Battle of the Lys

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject.

WikiProject History or the History Portal may be able to help recruit one.

If a more appropriate WikiProject or portal exists, please adjust this template accordingly.

Fourth Battle of Ypres

Part of the Western Front of World War I

Date	9 April - 29 April 1918
Location	Ypres, Belgium
Result	Eventual Allied Victory

Belligerents

United Kingdom

Portugal

Canada

France

German Empire

Commanders

Julian Byng

Gomes da Costa

Arthur Currie

Philippe Pétain

Ludwig von Falkenhausen

v • d • e

Western Front

Frontiers – Liège – Antwerp – Great Retreat – Race to the Sea – Neuve Chapelle – 2nd Ypres – 2nd Artois – Hill 70 – 3rd Artois – Loos – Verdun – Hulluch – Mont Sorrel – Somme – Arras – Vimy Ridge – 2nd Aisne – Messines – Passchendaele – Cambrai – Michael – Lys – 3rd Aisne – Belleau Wood – 2nd Marne – Château-Thierry – Hamel – Hundred Days

British 55th (West Lancashire) Division troops blinded by tear gas during the battle, 10 April 1918.

Portuguese forces in trenches at the Lys, 1918.

British and Portuguese captured by German forces in the Flanders region (1918)

The Battle of the Lys (also known as the Lys Offensive, the Fourth Battle of Ypres and the Battle of Estaires) was part of the 1918 German offensive in Flanders during the World War I, originally planned by General Ludendorff as Operation George but scaled back to become Operation Georgette, with the objective of capturing Ypres. Starting on April 9, 1918, the battle lasted until April 29.

The German attack was able to smash through two Portuguese divisions. Although they captured some land, German forces were ultimately brought to a halt by French and British divisions. By April 29 Ludendorff ceased Georgette operations.

In one of the greatest defeats in the military history of Portugal, the 2nd Portuguese Division, approximately 20,000 men commanded by General Gomes da Costa (later President of Portugal), lost about 300 officers and 7,000 men, killed, wounded and prisoners, resisting the attack of four German divisions, with 50,000 men of 6th German Army, commanded by General Ferdinand von Quast, in the first day of the German offensive.