16th September 1914, Near Mons
General Smith-Dorien was reviewing the latest reports of the attacks by the BEF, he had reason to be pleased. Both attacks had been highly successful, casualties had been high with a number of battalions taking 30-40 percent casualties, but they had achieved their objectives. The first stage of the attacks had resulted in the capture of both Ath and Sottigem, this cut off the two main railway lines which the German First Army was using for supply and aerial reconnaissance along with reports from the French at Lille indicated that the Germans were responding to the dire threat to their lines of communication and the risk of encirclement by commencing a withdrawal out of the salient.
The next phase of the attack was again to be in two parts, the first was to thicken the shoulders of the penetrations into the German lines in order to prevent their being cut off, this would be followed by further attacks to close the gap and link the BEF trapping the First Army and forcing its surrender.
The British would resume the attack at Sottigem by clearing the high ground to the south of Sottigem. The 4th Division joining V Corps would take up the attack from the 2nd London Division. The 2nd Mounted Division was available for exploitation purposes and would carry out aggressive patrolling along the northern flank of the British penetration. They would seek to prevent or at least delay any response by any elements of IIIr or IXr corps as they responded to the British attacks.
The 6th Division was still holding an extended line back towards the Belgians at Antwerp and was not in a position to conduct an attack but they had increased their night patrolling and were seeking to identify any avenues of exploitation available.
The Wessex division was holding the line back towards the coast, their flank had been somewhat open until the arrival of the Royal Marines and the decisive defeat of the German Cavalry Corps, their burden would be increased by the transfer of 4th Division to V Corps to take over the attack at Sottiegem. They would also remain fairly passive, although they had made contact with the Royal Marine Division and III Corps would be gaining control of the 1st Mounted Division and the RNAS armoured cars. Those units would be used to harry the retreating Cavalry Corps and the infantry corps which had been identified moving towards Nieuwpoort the previous day.
The 3rd Cavalry Division had been brought up to full strength, it would be available to 3rd Army as a reserve and exploitation force to either assist in closing the Sottigem Ath Gap or to react to any German counter attacks.
The British forces on the southern side of the Sottigem Ath gap would not be simply standing on the defensive but their ongoing attacks would be more limited as they sought to ensure sufficient depth to resist any German counter Attacks.
Both the French and Belgian Armies would also be taking part in the attacks, the newly formed 6th army under General Maunoury had already started to move from Lens it had advanced to Flines-lez-Raches finding it unoccupied, it had then advanced to the village of Coutiches. There the 6th Army halted whilst it reoriented, General Maunoury had been informed of the German retreat from Lille and he had agreed to conform to the British plans. To this end he would attempt to advance on Leuze-en-Hainaut, this town was astride the main road between Tournai and Ath and capturing or at least threatening it would severely disrupt any German plans to recapture Ath. The main threat to the 6th Army was the still intact German IV Corps, it was also heading for Ath as quickly as it could advance. But its commander was pushing it down the road from Orchies to Rumes, from there he would have to cross the Scheldt at either Tournai or Antoing. 6ThArmy would follow the Germans as closely as they could if only to force them to deploy rear-guard units which could be whittled down one by one. The 1st Moroccan Division of the 6th Army would be detached and sent on a forced march through the Forrest of the Scarpe. They would have further to go than the Germans and on worse roads but if they could beat the Germans to Leuze-en-Hainaut via Peruweiz they would derail any attempt to force back the British at Ath.
Manoury realised that by detaching one of the only two Regular divisions in his force he was increasing the risk that the Germans could stand and defeat his army, but he recognised that time was the Germans worst enemy, they had to try and beat back the British pincers or they would be encircled, time they spent trying to hold off his forces or even defeat them would further delay their eventual counter attack.
King Albert was also on the move with his army, for some time they had stood on the ramparts of the defences of Antwerp. Men had been called up from all but the most vital of war work to assist with the strengthening of the defences and the lines of trenches that now circled every fortification and tied them together had to be seen to be believed. The lessons of Liege and now Namur were learnt and applied and with the initial success of the British counter attacks the opportunity to worsen the position of the invader and despoiler was to be taken. The King had spent the last few days meeting with officers and men of every unit that was to take part in the attack. He had spent countless hours with his staff officers and Generals and the plan was well developed. The attack would use three infantry divisions of the Garrison along with the Cavalry Division, leaving one infantry division in reserve.
The initial attack would be by the 1st and 2nd divisions they would cross the German defensive lines between Fort de Waelhem and Fort deVarve St Catherine, they would recapture Mechelen (Malines) which would be held by the 5thDivision. The Cavalry division would then advance toward Leuvan some 25km away. The 5th Division would deploy one brigade to hold Zemst whilst the 1st and 2nd Divisions would follow the Cavalry towards Leuven.
The goal of the Belgian attack was twofold, firstly to tie down IVr and IXr corps preventing them from responding to the British attack on Sottiegem and secondly to amplify the risk in the mind of the German high command that both First and possibly Second armies were at risk of envelopment and capture. Particularly should the French Fifth Army currently embroiled in the Siege of Namur go on the offensive and break out towards Warve and Leuven.