All the time these Belgian "victories," which were no more than resistances to German reconnoissances, were being reported, the German line was not touched, and behind that line the Germans were methodically ma.s.sing.
When they were ready they came on. The Belgian army retired from the Diest-Tirlemont line, from Aerschot and Louvain, from Brussels, because to have held these positions against the overwhelming force opposed to them would have meant certain destruction. The rearguards held each of these points with the greatest heroism so long as that was necessary, and then retired in good order on the main force.
VISe ATTACKED AND FIRED
The first fighting of any severity in Belgium occurred at Vise, near the frontier, early in the German advance. German troops crossed the frontier in motors, followed by large bodies of cavalry, but the Belgians put up a stubborn resistance. The chiefs of the Belgian staff had foreseen the invasion and had blown up the bridges of the River Meuse outside the town, as well as the railway tunnels. Time after time the Belgians foiled with their heavy fire the attempts of the Germans to cross by means of pontoons. Vise itself was stubbornly defended. Only after a protracted struggle did the Germans master the town, which they fired in several places on entering.
BATTLES OF HAELEN-DIEST
At the end of the first week of the Belgian invasion it was estimated that the Germans had concentrated most of their field troops, probably about 900,000 combatants, along a 75-mile line running from Liege to the entrance into Luxemburg at Treves. With this immense army it was said there were no less than 5,894 pieces of artillery. This was only the first-line strength of the Germans, the reserves being ma.s.sed in the rear. Part of the right wing was swung northward and westward in the direction of Antwerp, and swept the whole of northern Belgium to the Dutch frontier.
On August 10 the Belgian defenders fought a heavy engagement with the Germans at Haelen, which was described in the dispatches as the first battle of the war. A Belgian victory was claimed as the result, the German losses, it was said, being very heavy, especially in cavalry, while the Belgian casualties were reported relatively small. But the German advance was merely checked. The covering troops were speedily reinforced from the main body of the army and the advance swept on.
The result of the Haelen engagement was thus described in the dispatches of August 13:
"The battle centered around Haelen, in the Belgian province of Limbourg, extending to Diest, in the north of the province of Brabant, after pa.s.sing round Zeelhem.
"At 7 o"clock last evening all the country between the three towns mentioned had been cleared of German troops, except the dead and wounded, who were thickly strewn about the fire zone. Upward of 200 dead German soldiers were counted in a s.p.a.ce of fifty yards square.
"A church, a brewery and some houses in Haelen. were set afire, and two bridges over the Denier were destroyed by Belgian engineers.
"Great quant.i.ties of booty were collected on the battlefield, and this has been stacked in front of the town hall of Diest. Many horses also were captured.
"The strength of the German column was about 5,000 men."
Another report said of the encounter:
"A division of Belgian cavalry, supported by a brigade of infantry and by artillery, engaged and defeated, near the fortress of Diest, eighteen miles northeast of Louvain, a division of German cavalry, also supported by infantry and by artillery.
"The fighting was extremely fierce and resulted in the Germans being thrown back toward Ha.s.selt and St. Trond."
Meanwhile the forts at Liege, to the southeast, still held out, though fiercely bombarded by German siege guns. The fortress of Namur was also being attacked. The Germans had bridged the river Meuse and were moving their crack artillery against the Belgian lines. French troops had joined the Belgian defenders and the main battle line extended from Liege on the north to Metz on the south.
A visit to Haelen and other towns by a Brussels correspondent August 17, "showed the frightful devastation which the Germans perpetrated in Belgian territory.
"For instance, at Haelen itself houses belonging to the townspeople have been completely wrecked. Windows were broken, furniture destroyed, and the walls demolished by sh.e.l.l fire. Even the churches have not been respected. The parish church at Haelen has been damaged considerably from shrapnel fire, "On the battlefield there are many graves of Germans marked by German lances erected in the form of a cross."
ON THE BATTLEFIELD OF DIEST
A correspondent of the New York Tribune said:
"Across the battlefield of Diest there is a brown stretch of harrowed ground half a furlong in length. It is the grave of twelve hundred Germans who fell in the fight of August 11. All over the field there are other graves, some of Germans, some of Belgians, some of horses. When I reached the place peasants with long mattocks and spades were turning in the soil. For two full days they had been at the work of burial and they were sick at heart. Their corn is ripe for cutting in the battlefield, but little of it will be harvested. Dark paths in their turnip fields are sodden with the blood of men and horses."
The Belgians, in contempt of German markmanship, had forced the enemy to the attack, which had been made from three points of the field simultaneously. The fighting had been fierce, but now that both sides had swept on, no one seemed to know how those in the fight had really fared. Only by the heaps of dead could one make estimate:
"At least, there were most dead on the side toward the bridge. A charge of 300 Uhlans, who were held in check for a short time by seventeen Belgians at a corner, seems, however, to have come near success. The derelict helmets and lances that covered the fields show that the charge pressed well up to the guns and to the trenches in the turnip fields where the Belgian soldiers lay. On the German left mitrailleuses got in their work behind, and in the houses on the outskirts of the villages.
Five of these houses were burned to the ground, and two others farther out broken all to pieces and burned. In a shed was a peasant weeping over the dead bodies of his cows.
