Battle of the Yser
| Battle of the Yser | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Race to the Sea on the Western Front in the First World War | |||||||||
Depiction of combat between Belgian and German forces | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||||
| German Empire | |||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
| 60,000–85,000 | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| Germany: c. 76,250 | ||||||||
The Battle of the Yser (French: Bataille de l'Yser, Dutch: Slag om de IJzer, German: Schlacht an der Yser) was a battle of the First World War that took place in October 1914 between the towns of Nieuwpoort and Diksmuide, along a 35 km (22 mi) stretch of the Yser River and the Yperlee Canal, in Belgium. The front line was held by a large Belgian force, which halted the German advance in a costly defensive battle.
The victory at the Yser allowed Belgium to retain a small strip of territory, with Germany in control of 95 per cent of Belgian territory, which made King Albert a Belgian national hero, sustained national pride and provided a venue for commemorations of heroic sacrifice for the next hundred years.