164 The Great War against forty-one for the Dual Alliance. But for the first shock Germany could assign three of her corps to face Russia, while Austria turned ten of hers, sending four to Servia and two to France. For French operations the Germans then counted twenty- four corps, the French twenty-one of their own, two English and one Belgian, which was disposed of tem- porarily in the August fighting. It was with an equal number of corps, then, that the two forces began their struggle in the west, but Germany, being on the offensive, was able to concentrate her men and thus overpower the scattered French corps. Yet at the precise moment when the German ad- vance touched Brussels the German General Staff learned that contrary to expectations, Russian mobil- ization had already become effective and was driving through East Prussia at a dangerous rate, while the Servians had administered a terrific drubbing to four Austrian corps on the Jedar. Even before the Battle of Mons-Charleroi, therefore, it became necessary to divert two German and one Austrian corps to the east. The German armies now stood twenty-one to twenty-three corps in the west, but their superior concentration gave them the advantage of numbers at the decisive point. Accordingly the German advance continued with invariable success but with huge losses until, after ten days of battle, September 3, it was almost within sight of Paris. But at this point the German Gen- eral Staff was informed of the Austrian rout at Lem-