Part 4

At nightfall, the batteries were gradually withdrawn behind the railway whence they helped first to hold, then to force back the German attack upon Ramscappelle.

The defenders being now exhausted, and the enemy's attack gathering strength, the Belgian General Staff gave orders to flood the area between the Yser and the railway embankment. The road to Calais, via Nieuport, was thus definitely barred to the invaders.

The Germans revenged themselves by bombarding Nieuport, attempting at the same time to slip along the dunes of Lombartzyde, towards the town, in order to seize the locks. Before the unflinching resistance of the defenders supported by the fire of the British and French monitors, the attack broke down.

At the beginning of November Lombartzyde, in the northern sector, was the scene of uninterrupted fighting, with alternating advances and retreats.

In December a powerful offensive, having for its objective the capture of the German defences along the Belgian sea-coast, was begun, with General de Mitry in command of the Nieuport forces.

On December 16, the French carried the western outskirts of Lombartzyde in a single rush, and reached the first houses of St. Georges. The enemy, however, resisted desperately, and progress was slow. By the end of the month, the Moroccan Brigade succeeded, with great difficulty, in reaching the Grande Dune. On January 7, the 4th Regiment of Zouaves scaled the Mamelon Vert. A few days later the French Marines, who had been relieved in the Steenstraate sector, by Tirailleurs and dismounted cavalry units of the 2nd Corps, attacked the Grande Dune and Lombartzyde. After extremely desperate fighting, entailing heavy losses, the Grande Dune was captured.

The attack was stayed, and the French clung to the thin strip of land on the right bank of the Yser.

The bombardment of Nieuport increased in violence. Each morning, the huge 16½in. shells wrecked the houses and public buildings, and crushed in the cellars where the defenders had taken shelter. One after another, the 12th century Church, the Abbey on the Dunes, the "+Halles+" with their graceful belfry, and the massive Templars' Tower crashed to the ground.

Meanwhile, the battle continued to rage all around the town.

On May 9, a German attack from Lombartzyde to St. Georges was broken, and on the following day the French marines carried "W" and Union Farms, with fine dash, and destroyed the enemy's blockhouses.

In 1916 (January 24), after a bombardment of more than 20,000 shells, the Germans attempted to debouch from their positions near the mouth of the Yser. Repulsed with heavy loss, they once more deluged the unhappy town with shells.

In 1917, the British prepared their great Spring and Summer offensives, extending from east of Arras to the region of Ypres, and relieved their French comrades in the sector stretching from St. Georges to the sea.

They had hardly taken up their positions, when the Germans attacked (July 10). Thrown back into their trenches before Lombartzyde, the enemy renewed their attacks with increased violence, and forced back the British in the direction of Nieuport. The latter managed, however, to keep a bridgehead at the exit from the town.

Meanwhile, in the Dunes sector, two British Battalions, in spite of their gallant resistance, were forced back upon the river. Of these, only four officers and seventy men escaped, by swimming across during the night.

The Germans on the right bank of the river occupied the Dunes.

The pressure on Nieuport increased, but the Yser remained impassable.

In 1918 (September 28), the great liberating offensive, under the command of King Albert, was launched in the plains, to the east of Dixmude, and Ypres. On October 16, the Belgian 5th Division, east of Nieuport, charged from the famous islets in front of the Yser. The enemy, badly shaken, retreated, closely followed by the Belgians, who harried their rear-guards and completely swept the coast to a point beyond Ostend.

Nieuport, terribly ravaged by four years of the fiercest fighting at its very gates, was at last delivered.

On January 25, 1920, in the presence of King Albert and the Burgomaster, President Poincaré conferred the _Croix de Guerre_ with the following mention on the indomitable city:

_"Martyred City, involved in all the vicissitudes of a desperate struggle lasting four years, Nieuport maintained intact her faith in the future, in spite of all her trials._

_Her ruins bear witness to the heroism of her defenders and to the bravery of her inhabitants."_

_On reaching the wharves, take the first street on the right, then the second on the left, to the Grand'Place, in which the Collegiate Church of Notre-Dame used to stand._

Consecrated in 1163, this Gothic edifice had retained portions of the original 12th century church. The northern doorway was 15th century, and the main entrance 16th century. The tower was somewhat massive. In the interior, a 15th century rood-loft, the high altar (1630), the 17th century stalls (by Desmet), a 15th century pulpit, an ancient tabernacle (by Jean Aert of Bruges-1733), and several old tombs, were noteworthy.

Nothing remains of the church but broken fragments of walls and the ruined belfry. In the surrounding graveyard, among the broken tombstones, Belgian and French soldiers lie buried. Their graves were often devastated by the shells.

