However substantial was the measure of reliance that the French General Staff and General Michel placed on the Namur forts, evidently General von Buelow regarded them as little more than passing targets for his siege guns.  He seemed to have made a comparatively simple mathematical calculation of almost the number of shells necessary to fire, and the hours to be consumed in reducing the Namur forts to masses of debris.

We can picture General von Buelow as he sat in the motor car with Marshal von der Goltz—­the old gentleman with an overcoat buttoned up to his nose in August, and huge spectacles.  Doubtless discussion ran mainly upon the impending attack of their Second Army on the French right.  Emphasis would have been laid on the positions of the armies of the Duke of Wuerttemberg and crown prince advancing away to their left upon the forces of the French Generals Ruffey and de Cary.  But there was apparently a German gap here between Von Buelow’s army and the armies of the Duke of Wuerttemberg and crown prince, though we noticed previously Von Buelow’s army came in touch with Saxon troops half way between Huy and Namur, when a detachment of Von Buelow’s left wing was thrown across the Meuse at Ardenne.  This gap was faced by the French extreme right resting on the southward Namur bend of the Meuse.  It was possibly the “trap” military critics of the moment foresaw for the Germans.  Quite likely the two German generals Von Buelow and Von der Goltz, chatting in their motor car, referred to this gap, and it is hardly a stretch of imagination to suggest a twinkle in the huge glasses of the old gentleman in the August overcoat, when now and then the name of Von Hausen was mentioned.

The German attack on the French right began early in the morning of Friday, August 21, 1914.  A party of German hussars crossed the Meuse, rode through Charleroi, and trotted on toward the Sambre.  At first they were mistaken for a British cavalry patrol.  Probably the populace in Charleroi were not sufficiently familiar at that time with the British hussar uniform to distinguish it from the German.  In all armies hussar uniforms bear a close resemblance.  A French officer, however, presently detected the situation.  After a skirmish the German hussars were driven off with the loss of a few killed and wounded.  But the raid evidently came out of the gap as a surprise to the French.  The citizens were promptly ordered to their homes.  Barricades were raised in the streets, and mitrailleuses were placed in sweeping positions.  An artillery engagement began at Jemappe, nine miles above Namur on the left bank of the Sambre, between Von Buelow’s vanguard and the main French right.  Later in the day Von Buelow’s vanguard artillery had advanced to open fire on Charleroi and Thuin, seven miles beyond.