Battle of the Yser
| Battle of the Yser | |||||||||
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| Part of the Race to the Sea on the Western Front in World War I | |||||||||
 Depiction of German soldiers fleeing from Belgian forces at the Battle of the Yser. |
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
Naval support: United Kingdom
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 German Empire
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
 King Albert I Émile Dossin Augustin Michel Alphonse Jacques Pierre Ronarc'h Paul Grossetti Horace Hood
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Albrecht of Württemberg Hans von Beseler
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| Strength | |||||||||
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Belgium: 52,000 men France: 4,000 men Britain: 3 monitors Various auxiliaries |
60,000–85,000 men | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
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Belgium: 3,500 killed 15,000 wounded |
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The Battle of the Yser (French: Bataille de l'Yser, Dutch: Slag om de IJzer) was a World War I battle which took place in October 1914 between the towns on Nieuwpoort and Diksmuide along a 35-kilometre (22 mi) long stretch of the Yser river and Yperlee canal in Belgium. The front line was held by a large Belgian force which halted the German advance in a costly defensive battle. The Allied victory at the Yser stopped the German advance into the last corner of unoccupied Belgium but still left the German army in control of 95 percent of Belgian territory.
Victory at the Yser allowed Belgium to retain control of a sliver of territory, while making King Albert a Belgian national hero, sustaining national pride and providing a venue for commemorations of heroic sacrifice for the next century.
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