These quickly demolished the defenses. These
siege guns, therefore, which had thus fully demonstrated their
value against fortifications soon brought about the total defeat
of the French offensive, and compelled the Allies to retreat from
Belgium and northern France. The Germans lost no time in investing
Namur, and on Saturday, as noted above, August 22, 1914, the fortress
fell into the invaders' hands.
On the same day, August 22, 1914, the Fifth French Army, under
the lead of General Lanrezac, was enduring the double stress of
Von Buelow's army thundering against its front, and Von Hausen's two
army corps pressing hard upon its right flank and rear, threatening
its line of retreat. Against such terrific odds the French line at
Dinant and Givet broke, exposing the flank and rear of the whole
army; and by the evening of that day, August 22, the passages of
the River Sambre, near Charleroi, had been forced, and the Fifth
Army was falling back, contesting every mile of the ground with
desperate rear-guard action. The British, meanwhile, defending the
Mons position, were in grave danger of being cut off, enveloped,
and destroyed.
Sir John French had put his two army corps into battle array. He
had about thirty miles of front to defend, with Mons nearly in
the center.
On Sunday afternoon, August 23, 1914, the full weight of the German
onset fell for the first time upon the British.
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