In the same square stood the 14th-15th century =Cloth-Hall=, whose belfry was restored in recent times. Only a portion of the façade remains.

_At the end of the Square, opposite the Markets, take Rue du Marché, then the first street on the right (Rue Longue). At the corner of these two streets is_ the =Hôtel-de-Ville= (in ruins) which used to contain portraits of the kings of Spain and the arch-dukes.

_Continue to the end of Rue Longue, where, on the right, are_ the ruins of the =Templars' Tower=. The square donjon is all that remains of a commandery which formerly belonged to the Templars, and which was destroyed during the siege of 1383. Behind, are vestiges of the ancient city ramparts.

_Return to the port by the first (very wide) street on the right, which leads to the Ostend Road Bridge across the Yser. To the right of the bridge are_ the =Nieuport locks= which served, during the War, to inundate the surrounding country, being opened at high water and closed at low water _(see photo, p. 50)_.

=From Nieuport to Ostend.=

_1½ kms. further on, the tourist reaches the site on which Lombartzyde used to stand_ (2 kms.); the scarcely visible ruins are now overrun with grass and weeds. A few huts and a wooden church have recently been built.

Lombartzyde (the Lombards' Corner) owed its name and prosperity to the merchants and bankers, many of them Lombards, who settled there in the Middle-Ages. The town was, however, soon deserted in favour of Nieuport. Its large plain church, of no particular interest, contained a statue of the Virgin, much venerated by the fisher-people, who often visited it in the summer-time. Lombartzyde, formerly a sea-port, was later cut off from the sea by the Dunes, and Lombartzyde-Bains--the seaside portion of the town--grew up there. The steam-trams running between Nieuport and Ostend may be taken to reach it.

Situated about 1 km. in front of Nieuport, on the right bank, Lombartzyde was occupied on September 15, 1914, by the advanced posts of the Belgian 2nd Division.

In danger of being turned, it had to be abandoned on the 20th, at about 3 p.m., together with Groote-Bamburg Farm, likewise situated in front of Nieuport.

For a short time the town was reoccupied by the French, but finally remained in German hands. Neither the attack on the Grande-Dune in December 1914, nor the Belgian advance to the outskirts of the town a little later, could drive the enemy out.

Groote-Bamburg Farm, formerly belonging to the lay monks, lies to the east of Lombartzyde; _there is no carriage road, but a foot-path, starting opposite the church, leads there in 20 minutes_. Of the farm, nothing remains but a maze of trenches, wire entanglements and concrete shelters.

_Opposite the church, the old Avenue de la Reine (photos, p. 52) leads to_ the Dunes, the importance of whose defences will become apparent _(photo below)_.

_Keep along the road to Westende (1½ kms.), a small village situated on the road from Nieuport to Ostend; steam-trams run between the latter towns._

The village was entirely razed, and the site cut up with trenches.

_Westende-Bains is 1 km. further along the coast._

The Germans installed themselves in both places, which accordingly became targets for the British monitors.

_Beyond Westende-Village, take the rough road on the left (photo above). Before reaching the ruins of Westende-Bains (2 kms.) (photo above), turn to the right, then take the left-hand road leading to the sea dike (photo above), which follow on the right, in the direction of Ostend._

_Before setting out for Ostend, visit_ the ruins of =Westende-Bains=, intersected with trenches.

The cellars of the houses were consolidated, and turned into shelters and battery positions.

All along the dike, and along the whole coast runs a line of barbed-wire, through which the Germans caused a high-tension electric current to pass _(photo above)_.

_Follow the dike_, bordered on the right with trenches, numerous observation-posts and concrete machine-gun shelters.

+Middelkerke-Bains+ _(3 kms.)_, formerly a small seaside resort, is next reached. All the hotels and villas are in ruins, their fronts having been either ripped open by shells or blackened by fires. The Germans organised powerful defence-works there, in view of Allied air raids and the possible landing of troops. Observation and signalling posts, as well as shelters for machine-guns and searchlights are to be seen all along the dike.

The Kursaal, an isolated building standing in front of the village, was turned into a blockhouse, facing seawards; same includes two superimposed observation-posts, a signalling post, and machine-gun shelters.

_Continue along the dike_, noticing the observation-posts, machine-gun and small calibre artillery emplacements, _as far as the ="Aachen" Battery= on the right_.

This is the first of the formidable coast-defence batteries organised by the Germans. The itinerary takes the tourist to most of these batteries, all of which were fitted with heavy guns.

They were served by standard or narrow-gauge tracks, some having as many as three tracks of different gauges.

