of Haubourdin about three miles west of Lille, and farther south crossed the Haute Deule Canal and took a number of villages northeast of Lens.
So fast were the Germans retreating that the British, French, and Belgian infantry in the center of the battle front had lost sight of them. The victory was especially memorable because it was a triumph for the gallant little Belgian army, which with the assistance of French and British had driven the despoilers of their country from a large territory which the Germans had occupied since the first days of the war. Moreover, they had gained in this battle such strong positions that the Germans must soon be forced to abandon the entire coast of Belgium.
The sweeping advance of the Allied infantry, preceded by French cavalry which performed wonderful work in carrying out charges, left Lille and the mining and manufacturing districts of Tourcoing, Roubaix, and Tournai in a salient that was growing deeper every hour and which the Germans could not possibly hold for long. In the region of Thourout the Allies encountered intense opposition. The struggle was here from house to house and street to street, and the casualties were heavy on both sides. The Germans had posted machine guns in the windows of the dwellings and in the cellars, firing streams of bullets into the advancing Belgians, but were unable to force them back. The troops of King Albert fought with a fierce determination to wreak revenge on the despoilers of their country, and nothing could withstand the cold fury of their onslaught. To the northeast of Courtrai they stormed and captured Bavichove and on the north Andoye and Cachten.
Battle lines and operations on the Western Front in 1918, including German territory held by the Allied armies of occupation.
The capture by the British of Linselles along the Lys placed the Germans in the salient in a highly precarious position as the Allies pressed forward, and it was inevitable that they must soon retire to save themselves.