The battle which forms the chief feature of Gen. French’s report really began on Oct. 11, when Major Gen. Gough of the Second British Cavalry Brigade, first came in contact with German cavalry in the woods along the Bethune-Aire Canal.  The English cavalry moved toward Hazebrouck, clearing the way for two army corps, which advanced rapidly in a northeasterly direction.  For several days the progress of the British was only slightly interrupted, except at La Bassee, a high position, which Field Marshal French mentions as having stubbornly resisted.

Field Marshal French says the Second Corps, under Gen. Smith-Dorrien, was opposed by overpowering forces of Germans, but nevertheless advanced until Oct. 18, when the German opposition compelled a reinforcement.  Six days later the Lahore Division of the Indian army was sent to support the Second Corps.

On Oct. 16 Sir Henry Rawlinson, who had covered the retreat of the Belgian army from Antwerp with two divisions of English cavalry and two divisions of French infantry, was stationed on the line east of Ypres under orders to operate over a wide front and to keep possession of all the ground held by the Allies until the First Army Corps could reach Ypres.

Gen. Rawlinson was opposed by superior forces and was unable to prevent the Germans from getting large reinforcements.  With four army corps holding a much wider front than their size justified, Field Marshal French says he faced a stubborn situation.  The enemy was massed from the Lys, and there was imperative need for a strengthened line.

However, the Field Marshal decided to send the First Corps north of Ypres to stop the reinforcements which might enable the Germans to flank the Allies.  The shattered Belgian army and the wearied French troops’ endeavors to check the German reinforcements were powerless, so the British commander sent fresh troops to prevent the Germans from executing movements which would have given them access to Channel ports.

Sir Douglas Haig, with the First Army Corps, was sent Oct. 19 to capture Bruges and drive the enemy back toward Ghent, if possible.  Meantime the Belgians intrenched themselves along the Ypres Canal.  Sir John French commends the valor of the Belgians, who, he says, exhausted by weeks of constant fighting, maintained these positions gallantly.

Because of the overwhelming numbers of the Germans opposing them, he says he enjoined a defensive role upon the three army corps located south of Ypres.  While Gen. Haig made a slight advance, Sir John says it was wonderful that he was able to advance at all, owing to the bad roads and the overwhelming number of Germans, which made it impossible to carry out the original plan of moving to Bruges.

The fighting gradually developed into bayonet charges.  Field Marshal French says that Oct. 21 brought forth the hardest attack, made on the First Corps at Ypres, in the checking of which the Worcestershire Regiment displayed great gallantry.  This day marked the most critical period in the great battle, according to the Commander in Chief, who says the recapture of the village of Gheluvelt through a rally of the Worcestershires was fraught with much consequence to the Allies.