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THE BELGIAN FRONT

AND ITS NOTABLE FEATURES


BY
CAPTAIN WILLY BRETON
OF THE BELGIAN ARMY


_Translated from the French_


LONDON:
CHATTO & WINDUS
MCMXVIII

_Price Sixpence net_


THE BELGIAN FRONT

AND ITS NOTABLE FEATURES


[Illustration: VIEW OF FRONT LINE THROUGH THE FLOODS]


_The illustrations are from photographs taken by the Photographic
Service of the Belgian Army Command_




THE BELGIAN FRONT

AND ITS NOTABLE FEATURES.


THE BELGIAN ARMY'S ACTIVITIES SINCE THE BATTLE OF THE YSER.

Everyone knows how severely the Belgian Army was tested in the initial
stages of the campaign. Caught unawares by the war while in the midst of
re-organisation, it had to struggle alone, for long weeks on end,
against forces greatly superior in both numbers and equipment, suddenly
hurled against it in accordance with a deliberate and carefully planned
scheme of attack.

Yet the Belgian Army bravely faced the enemy, grimly determined to
fulfil its duty to the last, and at once aroused enthusiasm by its
heroic resistance at Liège, from August 8 onwards, to the onset of
several army corps. On the 12th the troops emerged victoriously from the
bloody engagements at Haelen; and not till the 18th, and then only to
escape being overwhelmed by the ever-rising flood of invasion, did the
Belgian Army abandon its positions at La Gette and fall back on Antwerp,
the national stronghold in which would be concentrated the whole of the
country's powers of opposition. Its retreat was covered by rearguards
which fought fiercely, especially at Hautem Ste. Marguerite. Namur,
threatened since August 19th, fell to the enemy on the 23rd, after
se