GERMANS IN BELGIUM BEING REINFORCED.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15719, 21 September 1914, Page 5

GERMANS IN BELGIUM BEING REINFORCED.

HINTS OF DEVELOPMENTS IN THE NORTH-EAST.

STRONG DEFENSIVE WORKS BEING PREPARED.

Antwerp, September 19.

The Germans are preparing strong reinforcements outside Liego to prevent attacks from the north and north-west. Veiled hints have reached Antwerp that interesting developments in the military operations in North-east Belgium are imminent. Reliable information has been received that the Germans at Brussels have been reinforced by two army corps, and now number 150,000. Official advices state that Germans from Brussels engaged the Belgians in an artillery duel at Termonde on Wednesday and Thursday. A subsequent attempt by the German infantry to advance was repulsed. The attack was not renewed. Mitrailleuses repelled 400 German cavalry advancing on Dixmude, in South-western Belgium. Two hundred were killed and wounded.

The Germans are strongly entrenching along the Sambre from .Maubeuge to Namur. Important works are being constructed at Thuin, Marchienne, Tamines, and Fleures. There is also a deep semi-circle extending from Borgerhout through Campenon to the north of Louvain, where it turns south-east. All the trenches and redoubts are in reinforced concrete.

The German trenches north of Chalons, beyond the River Marne, are over three feet deep. There are splinter screens every 20yds and resting places. The trenches consist of several parallel rows flanked by others running at right angles with concealed, machine guns.

Maubeugo is a fortified town in Northern France, 23£ miles south-east of Valenciennes, and about two miles from the Belgian border.

Montfaucon is to the north-west of Verdun, near the Argonne.

The Oise rises in the province of Namur, in Belgium, and flows southwest through the departments of Ainse, Oise and Seine-et-Oise, in France, eventually joining the Seine. From La Fere to Compeigne its course lies through well-wooded country, and a short distance above Compiegne it receives the Aisnc. Tho Meuse rises' in the department of Marne in France, and after passing through a great part of Belgium and Holland it flows into the Rhine at Fort Loevensteia. The river is nearly 560 miles in length and the principal towns in France that are situated on it are Verdun and Sedan.