Part 5
At last on the 17^{th} of October the monster of Leugenboom belongs to us. Our troops neared it, and, passing by it, threw a slightly haughtly look, but certainly encouraged by their grand trophy. Pressed by our soldiers, the Germans had hastily attempted to put their cannon out of action. It was loaded and levelled horizontally, and so it remains to the present day. In that position they hoped that the projectile would touch the concrete mass before being entirely shot out of the tube, and that its bursting would blow up the flight. But their anticipations were not realised; the projectile, instead of being stopped by the mass of concrete, passed through it, making a breach and burst about 800 meters further.
It was a Krupp marine gun of 380 mm. (15 inch), type 1914, n^o 154, of a total length of 17 m. 13 placed on a gun carriage, formed by two formidable tanks, tap rooted in the centre of a concrete pit. This pit has a special shape because, of the conditions the constructors imposed themselves to give it a field of fire of 157°, the axis of which passes by Dunkirk.
The total weight of the piece is 77630 kilos.
The breech has an outer diameter of one meter, the manœuvre is electrical but there exists handles for hand manœuvring. The artillery men were entirely protected by a cabin joined to the gun carriage, built in strong sheet of iron of a thickness of about 50 mm.
The cannon fired a projectile of 750 kilogrammes.
The two heavy guns of Predikboom and Leugenboom subjected Dunkirk to thirty two bombardments, the four hundred and eleven 15 inches shells of which killed one hundred and fourteen persons and wounded one hundred and eighty five.
[Illustration:
COUCKELAERE.—Heavy 15 inch gun at Leugenboom. ]
[Illustration:
CAESKERKE.—Arched communication trench and light railway line (1916). ]
LIST OF THE PHOTOGRAPHS AND SKETCHES
Pages.
H. M. THE KING ALBERT OF BELGIUM 3
CAESKERKE: Arched communication Trench and light railway line (1916) 71
CLERCKEN: Sketch of the German Observation-post 59
COUCKELAERE: Heavy 15 inch German gun at Leugenboom 70
DIXMUDE: Their Majesties the King and Queen in the “Death Trench” (June 1^{st} 1917) 32
DIXMUDE: Their Majesties the King and Queen at the “Rider’s work” (June 1^{st} 1917) 32
DIXMUDE: The flour-mill. La minoterie (1916) 45
„ The flour-mill. La minoterie (1917) 46
„ Aerial photo (May 26^{th} 1917) 31
„ Sketch of the “Death Trench” and of the “Rider’s work” 35
DIXMUDE: Sketch of the Bridge-head at kil. 19.500 of Yser river 56
KNOCKE ON SEA: German battery Wilhelm II 17
NIEUPORT: Aerial photo of the Main Redan (August 10^{th} 1918) 18
OUD-STUYVEKENSKERKE: The Tower (November 1914) 28
„ The Tower (February 1917) 28
PERVYSE: The inundation facing the railway station (September 1916) 27
ZEEBRUGGE: Sketch showing the blocking of the harbour 13
IMPRIMERIE DU MINISTÈRE DE LA DÉFENSE NATIONALE BRUXELLES B 10,002.—3000 ex.
[Illustration:
CHAMP DE BATAILLE DE L’YSER—SLAGVELD AAN DEN IJZER—BATTLEFIELD OF THE YSER. ]
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PUBLICATIONS
=issued by the=
BELGIAN WAR SITES DEPARTMENT
(English translation of the French text, written by the Army General Staff).
Booklet N^r 1: General View on the operations of the Belgian Army, 1914–1918, including one map and 14 illustrations.
=PRICE: 1 fr. 75 (net).=
Booklet N^r 2: Notices on the outlasting war sites, including one map, four sketches and 13 illustrations.
=PRICE: 1 fr. 75 (net).=
These publications have appeared in French, Flemish and English.
N^r 3: Ordnance Survey map of the Yser sector scale 1/200.000.
=PRICE: 1 fr. 25 (net).=
For orders, application to be made to the
“_Directeur des Sites de Guerre Hôtel de Ville_
_Knocke-sur-Mer._”
These publications are also sold at the _Touring Club de Belgique_, 44, rue de la Loi, Brussels.
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TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES
Page Changed from Changed to
12 propeller got entangled in the propeller got entangled in the nests of the defences, rendering nets of the defences, rendering
12a It was while these manœuvres It was while these manœuvres were one, that Lieutenant were on, that Lieutenant
22 fight last the whole night long fight lasted the whole night and after the most bloody long and after the most bloody
23 English battery composed of two English battery composed of two 9 inches 2, guns. That 9.2 inches, guns. That
26 war guarded by two main guards was guarded by two main guards i. e. Rijkenhoek and i. e. Rijkenhoek and
30 rendered waterproof by means of rendered waterproof by means of tared board, while a tarred board, while a
39 But the month of may with its But the month of may with its had and bloody days the men had hard and bloody days the men had to content to contend
43 banks, could, mounted on little banks, could, mounted on little boats birthed at Dixmude boats berthed at Dixmude
60 at Steenstraat; duel of at Steenstraat; duel of artillery in the region of artillery in the region of Noordschote Noordschote
69 to give it a field of tire of to give it a field of fire of 157°, the axis of which 157°, the axis of which
● Typos fixed; non-standard spelling and dialect retained. ● Used numbers for footnotes. ● Enclosed italics font in _underscores_. ● Enclosed bold font in =equals=. ● The caret (^) serves as a superscript indicator, applicable to individual characters (like 2^d) and even entire phrases (like 1^{st}).