Battle of Courtrai (1918)

Battle of Courtai, 1918
Part of the Western Front of World War I
Map of the final Allied offensives on the Western Front, 1918
Date 14–19 October 1918 Location Ypres, Belgium to Ghent, Belgium Result Decisive Allied victory
Belligerents
Belgium British Empire Newfoundland United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland France United States	German Empire Baden Bavaria Prussia Saxony Württemberg
Commanders and leaders
King Albert I Jean Degoutte Herbert Plumer	Erich Ludendorff Crown Prince Rupprecht Sixt von Armin Ferdinand von Quast
Casualties and losses
Unknown	Unknown losses, 12,000 soldiers captured, 550 artillery pieces captured.

The Battle of Courtrai (also known as the Second Battle of Belgium (French) and the Battle of Roulers (French)) was one of a series of offensives in northern France and southern Belgium that took place in late September and October 1918.

Background

After the Fifth Battle of Ypres and the successful breaking of the Hindenburg Line further south, the Allies conceived a strategy of pursuing the Germans for as long as possible, before movement was stopped by the winter rains. Mud and a collapse of the supply-system had stopped the advance of the Groupe d'Armées des Flandres (G.A.F.) ending the Fifth Battle of Ypres (28 September – 2 October). By mid-October the GAF (comprising twelve Belgian divisions, ten divisions of the British Second Army) and six divisions of the French Sixth Army, under the command of King Albert I of Belgium with the French General Degoutte as Chief of Staff, was ready to resume the offensive.

Battle

The offensive began at 5:35 a.m. on 14 October, with an attack by the GAF from the Lys river at Comines northwards to Dixmude. The British creeping barrage advanced at a rate of 100 yards (91 m) per minute, much faster and much further than the practice in 1917, in expectation that there would be little resistance from German infantry. By the evening the British forces had reached high ground which dominated Werviq, Menin and Wevelghem in the south; further north the British captured Morslede and closed up to Gulleghem and Steenbeek. Belgian troops on the left reached Iseghem, French troops surrounded Roulers and more Belgian troops captured Cortemarck. Roulers fell the next day and by 16 October the British held the north bank of the Lys up to Harlebeke and had crossed the river at several points. By 17 October Thourout, Ostend, Lille and Douai had been recaptured; Bruges and Zeebrugge fell by 19 October and the Dutch border was reached the following day. The crossing of the Lys and the capture of Courtrai by the British Second Army on 19 October, led to a German retreat on the front of the Fifth Army further south, which encircled Lille on 18 October. Next day the British were in Roubaix and Tourcoing and by the evening of 22 October the British had reached the Scheldt from Valenciennes to Avelghem.

Aftermath

By the time the Armistice had been signed, the front-line had advanced an average of 45 miles (72 km) and ran from Terneuzen, to Ghent, along the River Scheldt to Ath and from there to Saint-Ghislain where it linked up with the BEF on the Somme.

See also

• Battle of Courtrai (disambiguation), for other battles with this name

References

• Boraston, J. H. (1919). Sir Douglas Haig's Despatches (1920 ed.). London: Dent. OCLC 633614212. 
• Edmonds, J. E.; Maxwell-Hyslop, R. (1947). Military Operations France and Belgium 1918 Volume V 26th September – 11th November The Advance to Victory (IWM & Battery Press 1993 ed.). London: HMSO. ISBN 0-89839-192-X. 
• Harris, J. P.; Barr, N. (1998). Amiens to the Armistice: The BEF in the Hundred Day's Campaign, 8 August – 11 November 1918. London: Brasey's. ISBN 1-85753-149-3. 
• Sheffield, G. (2011). The Chief: Douglas Haig and the British Army. London: Aurum Press. ISBN 978-1-84513-691-8. 

External links

• The Hundred Days, 18 July-11 November 1918
• Situation au Debut D'Octobre 1918 (in French)
• CWGC Map, Victory offensive 1918