sentences:  After the German Army captured much of Belgium following the Battle of the Frontiers in 1914, the Allied forces were left holding a thin strip of coastline to the west of the Yser.The remainder of the Belgian coast came under the occupation of German Marine Divisions, including the important strategic ports of Antwerp and Bruges.A network of canals connected Bruges with the coast at Ostend and Zeebrugge, through which small warships such as destroyers, light cruisers and submarines could travel and find a safe harbour from which to launch raids into the English Channel and along the coasts of southeast England.