BELGIUM'S BATTLES.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 3, Issue 249, 20 November 1914, Page 3 (Supplement)

BELGIUM'S BATTLES.

THE STORY OF THE COCKPIT. Belgium has once again become th« coeltpit of Europe. No other country on the Continent has seen 60 many changes of Government or been the grate of. war for so many centuries. The soil is liberally drenched with the ulcod of nations, and' the bones ot oountless armies lie biwied beneath its jmifaw. Almost every town has been thw scene ot battle. Fleuriis, the little village of HeniiPgau, where under the Prince of Wakleck the. allied Dutch Imperialist, and Spanish troops suffered defeat at tho hands of Marshal Luxembourg; Jemappes, where in a French and Austrian contest 22,000 men were left dead or dying on the field; Ghent and Namur with their memories of thrilling sieges, all recall stories of fierce and bloody fights. The glorious victories of Ramillie* and Oudenarde made Marlborough the greatest captain of his age, and the held of Waterloo witnessed the death struggle of the great Napoleon and the shattering of all his hopes and ambitions. RAMILLIKS' BLOODY FIELD. Marlborough landed in Flanders in 1706. and on the morning of the 23rd of May he found himself opposed to Marshal Villeroy on the undulating plain in which stands the little village of Kamillies. Morasses covered the front of the French Arnrv, which had taken up the formation of a wide curve. It was a day of fierco engagements .in which Marlborough himself took part like a trooper and when the fight was over the French had lost fifteen thousand men in killed, wounded, and mussing, together with their baggage and guns, while the allies suffered to one-thud of that number. It was not until after the action had opened that Marlborough concentrated his force at the spot where the attack was to bo preyed home. A brilliant charge won the field for the English commander. A year later Belgium saw the opening of another campaign ,in the same war with the English victory of Allelenarde, in which Marlborough s genius as a commander was brought into bold relief. It is true there were fewer losses on either side than in the previous fight, but the carnage Avas terrible nevertheless, and the confidence of the French was shaken to such a degree that it was not recovered to the end of tli© war. . In the war of the Austrian Succession Belgium was again deluged with blood, a large part of i t British spilled in the battle of Fontenoy. In no other tight did the bravery, of omr troops come into greater prominence, lbrougli a line of death thev doggedly advanced heeding little the cannonade going on'to right and left of them, and eager to hurl themselves against their opponents; but their bravery was unavailing in the face of terrible odds, and they were driven back, a broken and shattered column. NAPOLEON'S LAST STAND And then in 1815 came the stirring times of tlie Hundred Days, when NaSn, quitting Elba gathered around £im an army of 250..000 men and made a last bold effort to regain his former nower. Euiodo sprang to arms, and Belgium was again the field of deci61<Napoleon landed in France on March lsi. and by the beginning of Juneone hundred, and twenty thousand trench, men were concentrated on the fcamuie nt Charleroi. Wellington was immediately dispatched with an army fro... Sgland but the best of the troops S still in America after the war with the United States and. ot the mm men he commanded in the ffilandS half were, untrained Beladvancuig with 150,00(1 Prussians and \anoleons aim was to sup Between the two armies, and attacking each ,!ont*lv to bring about th* deteat hastened to.unite with his ally.atQuatre Bras buttle fniled to attain his object, too fc|>ee«iis had tne Frenchman succeeded in a - ranirina; hw plans that even bet ore tho iSh and Prussian generals were British ana *' . hth armv he C t\£ K'£m« wMch lollop was driven back trom i,ujii j [?«h W 2SwTJS"at Quatre Bras found themselves powerless to bol &re another bloody contest was "ed Wellington's army consisted ' loSffi" British and the same force of BC Thettter broke before the heavy British. r* m »;^ t ; r £i„d ß e them from ing it impossible to dsloop. . hJ their position.was ore ed ; a J later from the field, leaung him 5000 dead or d>mg. Anej> losses amounted almost to number. ... to the £2£ESsse died wounded.