98 The Great War same day Liege was garrisoned by the permanent force Belgium keeps in her four fortified cities, strengthened by the first regiments which had re- sponded to the mobilization orders of the previous week. Once the fact of resistance was established the Belgian and French General Staff were united in a common task. For ten years French generals had feared the Luxemburg-Liege onrush and had planned to meet it. What they had not known was that Bel- gium would resist. Their mobilization and screen- ing were accordingly arranged for operation inside the French boundary. The Belgian resistance was a new and immeasurably valuable thing — but it was plain that French mobilization would have to follow the original plans and French forces, apart from a few regiments of cavalry and artillery, would be un- available for at least ten days. Accordingly it became the mission of the Belgian Army to delay, impede, embarrass German advance until the French forces could come up. In this work the plans of Belgian resistance to a German invasion prepared by the Belgian General Staff long in advance served admirably. Their general scheme was to de- lay the invader as long as possible on the line of the Meuse, held by the fortresses of Namur, Huy and Liege, then to fall back to the Lines of the Demer, of the Dyle and finally to Antwerp, prepared to receive the whole Belgian Army and one of the strongest places in all Europe.