To sum up: though the main positions were not very near together, the advanced posts of both sides threatened each other, in some instances at point-blank range. The Germans, who were well aware of the weakness of the Belgian Army, would not have failed to profit by the least negligence on our part, nor to try for an easy success at any weak point discovered in our lines. But no chance of the kind was given them. * * * * * * The system of defence created by the Belgian Army along the front, as briefly described above, served a double purpose. First, it gave support to the left flank of the Allied forces along the western front, and at this end barred the most southerly roads to Dunkirk and Calais. Secondly, it preserved unviolated for Belgium the last fragment of her national soil--an object of both political and military importance. While the first shows with sufficient clearness the importance of the part undertaken by the Belgian Army, the latter explains even more fully the great value which that army sets upon the positions entrusted to its valour. It realises in full the seriousness of its task, for by relieving the Allies of all anxiety concerning the most northerly part of their front, it gives them the necessary freedom of action for dealing the enemy, in selected sectors, those heavy blows which have already repeatedly shaken the might of Germany. But how the Belgian soldiers' readiness to do their part without flinching stiffened into a firm resolve when they reflected that, in doing it, they were also defending against the enemy's greed the last few square miles of Belgian territory, in which the air they breathed was still free, in which lived their king! What a holy enthusiasm was kindled in their hearts by the prospect of one day leaping from their trenches to drive out the tyrannical and cruel oppressor! These are the noble feelings whence spring the moral strength and stout-heartedness of our troops--qualities which have enabled them to endure without a murmur severe privations, the cruel separation from all they hold most dear, the long sojourn in their comfortless trenches, amid water and mud and ruins that become more and more depressing--heart-breaking surroundings among which they will have to pass yet a fourth winter, now close at hand. * * * * * *