From the first Belgians and Germans had fought for the possession of these points, in order to cover their main positions and prevent access to them by the creation of advanced posts in the very heart of the floods. Further to the south, the water had spared the Dixmude region, where the ground rises slightly. At this place the two foes lay facing one another, separated only by the width of the Yser—some 15 to 20 yards. Just as it was necessary to organise a bridgehead able to resist any attack at Nieuport—where the locks are—so at Dixmude, where we were in close contact with the enemy, we had to construct a bastion of the strongest possible kind, since this was a vital spot in the Belgian line, and the enemy's repeated attempts upon it showed clearly enough how extremely important he considered its possession to be.
Still further south, the Belgian front clung to the western bank of the canal formed by the Yser and Yperlée, while the enemy occupied the other, keeping as close to it as he could and standing off only when compelled to do so by the floods.
To sum up: though the main positions were not very near together, the advanced posts of both sides threatened each other, in some instances at point-blank range. The Germans, who were well aware of the weakness of the Belgian Army, would not have failed to profit by the least negligence on our part, nor to try for an easy success at any weak point discovered in our lines. But no chance of the kind was given them.
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The system of defence created by the Belgian Army along the front, as briefly described above, served a double purpose.
First, it gave support to the left flank of the Allied forces along the western front, and at this end barred the most southerly roads to Dunkirk and Calais.
Secondly, it preserved unviolated for Belgium the last fragment of her national soil—an object of both political and military importance.
While the first shows with sufficient clearness the importance of the part undertaken by the Belgian Army, the latter explains even more fully the great value which that army sets upon the positions entrusted to its valour. It realises in full the seriousness of its task, for by relieving the Allies of all anxiety concerning the most northerly part of their front, it gives them the necessary freedom of action for dealing the enemy, in selected sectors, those heavy blows which have already repeatedly shaken the might of Germany.
But how the Belgian soldiers' readiness to do their part without flinching stiffened into a firm resolve when they reflected that, in doing it, they were also defending against the enemy's greed the last few square miles of Belgian territory, in which the air they breathed was still free, in which lived their king! What a holy enthusiasm was kindled in their hearts by the prospect of one day leaping from their trenches to drive out the tyrannical and cruel oppressor!