of the Meuse, in a valley at the junction of three rivers, it is a
natural stronghold. It was besides supposed to be fortified more
perfectly than any other city in the world. A ring of twelve forts
surrounded it, six of them large and powerful, six not so powerful and
smaller.
One weakness, however, as General Emmich, commander of the German
forces, knew, was the great distance between the forts. The small forts
were not placed between the large ones; but two of the smaller works
were together on the southwest, two in a ten-mile gap across the
northeast, a fifth was between two of the larger forts on the
southeast. The three points where the small forts were situated were
the places that the enemy planned to attack.
Another weakness was the smallness of the garrison,--74,000 men were
needed for the defense of Liége and Namur, and only about a hundred men
were stationed in some of the forts.
But the Belgians were equally aware of the weak points. General Leman
gave orders to throw up entrenchments between forts and to fill the
garrison. Even then, the number of men in the forts was but 25,000,
when it should have been at least 50,000.
Yet the Belgian soldiers, following the example of their brave leader,
General Leman, did all they could to prepare a strong resistance.
Without any delay, the German commander, on August 5, sent forward his
men in the 7th army corps with the purpose of taking Fort Evegnée, the
little fort on the southeast. No time was taken to bring up the heavy
guns--the Germans thought they would not need them. In this they were
mistaken.
Three times they rushed forward, but were repulsed. The third time they
reached the Belgian trenches; but, obeying an order to counter-attack,
the Belgians rushed out and drove the Germans back, inflicting heavy
losses and taking 800 prisoners.
At the same time, an attack was made from the northeast by the German
9th corps. The fighting was even fiercer here, but the enemy managed to
break through the defenses. During the fighting, the enemy schemed to
capture the Belgian general. Could they take General Leman, they
thought, the Belgian soldiers would not long hold out. Therefore, when
the fight was fiercest, eight Uhlans, two officers, and six privates,
mistaken for Englishmen because they were in English uniform, rode to
the headquarters of General Leman and attempted to take him prisoner.
But they were discovered and either killed or captured, after a
hand-to-hand struggle in the headquarter's building with members of the
Belgian staff aided by gendarmes. Heavy street fighting forced the
Germans back of the defenses once more. Then, by a decisive
counter-attack, the second attack of the enemy was repulsed.
That same night came a third attack from the southeast again, against
Fort Evegnée, and also from the southwest against the two small forts,
Chaudfontaine and Embourg.
It was a bright moonlight night. The Belgians on the southwest took
advantage of it to work at strengthening their defenses. They needed no
lights and used none, for they were in less danger of being seen by the
enemy.
If the Germans should take this part of the city, it would be
particularly valuable to them, for here were the great iron works, the
railway depots, the electric lighting works, and the small-arms and gun
factory. Besides, they could then without doubt easily march on through
Belgium and, as the German commander planned, overrun France. France
surely needed all the time which the brave Belgian soldiers could save
for her, for it had never been thought that Germany would break through
on that side. France, since her previous war with Germany, when she had
lost the beautiful provinces of Alsace and Lorraine, had massed her
garrisons on the eastern line. In fact, very few forts had been built
on the Belgian side, since the two countries had always maintained
friendly relationships with each other, and the neutrality of Belgium
was guaranteed by the Powers. Now, if Germany could not be held back
until the French soldiers could be brought up to the Belgian border,
then Germany's plan of greed and tyranny would be successful, and all
of Europe would be lost. To check the Germans here meant to save the
rest of Europe.
The city of Liége lay in darkness, save for the light of the kindly
moon. From among the crowd of buildings, the old citadel arose like a
great shadow. The searchlights flashed fitfully from the forts,
traveling across the enemy's position, while the men watched, half
expecting that the enemy would advance in the darkness, as so many of
Germany's black deeds were committed under cover of night. Over the
country, to the east, lay the ruined buildings, the broken walls, and
the dead from the fearful conflict of that day.
