The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-09-09
Battle ofHaelen Described

Clarence A. l1teStOI, LII AIneI1tdD. wrote this interesting narrative for the New York Sun
 During the early days of the French mobilization l was in Paris on private business. At my hotel were also stop ping some Belgian friends whom l had met on two of my previous trips to Europe, the wife, father and sister of a Belgian army officer. They were naturally most anxious to return to Belgium in time to see this officer before he went to the front. In view of the unsettled conditions of travel and the feeble state of health of the father I volunteered to accompany the party
 After arriving at Brussels after a slow trip on account of the troop trains. we discovered that Col. K had left with his regiment for the front. After many inquiries we learned that the brigade of which his regiment formed a part had been ordered to Liege and was now on the way there. Mme. K. however succeeded in secur- ing pass from the military author tiles permitting her to motor out in the direction which the regiment had taken. accompanied by her sister and myself.
 Arriving at Tirlemont by way of I.ouvain, we found that our further progress in the direction of Liege was impossible. We found however Col. Ks regiment had been diverted in the direction of Hasselt.
 Stopped by Belgian Officers
 We passed the night in Tirlemont and early the next morning. Wednes- day. August 12, we rpade ready to pro- ceed in our new direction. This time we were stopped by Belgian officers. The Germans were reported as having left Hasselt with the intention of fore ing their way to Brussels, and it was utterly out of the question, they said, to go nearer the front. Mime. x. re- fused to go back to Brussels. at least for the present, preferring to remain in Tirlemont. As for myself, having come so near to real operations l was curious to see more. l had little talk with the chauffeur. using arguments of the kind that are usually most per- suasive He agreed to take me as far as Diest
 A little after s o'clock we heard heavy firing directly in front of us As we continued to advance we learned that the Germans were fighting their way forward along the very road that we had intended to take-between Diest and Haelen-and had been fight ing since o'clock that morning.
 The Germans had advanced from Easselt to the little town of Haelen just ahead of us when they were met ty A company of Belgian cyclists sImed with light portable Hotchkiss riachine guns. These cyclists had opened fire upon the first platoon of uhlans as they advanced upon the out skirts of the village. Iheir ire hao proved so effective that 1t moved down the whole platoon. The captain in command of this company told me In the afternoon during a Hull in the fight ing that one charge of the automatic guns had been sufficient to sweep the road clean This was the opening of the battle.
 Leaving the automobile in the care of the chauffeur. | advanced on foot to a point where. though it was still well in the rear of the Belgian lines, was able to get a view of some of the fighting
 German Losses Heavy
 Bv the time I arrived the Germans had forced the cyclists to retire, but not without suffering heavy losses. l saw entire platoons of Germans lying where they had fallen, moved down by the deadly fire of the Belgian ma chine guns. The Germans came on in such numbers. however. that they threatened to outflanlx and overwhelm the company of cyclists, who them selves were but 200 strong. They were obliged to retreat upon the main body of troops in the rear of the town, which consisted of six regiments-ar- tillery, infantry and cavalry
 After this joining of forces the Bell rian cavalry went forward to meet the Germans, but were unable to operate on very large scale on account of the formation of the country.
 At this juncture of the battle both the Germans and the Belgians had suc- ceeded in getting their artillery into position. Both sides opened a terrific lasting for several hours. Later in the day noted curious which I could not explain. Then it came to me that 1t was the silence after the long cannonading. The artillery fro that at first had seemed so deaf ening had in that short 5pace of time made itsel1 appear so natural as to be forgotten.
 German Shells Defective
 The town of Haelen was the par ticular objective of the German guns, their fire sweeping the streets, dam aging the buildings and setting fire to many of them.
 A Belgian artillery officer informed me later that a great number of the shells of the Germans failed to ex- plode.
 About 1:so, as nearly as I can recol- lect, there came a noticeable lull in the firing from the German side and it could be seen that their cavalry was