World War I Underwater Cultural Heritage in the Belgian part of the North Sea:A preliminary overview

The occupied part of the Belgian coast, 30 km in length and squeezed between the western frontline reaching the coast at Nieuwpoort and the Dutch border, lay at the doorstep of Great Britain’s harbours, supply routes and fleet, and it would not take long before the Germans established naval bases in Bruges, Zeebrugge and Ostend, from which they could efficiently attack the enemy at sea. In the meantime, the occupied part of the Belgian coast was strongly fortified with a special focus on the harbours. A very well preserved example of a coastal defensive battery (the battery ‘Aachen’) can still be visited at Raversijde (Ostend, Belgium).