In
their preliminary skirmishes the Belgians more than once gained
advantages, but after the fall on Aug. 15 of the last of the Liege forts
the great line of railway which runs through Liege toward Brussels and
Antwerp in one direction and toward Namur and the French frontier in
another fell into the hands of the Germans. From this moment the advance
of the main army was swift and irresistible. On Aug. 19 Louvain and
Aerschot were occupied by the Germans, the former without resistance,
the latter after a struggle which resulted early in the day in the
retirement of the Belgian Army upon Antwerp. On Aug. 20 the invaders
made their entry into Brussels.
The quadrangle of territory bounded by the towns of Aerschot, Malines,
Vilvorde, and Louvain is a rich agricultural tract, studded with small
villages and comprising two considerable cities, Louvain and Malines.
This district on Aug. 19 passed into the hands of the Germans, and owing
perhaps to its proximity to Antwerp, then the seat of the Belgian
Government and headquarters of the Belgian Army, it became from that
date a scene of chronic outrage, with respect to which the committee has
received a great mass of evidence.
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