THE FIRST CLASH OF ARMS.
I wonder whether you have ever met with the word dinanderie. You will find it in an English dictionary, though it is an old word which has almost gone out of use. Dinanderie means vessels of chased copper or brass used for household purposes. In the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries such vessels were largely made in the little Belgian town of Dinant; hence the name.
You can scarcely imagine a more picturesque town than Dinant. It stands on the right or eastern bank of the broad river Meuse as it sweeps northward from France to join the Sambre at Namur. The main part of the town lies at the foot of lofty limestone rocks, which are honeycombed with grottoes containing stalactites, or limestone "icicles," such as you may see in the caves of Cheddar[8] or Derbyshire. In the Grand'-Place, quite close to the foot of the limestone rocks, is the Cathedral of Notre Dame, a very handsome building with finely carved portals. Behind the cathedral there are four hundred and eight steps cut in the rock, by means of which you may ascend to the citadel which crowns the summit.
From this citadel, or from the top of the hill behind it, there is a glorious view of the Meuse valley. If we face the river, we shall see on the opposite bank the houses straggling up a wooded hillside, and to our right "Roche à Bayard," a bold pinnacle of rock with an ancient story. Bayard[9] was the prince of knights in the sixteenth century, a hero of the most noble and unselfish character, "without fear and without reproach." We can pay no greater honour to a soldier than to call him a "Bayard." Like our own King Arthur, he has become a figure of romance, and all sorts of magical deeds have been ascribed to him. It is said that on one occasion he defended a bridge single-handed against two hundred Spaniards. According to an old legend, he was once pursued by Charlemagne, and was only saved from capture by his gallant horse, which sprang right across the gorge of the river, and left a hoofmark on the rock which now bears his name.
I have described Dinant because it was in and around this town that the French first came into contact with the Germans. In Chapter XXX. of our first volume I told you that after the entry of the Germans into Brussels, von Kluck's army (the First Army), which was to form the extreme right of the German line, was rapidly advancing towards the Franco-Belgian border, and that von Buelow's army (the Second Army) was moving in the direction of the strong fortress of Namur. The first clash of arms between the French and Germans took place five days before the occupation of Brussels, when von Kluck's army was fighting its way towards the capital.
At that time the Duke of Würtemberg's army was marching through the wooded hills of the Ardennes towards the Central Meuse, and the Saxon army was advancing farther north towards Dinant and Namur. While these movements were in progress, the French sent a detachment northwards to occupy Dinant, which is only ten miles as the crow flies from their border. On 15th August, at about six in the morning, German cavalry and artillery of the Duke of Würtemberg's army made an attack on the town, which was only held by part of a French infantry regiment. Though the French were greatly outnumbered, they fought gallantly, and held the bridge across the Meuse stubbornly. By ten o'clock, however, the Germans had driven them off, and had hoisted their flag on the citadel. Some of their cavalry then crossed the river into the suburbs on the left or western bank.
About two in the afternoon, in the very nick of time, French reinforcements arrived. A French infantry regiment appeared on the left bank of the river, and drove the cavalry out of the suburbs. Meanwhile two French batteries took up position, and began a brisk cannonade of the citadel. One of their first shots cut the German flag in two. So hot was the fire that the enemy was forced to leave the citadel and retire along the cliffs to the south. A vigorous artillery duel was kept up across the valley; the French dashed across the river by the bridge, retook the town, and flung back the Germans, who retreated east and then south. Thus in the first battle of the war the French were victorious.
The fight at Dinant, compared with those which were to follow, was a mere baby battle. Only about eight thousand men took part in it, and there was not much loss on either side. It has, however, a special interest, because it marked the first dash of arms between the French and the Germans. Not for a week later did the war begin in real earnest.
The Battle of Dinant, August 15, 1914. French infantry recapturing the town.
Now we must visit another town of Belgium—the famous fortress of Namur, which stands on a hill in the sharp angle between the Meuse and the Sambre. Southward and eastward of it lies the trench valley of the Meuse; to the west extends the vale of the Sambre, which runs through the "Black Country" of Belgium. Standing at the meeting-point of these rivers, Namur bars the road into France, and it has been fortified from very early times. Brialmont, of whom you have already heard, built a ring of four large forts and five smaller forts round it, and about three hundred and fifty guns were mounted in them. From this little map you will see how they were placed. As most of them were on high ground, it was hoped that they would hold out for a long time.
The Belgians had ten days' notice of the attack, and while the great siege trains of the Germans were slowly lumbering westward over the cobbled roads they did much to strengthen the place. About twenty-six thousand men were moved into it to hold the forts and trenches, large areas were mined, houses and trees in the line of fire were cut down, and barbed-wire entanglements, charged with a deadly current of electricity, were set up.
General Michel, who was in command, was well aware that the forts could not long resist the fierce onslaught of the German siege guns, but he hoped that before the first shot was fired the French would come to his assistance and would man the trenches for him. He had good reason for his hope, for French cavalry were already on Belgian soil, and French infantry and artillery were at Dinant, only eighteen miles away. He was not, however, well served by his scouts, and he does not seem to have learned that the Germans were advancing on both sides of the Meuse. Had he been better informed he might have struck a blow at the German siege train which was crawling slowly towards him. As it was, he did nothing, and the Germans were able to bring up their big guns and fix them on concrete platforms without being molested.
Plan of Namur Forts.
Now let us see how the Allies proposed to meet the Germans. Here is a map which you must study carefully, for it shows the positions occupied by the British and French on the evening of Friday, 21st August. The British army, which was to form the extreme right of the Allied front, lay along the line Condé[10]-Mons-Binche.[11] In reserve, behind the French fortress of Maubeuge,[12] about twelve miles south of Mons, was a French cavalry corps of three divisions, and away to the west, at Arras, was a corps of French Territorials, facing east. In the angle between the rivers were two French armies, one holding the line of the Sambre and the other the line of the Meuse. Farther south, from the French border through Mézières,[13] past Sedan, to Montmédy, was another army, also holding the line of the Meuse.
Map showing Position of Armies.
Before we go any further we must look closely at the position of the French armies marked 2 and 3 on the map. You notice that they form a sharp angle with each other. Military men call any angle less than two right angles a salient. I think you can easily see that the armies holding such a salient as that formed by the two rivers were by no means in a strong position. They were very much exposed to attacks on their flanks, and they depended at their weakest part—the point of the angle—on the fortress of Namur. As long as Namur held out, well and good; but if it should fall the line would be pierced, and the French would be in a very dangerous position indeed.