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Through a series of stark photographs and concise commentary, this work captures the Belgian army’s first months of World War I. It follows the sudden onslaught that forced a fledgling force to hold fast at Liège, fight fiercely at Haelen, and then withdraw under flood‑driven pressure to the fortified city of Antwerp. The narrative highlights the grit of soldiers and civilians as they scramble to reorganise amid overwhelming odds.
From the desperate defense of Antwerp’s forts to the daring sorties that bought crucial time for the Allies at the Somme and the Marne, the book details how Belgium’s modest forces shaped the wider conflict. It then chronicles the harrowing retreat toward the Yser River, where exhausted troops covered a hundred‑kilometre march under relentless fire. Illustrated with authentic army photographs, the volume offers a vivid snapshot of a front line that was both a battlefield and a symbol of national resolve.
Language
en
Duration
~1 hours (71K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Credits
Produced by Brian Coe, Martin Pettit and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries)
Release date
2015-07-03
Rights
Public domain in the USA.
b. 1877
A Belgian military writer who chronicled the First World War from close to the action, he is best known for vivid books on the Belgian front and the army’s wartime experience. Writing under the name Willy Breton, he helped preserve a contemporary view of Belgium’s role in the conflict.
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