What I had seen, therefore, was an army corps making a turning movement intended to catch the English on their right and double them up upon their centre.

The success of this manoeuvre depended upon the speed with which it was executed and upon its being a complete surprise.

As later in the day I learned, the Germans thought I was an English officer who had followed them from Brussels and who was trying to slip past them and warn his countrymen.

What Rupert of Hentzau meant by what I had seen on the road was that, having seen the Count de Schwerin, who commanded the Seventh Division, on the road to Ath, I must necessarily know that the army corps to which he was attached had separated from the main army of Von Kluck, and that, in going so far south at such speed, it was bent upon an attack on the English flank.
All of which at the time I did not know and did not want to know.

All I wanted was to prove I was not an English officer, but an American correspondent who by accident had stumbled upon their secret.