At the time of the Armistice the Germans blew up a large number of the shelters, before leaving, and destroyed most of the guns which they had been unable to evacuate.

They also removed all apparatus from the observation and telemetric posts.

An enormous blockhouse, situated on the left of the "+Aachen+" +Battery+, contained an observation-post and the post-of-commandment of the officer in charge of the firing. Near by, are the four 6in. armour-protected guns on concrete platforms, with concrete personnel and ammunition shelters on either side. In front of the battery, near the beach, were anti-aircraft machine-gun posts.

The "Aachen" Battery was connected by infantry defence-works to the next or ="Antwerpen" Battery=, situated on top of the dune. The latter comprised four 4in. guns in armoured turrets, with sand-covered concrete shelters behind. In front, on the dike, are machine-gun emplacements.

The _="Beseler" Battery=, next reached_, comprises four 6in. guns on concrete platforms, with circular armour-plate protection. On each side two elevated emplacements served as telemetric and observation-posts.

_Further on is_ a large infantry entrenchment, with a shelter on the dike for the searchlight, and an emplacement on either side for machine-guns or small calibre artillery.

_Next comes_ the ="Cecilia" Battery=, similar to the "Beseler" Battery, except that the guns are longer, and the armour-plate protection rectangular.

_Having passed_ a series of observation-posts, including that of the ="Tirpitz" Battery=, with its telemetric installation and machine-gun shelters, _the tourist enters =Mariakerke-Bains= (6 kms.)_, a small seaside resort in the suburbs of Ostend.

_Follow the tram-lines along Avenue Léopold, separated from the dike by a row of houses, to =Ostend= (2½ kms.) coming out opposite the entrance to_ the old +Wellington Fort+.

☙ ☙ ☙

OSTEND.

In the 9th century, Ostend, then a hamlet, was situated at the eastern end _(Oostende)_ of a sand-bar belonging to the powerful St. Bertin Abbey of St. Omer. Incursions by the Normans and the ravages of the sea had almost entirely annihilated it when, in the 9th century, Robert le Frison built a chapel to Our Lady there, around which a new village grew up. Thanks to the herring fisheries on the Flemish coast--a flourishing industry in the Middle-Ages, but since abandoned--Ostend grew and prospered. The construction of defence-works at the end of the 16th century, by Guillaume-le-Taciturne, conferred on the town the dangerous honour of becoming the last rampart of the Utrecht Confederation against the Spaniards of the southern provinces, and resulted in one of the longest and bloodiest sieges (1601-1603) recorded in history. This three years' struggle cost one hundred thousand lives and reduced the town to ruins.

Later, Ostend sustained further destructive sieges, e.g. by the English, under Marlborough, in 1706; by the French under Marshal Lowendhal in 1745. Meanwhile, and in the latter part of the 18th century, various factors helped to restore the town's former prosperity, i.e. the "Peace of Utrecht" (1713) which closed the Escaut, thus paralysing Antwerp in favour of Ostend; and the wealthy "Indian Company" founded there, but broken up ten years later for political reasons. The "Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle" (1748) having ceded the town to Austria, Joseph II caused the maritime installations to be completed, and made it a free port, into which the belligerent ships put during the American War. This revived prosperity was again annihilated by revolution and the Napoleonic wars.

In the 19th century, Ostend discovered a new and fruitful source of wealth in sea-bathing, and eventually developed into one of Europe's premier seaside resorts.

Under the impulsion of Leopold II, who frequently resided there, extensive works were carried out in the town and port at the beginning of the present century. The channel was widened, the jetties rebuilt, the port enlarged. A monumental bridge, the present maritime station, and the church of St. Peter and Paul were built. The dike was prolonged westwards and bordered with luxurious buildings. Parks and public gardens were laid out. To the east, the Lighthouse Quarter was transformed, and the Royal Road in the Dunes to Blankenberghe was made.

When, in August 1914, the Germans invaded Belgium, this "queen of watering-places" offered a strangely moving sight until the middle of October. British troops disembarked from the transports, marched in long files through the streets, and encamped in the surroundings. Refugees from all parts were temporarily housed in the bathing cabins. "Zeppelins" and "Taubes" completed the terror and panic caused by the approach of the invaders. The trains were crammed, and the maritime station crowded with thousands of people seeking to get across to Britain. The retirement of the Belgian Army along the littoral, after the fall of Antwerp, marked the end of the season of 1914.

