While this advance was being conducted the British fleet were bombarding
the coastal defenses. The Belgian army, fighting with the utmost spirit
under command of King Albert, made a penetration of five miles and
captured four thousand prisoners and an immense amount of supplies.
On September 30th they captured the city of Roulers. For ten days there
was a consolidation of position by the Allies, but on October 14th they
made a furious attack in the general direction of Ghent and Courtrai.
Thousands of prisoners and several complete batteries of guns were
captured. In this attack British, Belgian and French troops took part,
and the troops of the three nations went over the top without
preliminary bombardment, taking the enemy by surprise.
On October 15th the news from Flanders showed that the victory was
growing in extent, the Allied armies were advancing on a front of about
twenty-five miles, and in some places had penetrated the enemy's
positions six or seven miles. The Belgians had captured seven thousand
prisoners and the British and French about four thousand. In French
Flanders the British advanced to a point about three miles west of
Lille.
The battle was carried on in a heavy rain which turned the battle-fields
into seas of mud; while this hampered the Allied troops it hindered even
more the Germans in trying to move away their material through the mired
ground of the Flanders Lowland.
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