en, its
permanent staffs of noncommissioned officers were from the regular army,
and it was under the direct control of the Secretary of State for War.
The volunteer infantry, artillery, and yeomanry cavalry were on a
somewhat different basis, more nearly resembling the American militia,
but the British militia were linked with regular-line battalions. The
reserves, militia and volunteers, added approximately 350,000
well-trained men for immediate home defense.

On Sunday, August 17, 1914, it was officially announced that the whole
of the British Expeditionary Army had landed in France. Conferences
between the British and French General Staffs resulted in the British
army being concentrated first at Amiens. From that point it was to
advance into position as the left wing of the united French and British
armies, though controlled by their separate commanders.

The French Fifth Army had already moved to hold the line of the River
Sambre, with its right in touch with Namur. Cavalry patrols had been
thrown forward to Ligny and Gembloux, where they skirmished with uhlans.
Charleroi was made French headquarters. It was the center of extensive
coal-mining and steel industry. Pit shafts and blast furnaces dominated
the landscape. Historically it was the ground over which Bluecher's
Fourth Army Corps marched to the support of the British at Waterloo. Now
the British were supporting the French upon it against their former
ally.

On Thursday, August 20, 1914, the British took up their position on the
French left. Their line ran from Binche to Mons, then within the French
frontier stretched westward to Conde. From Mons to Conde it followed the
line of the canal, thus occupying an already constructed barrier.
Formerly Conde was regarded as a fortress of formidable strength, but
its position was not held to be of value in modern strategy. Its forts,
therefore, had been dismantled of guns, and its works permitted to fall
into disuse. But the fortress of Maubeuge lay immediately in rear of the
British line. In rear again General Sordet held a French cavalry corps
for flank actions. In front, across the Belgian frontier, General
d'Amade lay with a French brigade at Tournai as an outpost.

Before proceeding to British headquarters, General French held a
conference with General Joffre, Commander in Chief of all the French
armies. Until the outbreak of the war, General Joffre was practically
unknown to the French people. He was no popu