_Observation-posts_: One at Mariakerke on the roof of the asylum, the other in the dunes. _Ammunition supply_ was also done by railway. _Historical account_: The guns of this battery had been ordered to Krupp, by the Belgian Army, in view to complete the armement of fortified position of Antwerp. At the outbreak of the war the German Government kept hold of them and used them for their coast defences in Belgium. The battery was in position West of Ostend close by Hamilton Farm. The first rounds date from September the 7^{th} 1915. Only two guns opened fire at that time and during one of the firing a barrel of one of them burst causing the death of twelve gunners; that tube was afterwards replaced by another. On January the 24^{th} 1916, the “Tirpitz” battery fired a hundred shells on the Church of Nieuport and on the old Templers’s Tower, last vestige of the first convent of that order, which dated from the XII^{th} century. That destruction must have proved very satisfactory to the German commanders, for, in recognition of that gallant deed, iron crosses were awarded to 10 gunners of the battery. The four guns fired for the first time in battery fire in July the 16^{th} 1916. The allied counter-battery work was fairly active, mainly in 1917 and 1918. The pivot of that counter-battery fire was formed of French 12 inch guns, mounted on railway; these were firing from round Coxyde. On July 16^{th} 1917 the French gunners were rather successful, several of the guns servants were killed, shelters were destroyed, and the men were scattered. The guns themselves were hit by shell splinters. The top of the gun pits were then strengthened with a bursting layer thick of one meter of concrete, and the battery resumed its action on the 22^d of the same month. In order to deceive our observers, a dummy battery was erected by the German at about 2 kilometers away from the real emplacement, in the direction of Wilskerke. Two old Belgian mortars of the 1862 type, brought from Liége, and, four dummy guns made of wood were forming the battery. Each time Tirpitz was firing a shot, the dummy was exploding three successive charges, thus giving the impression of four rounds. Another trick used by the enemy was, that whenever the counter-battery was on, the crew was blowing up huge fougases thus preventing the registering of the fire. The last fire occured on the 15^{th} of October 1918, and the battery was then destroyed. [Illustration: KNOCKE ON SEA.—German Battery Wilhelm II. ] [Illustration: NIEUPORT.—Aerial photo of the Main Redan (August 10^{th} 1918). ] 5.—German Admiralty Headquarters at Middelkerke. If the material employed for the coast defences was of the first quality, the German took the same care for the fitting up of the position held by the naval infantry, which disposed of strong and numerous dug-outs, skilfully camouflaged, in other word they formed magnificent battle posts.