British soldiers defending the Allied front in Belgium on land, sea and air during World War I. Brave Little Belgium motivated many in Britain and her Empire to enlist. Marines and Naval troops were the first to come to assist the Belgians at Antwerp; and their Navy's artillery helped to stop the German advance at Nieuport, on the river Yser. The North Sea became a new front line where the Dover Patrol came to the aid of the Belgian, French and British troops with warships, heavy artillery in the dunes and new fighter planes, showing the importance placed on fighting the German U-boat bases at Zeebrugge and Ostend from the sea as well as from land. AUTHORS; Luc Vanacker (b. 1953) is a history teacher at Ypres and specialist in the Great War. He lives on the coast in the old Nieuport Sector. He is a specialist in the Great War, and has published before about the French ace Georges Guynemer, the war in the non-occupied part of Belgium, as well as in Shrapnel, the magazine of the Belgian branch of the W.F.A. Geert Vanden Broucke is the mayor of Nieuport. Benoit Willaert is the secretary of Nieuport. 144 colour illustrations
