The first battle of Ypres was the last of a series of battles that broke out between the British and the Germans during the Race to the Sea. Fighting began further south, at La Bassée, Armentières and Messines, as successive Allied attempts to outflank the Germans ran into German troops attempting the same thing.
The BEF had taken part in the great retreat from Belgium to the Marne. In the aftermath of that battle it was decided to move the BEF north to Flanders, where it would have easy access to the channel ports. Travelling by train, II corps reached Abbeville on 8-9 October, III corps reached St. Omer on 10 October, with I corps following behind. On 11 October IV corps (7th Division and 3rd Cavalry Division) was in the vicinity of Bruges and Ghent, moving west in the aftermath of an attempt to relieve the siege of Antwerp. Meanwhile larger German forces were advancing towards Ypres from the south and from the east. At the start of the battle elements of the Fourth and Sixth Armies would be involved in the German attacks on Ypres.
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