suffered large losses.

On the night of May 16, 1915, the Germans threatened with complete
envelopment by the successful attacks of preceding days, evacuated
the positions which they had occupied to the west of the Yser Canal,
and they gained nothing on the eastern bank. The Germans left about
two thousand dead and many rifles when they were forced from the
western bank. On the following night, May 17, 1915, the positions
on the eastern bank were consolidated, and a German counterattack,
which was preceded by a bombardment, was repulsed. The Germans
gained a footing in the trenches to the east of the Yser Canal in
an attack made on the night of May 20, 1915, but they were driven
out and lost some of the ground they had held before making the
attack.

The Germans made a violent attack on the edge of the Belgian front
at Nieuport in order to prevent the Belgians from aiding in the
defense of Ypres, but the Belgians defended Nieuport with one army
corps and made an advance on Dixmude with another corps, with the
result that they assisted the Zouaves in taking the German bridgeheads
on the western bank of the canal above Ypres. These bridgeheads
were protected by forts manned by machine guns, and the approaches
were commanded by heavy artillery fire, but defense was destroyed
in the middle of May, 1915.

The Germans concentrated their efforts against the Belgians at one
point between Ypres and Dixmude. They bombarded the trenches, using
bombs filled with poisonous gas. When they believed the Belgians had
been overcome by the gas the German infantry charged. The Belgians,
however, had kept their faces close to the ground, thus escaping
most of the fumes from the shells. When the Germans arrived within
easy range they were greeted with machine-gun fire to such an extent
that the companies leading the charge were slain.

A battalion of Belgian troops on June 14, 1915, gained the east bank
of the Yser south of the Dixmude railroad bridge, and established
themselves there. The Belgians also destroyed a German blockhouse
in the vicinity of the Chateau of Dixmude. The Belgian troops,
south of St. Georges, captured a German trench, all the defenders
of which were killed or made prisoners on June 22, 1915.

After the canal line was won, and the Belgians were in position
to hold it, they could make little headway eastward. Their advance
was checked by a series of batteries which were concealed in the
Forest of Houthulst. These