On October 14, the Germans occupied the town, from which the visitors and part of the inhabitants had fled. Naval defences were organised, the dike and dunes armed, while the palaces and villas along the dike, the Kursaal, and other public buildings were occupied by the military staffs. The town suffered severely from this occupation. British shells and aeroplane bombs unavoidably increased the damage. The maritime station, and a number of hotels and private residences in the central and eastern districts were partly destroyed, while the glazed roof of the Banqueting Hall of the Kursaal collapsed.

Many public buildings were transformed into Hospitals, dressing-stations, and even stables. The furniture of the fine villas along the sea-front was either sent to Germany or burnt as firewood. The wine-cellars were emptied. Defilements, in accordance with Kultur's best practice, went hand-in-hand with the destructions. Reconstruction and cleansing will require much time and work. Yet, true to her past, Ostend will rise again, more beautiful than ever, from her ruins.

A VISIT TO OSTEND.

_On entering the town, skirt the +Wellington Hippodrome+, in front of which_ portions of the old Wellington Fort _may still be seen at the end of the Western Dike. In front of the terrace of the Royal Palace Hôtel, on the dike, is_ the ="Gneisenau" Battery= armed with 4in. guns _(photo above)_.

_Take Avenue des Courses to the =Chalet Royal=. Go round the latter by Rue Courbe._

_Between Avenue des Courses and Rue Courbe opens out, on the right_, the fine Avenue de la Reine, which connects the dike with the Grand Parc Marie-Henriette _(see p. 67)_.

The Chalet Royal.

This _ensemble_ of light constructions occupies a fine dominating position. Instead of levelling the dune, the side facing the sea was consolidated with masonry-work.

The opposite side of the hill is laid out with terraced gardens, through which winds the road leading to the Chalet. The latter comprises two large pavilions connected by a central gallery.

In the large square, situated in the rear, were collected the bathing cabins, in which refugees from all parts were sheltered during the first months of the war.

_Take Rue Royale, Boulevard van Iseghem, then the road on the left leading up to the dike, near the Kursaal. (Vehicular traffic on the dike is prohibited from 9 a.m. till midnight.)_

The Sea Wall.

Here the dike is separated by some 150 yards from the line of the dunes, being bounded on the west by the terrace of the Kursaal, on the east by a _perré_, rounded off in front of the port jetties. The effect of this bold promontory, which seems to defy the waves, is most striking.

The eastern end, on which stands the old lighthouse (now a semaphore station), was built at the beginning of the 19th century. It is now a _promenade_ bordered with fine buildings, some eighty yards in length by thirty in width. The masonry embankment rises thirty feet above the foundations and is protected by four massive breakwaters.

At low water, only about 200 yards of the beach is uncovered, or about half as much as at the Western Baths, where the shore forms an angle immediately to the left.

In front stretches the New Western Dike, set further back than the old one, and prolonged as far as Mariakerke. The sea-wall at Ostend has thus a total length of 3½ kms.

The Sands.

Each summer, before the War, the +Western Beach+, with its vast expanse of golden sands, its countless bathing-machines and coloured tents, offered, in the bright sunshine and clear air, an extraordinarily animated and gay scene.

The +Eastern Sands+, at the other end of the dike, in front of the wooden pier, although less popular, were nevertheless crowded with bathers during the season.

The Kursaal.

From 1831, when Ostend-Bains was "discovered", until 1875, the Kursaal stood on the old brick-paved dike. It was a modest construction (now at Malo-les-Bains) but had, till then, sufficed for the town's needs. In 1875, the new sumptuous Kursaal was begun on its present magnificent site.

The building, designed by the architects Naert and Lauwereins, covers with its grounds an area of about three acres. Originally, its general aspect was somewhat bizarre, and reminded one of a gigantic turtle basking in front of the sea. The alterations since carried out at different times, particularly the ceramic ornamentation, has considerably improved its original appearance.

Its curved façade follows that of the dike, the latter forming solid foundations. The façade consists of a covered terrace, thirty feet wide, extending round the central rotunda. The latter, elliptical in shape, is 200 feet long, 120 feet wide and 75 feet high, and forms an immense hall capable of holding some 5,000 people. Symphony concerts are given there.

_Return by the path on the west side and take the broad Avenue Léopold, opposite, ornamented with gardens, to =Leopold Park= (see plan, p. 60.)_

Leopold Park.

Leopold Park was laid out in former days on the site of the old fortifications, near the Western Gate, the _glacis_ of the bastions being used to break the monotony of the level ground.

_After visiting the park, return to Avenue Ch. Janssens, which separates it from Boulevard Léopold, and take same on the left. In Place Léopold, take Chaussée de Thourout, on the left, then Rue de Leffingue as far as the entrance to the ="Tirpitz" Battery=, (photos below and p. 64), situated on the right some few hundred yards outside the town._