The German Siege of Namur ended with a Belgian capitulation on 24 August, as the field army made a sortie from Antwerp towards Brussels.

[11][12] On 1 October, General Hans Hartwig von Beseler ordered an attack on the Antwerp forts Sint-Katelijne-Waver, Walem and the Bosbeek and Dorpveld redoubts by the 5th Reserve and Marine divisions.

The Belgian commanders ordered the left flank of the army to withdraw to a line north of the Nete, which covered the gap in the outer defences and kept the city out of range of German super-heavy artillery.

[13] Early on 9 October, German troops found some forts of the inner ring empty; Beseler ended the bombardment and summoned the military governor, General Victor Deguise, to surrender.

From Kemmel, a low ridge lies to the north-east, declining in elevation past Ypres through Wijtschate (Wytschaete), Geluveld (Gheluvelt) and Passendale (Passchendaele), curving north then north-west to Diksmuide where it merges with the plain.

The Lys, Yser and the upper Scheldt have been canalised and between them the water level underground is close to the surface, rises further in the autumn and fills any dip, the sides of which then collapse.

The ground surface quickly turns to a consistency of cream cheese and on the coast troop movements were confined to roads, except during frosts.

South of La Bassée Canal around Lens and Béthune was a coal-mining district full of slag heaps, pit heads (fosses) and miners' houses (corons).

North of the canal, the cities of Lille, Tourcoing and Roubaix form a manufacturing complex, with outlying industries at Armentières, Comines, Halluin and Menen, along the Lys river, with isolated sugar beet and alcohol refineries and a steel works near Aire-sur-la-Lys.

In France, the roads were closed by the local authorities during thaws to preserve the surface and marked by Barrières fermėes, which in 1914 were ignored by British lorry drivers.

The difficulty of movement after the end of summer absorbed much of the civilian labour available on road maintenance, leaving field defences to be built by front-line soldiers.

The Fourth, First and Second divisions prolonged the line north, with advanced posts at Beerst, Keiem (Keyem), Schoore and Mannekensvere, about 1 mi (2 km) forward on the east bank.

[22] The Allies assembled a naval force under the British Admiral Horace Hood with three monitors, HMS Severn, Humber, Mersey and assorted craft to provide heavy artillery support to the defenders of the seaward flank.

The press, politicians, literary figures and the military manipulated public opinion, making out that the defence of the town was strategically-important and heroic.

[28] Belgian and French counter-attacks recovered Ramskapelle and the final attack, planned for the next day was called off when the Germans realised that the land behind them was flooding.

[30] The Belgian Army and its allies had managed to hold the last corner of Belgium, ending the Race to the Sea and the period of open warfare.

[32] The British official historian, James Edmonds, wrote in 1925, in the second 1914 volume of the History of the Great War, that from 18 October to 30 November 1914, between Gheluvelt and the coast, the Germans suffered an estimated 76,250 casualties.