earthworks constructed with sand-bags, which are scattered in all
directions by bursting shells, has compelled us to build numerous
concrete shelters, though the work is beset by many difficulties and
sometimes has to be executed right under the enemy's nose--bombproofs,
machine-gun posts and fighting-posts for the battalion, regimental and
battery staffs. All construction of this kind must be preceded by a
thorough consolidation of the ground, which in its natural condition is
too soft to support such heavy weights. At several points in the front
lines themselves we have also had to make particularly strong _points
d'appui_, usually concrete redoubts, in which a large garrison may hold
out to the last man.
The importance of these works will be inferred from the statement that
their construction has involved the use of at least 300,000 to 400,000
cubic yards of concrete.
2. _Communications._--It will be remembered that the district occupied
by the Belgian Army was poorly supplied with railways, roads and usable
tracks. After the battle of Flanders (October to November, 1914) the
continuous movement of troops over the existing roads, added to the
effects of bombardment and bad weather, had done great damage to almost
all the few available means of communication. This state of things had
to be promptly remedied, both to accelerate putting the sector into a
state of defence and, what was still more urgent, to enable all kinds of
supplies required by the troops and the materials for the defence works
to be brought up.
Special units, therefore, laid in the advanced army zone some 180
kilometres of new railways of standard gauge, and several hundred
kilometres of Decauville railway. The light tracks were gradually pushed
through the communication and main trenches, and even along the
foot-bridges leading to the main pickets.
So that our men might cross the countless canals, streams and ditches
met with everywhere, and move over flooded and marshy areas, the Belgian
engineers built hundreds of bridges and thousands of culverts, besides
some tens of kilometres of the foot-bridges already described. As an
example, we may mention that one of these foot-bridges, crossing a marsh
in the southern part of the front, is quite 800 metres long.
As for the road-system, existing roads had to be remade and improved,
while new ones were built and narrow ones widened and strengthened
sufficiently to carry all kinds of traffic. This road-building and
mending was applied to 400 _kilometres of roads and usable tracks_ in
all; and absorbed some 500,000 tons of road metal and as many tons of
sand--which involved the moving and handling of, say, 1,000,000,000 tons
of various materials.
The upkeep of the roads, which carry a dense and continuous traffic,
demands unceasing labour, especially in the winter.
In conclusion, we should mention that there are, in addition to the
road-system properly so-called, many infantry routes and approaches for
artillery which have had to be made with great difficulty across marshes
and soft meadowland.
3. _Various Forms of Construction._--One cannot pretend to give even a
bare list of the varied and numberless erections for which our engineers
have been responsible behind the Belgian front, to accommodate the
fighting troops and auxiliary services and mitigate the scarcity of
suitable quarters. For three years German guns have battered everything
within range, and converted the humble, peaceful villages of
Veurne-Ambacht into heaps of ruins. One must go far behind the front to
find any premises that have still escaped shell-fire. In them have been
established all the organisations which need not be actually in the
lines, and there also are quartered as large a part as possible of the
resting units. But they cannot hold all the troops not in the trenches;
and it will readily be understood that battalions held in reserve and
warned first in case of an attack, must be near enough to throw
themselves into the fight without loss of time. The problem has been
solved by building a large number of huts in each divisional sector; yet
without grouping them so closely as to afford an easy mark to the
enemy's guns and aeroplanes. So the hutments, capable of accommodating
some 100,000 men and about 15,000 horses, have been scattered over the
whole of the district occupied.
In addition, much has had to be done and many buildings have had to be
erected, in order to secure the best possible conditions for the
elaborate organisations of the medical service, even in the fighting
zone. We have had to provide bombproof first-aid stations,
dressing-stations, and field hospitals, in many cases quite close to the
lines, under circumstances the difficulties of which have already been
sufficiently emphasised.
