All the world applauded the heroism of the Belgians in this first great encounter with the vastly superior forces of the enemy, and President Poincaré bestowed upon the city which had held out so nobly the highest honour which the French can bestow upon a civilian--the Legion of Honour.[199] [Footnote 186: _Brē-äl-mon´_, Henry Alexis, Belgian military engineer; born 1821, died 1903. The works which he planned along the Meuse were completed after his death.] [Footnote 187: _Āks-la-shä-pel´_, or _Äch´en_, ancient city of Prussia, formerly the capital of Charlemagne, forty miles west-south-west of Cologne.] [Footnote 188: _Mal-may-de_.] [Footnote 189: _Stä´ve-lot_.] [Footnote 190: _Vār-vi-ā´_.] [Footnote 191: _Vee-zā´_.] [Footnote 192: River of Belgium; after a north and west course of fifty miles joins the Nethe to form the Rupel, four miles north-west of Malines.] [Footnote 193: Citizen soldiers for the defence of a town.] [Footnote 194: _Lay-man_, born 1852; one of Belgium's most scientific soldiers.] [Footnote 195: _Flair-on_.] [Footnote 196: _Shōd-fon-taine_, means warm spring.] [Footnote 197: French for _behold!_] [Footnote 198: Born 1848; said to have been killed in a subsequent action.] [Footnote 199: See p. 84.] [Illustration: Belgian Cavalry. (_Photo, Underwood and Underwood_.)] CHAPTER XXIII. THE RAID INTO ALSACE. Perhaps you wonder, as the Belgians did, what the French and the British were doing while the Germans were battering down the forts of Liége. You will probably ask why they did not rush at once to the help of the gallant Belgians, and fight the Germans on their own frontier. The answer is that neither France nor Britain was prepared for war. Both were hoping against hope that Russia and Austria would come to some peaceful arrangement. The fact that neither we nor the French were prepared shows clearly that we had no desire for war. The fact that within twenty-four hours after the declaration of war the Germans had three army corps in front of Liége shows equally clearly that they had long determined to fight. All that the Belgians could do was to hold up the German advance for a short time. As the terrible hours slipped by, the people grew very anxious, and on every lip were the questions, "Où sont les Anglais?" "Où sont les Français?" A solitary motor car appeared, decorated with the Union Jack, and as it passed through the towns and villages the people cheered it to the echo. "The British are coming!" they cried. "Hurrah! hurrah!" Alas! both the French and the British were too far away to help the gallant Belgians struggling in the forts at Liége.