British marines land at Ostend
On 27 August 1914 a brigade of the Royal Marines, Britain’s naval infantry, began landing at the Belgian port of Ostend. On the same day a squadron of the Royal Naval Air Service, the air arm of the Royal Navy, flew in. It was the first unit of that service to arrive on the Continent.
A demonstration on the Belgian coast
In the last days of August the Allies’ situation was very difficult. The French and the British Expeditionary Force were retreating after their defeats in the Battle of the Frontiers, and the German right wing was pressing south. The First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill, wanted to divert the Germans’ attention and force them to leave part of their forces in the rear. The Admiralty agreed only to a demonstration: landing a small force on the Belgian coast, which was to secure Ostend and give the impression of heralding larger forces.
The brigade was commanded by Brigadier-General George Aston. According to various sources it numbered about 3,000 men from the Chatham, Portsmouth and Plymouth battalions. Two battalions landed early on the morning of 27 August, the third a day later. A fourth battalion, from Deal, was still being formed.
Samson’s airmen
Together with the marines, a squadron from the Eastchurch base under the command of Charles Samson, one of the pioneers of naval aviation, arrived at Ostend. It had several aircraft of various types and few pilots. Its task was to reconnoitre the area within a radius of about 30 miles (nearly 50 km) of Ostend and to combat German aircraft. The airmen were based at the local racecourse.
A short stay
The Germans did not attack Ostend, and Belgian troops arrived to take the marines’ place. On 31 August the brigade re-embarked. Samson’s squadron moved to Dunkirk, where its men began patrolling the area in armed, and soon also armoured, cars. These were among the first British armoured cars. Many of the marines returned to Belgium at the beginning of October to defend Antwerp.
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