ve thousand
desisted from their irresistible attack, and retired, with a large number
of German helmets as trophies of their victorious action.
Nevertheless, in accordance with the general plan which had been
decided upon by the French generals in view of the superior numbers
pressing upon them, the French troops retreated and the Germans
succeeded in forcing their way steadily down the Meuse as far as
Mezieres, divided by a bridge from Charleville on the other side of the
river. This is in the neighbourhood of Sedan, and in the hollow or trou
as it is called which led to the great disaster of 1870, when the French
army was caught in a trap, and threatened with annihilation by the
Germans, who had taken possession of the surrounding heights.
There was to be no repetition of that tragedy. The French were
determined that this time the position would be reversed.

On Monday, August 24, the town of Charleville was evacuated, most
of its civilians were sent away to join the wanderers who had had to
leave their homes, and the French troops took up magnificent
positions commanding the town and the three bridges dividing it from
Mezieres. Mitrailleuses were hidden in the abandoned houses, and
as a disagreeable shock to any German who might escape their fire
was a number of the enemy's guns--no fewer than ninety-five of
them--which had been captured and disabled by the French troops in
the series of battles down the river from Namur. The German
outposts reached Charleville on Tuesday, August 25. They were
allowed to ride quietly across the bridges into the apparently deserted
town. Then suddenly their line of retreat was cut off. The three
bridges were blown up by contact mines, and the mitrailleuses hidden
in the houses were played on to the German cavalry across the
streets, killing them in a frightful slaughter. It was for a little while a
sheer massacre in that town of white houses with pretty gardens
where flowers were blooming under the brilliant sunshine of a glorious
summer day.

But the Germans fought with extraordinary tenacity, regardless of the
heaped bodies of their comrades, and utterly reckless of their own
lives. They, too, had brought quick-firers across the bridges and,
taking cover behind some of the houses, trained their guns upon
those from which the French gunners were firing their last shots.
There was no way of escape for those heroic men who voluntarily
sacrificed themselves in the service of their co