On August 12, 1914, Belgian and German lancers clashed at Haelen. The Germans rode into a broad ditch from which their horses struggled to escape. Many failed to. Days later visitors could still find fallen lances, helmets, and other gear.
Scenes in Belgium after the Battle of Haelen.© by the International News Service, NYReverse:Scenes in Belgium after the Battle of Haelen.Having driven the Germans back at Haelen, the brave Belgian infantry takes a well earned rest.W. C. A. 145
"German troops, however, continued to pour into Belgium, and by the 17th the space between the Meuse, the Demer and the Gette was occupied by them in strength, . . . On the 18th, the Germans again attacked and carried Haelen, and also entered Tirlemont. They then fell upon the front and left flank of the Belgian 1st Division, and only by hard fighting were held at bay. The Gette position was now evidently in imminent danger."
On August 12, 1914, Belgian and German lancers clashed at Haelen. The Germans rode into a broad ditch from which horses and men struggled to escape. Many failed to. Days later visitors, among them Hugh Gibson, Secretary to the American Legation in Brussels, could still find fallen lances, helmets, and other gear on the battlefield.Earlier in the month, the Belgians had been pushed back from the Meuse River to the Gette. With their capture of the fortress of Liège, the Germans could turn their strengthening army against the Belgians who saw their victory in the first Battle of Haelen reversed in the second.
Military Operations France and Belgium, 1914, Vol. I, August to October by J. E. Edmonds, page 34, copyright © Second Edition 1925, publisher: MacMillan and Co., Limited, publication date: 1925
Belgium, Haelen, Battle of Haelen, 1914-08-12, 1914-08-18, 1914, August