Half an hour before midnight, a storm of shot and shell broke upon the
trenches. High explosive shells burst with brilliant flashes and loud
uproar. The guns from the forts replied, and the city shook in the
thundering shock.
Heavy forces of Germans advanced, made a rush for the ditches, but were
pushed back. Just before daybreak, however, the 10th corps crept up
silently and rushed forward in a mass. The searchlights were thrown
upon them, and the guns of the Belgian regiments fired upon them. Only
after a hard fight, lasting five long hours, did the Germans break and
run.
But with all the heroism of the Belgian garrison, after four days and
four nights of ceaseless fighting, the men were exhausted. They could
not be relieved, while the Germans had many fresh troops in reserve.
The Belgian gunners might be able to hold the forts, but they could not
long hold the stretches of ground between. But by this time the Belgian
staff realized this and ordered two of the generals to withdraw
secretly with their forces while yet there was time. General Leman was
left in charge of the remaining forces to continue the brave defense of
the works. The Germans had brought up their heavy artillery. Sooner or
later they would break through.
On August 6, the Germans cut their way through between the forts and
entered the city. The forts held out for a time, still holding the
enemy from crossing the rivers. Once they had nearly crossed the large
bridge over the Meuse, but the Belgians blew it up, and time after
time, as the pontoon-bridges of the Germans were thrown across, above
and below Liége, the fire from the forts destroyed them.
Then, surrounded by enemies inside the city and outside, the garrison
was forced to retire. In the latter part of August, all the forts of
Liége were in the hands of the Germans. But Belgium had made a brave
resistance; she had stood like Horatius at the bridge. She had kept the
Germans back, and by so delaying them had saved Europe.
The defense of Liége was one of the most brilliant military
achievements and one of the decisive events in world history.
Its brave leader, General Leman, did not see the close of the siege. He
was wounded and captured when Fort Loncin, the large fort where he had
taken his stand with his men, exploded under the terrific fire of the
enemy. But from his prison, he sent the following letter to King
Albert:
After a severe engagement fought on August 4, 5, and 6, I
considered that the forts of Liége could not play any other part
but that of stopping the advance of the enemy. I maintained the
military government in order to coördinate the defense as much
as possible and in order to exert a moral influence on the
garrison.
Your Majesty is aware that I was at the Fort of Loncin on August
6 at noon.
Your Majesty will learn with sorrow that the fort exploded
yesterday at 5:20 P.M., and that the greater part of the
garrison is buried under the ruins. If I have not died in this
catastrophe, it is owing to the fact that my work had removed me
from the stronghold. Whilst I was being suffocated by the gases
after the explosion of the powder, a German captain gave me a
drink. I was then made a prisoner and brought to Liége. I am
aware that this letter is lacking in sequence, but I am
physically shaken by the explosion of the Fort of Loncin. For
the honor of our armies I have refused to surrender the fortress
and the forts. May your Majesty deign to forgive me. In Germany,
where I am taken, my thoughts will be, as they have always been,
with Belgium and her King. I would willingly have given my life
better to serve them, but death has not been granted me.
GENERAL LEMAN.
THE DESTRUCTION OF LOUVAIN
More than one hundred years ago, Napoleon, the famous French general,
started out to conquer the world, just as the Germans have been
dreaming of doing. Napoleon had almost unbelievable success--carrying
the banner of France into practically the whole of Europe. But into
whatever provinces Napoleon went, though bent upon the subjugation of a
world, he never allowed his army to wantonly lay waste and destroy.
There was great attraction for him in the wonderful works of art which
he found in many of the large cities. He ordered his men to seize these
works secretly and to carry them back to Paris. There they were
preserved. France indeed is now named the preserver of the arts.
Had the German officers done even this, their crime would not be so
great to-day. The French not only saved art and property, but also
tried to save the lives of non-combatants as often as possible.
