Menin vs Roulers

[andigger]

I have recently been reading about the 'race to the sea' and the battles of First Ypres. Of course there are a number of things that become obvious in retrospect, I have been 'what if' campaigning so to speak. One thing I am trying to figure out is why the BEF (probably I, IV Corps, or Allenby's Cavalry) didn't move on Roulers rather than Menin. Both are rail junctions and open more possibilities to the army that occupies them. Roulers offers the BEF a deeper flank though in relation to the coast. Properly exploited maybe Nieuport would have been in Belgian hands through out the war.

I guess the larger question or idea I have, is why did a logistician like Joffre not make a more concerted effort to demonstrate to French, Kitchner the benefit of occupying cities like Lille, Roulers, or Ghent?

Andy

[AOK4]

Hello Andy, the idea of the BEF in 1914 was to advance in the direction of Gent. Roulers was not the right choice for this kind of movement because an attack in this direction could be caught by German counterattacks from both the Bruges area (III. Reservekorps) and the Menin area (XIII. Armeekorps and the German cavalry).

Menin was also the better choice because this could create a British flank along the river Lys, a natural barrier against any German counterattacks.

and also railway connections and road connections were much better in that area.

Anyway any possible British attack was doomed from the beginning because of the newly arrived German 4. Armee. Had the British advanced a day earlier, they might have gained more ground but their lines would have been seriously overstretched and the danger of lots of units being cut of by a German counterattack from the Menin area, where quite some divisions were assembled, would have been very real.

Jan