It was reported, and afterwards confirmed, that many Bavarians were deserting or refusing service, the idea of fighting peaceful Belgium, whose Queen is a beloved Bavarian princess, being very unpopular.
A Belgian who passed through Rotterdam on Saturday evening said: "I left Liège on Saturday morning, and then the town was still defending itself valiantly. Not one of the forts was then in the hands of the Germans. An armistice of three hours was agreed upon to bury the dead, who lay all around."
The man, who was evidently highly wrought up after the terrible experience of the siege, declined to say more. The German prisoners captured had very few cartridges, from which it was assumed that the Germans had some difficulty in bringing up ammunition and supplies.
How deadly a task the Germans had undertaken in rebuilding the bridge over the Meuse was illustrated by the following telegram sent by the Rotterdamsche Courant's correspondent at Maastricht on Saturday afternoon:
The pontoon bridge built by the Germans was shot away, so that further troops cannot cross. The 90th and 25th German Regiments, which supported the bridge-builders, were mown down by the quick-firing guns. A wounded Belgian was asked how the Germans had fared. He replied in one word, "Annihilated." Those of the wounded who can be transported by rail are to be brought from the hospitals at Maastricht to Alkmaar.
The gallant defence offered by the Belgian garrison was not to pass without suitable recognition. On August 7th, the French President, M. Poincaré, despatched the following telegram from the Elysée to the King of the Belgians:
I am happy to announce to your Majesty that the Government of the Republic has just decorated with the Legion of Honour the gallant town of Liège. It wishes thus to honour the courageous defenders of the place and the whole Belgian army, with which since this morning the French army has been shedding its blood on the battlefield.
In the view of a very high military authority, the severe check inflicted by the Belgian garrison of Liège on the German VII. Army Corps was of cardinal importance. The German General Staff made no secret of the fact that they looked forward to an easy task in marching through Belgium. An officer in the German War Office recently stated that they counted on the benevolent neutrality of Belgium at worst; and, more probably, the King of the Belgians would range himself on the German side.
Some time ago a military mission, at the Kaiser's invitation, attended manœuvres of special importance near Berlin. In conversation with the senior British officer present the Kaiser said: "I shall sweep through Belgium thus"—and waved his arm in the air.