It was decided to establish on the right bank of the Yser, at the South of Dixmude, towards kilometer 19, to the close contact of the enemy a bridge-head which would be afterwards widened, in order to create a starting position to permit our army to take and offensive. It was Major Panhuys who was charged with this perilous operation, with a group composed of his own battalion (the 1^{st} battalion of the 2^d foot jagers), re-enforced with a company of machine-gunners and a company of cyclists. It was important to take the enemy unawares. All was put in action to that end, each one having his definite mission to accomplish. During the night of the 21^{st} to the 22^d of December 1914, a night cold and dark, the group crossed the river in two places and managed to instal itself on a position uniting the little wood of the peninsula of kilometer 19.500 with a bend to the North, facing the cemetery of Dixmude. The enemy being taken by surprise, could not till dawn offer an efficient resistance: but already our troops had organized the ground and maintained their positions in spite of firing, counter-attacks and severe bombardments. [Illustration: Bridge-head of kilometer 19.500 of the river Yser in June 1915. ] The heroïc group, who had performed the operation with such valour and spirit, was mentioned in despatches by decision of the H. M. the King. It was of the utmost importance to strengthen the occupation, but there could be no question of working by day, the enemy holding the watch and sway over the land, and especially over the knoll of Woumen (castle of kilometer 19). So our troops were kept to the task without respite. Afterwards the extension of the bridge-head to the South, for months saw added to the companies on guard, picket companies and detachments of pioneers, nightly erecting parapets and communication trenches, building shelters, casting footbridges over muddy ground, covering the positions with wire netting work, regulating the current of the waters at Sparken and Waalevaardeken by locks and dams, multiplying and rebuilding the footbridges on the river etc., in a word executing the thousand and one labours required by an advanced position to render it strong and powerful, durable if not comfortable and give to the troops of the principal resisting position real and positive security.