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 several of its forts had been destroyed by a terrific bombardment and the complete investment of the position made further resistance impossible. By a desperate effort, some 12,000 men of the 4th Division escaped the assailant's grip and succeeded in reaching France in the first instance, and Antwerp subsequently. The army, left to its own devices in the great fortress which it still hoped to make impregnable, continued the stubborn fight against its implacable foe, though it had suffered cruel losses and the Germans had initiated a reign of terror in the invaded provinces. It did everything possible to assist the Allies against the common enemy; first, by a sortie, made while the battle of the Somme was in progress; and then by a second vigorous and timely attack which coincided with the immortal victory of the Marne. For four days (September 9-13, 1914) the Belgian troops hurled themselves on the strong German positions facing Antwerp, drove back the masking forces in them, and prevented three whole divisions from going to the support of von Kluck's hard-pressed army. The part played by the Belgian Army in the battles of the Marne was, although an indirect one, very important and effective--as the Germans themselves have admitted.[A]