had evacuated it on Friday; and that the
Belgian division that went to the assistance of the city had therefore
not even made an attack. The official note concludes from all this that
the resistance of the Belgians was seriously disturbing the plan of the
Germans, who were building hopes upon a rapid success.

And four full days after the capture of Liege the French Minister at
Berne reported officially: "Liege has not yet been taken; the German
troops were repulsed."

At Copenhagen the following dispatches were published: "The English and
French troops had effected a junction with the Belgian Army and had
entered Liege and made many German prisoners, among them a nephew of the
German Kaiser."

Similarly at Stockholm: "The Germans had suffered a severe repulse."

Again a dispatch from Paris to Rome: "The Germans had been driven back
behind the Moselle and were begging for an armistice; the French had
passed Namur and were pressing forward in forced marches, while 500,000
English were falling upon the German flank."

Still another official report from Paris: "Liege is becoming the grave
of the 150,000 Germans who are breaking their heads against its walls;
the Belgians had taken 3,000 prisoners, who were in a terrible
condition; but for their good fortune of falling into captivity they
would have starved to death."

In contrast to all this let us take the unvarnished truth as in the
reported simple words of the German Quartermaster General:

We are now able to report upon Liege Without doing any harm.... We
had only a weak force at Liege four days ago, for it is not
possible to prepare for such a bold undertaking by collecting large
masses of men. That we attained the desired end in spite of this is
due to the excellent preparation, the valor of our troops, their
energetic leadership, and the help of God. The courage of the enemy
was broken, and his troops fought badly. The difficulties against
us lay in the exceedingly unfavorable topography of the
surroundings, which consisted of hills and woods, and in the
treacherous participation of the entire population in the fighting,
not even excluding women. The people fired upon our troops from
ambush, from villages and forests--fired upon our physicians who
were treating the wounded, and upon the wounded themselves. Hard
and bitter fighting occurred; whole villages had to be destroyed in
order