Although only a few details have been allowed to leak out, the admitted facts all go to show that the German onslaught on France through Belgium has been successful, but delayed. It is said that the invaders expected to be in Paris within two weeks of crossing the frontier, after which they expected to be able to turn the bulk of their mighty army towards Russia before the Tsar's forces could be properly mobilised--before, at any rate, they could take the field and begin their advance into East Prussia. To this extent the plan has miscarried, thanks to the gallant resistance of Liège. Unless the Germans were in full possession of the railways at Liège and Namur an entry into France would have been dangerous, since the free passage of reinforcements could not be guaranteed. As it was, the Russians were in possession of Eydkuhnen before the Germans were in possession of Liège; and the German advance on Namur coincided in point of time with the Russian advance on Insterburg. While the German plans have miscarried to this extent, it would be foolish not to realise that they have succeeded in other respects. A glance at the map will show this; for if the official communiqués tell us little else they tell us, at least, what the approximate position of the armies was at given dates. On August 15th and 16th, for instance, and even, we may assume, on the 17th, the German army stretched in an irregular line from Maastricht to Alt Breisach, through Huy, Arlon, Longwy, and Metz. The southern portion of it, composed chiefly of Bavarians, lay from Château Salins to Strassburg, and thence to the end of the long line in the neighbourhood of Alt Breisach. The French army lay opposite in a nearly parallel line. French regiments had reached and reinforced the Belgian lines at Malines and Louvain, and the main body of the French army was spread out along a front of nearly three hundred miles from Tirlemont to Mülhausen, via Namur, Mézières, Verdun, Sarreburg, Cirey, and Colmar. As the Germans had opened their southern campaign by invading French territory at Cirey and Longwy, the position of the French army at this time makes it clear that General Joffre had taken the offensive. The Germans had been driven back over their original lines; Alsace had been invaded by the French; Altkirch and Mülhausen had been captured, and even Strassburg was menaced. This right wing of the French forces--the wing which had been thrust forward into Alsace--was based, of course, on the impregnable fortresses of Belfort and Epinal. As the subsequent developments showed, this invasion of Alsace was a strategic error, and this was acknowledged almost in so many words before a week had passed.