Huge hospitals, with several thousands of beds, have had to be built
from the foundations upwards for the reception of the wounded not able
to endure removal to the rear. Furnes, the only town in the district, at
first provided invaluable accommodation; but, when systematic
bombardment of the city endangered even the lives of the poor wounded,
the hospital services had to be transferred elsewhere. The splendid
hospital at La Panne, Adinkerke, Hoogstade and Beveren-sur-Yser, have
long been regarded as models of their kind, though their establishment
was attended by serious difficulties. Every possible modern improvement
has been turned to account in their equipment; and although within
earshot of the never-silent guns, they have accomplished marvels which
the greatest authorities on the subject have on many occasions
unstintedly and rightly praised.
We may conclude by just mentioning the aviation and balloon parks, the
necessary installations for the various technical services, and the
repair shops for motor- and horse-drawn vehicles, all of which have been
established in the advanced zone by the Belgian Army. The vast amount of
labour represented by these undertakings is self-evident, as the
district contained practically no supplies of the materials needed.
4. _Artificial Screens._--Unless we were to be content to expose
ourselves to grave inconveniences and suffer huge losses, it is obvious
that we could not long tolerate the enemy's full command of a plain
entirely devoid of any cover able to interfere with his observations.
The only means of blinding him was to protect all our works with
artificial screens, composed of branches, hurdles and canvas set or hung
all over the area occupied. Viewed by an observer in the German lines,
these screens overlap in such a way as to form a virtually unbroken
barrier, impenetrable to the eye.
To the layman this picturesque solution of the problem may seem
simplicity itself, because he does not take into account the trouble of
establishing these screens. As usual, all materials have to be brought
to the spot from the rear. Fabulous quantities of branches are
transported to the front by rail or barge, then loaded on to vehicles
and taken to the workshops, where they are converted into enormous
screens to be placed in carefully selected positions by special gangs
detailed for the purpose.
As the supply of branches is not enough to meet all requirements, our
resourceful fellows make use of reeds cut in the marshes of flooded
meadows, some of them adjacent to the enemy's lines. The reeds are tied
into large bundles and carried on the back to the hurdle-works, there to
be interwoven and arranged between suitable supports.
Many thousands of square metres of these artificial masks have been set
up all over the great plain. But, unfortunately, they are as fragile as
they are picturesque. The wind, which often rises to a gale in this
coastal region, blows them down or makes yawning holes in them; so they
need constant attention. However, our long-enduring men have worked so
well that the enemy cannot now watch what goes on in our lines.
5. _The Supply of Drinking Water._--By a peculiar irony of fate,
although the Belgian soldiers live in a country so saturated with water
that every possible means must be employed to combat it, they would die
of thirst had not works of considerable magnitude been undertaken to
provide them with water fit to drink. During the battle of the Yser,
when complete disorganisation reigned among the supply services of our
valiant but unlucky army, many of the men could quench their thirst only
with the muddy and loathsome water of the ditches which served them as
trenches. As soon as that tragic fight was over, the greatest
precautions had to be taken to prevent an epidemic of typhoid fever
decimating what remained of our army. The existing wells in the fighting
area had been invaded by the brackish flood water, in which floated
hundreds of corpses; while those in the districts not yet ravaged by
fire scarcely sufficed for local needs.
So to the rear, as in other cases, we had to look for drinkable water,
which must be got up to the front lines in spite of transport
difficulties.
As soon as circumstances allowed, we began to sink an adequate number of
wells; and while in some places our fighting men obstinately strove to
protect their defensive works from the treacherous floods, in others our
workmen dug and bored into the unkindly soil in search of a stratum
yielding potable water, which was struck at a depth of 125
_metres_--sometimes even further down. This alone will give some idea of
the obstacles that had at all costs to be overcome. Our desperate and
unwearied efforts were happily crowned with success, and soon the whole
army, including the many auxiliary services of the advanced zone,
enjoyed an abundance of good water.
6. _The Telephone System._--Everybody knows how very important the
telephone has become during the present war; but even the most
far-sighted people who had strongly urged the general employment of this
essentially practical and rapid means of communication, had not
anticipated the extraordinarily wide scope which was to be given it.
