gium 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.

The result of the Haelen engagement was thus described in the dispatches
of August 13:

"The battle centered around Haelen, in the Belgian province of Limbourg,
extending to Diest, in the north of the province of Brabant, after
passing round Zeelhem.

"At 7 o'clock last evening all the country between the three towns
mentioned had been cleared of German troops, except the dead and
wounded, who were thickly strewn about the fire zone. Upward of 200 dead
German soldiers were counted in a space of fifty yards square.

"A church, a brewery and some houses in Haelen. were set afire, and two
bridges over the Denier were destroyed by Belgian engineers.

"Great quantities of booty were collected on the battlefield, and this
has been stacked in front of the town hall of Diest. Many horses also
were captured.

"The strength of the German column was about 5,000 men."

Another report said of the encounter:

"A division of Belgian cavalry, supported by a brigade of infantry and
by artillery, engaged and defeated, near the fortress of Diest, eighteen
miles northeast of Louvain, a division of German cavalry, also supported
by infantry and by artillery.

"The fighting was extremely fierce and resulted in the Germans being
thrown back toward Hasselt and St. Trond."

Meanwhile the forts at Liege, to the southeast, still held out, though
fiercely bombarded by German siege guns. The fortress of Namur was also
being attacked. The Germans had bridged the river Meuse and were moving
their crack artillery against the Belgian lines. French troops had
joined the Belgian defenders and the main battle line extended from
Liege on the north to Metz on the south.

A visit to Haelen and other towns by a Brussels correspondent August
17, "showed the frightful devastation which the Germans perpetrated in
Belgian territory.

"For instance, at Haelen itself houses belonging to the townspeople have
been completely wrecked. Windows were