THE LITTLE BELGIAN TOWN TAKEN BY THE GERMANS AFTER THREE WEEKS: DIXMUDE—THE HOTEL DE VILLE AND CHURCH TOWER.
Although the Germans undoubtedly scored a slight success by their occupation of Dixmude, they did so at enormous cost. It was reported from Amsterdam on the 11th that 4000 Germans severely wounded in the fighting round Dixmude had reached Liége. Dixmude was for three weeks gallantly defended by French Marines. The town is now little more than a heap of ruins. As our photographs show, the fine old church of St. Jean has been almost completely wrecked, and the Hotel de Ville has suffered great damage. It has been pointed out that the military value of Dixmude to the Germans is not very great, as it does not form part of the Allies' defensive line, but was held as a bridge-head on the east bank of the Yser.—[Photo. by Newspaper Illustrations.]
12—THE ILLUSTRATED WAR NEWS, NOV. 18, 1914.
AFTER BOMBARDMENT BY "AN INFURIATED GERMAN ARMY CORPS": THE RUINS OF THE MAIN STREET OF DIXMUDE.
Dixmude, on the Yser, suffered terribly during the earlier stages of the great battle in West Flanders. It was stated on October 27 that French Marines holding the town had withstood a continuous attack lasting forty hours, at the end of which the place was in ruins. Mr. E. Ashmead Bartlett, who visited Dixmude on October 21, wrote (in the "Telegraph"): "The town is not very big, and what it looked like before the bombardment I cannot say.... An infuriated German army corps were concentrating the fire of all the field guns and heavy howitzers on it at the same time. There was not an inch that was not being swept by shells. There was not a house, as far as I could see, which had escaped destruction."—[Photo. by Newspaper Illustrations.]
THE ILLUSTRATED WAR NEWS, NOV. 18, 1914—13
WRECKED IN THE MODERN, AND GREATER, BATTLE OF THE DUNES: IN THE RUINS OF THE FIFTEENTH-CENTURY CHURCH AT NIEUPORT.
Some idea of the destruction wrought by German shells in Nieuport may be gathered from this photograph of the interior of the church, another example of the fact, pointed out under a drawing on another page, that the German gunners do not respect the House of God. The church at Nieuport, which dated from the fifteenth century, was restored in 1903, and its massive baroque tower, visible from afar, could be easily avoided by artillerymen capable of accurate aim and desirous of sparing a sacred building. Nieuport has at least twice before in history been the scene of conflict. In 1489 it made a stubborn resistance to an attack by the French, and near it, in July 1660, was fought the Battle of the Dunes between the Dutch and the Spaniards.—[Photo. by Newspaper Illustrations.]