From the first day of the German entry into Belgium brief and hazy reports of battles between the patriotic Belgians and the invaders came across the Atlantic.  Many absurd and mischievous reports of repeated Belgian “victories” were received throughout the month of August.  These were for the most part rendered ridiculous by the steady advance of the German troops.  The resistance of the Belgians was gallant and persistent, but availed only to hinder and delay the German advance which it was powerless to stop.  Up to August 23, there were no “victories” possible for either side, because never until then were the opposing armies definitely pitted against each other in an engagement in which one or the other must be broken.

All the time these Belgian “victories,” which were no more than resistances to German reconnoissances, were being reported, the German line was not touched, and behind that line the Germans were methodically massing.

When they were ready they came on.  The Belgian army retired from the Diest-Tirlemont line, from Aerschot and Louvain, from Brussels, because to have held these positions against the overwhelming force opposed to them would have meant certain destruction.  The rearguards held each of these points with the greatest heroism so long as that was necessary, and then retired in good order on the main force.

VISE ATTACKED AND FIRED

The first fighting of any severity in Belgium occurred at Vise, near the frontier, early in the German advance.  German troops crossed the frontier in motors, followed by large bodies of cavalry, but the Belgians put up a stubborn resistance.  The chiefs of the Belgian staff had foreseen the invasion and had blown up the bridges of the River Meuse outside the town, as well as the railway tunnels.  Time after time the Belgians foiled with their heavy fire the attempts of the Germans to cross by means of pontoons.  Vise itself was stubbornly defended.  Only after a protracted struggle did the Germans master the town, which they fired in several places on entering.

BATTLES OF HAELEN-DIEST

At the end of the first week of the Belgian invasion it was estimated that the Germans had concentrated most of their field troops, probably about 900,000 combatants, along a 75-mile line running from Liege to the entrance into Luxemburg at Treves.  With this immense army it was said there were no less than 5,894 pieces of artillery.  This was only the first-line strength of the Germans, the reserves being massed in the rear.  Part of the right wing was swung northward and westward in the direction of Antwerp, and swept the whole of northern Belgium to the Dutch frontier.

On August 10 the Belgian defenders fought a heavy engagement with the Germans at Haelen, which was described in the dispatches as the first battle of the war.  A Belgian victory was claimed as the result, the German losses, it was said, being very heavy, especially in cavalry, while the Belgian casualties were reported relatively small.  But the German advance was merely checked.  The covering troops were speedily reinforced from the main body of the army and the advance swept on.