left a great quantity of arms and ammunition. The French began
immediately to pursue them, the Germans withdrawing everywhere
over the frontier.


* * * * *

CHAPTER VII

SIEGE AND FALL OF NAMUR

When the Germans occupied Brussels on August 20, 1914, we observed
that corps after corps did not enter the city, but swept to the
south. This was Von Kluck's left wing moving to attack the Allies
on the Sambre-Mons front. The forces which passed through Brussels
were Von Kluck's center, advancing south by east to fall in line
beside the right wing, which had mainly passed between Brussels
and Antwerp to the capture of Bruges and Ghent. The whole line
when re-formed on the French frontier would stretch from Mons to
the English Channel--the great right wing of the German armies.

Meanwhile, Von Bülow's second army had advanced up the valley of
the Meuse, with its right sweeping the Hisbaye uplands. Some part
of this army may have been transported by rail from Montmedy. Its
general advance in columns was directed chiefly upon the Sambre
crossings. As Von Kluck's wide swing through Belgium covered a
greater distance, Von Bülow's army was expected to strike the Allies
some twenty-four hours earlier. Its march, therefore, was in the
nature of an onrush.