To-day the telephone is the real bond of union between all units serving
at the front, from the observer crouching in his advanced post to the
commander-in-chief. It links those who issue commands with those who
obey them, the lowest with the highest, and makes it possible for all
efforts directed towards a single end to be correlated most efficiently
in the performance of the common task. If so bold a comparison may be
permitted, the telephonic network is the nervous system traversing the
huge body of an army in action. The best mode of showing the prime
importance of this network is to give some figures, which certainly
exceed all the calculations that the layman would be likely to make.
Would he imagine, for instance, that, by about the middle of the year
1917, the telephone wires of a single sector held by the Belgians had a
total length greater than half that of the equator, or exactly 21,950
kilometres?
It is not difficult to realise what labour was needed to install such a
system. The innumerable wires and posts had not merely to be put in
place, but to be protected from destruction, sheltered against incessant
bombardment, and repaired at once if unavoidably damaged. In the most
dangerous areas the wires had to be buried deep, or, where they crossed
flooded areas, laid under water. This meant the excavating and
filling-in of hundreds of kilometres of deep trenches before the
delicate work of burying wires and cables was completed. The 21,950
kilometres of wires in the Belgian front system are made up of 6,600
kilometres of buried or submerged wires and 15,350 kilometres of aerial
line. The telephone instruments in use number nearly 8,000; the exchange
switch-boards, not far short of 1,000.
Let us add that this network requires unremitting attention, and that it
is being extended and improved daily, and we shall have said enough to
give an idea of the prodigious task accomplished by the special corps
entrusted with the management of this arduous undertaking.
7. _The Batteries._--The Belgian Army began the war with but a limited
supply of 75-mm. guns and hardly a couple of dozen 149-mm. and 150-mm.
howitzers; so that it was for a long time compelled to face its
powerfully equipped enemy on very unequal terms, a state of things which
gave rise to much anxiety. Its battery crews, however, though so
seriously handicapped, always fought with remarkable courage and
technical skill. During the violent battle of the Yser, especially,
their self-sacrifice and devotion won the deepest admiration: and they
were also largely responsible for the heroic stand which will be one of
the most glorious pages in our army's history.
It was apparent in the very first encounters that artillery would play a
much more important part than had been assigned to it by pre-war theory.
As soon as the two opponents had dug themselves in opposite one another,
it became evident that strong entrenchments, forming an unbroken barrier
along an extensive front, could be mastered only by the number and
weight of guns brought into action.
We shall say nothing here about the great effort which enabled us to
solve the second part of this momentous problem,[C] our immediate object
being to demonstrate the intense effort which the fighting army had to
put forth in organising the Yser front.
When the last struggles of the battle had ceased, our artillerymen vied
with one another in the keenness and industry with which they screened
their pieces from enemy observation in the open plain whereon they had
perforce to establish them. It was impossible to dig into the ground and
sink the guns behind solid earthworks. As with the trenches, all
structures had to be laboriously fashioned out of imported materials,
not merely under the enemy's eyes but under the fire of his formidable
artillery. Over and over again the gunners had to cease work in order to
reply to the enemy, giving him as much as he gave, and showing
themselves always ready for a fight, whatever the odds. The duel over,
they picked up their tools, repaired any damage done, and cheerfully
carried on.
However, thanks to the steady augmentation of Belgian resources, the
German superiority gradually disappeared; while, on the other hand, the
number of works to be executed increased. As the positioning of mere
field-pieces was a very troublesome business, one can guess what was
entailed by the installation on such unstable ground of heavy batteries
with ponderous platforms to support them. Nevertheless, our men
patiently overcame all difficulties.
