Waterloo, with the value of cavalry retreating into the background as
aeroplanes sweep to the front for scouting and other purposes.

From Binche to Conde the line assigned to the British was approximately
twenty-five miles. Their force totaled some 75,000 men with 259 guns.
General French, therefore, had 2,500 men to the mile of front. This was
an insufficient force, as the usual fighting front for a battalion of a
thousand men in defense or in attack is estimated in all armies at about
425 yards. The British brigade of four battalions (4,000 rifles) covers
a half-mile front. General French's Third Army Corps having been
utilized elsewhere, he was compelled to use his cavalry in four brigades
as reserve.

Previous to the German attack on Charleroi, General Joffre still held to
his plan of a left-wing attack, or rather a counterattack after the
Germans were beaten. But battles were commencing on other fronts,
properly belonging to the general retreat, which made its execution
doubtful even in an hour of victory. The capture of Charleroi, of
course, dissipated it as a dream. That General French realized the
superiority in numbers of Von Kluck's advancing army both in infantry
and artillery is nowhere suggested. His airmen had merely brought in the
information that the attack would be in "considerable force." The French
Intelligence Service were led to believe and informed the British
commander that Von Kluck was advancing upon him with only one corps, or
two at the most. Some of General French's cavalry scouting as far
toward Brussels as Soignes, during the 21st and 22d, confirmed it. But
the British proceeded to prepare for attack immediately on taking
position. They set to work digging trenches.

While continuing their defensive efforts through Saturday, August 22,
1914, there floated to them a distant rumble from the eastward. Opinions
differed as to whether it was the German guns bombarding Namur, or a
battle in progress on the Sambre. For the most part British officers and
men had but a vague idea of their position, or the progress of the
fighting in the vicinity. Even the headquarters staff remained
uninformed of the desperate situation developing on the French right at
Charleroi.

The headquarters of the British army was at Mons. It lies within what is
known as "le Borinage," that is the boring district of Belgium, the
coal-mining region. In certain physical aspects it much resembles the
same territory of Penn