The disposition of the French forces was described by a statement issued from the War Office at Paris as follows:
An army starting out from the Wavre in the north, and going in the direction of Neufchâteau, is attacking the German troops which have been pouring down the Grand Duchy of Luxemburg along the western bank of the Semoy, and going in a westerly direction.
Another army which left from the region of Sedan and crossed the Ardennes is attacking several German army corps that were on the march between the Lesse and the Meuse.
A third army from the region of Chimay has been moved forward to make an attack on the German right between the Sambre and the Meuse, and is supported by the English army which set out from the region of Mons.
The movement of the Germans who had sought to envelop our left wing has been followed step by step, and their right is now being attacked by our army forming our left wing, in junction with the English army. At this point the battle has been raging violently for more than a day.
The Germans had concentrated a huge mass of men for the attack on the left of the allied lines, held by the British troops, with the object of dealing them a smashing blow and of forcing their way south. They were determined to carry out the Army Orders of August 19 in which the German Emperor declared with characteristic assurance that:
It is my Royal and Imperial Command that you concentrate your energies, for the immediate present, upon one single purpose, and that is that you address all your skill and all the valour of my soldiers to exterminate first the treacherous English and walk over General French’s contemptible little army.
Men and guns were not wanting for this assault. The shrapnel was deadly in its effect, but the marksmanship of the German rifles is stated to have been uniformly poor. To make assurance doubly sure, the troops pitted against our men were some of the best, as testified by the statement of a wounded Belfast man:—
You must remember that for almost twenty-four hours we bore the brunt of the attack, and the desperate fury with which the Germans fought showed that they believed if they were only once past the British forces the rest would be easy. Not only so, but I am sure we had the finest troops in the German army against us.