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A visit to Haelen and other towns by a Brussels correspondent August 17, "showed the frightful devastation which the Germans perpetrated in Belgian territory. "For instance, at Haelen itself houses belonging to the townspeople have been completely wrecked. Windows were broken, furniture destroyed, and the walls demolished by shell fire. Even the churches have not been respected.

On Wednesday, August 12, 1914, a German cavalry screen, thrown in advance of the main forces, came in touch with Belgian patrols. A series of engagements took place. The Germans tried to seize the bridges across the Dyle at Haelen, and at Cortenachen on the Velpe, a tributary of the former river, mainly with the object of outflanking the Belgian left wing.

The front which we saw was in the square of the little town of Haelen, where some dogs of a dog machine-gun battery lay panting in their traces. A Belgian officer in command there I recollect for his passionate repetition of, "Assassins! The barbarians!" which seemed to choke out any other words whenever he spoke of the Germans. His was a fresh, livid hate, born of recent fighting.

The result of the Haelen engagement was thus described in the dispatches of August 13: "The battle centered around Haelen, in the Belgian province of Limbourg, extending to Diest, in the north of the province of Brabant, after passing round Zeelhem.

At the battle of Haelen, during which engagement the German warplanes were exceptionally active, the Belgian soldiers covered their heads with bundles of wheat snatched from the standing stooks, and under this cover lurked in a field where the corn was still standing.

This was only the first-line strength of the Germans, the reserves being massed in the rear. Part of the right wing was swung northward and westward in the direction of Antwerp, and swept the whole of northern Belgium to the Dutch frontier. On August 10 the Belgian defenders fought a heavy engagement with the Germans at Haelen, which was described in the dispatches as the first battle of the war.

"A church, a brewery and some houses in Haelen. were set afire, and two bridges over the Denier were destroyed by Belgian engineers. "Great quantities of booty were collected on the battlefield, and this has been stacked in front of the town hall of Diest. Many horses also were captured. "The strength of the German column was about 5,000 men."

Belgian Resistance to the German Advance The Fighting at Vise, Haelen, Diest, Aerschot and Tirlemont Mons and Charleroi the First Great Battles of the War Allies Make a Gallant Stand, but Forced to Retire Across the French Border

This fund soon grew to $10,000,000 and steadily climbed beyond that amount. Belgian Resistance to the German Advance The Fighting at Vise, Haelen, Diest, Aerschot and Tirlemont Mons and Charleroi the First Great Battles of the War Make a Gallant Stand, but Forced to Retire Across the French Border.

It was that of "mine own people" on the side of the schipperke dog machine-gun battery which I had seen in the streets of Haelen, and the peasant woman who shook her fist at the invader, and all who had the schipperke spirit.