One of the leading daily papers of Cologne, Germany, explained in its
issue of February 10, 1915, why the German soldiers have committed
deeds that will forever shame the German people in the minds of the
rest of humanity. Like the invasion of Belgium, these deeds are not
defended as _right_ or _just_ but as _necessary_ to help on the German
advance to victory. The article read as follows:
We have adopted it as a principle that the wrong-doing of an
individual must be expiated by the entire community to which he
belongs. The village in which our troops are fired upon will be
burned. If the guilty one is not found, substitutes will be
chosen from the population at large, and will be executed under
martial law.... The innocent must suffer with the guilty, and,
if the latter are not caught, must receive punishment in their
place, not because a crime has been committed, but to prevent
the commission of a future crime. Every case in which a village
is burned down, or hostages are executed, or the inhabitants of
a village which has taken arms against our invading forces are
killed, is a warning to the inhabitants of the territory not yet
occupied. There can be no doubt that the destruction of Battice,
Herve, Louvain, and Dinant has served as warning. The
devastation and bloodshed of the opening days of the war have
prevented the larger Belgian cities from attempting any attacks
upon the weak forces with which it was necessary for us to hold
them.
The destruction of works of art and of the beautiful cathedrals built
in the Middle Ages cannot be explained and defended in this way, but
some other pitiable and often childish excuse is offered. The Germans
always assume that others do as they would do in the same
circumstances. They assumed England would not interfere, if the
neutrality of Belgium was violated, for Germany would not have
interfered, had she been in England's place. They assumed the French
and English would use the towers of the cathedrals for observation
posts, for Germany would have done so; and although they were promised
by the Allied officers that the towers would not be so used and were
informed by the bishops and priests that they were not so used, yet
they proceeded to destroy the beautiful structures. Their own promises
and statements in a similar case would have been of no value, and so
they assumed the promises of others were valueless and that the priests
had been compelled to lie about the matter, as the Germans would have
forced them to do, if possible.
They also fired upon the cathedrals of Ypres, Soissons, Arras, and
Rheims in retaliation, whenever the enemy bombarded the German lines
near by. Destroying a cathedral was like killing pure and beautiful
women and children. The Huns felt the Allies would let them advance
rather than have it happen.
As the Germans were on their way to seize Antwerp, after they had taken
the Belgian capital, they were driven out of Malines and turned upon
Louvain. They were greatly irritated at the strong resistance which the
Belgian army was making. They even feared that suddenly Belgium's
allies would join her at Antwerp and invade Germany, upsetting the
German plans entirely.
Therefore they sought to terrorize and subdue the country by a complete
destruction of Louvain, one of the most ancient and historic towns in
that section of Europe. Its buildings and monuments were of world-wide
interest.
Repulsed and chased back to the outskirts of Louvain, the troops were
ordered to destroy the town. The soldiers marched down the streets,
singing and jeering, while the officers rode about in their military
automobiles with an air of bravado, as they contemplated the deed they
were about to do. They first attempted to anger the people, so as to
have some pretext for the criminal deed they had determined upon. But
the people, knowing the character of the Germans, showed remarkable
restraint. They gave up all firearms, even old rifles and bows and
arrows that were valuable historic relics. They housed and fed their
enemies, paid them immense sums of money; and when the commander sent
for two hundred and fifty mattresses, they even brought their own beds
and cast them, with everything they could lay hands on, down into the
market-place. They knew the penalty for refusal was the death of their
respected burgomaster.
The people of Boston, at the time of the Revolution, refused to feed
and house the British soldiers. But these people of Louvain submitted
to much worse than that, hoping that the enemy would pass on and spare
their lives and their homes.
But on Tuesday evening, August 25, as the people were sitting down to
their evening meal, the soldiers suddenly rushed wildly through the
streets, and furnished with bombs, set fire to all parts of the town.
That night witnessed some of the most terrible deeds in all history.
The town of 45,000 inhabitants was wiped out; many of the citizens were
killed, and others were sent by train to an unknown destination.
Besides the loss of life, there was lost to the world forever a great
store of historic and artistic wealth.
But one principal building in all the town was left standing--the Hotel
de Ville. This was purposely saved as a monument to German authority,
when the whole country should be taken over and rebuilt as a
German-Belgium!
