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CHAPTER XXIV THE GREAT GERMAN ENVELOPING MOVEMENT Tj^OR nearly ten days after the German occupation ■*■ of Brussels, the world remained In absolute darkness as to the progress of events on the Franco- Belgian frontier. Battles had been fought of real importance. Allied armies had been defeated. French and British forces were in retreat. This much the Berlin bulletins from time to time asserted with ever growing confidence and exultation. But it was not until August 28 that the official statement from Paris gave the first bare hint of the defeat that had been suffered and the disaster that had threat- ened and still threatened. To describe this it Is necessary to summarize briefly the things that had taken place In the recent days. When the Germans fell upon the Anglo-French forces along the Sambre and the Scheldt Rivers, the situation on the great battle line from the English Channel to Switzerland, so familiar in the news- paper headlines of that hour, was as follows: Between Namur and Lille and about Mons and Charleroi stood the Anglo-British army, with Its right flank south of Namur extending along the Meuse from DInant to Givet. A second army, hav- 129

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