The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-08-15
Belgian Battles" and
What They Mean
From the Evening Sun" of yes.
terdsy.

some mysterious fashion has lait l,uds
upon Lieutenant Wagner. the ulusrI.us
hero OF Balkan war correspond. \c.
counts OF battles" on Belgian soil r....
derous. decisive and almost mined .,t..,
repeated. suggest the Imagination OF the
correspondent who decorated all III, Turk,
ish territory from Lulc Burgas 20 ,uItst.
with battles more terrible than I.,.pzie
river crossings more fatal than that uf
the Beresina.
Now the odd thing about IN, RcIean
battles" Is that after victory yesterday
Belgian troops are invariably found nghf.
Ing to-day some mills In the rear of YES.
terday's field " victory. Thus, BOO turn
they have triumphed ON Monday r' Ton.
gres-St. Trond. Tuesday at Hassclt Tam.
den. but Wednesday and Thursd,y ~.
back at Tirlemont. Diest and Egh,z.,
The unmistakable fact Is that On, o.; p.
/ mans are slowly. methodcally but st,,Irv
advancing through northern n IL uu b,.
tween the French and the Dutch frontier
| So far as dispatches yet disclose ihs
/ advance Is almost exclusively ,av.lry
/ and II Is sweeping before II = screen -
/ French and Belgian cavalry which .- Do.
/ firing fighting upon Brussels. Nantur ana
/ Louvain, presumably TO the pos. t.lU
| selected by the allies at which tu make
| the final stand In Belgium
| Presumably the German cavalry screen
! precedes an advance Of the arinN of u
Mouse In great force. unless It be true
that the delay at Liege has resulted 300
| change In German plans Hut thu r., norris
| from Holland OF the construction of .
| railroad line round the forts ai I.ccr ..u
| or the passing OF strong divisions OF Ter
man troops near the frontier point rather
TO an eventual offensive through eastern
Belgium toward Brussels aud q. u.e 10
| France Precisely this way MARLBOROUGH
a. "A mo FVA,, 4
Louis NV. The first time he broke
through French lines stretched from IN.
! Dyle to the Muse at Tremont Wh.f.
there already has been nghting Tho see
ond time he broke through at R,nIl,s
destroying Nillerofs army on - field which
IN part was fought over at Eghc1'o On
w. dne sday.
great deal Of nonsense has beeu
written I'm recent days about "b,t,l,s
and prospective battles In Belgium l.
| point OF fact the English WA pnlc
yesterday declared that there was bu,
one small detachment of German Zoo.
fantry north OF the Meuse and West
OF Liege In Belgium This could ory
mean that the main advance 81 the
Army Of the Meuse had no more than
begun from l.iege and that since
the Belgians retiring before the Ter.
man cavalry were destroying all road.
bridges and railways as they fell back
did come. Hence Il great battle m
Belgium. north OF the Mouse. II 1t is TO
come can hardly be expected Cor at
least a week unless the allies should
take the offensive
This is precisely what the situation
at Liege should Onccessitate. II the
Liege position Is lkened to tho neck
Of bottle. figure justified by the
fact that the roads and railways from
Germany to Belgium all pass by the
city. then the preliminary operation
OF the Germans was in fact an attempt
90 pull the cork, which resulted not iu
extracting 1t but pushing It into the bot
tie. The result was that while the con
tents of the bottle did trickle out the
process was long
What the Germans had 10 do when
Liege did not fall was precisely Ike
the task Of the Bulgarisns after I.ule
Burgas when they held both ends Of
the Orient Railway between soma and
Chatalja. but Adranuple commanded
; connecting link. To supply and re-
enforce their troops operating sou'H ~
Adrianople they were compelled 20 m
load their trains at Mustapha pashs
and transport everything in carts around
Adrianople to Dimotika, where they could
again use the railway
The roads I'm Belgium are far better
than in Turkey. the German machinery
Is vastly better. but even with auto
mobile trucks and all the resources ~
modern war department the task e
grave one, seriously complicated hv
/ the necessity to bring up Siege gum ,ul
, ammunition for the reduction Of Leg,
along the same lines.
Grave delay. then. has followed pipe
unexpected resistance Of Iicge. Bu' 4
has not prevented the Germans from
pushing strong cavalry masses AROUND
, Liege and to the west These masses
seem to be steadily driving the Belgian
infantry and cavalry screen before th,n
and IL the German General stan s'
persists in it's determination to use west
ern Belgium az way of entering north
ern France. following the marlborough
precedent, which was wholly successfu'.
, then the next week should see a great
, German mass. the Army of the M,u,r
following their victorious cavalry tow trl
: Brussels and encounteriug the allie, IN
, the position they have chosen. inquest on.
ably between the Dyle and the Mouse
, facing Iouvain and resting on Nan,ur
Meantime the Army Of thu Nose
: operating from Luxembourg, has with
equally uniform success cleared Ii''g n'
between Luxembourg and the FrCu
frontier of hostile troops. NJ several po H's
crossed the French frontier, and on a
front from Givct to Nerdun and facing
! the unprotected gap of Stenay is Ha
vanclng slowly. methodically. but 50 n
I'm TINS IrNNi a ENfH''
battle may he imminent, but even this 70
, mains wholly problematlcal
The outstanding fact about Belgian
battles" so far II that the great wavr
OF German advance from Metz to Tho
Dutch frontier Is moving forward. g9.n
ing rather than losing headway. and that
on the whole line the allied forces urc
falling back. diminishing as they go. For
the rest. apart from the first efforts n
storm l.iege. the fighting, both IN numhr
employed and losses. is relatively trivial
and precisely what is TO be expected "a
) "A great forward movement develops The
, newly reported capture Of the IIuy for' by
the Germans Is in Itself an Indicate. ".
, their progress.
Indeed, the general success OF the go
man advance must infallihly sueCcst tN1'
the allies have deliberately elected 10
. fight delaying war until Russian roe
= serves come IN or that a French off,' e.vs
is shortly TO break out In another no'1
REPORT A MUMM ARRESTED.