s admonished with a vigor to deter his comrades. Discipline was
severely maintained. At every halt the click of heels, and rattle of
arms in salute went on down the line with the sharp delivery of orders.

On Wednesday, August 12, 1914, the town of Huy, situated midway between
Liege and Namur, was seized. It possessed an old citadel, but it was
disarmed, and used now only as a storehouse. Some Belgian detachments
offered a slight resistance at the bridge, but were speedily driven off.
The capture of Huy gave the Germans control of the railway from
Aix-la-Chapelle to France, though broken at Liege by the still standing
northern forts. But they secured a branch line of more immediate
service, running from Huy into Central Belgium.

On August 15, 1914, Von Buelow's vanguard came within sight of Namur.
Before evening German guns were hurling shells upon its forts. Began
then the siege of Namur. Namur, being the second fortress hope of the
Allies--the pivot upon which General Joffre had planned to swing his
army into Belgium in a sweeping attack upon the advancing Germans--a
brief survey of the city and fortifications will be necessary. The
situation of the city is not as imposing as that of Liege. For the most
part it sits on a hillside declivity, to rest in the angle formed by the
junction of the Sambre and Meuse. It is a place of some historic and
industrial importance, though in the latter respect not so well known as
Liege. To the west, however, up the valley of the Sambre, the country
presents the usual features of a mining region--pit shafts, tall
chimneys issuing clouds of black smoke, and huge piles of unsightly
debris. While away to the north stretches the great plain of Central
Belgium, southward the Central Meuse offers a more picturesque prospect
in wooded slopes rising to view-commanding hilltops. Directly east, the
Meuse flows into the precipitous cut on its way to Liege.

But in Belgian eyes the fame of Namur lay to a great extent in its being
the second of Brialmont's fortress masterpieces. Its plan was that of
Liege--a ring of outer detached forts, constructed on the same
armor-clad cupola principle. At Namur these were nine in number, four
major forts and five _fortins_. The distance between each fort was on
the average two and a half miles, with between two and a half to five
miles from the city as the center of the circumference.

Facing Von Buelow's advance, fort Cognelee protected the Brussels
railw