We must not take this unpleasant incident too seriously. That
would be to confess that we are being spoiled by good fortune. A conspicuous lesson of the war is that any small position can be taken if it is shelled heavily enough and attacked in a resolute fashion. The difficulty is to hold the battered trenches against counter.attacks. In the Yser dunes, as at Lombaertzyde, our men were blown out of their trenches by the Germans' shell-fire, probably from the very heavy guns which they have installed along the coast, and for which our Navy seems to have a profound respect. But while at Lombaertzyde our troops had plenty of ground behind them in which to fall back and re-form for the counter-attack, our garrison in the dunes was holding a very narrow strip beyond the brood river, and could not retire temporarily because the bridges were down. It was caught in a trap. •
