According to the statement of the Paris correspondent of the Daily Telegraph, gathered from the reports of Belgian and British fugitives, between Saturday and Monday, August 22–24, the British Expeditionary Force bore the brunt of six furious attacks made by six distinct German columns, which were all repulsed successfully, though with considerable loss. The Allies raised a veritable hecatomb of German corpses near Mons. At different points on the battlefield, the bodies of Germans were heaped up so that in the course of their furious charge the Turcos experienced great difficulty in coming into contact with the enemy.
We can picture our men fighting doggedly on, in the din and carnage of the engagement, during those hot August days and calm clear nights, with the never-ceasing crack of rifle-shots, the boom of the artillery fire and the scream of the shells, while the enemy came on with relentless and unending regularity.
CHAPTER III
FIGHTING AT CHARLEROI IN THE FRENCH LINES—A RAILWAY OFFICIAL’S ADVENTURE—A ZOUAVE OFFICER’S IMPRESSIONS—FRENCH ARTILLERY—HEAVY GERMAN CASUALTIES—-THE FALL OF NAMUR—A BELGIAN SOLDIER’S TRIBUTE.
Shifting the scene for a time to the operations on the French lines, we obtain a view of the fighting in the neighbourhood of Charleroi on the eve of the great battle on the Belgian frontier, from the description of a correspondent to a Paris paper, and communicated by Mr. A. Beaumont:—
Our troops, he said, in conformity with the plan laid down for them are harassing the Germans on the right and the left banks of the Meuse, keeping in constant contact with them, killing as many of their scouting parties as possible.
I witnessed on Friday morning, August 21, a series of engagements of this kind outside the suburbs of Charleroi. I saw our outposts everywhere, and heard rifle fire here and there, with now and then troopers coming in and bringing prisoners with them.
Our cavalry was in splendid form, and eager for action. Two hundred yards from a certain bridge I saw seven Uhlans coming out of a wood. Three of them were shot down at once, and the remainder hurriedly fled.
On my return to Charleroi I learn that a detachment of twenty Hussars of the Death’s Head, led by an officer, had entered the upper town at seven in the morning. They proceeded towards the Sambre, and quietly said, “Good morning” to the people at the doors. “Bon jour, bon jour,” they said to the housewives, who were looking on in wonder, and who, mistaking their khaki uniform, took them for English soldiers.
People even enthusiastically raised cheers for England. The soldiers, also misled, allowed them to pass. An officer finally saw them from a window, and rushed down to a detachment on guard in the Rue Pont Neuf, and gave the alarm. A number of infantry soldiers at once opened fire on them. It was at the corner of the Rue de Montigny, where the tramway and railway lines pass.
Three of the intruders were shot down, and the rest, with their officer, took to flight. It was not believed that such a thing would be possible, but it proved that the Germans are capable of anything. They did the same thing many a time in 1870.
At two in the afternoon the guns were heard in the north. The Germans, coming from Eghezee, had placed heavy batteries and siege guns in position before Namur. But the Namur forts immediately sent such a murderous and accurate fire in reply that, in less than half an hour, the German battery was silenced, and half the guns demolished.
Another line of attack chosen by the Germans was between Brand L’Alleud and Genappe, over a front of some ten to twelve miles. The German batteries here met with the same fate.
A day later the same writer said, in writing from Jeumont:—
I left Charleroi last night for Jeumont, on the French frontier, but not a bit too soon. It was high time. This very morning the engineers of the Northern railway line witnessed the attack on Charleroi.
The Germans, from the outskirts of the upper town, were sending shells on the railway station and on salient parts of the lower town. They were trying to force a passage across the bridges over the Sambre. Fugitives from all sides arrive here (at Jeumont) by the last trains. After two o’clock in the afternoon the guns were distinctly heard, first from the direction of Charleroi, then from Thuin.
The Germans are being met by the English. This is the beginning of the great battle which has been expected.