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Show AMERICAN WAS AN EYE-WITNESS Vice Consul at Liege Saw First Two Days of Siege Germans Ger-mans Surprised. FOE'S MILITARY TACTICS Kaiser's Troops Pay Terrible Penalty for Under-rating Strength of Belgians. London, Aus. 145:15 a. m The German army Investing Liege underestimates under-estimates tho fighting qualities of the Belgians and paid a terrible penall for their daring, in the opinion of ictor H. Dur.t:;, American vice con sul at Liege, as quoted by the Brussels Brus-sels correspondent of the Times. The correspondent says that Mr. Dllms V.t an uvninlnaoo .f 1 1, .. u .... . uu.,oo i t l 11 y 111 two days of the Blege which he describes. de-scribes. The Belgians permitted the forces of General Von Bmmicb actually actu-ally to pass Ihe forts In their march on the town and then attacked them In the rear from the forts and on their front with infantry. He estimated esti-mated the Gorman casualties as from five to ten times as great as those of the defenders Germans' Military Tactics. "Speaking as a neutral," says Mr Duras, according ' the Times correspondent, corre-spondent, "It seems to be a part of the ne.v milltar tactics of the Ger mans to fighting a6 much as possi ble in the night tune Comparative! little fighting occurred at Liege during dur-ing the day. "The scheme of the Belgian defense seemed to be not to make any serious seri-ous resistance to the ;mnck until the German troops were actually past the forts. Then when theV were close up to the town and their several bodies bod-ies trying to effect a Juncture, fire was opened on them from the forts behind and iroin rifles and machine guns In front, so they were caught in a trap and retreat was cut off. There was nothing for thorn to do but to be shot down or surrender. Great Suffering on Both Sides "The amount of suffering on both sides owing to an inability to deal promptly with the wounded was very great, but especially to the Germans, whose casualties were from five to ten limes as numerous as those of the Belgians "The Germans paid a terrible pen alty for the boldness of their scheme of attack, which, from a military point of view, could be justified only b a coniction on the part of the German of I leers that they would met with only the feeblest resistance. The mistake they made was in underrating underrat-ing the fighting qualities of the peaceful Belgians." |