In reality the Germans had not retreated at all, or rather they had only
retired to come into touch again under more favourable conditions.
Knowing the sort of reception that awaited them at Dixmude, they had
decided to try another point on the front, in the hope that "the little
Belgians" would be easier to deal with than the "young ladies with red
pompons." About 9 o'clock on the morning of the 19th they threw
themselves in three simultaneous leaps, at Leke, Keyem, and Beerst, upon
the thin Belgian line, which staggered under the shock. The question was
whether we should be able to reinforce it in time. If it were broken,
the road would lie open to the Yser, the Yser would perhaps be seized,
and Dixmude taken in the rear. The Admiral did not hesitate; the whole
brigade should go if necessary. He sent forward two of his reserve
battalions by forced marches on the road to Ostend, another, under
Commander Mauros, towards Vladsloo and Hoograde in flank. The artillery
supported the movement, which began at 10 o'clock. But we did not know
whether Keyem and Beerst were in the hands of the Belgians or of the
Germans, and in this uncertainty we dared not open fire upon them. The
two villages were wrapped in ominous silence. Commander Jeanniot and
Commander Pugliesi-Conti, who were marching upon Keyem with the first
and second battalions of the 2nd Regiment, made their arrangements
accordingly. While the sixth company of the second battalion advanced
towards Keyem, with Lieutenant Pertus, the fifth company, under
Lieutenant de Maussion de Cande, received orders to make for Beerst. De
Maussion put his company into line of sections in fours. On approaching
the village he was received by a salvo of machine-guns. The Germans were
entrenched in the houses and the church, whence they poured a withering
fire upon our troops. The attack was made peculiarly difficult by the
nature of the ground, which was completely flat, and afforded no cover
save the irrigation ditches and a few leafless hedges; the only possible
method of advance was crawling. We lost a good many men in this
deploying manoeuvre, so ill adapted to the impulsive nature of sailors;
every head that was raised became a target. De Maussion, who had stood
up to inspect the enemy's position, was struck down. Every moment one of
our men rolled over among the beetroots. Would the charge never sound?
It would, but not yet. Pertus fell first, his leg shattered at the
moment when he was carrying a group of farms close to Keyem; Lieutenant
Hebert was sent with the eighth company to support him. But the ditches
on the road were already occupied by the men of the first battalion, and
Hebert had to cut across fields to avoid this encumbered road. The fire
directed against us had become very hot. It took us in flank, and we ran
the risk of being wiped out before we had reached our objective. The
Hebert company accordingly swerved to the right, and marched to the
edge of the woods and the houses situated between Beerst and Keyem,
where the enemy's artillery and infantry seemed to be posted.[32] Hebert
took up a position in a farm with the third section; Second-Lieutenant
de Blois and Boatswain Fossey with the first and second sections
deployed to act as marksmen, facing the wood. Creeping from hedge to
hedge and from _watergand_ to _watergand_, supported by Lieutenant de
Roncy's machine-guns, they arrived to within 500 metres of the enemy's
position in connection with Commander Jeanniot, who had arrived at the
same point on the left by a similar manoeuvre.
"I think this is our moment," said the commander.
"Forward!" cried De Blois to his men.
Fossey gave the same order; the two sections sprang out of their
temporary trenches under a hail of bullets. Fossey was killed, De Blois
severely wounded in the head and leg.[33] The rest of the sections
found their way to the farm where Hebert was making an attempt to check
the enemy's counter-attack by fire from the loopholes that had been
stopped up by the former occupants of the upper storeys, but which he
had succeeded in opening. His exertions were cut short by an invisible
battery, which broke down the walls, wounded his two lieutenants, and
obliged him to fall back. He himself was wounded twice as he crept
through the ditches.[34] Second-Lieutenant de Reau, who came out of
cover to advance, had his shoulder shattered. The casualties in the
Jeanniot battalion, whose sections continued the attack, leaving 110 of
their number on the field, soon became so serious that they had to be
brought back to the rear. It was then that the "Colonel" of the 2nd
Regiment, rallying the remnants of the companies engaged, and continuing
to cover them towards Keyem, massed his forces, put himself at their
head, and, after crawling up to within two hundred yards of the
position, hurled himself upon Beerst. His example electrified his men.
This time they would have allowed themselves to be cut to pieces sooner
than give way. Some of them had thrown off their great-coats that they
might move more freely. The old corsair blood was boiling in their
veins. It was no longer a charge, but a boarding of the enemy's ships,
and, as in the heroic days, the first who sprang upon the deck, pistols
in hand and sword between teeth, was the chief. The whole crew rushed
after the "Colonel" of the 2nd Regiment, who had become Commander Varney
again. But as soon as one house was captured the next had to be taken by
assault. Nevertheless, the attack progressed. To keep it in heart, the
Admiral sent forward the second battalion of the 1st Regiment, under
Commander Kerros, to support it, and withdrew the sorely tried Jeanniot
battalion to Dixmude. The Mauros battalion debouched simultaneously from
Vladsloo, whence it had dislodged the enemy, with the help of the
Belgian Brigade and their armoured cars; the 5th Allied Division
prolonged the fighting line to the right and in the rear. The effects of
this successful tactical arrangement were at once felt: the enemy, who
had brought his artillery into action, was groping about in search of
the guns we had brought along to the north of Dixmude; at 5 o'clock in
the afternoon we were in possession of Beerst. The bayonets were able to
take a rest; they had done yeoman's service; in the streets and in the
farmyards, the ground was paved with corpses. But night was falling. The
Admiral, who had come up to the firing line, ordered Commander Varney to
put the approaches to the village into a state of defence at once in
view of a possible offensive return of the enemy. The men obeyed gaily;
they were still in the full flush of their costly victory.[35] They had
scarcely begun to wield their picks, when a counter-order came from
Belgian Headquarters: we were to fall back upon our former positions! At
11 o'clock that night the brigade returned to its quarters at Caeskerke
and Saint-Jacques-Cappelle. The horizon was aflame behind it: Hoograde,
Beerst, and Vladsloo had been re-occupied by the enemy, who were
"setting the red cock up" on the roofs (_i.e._, firing them).