Show THL CHECK AT LIEGE What meagre information has come out of Berl n in the last few days shows that the Germans are try ng to explain the check at Liege as a trivial matter and not calculated to interfere with the general plan of campaign The German war office appears to have a rather short memory A 1 ttle more than a week ago the German chancellor ex pla ning the invasion of Belg um said We knew France was ready for an invasion xrauce waa auie to wa t we were not A French aggression ntd our flank on the lower Rhine would have been di astrous and we therefore were compelled to overrule the legit n ate protests of the Luxemburg and Belgian governments Germany invaded Belg um accord ng to this statement because she was not able to wait and yet the Belgians have compelled her to wa t more than a week Germany is pay ng a high price for io latmg the neutral ty of Belgium At one stroke she invited war w th all the naval and m 1 tary power of England In order to str ke at France she under took the task of destroy ng the Br t sh emp re It is evident therefore that Germany expected to succeed promptly in the invasion of Belgium and to sweep through France so quic dy that England would not be able to lend any asa st ance on land The delay at L ege has been such that the battle may be reck oned in history as one of the dec si e battles of the world |