th.

And on October 9 the gallant Belgian army withdrew from Antwerp and
made its way to the Yser under cover of French and British troops.

Foch soon saw that an allied offensive would not be possible then; that
the most they could hope to do was to hold back the invading forces.

Until October 24 he remained at Doullens, twenty miles north of Amiens.
Then he removed his headquarters to the ancient town of Cassel, about
eighteen miles west and a little south of Ypres.

From there he was able to reach in a few hours' time any strategic part
of the north front and from this actual watch-tower (Cassel is on an
isolated hill more than 500 feet high, and commands views of portions
of France, Belgium, and even--on a clear day--of the chalky cliffs of
England; St. Omer, Dunkirk, Ypres, and Ostend are all visible from its
heights), he was to direct movements affecting the destinies of all
three nations.

The Belgians, whose sublime stand had thwarted Germany's murderous plan
against an unready world, were a sad little army when they reached the
Yser about mid October. It was not what they had endured that
contributed most to break their spirit; but what they had been unable
to prevent.

To those heroic men who had left their beautiful country to the
arch-fiends of destruction, their parents and wives and children to
savages who befoul the name of beasts; who no longer had any
possessions, nor munitions wherewith to make another stand on Belgian
soil; to them Foch took fresh inspiration with his calm and tremendous
personality; to them he sent his splendid Forty-second Division to
swell their ranks so frightfully depleted in Honor's cause; to them he
gave the suggestion of opening their sluices and drowning out of their
last little corner of Belgium the enemy they could not otherwise
dislodge.

This done, the next problem of Foch was to establish relations with Sir
John French whereby the most cordial and complete cooperation might be
insured between the British Field Marshal and the French commander of
the armies in the north.

There are several graphic accounts of interviews which took place
between these generals.

It was on October 28 that Foch saw the success of the opened sluices
and the consequent salvation to the heroic Belgians of a corner of
their own earth whereon to maintain their sovereignty.

On the 30th the English suffered severe reverses in spite of the aid
lent them by eight battalions of French