of communications. It was therefore necessary to subjugate all of
Belgium either by destroying the Belgian Army or driving it before
them in their advance.

Thus, the German advance was not only doomed to delay, but at least
100,000 troops were needed to garrison a hostile country and to
protect the life lines running to the rear.

Three days after the attack on Liege opened the Germans penetrated
between the outer forts, their infantry advancing in close formation
and sustaining enormous losses. But Liege was worth the price paid.
Some of the forts held out for days, but were finally reduced by the
fire of the 42-centimeter guns--the first of the German surprises. The
Belgian garrison, however, had done its work. The German advance was
delayed for ten precious days, during which the first consignment of
the British expeditionary force had reached the Continent and France
and Russia had largely completed their mobilization.

As soon as it was realized that the unexpected Belgian resistance had
retarded the German advance and in all probability had disarranged the
German plan of campaign, the French, even before the guns of Liege had
cooled, struck at Alsace, through the Belford Gap and over the Vosges
Mountains. At first this French offensive was successful. Points on
the Metz-Strassburg Railroad were taken and the town of Muelhausen
captured. But almost before the news of success reached Paris the
French had been defeated, not only in Alsace but also in Lorraine,
whence French troops had been sent to engage the German Army of the
Moselle. The result was the retirement of the French to the line of
their first defense--a line that had been prepared for just such an
emergency during the years since 1871.

While the German armies of the Moselle and of the Rhine were thus
occupied in repelling the French advance the Army of the Meuse was
forcing its way through Belgium. Throwing out a strong cavalry screen
in its front, this army advanced through Tongres, St. Frond, Laugen,
Haelen, and Terlemont, and finally confronted the Belgians on the line
from Louvain to Namur. Fighting on this front filled almost a week,
when the destruction of the fortifications of Namur forced the
Belgians to fall back, pivoting on Louvain to the line from Louvain to
Wavre, the last line in front of Brussels. On Aug. 20 the Belgians
were defeated at Louvain and the Germans entered Brussels, the Belgian
Government having previously retired to A