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One of the great siege guns that destroyed the fortresses in Belgium
and northern France and made possible the first great drive of
the German armies |
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This bridge over the Meuse at Liege was blown up by
the Belgians to delay the German advance. The German army crossed
on pontoon bridges |
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Belgian gunners and field gun in action on the firing
line between Termond and St. Giles, Belgium |
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The fortress town of Namur, Belgium, whose once
impregnable fortifications were shattered in a few days by the great
German siege guns |
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The city of Malines Belgium, from which the inhabitants
fled as the Germans advanced from Brussels |
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A Belgian machine-gun corps taking up their position
in a beet field at Lebbeke on learning of the approach of the German
invaders |
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Belgian artillery replying to the fire of the Germans.
Though hidden by trees, this battery could be detected by aeroplane
scouts |
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Belgian soldiers intrenched along a railway line.
The fine roads and railways of Belgium and France aided the rapid
advance of the invaders |
A little after General French had sent General Hamilton this warning, he received a telegram from General Joffre which he describes as "a most unexpected message." General Joffre's telegram conveyed the first news to General French not only that the French Fifth Army had been defeated and was in retreat—the first intimation even that the French right at Charleroi under General Lanrezac was in peril—but that at least three German army corps were attacking the British. Doubtless the German smashing of General Joffre's planned grand counterattack, after the Germans were to be beaten, was disheartening as well as a sore disappointment.
General French possessed 75,000 men. It was now disclosed that in front Von Kluck was hurling upon him 200,000 men, Von Bülow was hammering on his right, Von Hausen in pursuit of the French threatened his rear, while some 50,000 Germans were enveloping his left. He had no option but to order a retreat.