Mowed down where they stood, the assailants vainly attempted to debouch from the village, where piles of their dead lay among the ruins. The 14th Line Regiment, which had meanwhile relieved the 7th, was able to withdraw in good order. At nightfall, the batteries were gradually withdrawn behind the railway whence they helped first to hold, then to force back the German attack upon Ramscappelle. The defenders being now exhausted, and the enemy's attack gathering strength, the Belgian General Staff gave orders to flood the area between the Yser and the railway embankment. The road to Calais, via Nieuport, was thus definitely barred to the invaders. The Germans revenged themselves by bombarding Nieuport, attempting at the same time to slip along the dunes of Lombartzyde, towards the town, in order to seize the locks. Before the unflinching resistance of the defenders supported by the fire of the British and French monitors, the attack broke down. [Illustration: +Temporary Foot-bridge across the Yser at Nieuport.+] [Illustration: +Nieuport, the Grand'Place and the Markets, before the War.+ _(Photo Nels.)_] At the beginning of November Lombartzyde, in the northern sector, was the scene of uninterrupted fighting, with alternating advances and retreats. In December a powerful offensive, having for its objective the capture of the German defences along the Belgian sea-coast, was begun, with General de Mitry in command of the Nieuport forces. [Illustration: +Ruins of the Grand'Place in 1919.+ _(See photo above.)_] On December 16, the French carried the western outskirts of Lombartzyde in a single rush, and reached the first houses of St. Georges. The enemy, however, resisted desperately, and progress was slow. By the end of the month, the Moroccan Brigade succeeded, with great difficulty, in reaching the Grande Dune. On January 7, the 4th Regiment of Zouaves scaled the Mamelon Vert. A few days later the French Marines, who had been relieved in the Steenstraate sector, by Tirailleurs and dismounted cavalry units of the 2nd Corps, attacked the Grande Dune and Lombartzyde. After extremely desperate fighting, entailing heavy losses, the Grande Dune was captured. [Illustration: +Nieuport. The ruined church.+] The attack was stayed, and the French clung to the thin strip of land on the right bank of the Yser. The bombardment of Nieuport increased in violence. Each morning, the huge 16½in. shells wrecked the houses and public buildings, and crushed in the cellars where the defenders had taken shelter. One after another, the 12th century Church, the Abbey on the Dunes, the "+Halles+" with their graceful belfry, and the massive Templars' Tower crashed to the ground. Meanwhile, the battle continued to rage all around the town. On May 9, a German attack from Lombartzyde to St. Georges was broken, and on the following day the French marines carried "W" and Union Farms, with fine dash, and destroyed the enemy's blockhouses.