Though hidden by trees, this battery could be detected by aeroplane
scouts]
[Illustration: 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 Buelow
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.
Dealing with the combined action of the French and British in this
critical period a French military writer says:
"The French armies of the center--that is to say, the Third and
Fourth Armies--had as their mission the duty of attacking the German
army in Belgian Luxembourg, of attempting to put it to flight and
of crumpling it up against the left flank of the German main body
at the north.
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