An imposing number of batteries--greater than the public imagines--is
now disposed _en échelon_ over the plain. Cannon, howitzers and mortars
are hidden so skilfully that they can hardly be detected even at a short
distance. Hundreds of concrete shelters have been built for ammunition
dumps and headquarters. Among the ruins rise practically indestructible
observation posts, themselves invisible from afar, but commanding the
whole country. From these a ceaseless watch is kept upon the enemy's
lines. Artificial screens protect the works from direct observation, and
clever "camouflage" entirely conceals them from overhead view. To
mislead the enemy, "dummy" batteries are scattered about everywhere.
Many reserve positions have also been prepared so that, should the need
arise, the batteries may be shifted and re-concentrated in different
sectors.
It has been, one sees, a great enterprise; and the men who have worked
so hard and unremittingly may well feel a legitimate pride in what they
have so successfully accomplished. Yet in this, as in other spheres of
activity, work can never stop. Bad weather and bombardment alike inflict
constant havoc; and in spite of the most ingenious precautions the enemy
always succeeds eventually in spotting the emplacement of this or that
battery or in marking off an area which conceals a group of batteries. A
furious fire from heavy guns is then concentrated upon the point
discovered, and by the time our artillery manages to silence it the
damage done is sometimes of such a nature that works which represent
long months of labour may have to be practically reconstructed.
CONCLUSION.
We have now described the most outstanding features of the remarkable
feat which the Belgian Army has accomplished with the object of
rendering impregnable the important sector of the western front
entrusted to its watchful care. It may claim to have safely defended the
vital route leading to Dunkirk and Calais.
Mere written words can, however, but imperfectly convey a complete idea
of the colossal work it did among most discouraging and desolate
surroundings; and prudence forbids us to say anything at all about many,
and those by no means the least considerable, of the operations.
Moreover, the few data which we have been permitted to give are but a
slight indication of the efforts unsparingly made by men and officers
alike.
The task was done in self-effacing silence; the world at large scarcely
knows of it. But perhaps in these few pages we may have succeeded in
making the merit of our fearless and tenacious troops better
appreciated, and in showing how well they have earned the homage due to
the determined energy which they have displayed for more than three
years, with no thought but that of valiantly performing a duty of prime
importance to the common cause, though it brings no glory with it.
Can anyone realise fully the kind of life Belgian soldiers are leading,
even now that the essential military works are completed? A division
guarding a sector of the front invariably divides its time between duty
in the trenches, outpost duty and rest. Rest! magic word! You would like
to think that our men enjoy a blissful calm, long hours of pleasant
freedom, lounging about all the day, almost forgetful of the war and its
cruel chances. Alack! how far the reality falls short of this seductive
vision! "Rest" means shelter in comfortless hutments or squalid
cantonments, with a truss of straw to serve as bed. Fatigue duties are
needed to prepare, load up and move the materials for all the works
whose upkeep and completion demand constant care. Then there are the
long route marches to keep the troops in perfect training, and drill in
which military instruction is given and our men are taught the latest
modes of fighting with a view to making future attacks. At night come
alarms and enemy shells bombarding their quarters and poisoning them
with asphyxiating gases.
When on outpost duty in the second-line positions one must always be
ready for a fight. When the German guns concentrate an intense fire upon
certain sectors, one must wait stolidly and stoically in the shelters
which a single shell can blow to atoms. Then, too, whenever the chance
is offered, one must toil to restore defence works which are as
constantly knocked to pieces again. With nightfall come the reliefs, a
long and tiresome business, surrounded by deadly peril if the enemy be
on his guard and puts up a barrage, searching the ground with sudden,
furious bursts of machine-gun fire.
In the trenches one has to keep a close and cautious lookout, always
watching the enemy's lines, mind and body ever alert, while pitiless
death prowls about and threatens at every point. At times, no doubt, the
hours pass slowly with tiresome monotony. A heavy silence broods over
this corner of the great battlefield wherein the Belgian soldiers,
tramping along the bottom of the trenches or huddled in a dark shelter,
dream at length of all that they have in tender memory, the affections,
the hopes left behind them in the country now oppressed and tyrannised
over by the invader. Their souls are full of bitterness, as with fixed
stare they dumbly surrender themselves to their sad musings. A mad
desire comes over them to clasp again to their breast, if only for a
moment, some suffering dear one--whether still living or with eyes
closed for ever in death, they do not know. So violent an access of
home-sickness sweeps over them that at times they cannot restrain their
tears.
