Figure 1.--When the Germans launched the second drive of the Kaiserschlachtv (Georgette) in the Lys River Valley, the Gordon Highlanders were some of the first troops Field Marshal Haig moved yo protect the vital rail center at Hazebrouck. Here the men of the 4th battalion are seen in quickly improvised trenches near Locon. Apparently some French children caught up in the middle of the German drive sought safety with the Gordons. They fed the children and when nught fell got them out of harms way.

Georgette was a scalled down Operation George that had been previously planned. The Lys drive was another engaement in Flanders. The British during the German Michael drive moved forces to the Somme to defend the vital rail junction at Amiens. This left the Lys River valley with its rail line through Hazebrouck to the Channel ports of Calais, Boulogne, and Dunkirk lightly dfended. The navigable river Lys (sometines called the Lys Canal) extends from the junction with the Dunkerque-Escaut waterway near Aire-sur-la-Lys to the confluence with the Scheldt/Escaut at Ghent in Belgium. The Germans saw an opportunity to cut off the British army from its major supply ports. The battle was fought near Ypresrge scene of a fierce eratlier battle and for several days the British were in serious danger. [Baker] The Germans launched the attack with a massive Feuerwalze--eolling artillery barage (April 9). The Gernmas chose an open, flat area where the Portuguese Expeditionary Corps had been deployed. The Germans had declared war on Portugal (March 1916). The Portuguese had arrived in the trenches (1917). After the artillery barage, one Portuguese battlion refused to enter the trenches. Eight German divisions attcked in strength. The Germans selected the sector probably because they thought the Portuguese would be a soft target. Catching then in the midst of a redeployment was probably just luck. One account reorts that the Portuguese 'were tired and had suffered heavy losses'. They were sceduled to be replaced by fresh British divisions, but that operation was only beginning when the Germans struck. The 1st Portuguese Division had been withdrawn and only the 2nd Portuguese Division manned the front of 7 miles of flat country with know natural defensive barriers. The Portuguese attempted to hold, but were oveerwhalmed by the eight German divisions. The 2nd Division was largely annihilated. The British 40th Division occupying the northern flank of the Portuguese also collapsed, opening a gap in the front line. To the south, the British 55th Division hich had a stronger defensise position because of the La Bassée Canal held the line. The followng day, the Germans struck north toward the Channel. The British dfenders at Armentières had to withdraw as the Germans were about to surround them. The Germans recaptured Messines Ridge the cene of fierce battle (1917). Even with moving reserves forward, the British were having trouble holding a line set up along the River Lys. The British feared that the Germans might expand their breakthrough and continue the drive the remaining 15 miles to Channel ports. The Gordon Higlanders had been committed too the Michael/Somme battle, but Territorial and Service Battalions were among those rushed into the sector to hold the line (April 10) (figure 1). British commander, Field Marshal Douglas Haig, issued a not very optimistic Order of the Day telling his men, "Three weeks ago to-day the enemy began his terrific attacks against us on a 50 mile front. His objects are to separate us from the French, to take the Channel ports and destroy the British Army. There is no other course open to us but to fight it out! Every position must be held to the last man: there must be no retirement. With our backs to the wall, and believing in the justice of our cause each one of us must fight to the end." (April 11) Fortunately for the British, the German offensive slowed because of the logistical problems created by the rapid advance as well as their exposed flanks. The British rail center at Hazebrouck proved to be the key to the Battle. It was a small town, but critical to the Allies, The town's rail ine carried half the British daily food and munitions supplies. Haig ordered the 1st Australian Division defend the town. Much of the Btitish reseves had been committed to stop the German Muchael/Somme drive. Counterattacks by British, French and Anzac forces slowed and then stopped the German advance. The French 133rd Division was the first of the reinforcing units (April 14). The British abandoned the relatively unimportant territory around Ypres which gave them several divisions to confront the Germans. Ludendorff called off Georgette (April 29). Like Michael, the Akkies and Germabs suffered azbout equal losses, some 110,000 casualties, but with the Americans in the offing, such irreplace able losses can only be seen as a defeat. And worse still the poition they had taken was a vilnerabke salient which the Allioes began shelling remoreslessly. As with Michael, losses were roughly equal, approximately 110,000 men wounded or killed, each. [Marix-Evans, p. 81.] And most importantly Hazebrouck remained in Allied hands.

Sources

Baker, Chris. The Battle of the Lys, 1918: South: Objective Hazebrouck Battleground Books.

Marix-Evans, Martin. 1918: The Year of Victories Arcturus Military History Series (London: Arcturus, 2002).

Created: 7:59 AM 11/29/2015
Last updated: 7:59 AM 11/29/2015