Angol
he first great campaign on the western battle grounds in the European
War began on August 4, 1914. On this epoch-making day the German
army began its invasion of Belgium-with the conquest of France as its ulti-
mate goal. Six mighty armies stood ready for the great invasion. Their esti-
mated total was 1,200,000 men. Supreme over all was the Emperor as War
Lord, but Lieutenant General Helmuth van Moltke, chief of the General
Staff, was the practical director of military operations. General van Moltke
was a nephew of the great strategist of 1870, and his name possibly appealed
as of happy augury for repeating the former capture of Paris.
The First Army was assembled at Aix-la-Chapelle in the north of Belgium,
within a few miles of the Dutch frontier. It was under the command of
General van Kluck. He was a veteran of both the Austrian and Franco-
Prussian Wars, and was regarded as an able infantry leader. His part was
to enter Belgium at its northern triangle, which projects between Holland
and Germany, occupy Liege, deploy on the great central plains of Belgium,
then sweep toward the French northwestern frontier in the German dash
3 UNKNOWN
for Paris and the English Channel. His army thus formed the right wing of
the whole German offensive. It was composed of picked corps, including
cavalry of the Prussian Guard.
The Second Army had gathered in the neighborhood of Limbourg under
the command of General von Buelow. Its advance was planned down the
valleys of the Ourthe and Vesdre to a junction with Von Kluck at Liege, then
a march by the Meuse Valley upon Namur and Charleroi. In crossing the
Sambre it was to fall into place on the left of Von Kluck's army.
The German center was composed of the Third Army under Duke Albrecht
of Wuerttemberg, the Fourth Army led by the crown prince, and the Fifth
Army commanded by the Crown Prince of Bavaria. It was assembled on
the line Neufchateau-Treves-Metz. Its first offensive was the occupation of
Luxemburg. This was performed, after a somewhat dramatic protest by
the youthful Grand Duchess, who placed her motor car across the bridge
by which the Germans entered her internationally guaranteed independent
state. The German pretext was that since Luxemburg railways were Ger-
man controlled, they were required for the transport of troops. Preparations
were then made for a rapid advance through the Ardennes upon the Central
Meuse, to form in order upon the left of Von Buelow's army. A part of the
Fifth Army was to be detached for operations against the French fortress of
Verdun.
The Sixth Army was concentrated at Strassburg in Alsace, under General
von Heeringen. As inspector of the Prussian Guards he bore a very high
military reputation. For the time being General von Heeringen's part was to
remain in Alsace, to deal with a possibly looked for strong French offensive
by way of the Vosges or Belfort.
The main plan of the German General Staff, therefore was a wide enveloping
movement by the First and Second Armies to sweep the shore of the English
Channel in their march on Paris, a vigorous advance of the center through
the Ardennes for the same destination, and readiness for battle by the Sixth
