page_title: Race to the Sea
section_title: Operations in Belgium, August–October 1914
hierarchical_section_title: Race to the Sea / Background / Tactical developments / Operations in Belgium, August–October 1914
caption_attribution_description: English: German advance through Belgium, August 1914
context_page_description: The Race to the Sea took place from about 17 September – 19 October 1914 during the First World War, after the Battle of the Frontiers and the German advance into France. The invasion had been stopped at the First Battle of the Marne and was followed by the First Battle of the Aisne, a Franco-British counter-offensive. The term describes reciprocal attempts by the Franco-British and German armies to envelop the northern flank of the opposing army through the provinces of Picardy, Artois and Flanders, rather than an attempt to advance northwards to the sea. The "race" ended on the North Sea coast of Belgium around 19 October, when the last open area from Dixmude to the North Sea was occupied by Belgian troops who had retreated after the Siege of Antwerp. The outflanking attempts had resulted in a number of encounter battles but neither side was able to gain a decisive victory.
  After the opposing forces had reached the North Sea, both tried to conduct offensives leading to the mutually costly and indecisive Battle of the Yser from 16 October to 2 November and the First Battle of Ypres from 19 October to 22 November.
context_section_description: On 2 August 1914, the Belgian government refused the passage of German troops through Belgium to France and on the night of 3/4 August, the Belgian General Staff ordered the Third Division to Liège to obstruct a German advance. Covered by the Third Division, the Liège fortress garrison, a screen of the Cavalry Division and detachments from Liège and Namur, the rest of the Belgian field army closed up to the river Gete by 4 August, covering central and western Belgium and the communications towards Antwerp. The German invasion began on 4 August, when an advanced force of six German brigades from the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Armies, crossed the German-Belgian border. Belgian resistance and German fear of Francs-tireurs, led the Germans to implement a policy of Schrecklichkeit (frightfulness) against Belgian civilians soon after the invasion, in which massacres, executions, hostage taking and the burning of towns and villages took place and became known as the Rape of Belgium.
  On 5 August, the advanced German forces tried to capture Liège and the forts of the Fortified Position of Liège by coup de main. The city fell on 6 August but the forts were not captured and on 12 August, five German super-heavy 420 mm (17 in) howitzers and four batteries of Austrian 305 mm (12.0 in) howitzers, began systematically to bombard the Belgian defences, until the last fort fell on 16 August. On 18 August, the Germans began to advance along the Meuse River towards Namur and the Belgian field army began a withdrawal from its positions along the Gete, to the National Redoubt at Antwerp. On 20 August, the German 1st Army took Brussels unopposed and the Belgian field army reached Antwerp, with little interference from German advanced parties, except for an engagement between the 1st Division and the German IX Corps near Tienen, in which the Belgians had 1,630 casualties.
  While the BEF and the French armies conducted the Great Retreat into France (24 August – 28 September), small detachments of the Belgian, French and British armies conducted operations in Belgium against German cavalry and Jäger. On 27 August, a squadron of the RNAS had flown to Ostend, for air reconnaissance sorties between Bruges, Ghent and Ypres. British marines landed at Dunkirk on the night of 19/20 September and on 28 September occupied Lille. The rest of the brigade occupied Cassel on 30 September and scouted the country in motor cars. An RNAS Armoured Car Section was created, by fitting vehicles with bullet-proof steel. On 2 October, the Marine Brigade was moved to Antwerp, followed by the rest of the Naval Division on 6 October, having landed at Dunkirk on the night of 4/5 October. From 6–7 October, the 7th Division and the 3rd Cavalry Division landed at Zeebrugge. Naval forces collected at Dover were formed into a separate unit, which became the Dover Patrol, to operate in the Channel and off the French-Belgian coast.
  Antwerp was invested to the south and east by German forces after 20 August, while the main German armies chased the French and British over the border southwards to the Marne. Belgian forces in Antwerp tried to assist the French and British with sorties on 24–26 August, 9–13 September and 26–27 September. On 28 September German heavy and super-heavy artillery began to bombard Belgian fortifications around Antwerp. On 1 October, the Germans attacked forts Sint-Katelijne-Waver and Walem and the Bosbeek and Dorpveld redoubts, held by the 5th Reserve and Marine divisions. By 11:00 a.m., Fort Walem was severely damaged and Fort Lier was hit by 16 in (410 mm) shells but Fort Koningshooikt, the Tallabert and Bosbeek redoubts were mostly intact; the intervening ground between Fort Sint-Katelijne-Waver and Dorpveld redoubt had been captured. Despite reinforcement by the Royal Naval Division from 2 October, the Germans penetrated the outer ring of forts. When the German advance began to compress a corridor from the west of the city along the Dutch border to the coast, the Belgian field army withdrew from Antwerp westwards towards the coast. On 9 October, the remaining gar
caption: German invasion of Belgium, August 1914
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