The Germans, from the outskirts of the upper town, were sending shells on the railway station and on salient parts of the lower town. They were trying to force a passage across the bridges over the Sambre. Fugitives from all sides arrive here (at Jeumont) by the last trains. After two o’clock in the afternoon the guns were distinctly heard, first from the direction of Charleroi, then from Thuin. The Germans are being met by the English. This is the beginning of the great battle which has been expected. An account of the French operations on Saturday, August 22, was printed in _La Liberté_ from the description of a railway official on the Belgian frontier. The official said:— It was on Saturday, towards nightfall, that we heard the first sound of the cannon. We had known, however, for several hours that strong German forces were preparing to attack the allied armies massed on the banks of the Sambre, and that a great battle was imminent. All night long, without cessation, the cannonading continued. Till dawn we had no news of the battle. On Sunday morning we learned from wounded soldiers on their way to Maubeuge that the battle was engaged all along the line, and shortly afterwards we heard the sound of heavy firing to the north. From noon onwards we could distinctly see the flight of shrapnel through the air, and from the top of the motor-house, situated on rising ground, could follow the phases of the artillery duel. We soon saw that the Germans’ fire was badly directed. They rarely hit their mark. On the other hand, the English artillery fire, which held the heights round Mons, was admirable in its precision, and wrought terrible loss among the massed German troops. We remained all Sunday night on our observatory, and at dawn we had the conviction that the English very definitely had the upper hand, and that the German attack had been repulsed. However, the news which reached us during the evening from environs of Charleroi was anything but good. It was said that the town had been taken and retaken several times, and had been subjected to a terrible bombardment, which had reduced it practically to ruins. At two o’clock on Monday morning a cyclist messenger informed us that the French had once more occupied the town. He said that the Germans before leaving it had set it on fire, and that the French troops would find it difficult to maintain their position there. In any case, the cannonade became louder during the night, and at daybreak shells were bursting within a quarter of a mile of the station.