Transcriber's Note: Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note. Irregularities and inconsistencies in the text have been retained as printed. Words printed in italics are marked with underlines: _italics_. Words printed in bold are marked with tildes: ~bold~. The Daily Telegraph WAR BOOKS THE BATTLES IN FLANDERS The Daily Telegraph WAR BOOKS Cloth 1/-net each Post free 1/3 each ~HOW THE WAR BEGAN~ By W. L. COURTNEY, LL.D., and J. M. KENNEDY ~THE FLEETS AT WAR~ By ARCHIBALD HURD ~THE CAMPAIGN OF SEDAN~ By GEORGE HOOPER ~THE CAMPAIGN ROUND LIEGE~ By J. M. KENNEDY ~IN THE FIRING LINE~ By A. ST. JOHN ADCOCK ~GREAT BATTLES OF THE WORLD~ By STEPHEN CRANE ~BRITISH REGIMENTS AT THE FRONT~ ~THE RED CROSS IN WAR~ By Miss MARY FRANCES BILLINGTON ~FORTY YEARS AFTER~ The Story of the Franco-German War By H. C. BAILEY With an Introduction by W. L. COURTNEY, LL.D. ~A SCRAP OF PAPER~ By E. J. DILLON ~HOW THE NATIONS WAGED WAR~ By J. M. KENNEDY ~AIR-CRAFT IN WAR~ By S. ERIC BRUCE ~FAMOUS FIGHTS OF INDIAN NATIVE REGIMENTS~ By REGINALD HODDER ~THE FIGHTING RETREAT TO PARIS~ By ROGER INGPEN ~THE FIRST CAMPAIGN IN RUSSIAN POLAND~ By P. C. STANDEN ~THE BATTLES OF THE RIVERS~ By EDMUND DANE ~FROM HELIGOLAND TO KEELING ISLAND~ By ARCHIBALD HURD ~THE SLAV NATIONS~ By SRGJAN PL. TUCIC ~SUBMARINES, MINES AND TORPEDOES~ By A. S. DOMVILLE-FIFE ~WITH THE R.A.M.C. AT THE FRONT~ By E. C. VIVIAN ~MOTOR TRANSPORTS IN WAR~ By HORACE WYATT ~HACKING THROUGH BELGIUM~ By EDMUND DANE ~WITH THE FRENCH EASTERN ARMY~ ~THE GERMAN NAVY~ By ARCHIBALD HURD _OTHER VOLUMES IN PREPARATION_ PUBLISHED FOR THE DAILY TELEGRAPH BY HODDER & STOUGHTON, WARWICK SQUARE, LONDON, E.C. THE BATTLES IN FLANDERS FROM YPRES TO NEUVE CHAPELLE BY EDMUND DANE HODDER AND STOUGHTON LONDON NEW YORK TORONTO MCMXV PREFATORY NOTE Ever since the middle of November last there has been on the West front in the present war what many have called and considered a "deadlock." In the account which follows of that part of the campaign represented by the battles in Flanders the true character of the great and brilliant military scheme by means of which, and against apparently impossible odds, the Allied commanders succeeded in reducing the main fighting forces of Germany to impotence, and in defeating the purposes of the invasion, will, I hope, become clear. The success or failure of that scheme depended upon the issue of the Battle of Ypres. Not only was that great battle the most prolonged, furious, and destructive clash of arms yet known, but upon it also, for reasons which in fact disclose the real history of this struggle, hung the issue of the War as a whole. No accident merely of a despot's desires caused the fury and the terror of Ypres. It was the big bid of Prussian Militarism for supremacy. Equally in the terrible and ghastly defeat it there sustained Prussian Militarism faced its doom. CONTENTS