"It would be easy now at the beginning of this war to write of its tragedy. The villages have each a tale of loss to tell. All of the twelve hundred men in the long grave were men with wives, sweethearts, and parents. All the Belgian soldiers and others who were buried where they fell have mourners. A LETTER FROM THE GRAVE
"A letter which I picked up on the field and am endeavoring to have identified and sent her for whom it is intended will speak for all. It is written in ink on half a sheet of thin notepaper. There is no date and no place. It probably was written on the eve of battle in the hope that it would reach its destination if the writer died. This is the translation:
""Sweetheart: Fate in this present war has treated us more cruelly than many others. If I have not lived to create for you the happiness of which both our hearts dreamed, remember my sole wish now is that you should be happy. Forget me and create for yourself some happy home that may restore to you some of the greater pleasures of life. For myself, I shall have died happy in the thought of your love. My last thought has been for you and for those I leave at home. Accept this, the last kiss from him who loved you."
"Postcards from fathers with blessings to their gallant sons I found, too, on the field, little mementos of people and of places carried by men as mascots. Everywhere were broken lances of German and Belgian, side by side; scabbards and helmets, saddles and guns. These the peasants were collecting in a pile, to be removed by the military.
High up over the graves of twelve hundred, as we stood there, a German biplane came and went, hovering like a carrion crow, seeking other victims for death.
"In the village itself death is still busy. A wounded German died as we stood by his side and a Belgian soldier placed his handkerchief over his face. Soldiers who filled the little market-place may be fighting for life now as I write. The enemy is in force not a mile away from them, and in a moment they may be attacked. It is significant that all German prisoners believed they were in France. The deception, it appears, was necessary to encourage them in their attack, and twelve hundred dead in the harrowed field died without knowing whom or what they were fighting."
THOUGHT THEY WERE IN FRANCE
A number of German prisoners were taken by the Belgians during the fighting at Haelen-Diest. From these it was learned that the German soldiers really believed they were fighting in France. At Diest it is said that 400 surrendered the moment they lost their officers and were surprised to learn that they were in Belgium.
King Albert of Belgium was constantly in the field during the early engagements of the war, moving from point to point inside the Belgian lines by means of a high-powered automobile, in which he was slightly wounded by the explosion of a sh.e.l.l. He was thus enabled to keep in touch with the field forces, as well as with his general staff, and speedily endeared himself to the Belgian soldiery by his personal disregard of danger.
The Belgians by their gallant fight against the trained legions of Germany quickly won the admiration even of their foes. The army of Belgium was brought up to its full strength of 300,000 men and everywhere the soldiers of the little country battled to halt the invaders. Often their efforts proved effective. The losses on both sides were truly appalling, the Germans suffering most on account of their open methods of attack in close order. But their forces were like the sands of the sea and every gap in the ranks of the onrushing host was promptly filled by more Germans.
TIRLEMONT AKD LOUVAIN
The fighting at Tirlemont and Louvain was described by a citizen of Ostend, who says he witnessed it from a church tower at Tirlemont first and later proceeded to Louvain. He says:
"Until luncheon time Tuesday, August 18, Tirlemont was quiet and normal.
Suddenly, about 1 o"clock, came the sound of the first German gun. The artillery had opened fire.
"From the church tower it was possible to see distinctly the position of the German guns and the bursting of their sh.e.l.ls. The Belgians replied from their positions east of Louvain. It was a striking sight, to the accompaniment of the ceaseless thud-thud of bursting sh.e.l.ls with their puffs of cottonlike smoke, tearing up the peaceful wheat fields not far away.
BELGIANS RETIRE AT LOUVAIN
"Gradually working nearer, the sh.e.l.ls began to strike the houses in Tirlemont. This was a signal for the populace, which had been confident that the Belgian army would protect them, to flee. All they knew was that the Germans were coming. From the tower the scene was like the rushing of rats from a disturbed nest. The people fled in every direction except one.
"I moved down to Louvain, where everything seemed quiet and peaceful.
The people sat in the cafes drinking their evening beer and smoking.
Meanwhile the Belgian troops were retiring in good order toward Louvain.
TOWN IN PANIC WITH REFUGEES
"By midnight the town was in the throes of a panic. Long before midnight throngs of refugees had begun to arrive, followed later by soldiers. By 11 o"clock the Belgian rear guard was engaging the enemy at the railroad bridge at the entrance to the town.
"The firing was heavy. The wounded began to come in. Riderless horses came along, both German and Belgian. These were caught and mounted by civilians glad to have so rapid a mode of escape.
TROOPS HINDERED BY CIVILIANS
"I remember watching a black clad Belgian woman running straight down the middle of a road away from the Germans. Behind her came the retiring Belgian troops, disheartened but valiant. This woman, clad in mourning, was the symbol of the Belgian populace.
"At some of the barricades along the route the refugees and soldiers arrived simultaneously, making the defense difficult. All about Tirlemont and Louvain the refugees interfered with the work of the troops. The road to Brussels always was crowded with refugees and many sorrowful sights were witnessed among them as they fled from the homes that had been peaceful and prosperous a few days before. BRUSSELS FILLED WITH REFUGEES
"Brussels is filled with refugees from surrounding towns, despite the large numbers who left the city for Ghent and Ostend during the last few days," said a correspondent, writing from Ghent on August 20.
"The plight of most of the refugees is pitiable. Many are camped in the public square whose homes in the suburbs have been fired by the Prussians. The roads leading into Brussels have been crowded all day with all kinds of conveyances, many drawn by dogs and others by girls, women and aged peasants.