FROM ARRAS TO ARMENTIÈRES.
In Chapter XXXIII. of Volume II. you read something of the race for the
sea. When I broke off the story the position of the Allies was as
follows. Northwards from Compiègne to Lassigny extended the left wing of
Maunoury's army. Still farther north, as far as the Somme, lay de
Castelnau's army. Beyond it was the army of Maud'huy, which ultimately
extended to the canal between Béthune and Lille. The British army was in
process of being transferred from the Aisne to a position north of this
canal. It was destined to fill the gap from the canal to the north of
Ypres. The Belgians, assisted by the French, were to complete the line
along the Yser to the North Sea.
Now the movements by which the various armies of the Allies swung into
these positions are very difficult to follow, and you must give me all
your attention if you are to have clear ideas about them. First of all,
we must know something about the character of country in which the war
was to be waged for many months to come. Within this region there are
several important towns which are mentioned in your geography books.
There are also numberless villages which are quite unimportant in
themselves, but have become world-renowned because they have been the
scene of great and stirring incidents. I shall mention these villages as
they occur in the course of the story, but the general character of the
country and the position and importance of the larger towns I must deal
with now. Do not begrudge the time given to this and the following
chapter. It will enable you to follow with intelligent interest the
story hereafter to be told; and to picture for yourselves the scenes
amidst which some of the most terrible struggles in all history have
taken place.
Most of the region from the Somme to the mouth of the Yser is comprised
within the two French departments of Pas-de-Calais and Nord, and the
Belgian province of West Flanders. Pas-de-Calais is the French
equivalent for the Strait of Dover, and the department is so called
because its shores are mainly washed by that narrow neck of sea. The
department of Nord lies to the north and east of Pas-de-Calais, and
merges into the Belgian province of West Flanders.
Nearly the whole of it is a plain, and much of it is as flat as the Fen
district of Lincolnshire. A line of low heights runs south-east from
Gris Nez,[8] and forms the watershed between the rivers running to the
North Sea and those which empty themselves into the English Channel. The
most important river of the region is the Lys, a tributary of the
Scheldt. It rises in the heights just mentioned, and winds across the
country north-eastwards to join the Scheldt at Ghent. Notice very
carefully the course of this river, for it crosses the country almost
midway between the two most important towns in the region from the
Scarpe to Nieuport--the French city of Lille, and the Flemish city of
Ypres.
[Illustration: Bird's-eye View of the Country from Arras to the Sea.]
From Arras to the sea near Ostend is a distance of over sixty miles.
Nearly the whole of this stretch of country is a dead level. There is a
crescent of low heights south of Ypres, but elsewhere, save at and near
Cassel, about eighteen miles west of Ypres, there is not a hill worth
mention. The hill of Cassel rises suddenly from the plain to a height of
515 feet, and from the summit there is a very extensive view. It is said
that thirty-two towns and a hundred villages can be seen from this
windmill-studded hill. What is called the Mont des Cats is about the
same height as the hill of Cassel. It stands almost on the frontier, to
the south-west of Ypres, and was of the greatest importance to the
Allies, for it was the key to their position north of the Lys.
[Illustration: Brothers in Arms.
_Photo, Alfieri._
A British and a French soldier chatting together in Flanders.]
I have already told you something of the ancient and beautiful city of
Arras.[9] It is the capital of the department of Pas-de-Calais, and
stands on the Scarpe, a tributary of the Scheldt. The old province of
Artois, of which it was the capital, has changed hands very often during
the course of its long and warlike history. It has been successively
French, Burgundian, Flemish, Burgundian, German, and Spanish, and it
finally came into the possession of France in 1640. You will remember
that Arras, the capital, was formerly famous for the tapestry hangings
known by its name. The manufacture, however, has long been extinct, and
the city has now such varied industries as soap, oil, cast iron, salt,
sugar refining, lace making, and the manufacture of agricultural
implements. It is also one of the chief grain markets of France.
Arras, as you will observe from the map on page 28, stands in a gap in
the line of hills which I have mentioned as forming the watershed.
Through this gap run the river Scarpe, many roads, and the main railway
from Liége by way of Namur, Mons, and Valenciennes to the Channel ports.
An enemy striving to push westwards to the English Channel would
naturally strive to gain possession of Arras because of its convenient
road and railway communications.
Arras was formerly a beautiful little city, but it stands on the edge of
perhaps the ugliest stretch of country on earth. Ten miles north of it
is the town of Lens, south of which the Black Country of France begins.
I have already told you that the Sambre cuts through an important
coalfield. This coalfield is continued west into North France as far as
the right bank of the Lys. The area of the coal-bearing region in
Pas-de-Calais is about 240 square miles, and its yield is about twenty
million tons per annum, which is about one-half of the total yearly
output of France, but not a twelfth part of the annual production of
Great Britain. You may be sure that this coal-bearing area is a busy and
grimy region of pits and factories, much like the coal-mining parts of
Lancashire or the West Riding of Yorkshire. There are the same
straggling towns of mean houses merging into one another, the same
mounds of refuse topped by the head-gear of pits, the same dirty roads,
the same factory buildings, and the same criss-cross of railways and
canals. The Lys, like the Irwell and the Aire, is black and foul with
the grime of industry.
Béthune, which may be said to mark the western limit of the coalfield,
has numerous pits in the neighbourhood, and a variety of industries such
as are usually found in towns similarly situated. It stands twenty miles
west-south-west of Lille, and is connected with it by an important canal
which runs almost directly east to La Bassée for about seven miles.
Beyond La Bassée the canal continues its eastward course for another
four miles, and then unites with a canal system running north-eastward
to Lille. Along both sides of the canal there are important railway
lines connecting Lille with Béthune and the Channel ports.
La Bassée is a small manufacturing town of 4,800 inhabitants, with no
special features to distinguish it from dozens of others in this
industrial region, but owing to its military importance in the present
war it will henceforth enjoy a fame which many a city of old renown
might envy. You already know that the canal from Béthune to La Bassée
was chosen as the dividing line between Maud'huy's army and the British
forces. The point where two Allied armies join hands is always
considered to be the weakest part of any defensive position. You will
learn, as the story proceeds, that the Germans made the most determined
efforts to break through the sally-port of La Bassée, and that the
British strove with all their might to push through the German lines in
the same neighbourhood, so as to cut the railway by which the enemy was
able to move his troops rapidly from north to south, and _vice versâ_.
Another industrial town in this region which must detain us for a moment
is Armentières,[10] which stands on the Lys about ten miles north of La
Bassée. Before the war it was a busy and prosperous place, with a
population of some 29,000. Its chief manufactures were cloth and table
linen. The Belgian frontier meets the Lys near Armentières, and
continues north-eastward along the left bank of the river.
[Footnote 8: _Gree-nay_ (gray nose), headland of Pas-de-Calais, the
nearest point of the French shore to that of England (South Foreland).]
[Footnote 9: See Vol. II., p. 127]
[Footnote 10: _Ar-mon-te-air´_ (_n_ nasal).]