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Show EARLY FIGHTING AROUNDJAMUR London. Aug 28, 2 10 a. m The Dally Telegraph s Paris correspondent gives a story' of the earlier fighting at Namur, as described by August Mellot, Belgian deputy for Namur, M. Mellot says that until August 13 the citizens of Namur had hopes that ! the Belgian army would be joined by j the French and English and would i meet and rout the German forces; I beforo they reached Namur, but on that day a detachment of Belgian j horsemen met a detachment of Uhl-I Uhl-I ans and engaged In a smart fight, in which the Germans were smashed up. "This incident,' said M. Mellot, "left no doubt that the Germans would return In greater numbers. The following dav. while we were in Namur Na-mur bus completing the defenses, the first three shells fell In the town. One shell struck the bridge at Zal-zinnes Zal-zinnes and killed five persons I was standing twenty yards away and j must say the Impression was a dls- i agreeable one. I "From that moment wo were shelled dally and numbers of persons were killed and groat damage done. We still hoped, however, that the allied al-lied armies would drive the Germans out of Belgium, but the German cav-I cav-I airy came ever nearer and on the 18th vvc felt that we were being surrounded sur-rounded "Then on the 20th we heard the news of the occupation of Brussels and gave up hope of a decisive battle north of Namur The cannonade in creased during the night ami on the 21st the battle around Namur became be-came general. It lasted all day "While eleven German army corps were passing the Meuse. coming from Viz, a powerful force was detailed tc mask their march and kept up a heavy fire on our positions. The German at tacks were multiplied all the time and their fire extended over a line Of some ten miles on the left bank of the Meuse and over the Himslar line, or right bank. "During this time, the French force? sent to meet them, tried to check the German advance. (Here portions ol the story were eliminated by tho cen sor ) 'Namur wag the center of all thin fighting. Toward noon of the -1' n German battery was hurriedly placed between the interval of two forts and began to bombard Namur The fire was kept up for a long time, but only did material damage. "At 10 o'clock that night I sue ceeded in getting out of town. Dur Ing the time I was there the town was defended by Belgian troops 1 do not know what became of them. I cannot say whether they beat a retreat or joined the French forces M Mellot reached the French lines at Charlerol Saturday and proceeded thence by slow stages to Paris. |