ns.

But this was not enough. Waiting for each column to pass were men
with buckets of drinking water, into which the soldiers dipped
their aluminum cups. Temporary field post offices were established
in advance, so that messages could be gathered in as the columns
passed. Here and there were men to offer biscuits and handfuls of
prunes. In methodical, machine-like progress came the ammunition
wagons, commissariat carts, field kitchens, teams of heavy horses
attached to pontoons, traction engines hauling enormous siege guns,
motor plows for excavating trenches, aeroplanes, carriages containing
surgeons, automobiles for the commanders, and motor busses in which
staff officers could be seen studying their maps. On some of these
vehicles were chalked Berlin-Paris. No branch of the service was
absent, no serviceable part if it overlooked--not even a complement
of grave diggers. It moved forward always at an even pace, as if on
parade, with prearranged signals passed down the line when there
was any obstacle, a descent or bend in the road.

The tramp of many thousands cast into the atmosphere clouds of
fine dust, but even those in rear marched through it as if their
lungs were made of steel. No permission was granted to open out
for the circulation of air, though it was the month of August. It
is safe to assert there was not a single straggler in Von Buelow's
army. At the first sign of it he was admonished with a vigor to
deter his comrades. Discipline was severely maintained. At every
halt the click of heels, and rattle of arms in salute went on down
the line with the sharp delivery of orders.

On Wednesday, August 12, 1914, the town of Huy, situated midway
between Liege and Namur, was seized. It possessed an old citadel,
but it was disarmed, and used now only as a storehouse. Some Belgian
detachments offered a slight resistance at the bridge, but were
speedily driven off. The capture of Huy gave the Germans control
of the railway from Aix-la-Chapelle to France, though broken at
Liege by the still standing northern forts. But they secured a
branch line of more immediate service, running from Huy into Central
Belgium.

On August 15, 1914, Von Buelow's vanguard came within sight of Namur.
Before evening German guns were hurling shells upon its forts. Began
then the siege of Namur. Namur, being the second fortress hope
of the Allies--the pivot upon which General Joffre had planned to
swing his army into Belgium in a swee