Then, suddenly, all heads are raised: eyes flash like points of steel.
Let a shell whistle over the trenches and burst a few yards further on,
and these men, who a moment ago were numbed by their gloomy broodings,
become in a trice the fighters whose keenness awakes when danger
threatens.
Explosions, nearer and yet nearer. The earth quivers under the
continuous shell-bursts. An acrid smoke spreads in the trenches, now
all alive. The men rush to arms. With an eye glued to their peep-holes
the look-outs feverishly scrutinise the enemy's lines, while the
infantry lean against the broad, high parapets or crouch in their
dug-outs, stoically waiting for the rain of steel and fire to cease
falling about their ears.
[Illustration: A FRONT-LINE TRENCH IN THE SOUTHERN SECTOR OF THE BELGIAN
FRONT]
[Illustration: A FOOTBRIDGE THROUGH THE FLOODS
_Replaces a Road and carries a Narrow-gauge Railway_.]
[Illustration: AN OUTPOST AMONG THE FLOODS
_Armed with Machine-guns_.]
But the bombardment, far from dying down, seems to increase in fury.
Here come grenades and torpedoes, bursting everywhere with a terrible
din, excavating huge holes in the ground, throwing up great sheaves of
earth and mud, scattering sand-bags, stakes, planks and beams in all
directions, demolishing with fiendish persistency the ramparts built so
painstakingly by our stubborn workers.
We on our part have been prompt to reply to the enemy's fire. Our
gunners are already busy; mortars and bomb-throwers discharge a stream
of projectiles into the opposite trenches without intermission. And
soon, far away on the plain, the batteries also lift up their voices.
The long-drawn-out, deep growls of the heavy guns mingle with the sharp
barks of the "soixante-quinze." Everything round about the bombarded
trench seems to be engulfed in the terrific uproar.
The struggle continues obstinately, with periodic bursts of excessive
violence, until the enemy's fire is mastered and dies away into silence.
When quiet returns, the officer of the guard, in his half-demolished
post, pens his terse report by the flickering light of a candle:--
"To-day, from 4 to 8 p.m., the trench occupied by my company was
heavily bombarded. Shells and bombs have damaged our works very
seriously for about 50 yards. Two shelters were entirely destroyed.
The men behaved splendidly in spite of heavy losses: 10 killed, 27
wounded--a dozen severely. Stretcher-bearers just arrived. The
company has got to work again. Moral excellent."
* * * * * *
Some may imagine that the Belgian troops must have had their readiness
to attack blunted, and their desire to leap over the entanglements and
hurl themselves on the enemy weakened, by their long immobility in the
same trenches, by the never-ending construction of defensive works, by
the interminable residence in the same monotonous environment.
But they are wrong. Their sadly mistaken conclusions would soon be
corrected could they but see how eagerly our soldiers contend for the
honour of taking part in those adventurous patrols in No Man's Land and
in the risky reconnaissances towards the German lines. If 10 volunteers
be called for, a hundred offer themselves. Hardly a night passes without
some expeditions of this kind being set on foot. Then are fought in the
darkness weird and deadly combats, wherein our men display magnificent
courage and wonderful dash.
Neither bad weather nor suffering can quench their desire to conquer and
their hot eagerness to fling themselves upon the enemy and hunt him out
of the country which he has remorselessly despoiled. As the soldiers of
justice and right, they wish to be--and will be--the soldiers also of
deliverance and liberty. They know that their hour is coming and that
they cannot choose it; but they are ready to throw themselves heart and
soul into the thick of the fray when they get the impatiently awaited
signal.