This cowardly act of cruelty will always stand out as typical of German
atrocity. Louvain was undefended and was already in the hands of the
Germans. By this one deed perhaps more than any other, Germany showed
to what depths of degradation she would stoop. By the destruction of
Louvain, she put back civilization and culture for five hundred years,
and her own good name was burned away from among the nations of the
world. The Germans from that day were branded as the enemies of the
human race. The world sprang with united sympathy to the side of little
Belgium--so that for her the destruction of Louvain meant more than a
glorious victory.
CARDINAL MERCIER
He is an old man, nearly seventy, with thin, grayish-white hair. He is
very tall, as was Abraham Lincoln, nearly six feet and six inches. He
is thin, with deep-set, jet-black eyes, and thin, almost bloodless
lips.
He is a symbol of oppressed Belgium,--frail in body, lacking great
physical strength, but standing tall and erect with flashing eyes;
unconquerable because of his unconquerable soul.
The spirit of such men as he, and of such nations as his beloved
Belgium, is well expressed in Henley's now famous "Invictus."
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud,
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
* * * * *
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate;
I am the captain of my soul.
Amidst all the horrible deeds committed by the Germans in Belgium,
Cardinal Mercier has spoken the truth publicly and fearlessly. His
unconquerable soul seems to have protected his frail body. He is one of
the great heroes of brave, suffering Belgium--a hero who carries
neither sword nor gun; but his courage might be envied by every soldier
on the field of battle, and his judgment by every commander directing
them.
The Germans seemed to fear him from the first. General von Bissing, who
was the German Governor of invaded Belgium, wrote to Cardinal Mercier,
after the Cardinal's Easter letter to the oppressed Belgians appeared,
and called him to account, suggesting what might happen to him if he
did not cease his attacks upon the Germans and German methods.
The Cardinal replied that he would never surrender his liberty of
judgment and that, whenever the orders and laws of the Germans were in
conflict with the laws of God, he would follow the latter and advise
his people to do the same.
"We render unto Cæsar the things that are Cæsar's," he wrote, "for we
pay you the silent dread of your strength, but we keep, sacred in our
hearts and free from your orders, our ideas of right and wrong.
"It was not without careful thought that we denounced to the world the
evils you have done to our brothers and sisters--frightful evils and
horrible crimes, the tragic horror of which cold reason refuses to
admit.
"But had we not done so, we should have felt ourselves unworthy of our
high office.
"As a Belgian, we have heard the cries of sorrow of our people; as a
patriot, we have sought to heal the wounds of our country; and as a
bishop, we have denounced the crimes against innocent priests."
They deprived him of his automobile, with which he used to hasten to
all parts of Belgium to assist and comfort sufferers from German
tyranny and torture. They ordered him to remain in his residence.
As a part of his church duty, he wished to go to Brussels to celebrate
high mass. He applied for a pass which would allow him to go by train
or trolley. An excuse was invented for refusing it. Then the Cardinal
sent word to the Commandant that he must go and that he would walk. Two
hours afterward he left his residence on foot, accompanied by two or
three priests, and started on his walk of fifteen or more miles to
Brussels.
Men, women, and children, and priests from every part of the city
crowded about him and followed him, till he reached the German
sentries, who stopped the crowd and demanded where they were going.
The Cardinal showed his _Ausweiss_, an identification card which every
Belgian must carry, and he was allowed to proceed with two priests for
companions. The other priests demanded the right to go on, and a heated
dispute arose between them and the sentries. One of the priests lost
his temper and forgot himself so far that he began to beat one of the
sentries with his umbrella. The other sentry called for help, and the
crowd was soon dispersed. The angry priest was put under arrest and led
off to the guardhouse.
The Cardinal had gone on but a short way when the uproar behind him
caused him to stop and look back at what was happening. When he saw the
priest led off by the soldiers, he and his companions turned back and
followed the soldiers to the little guardhouse. He walked directly in,
looking neither to the right nor the left, standing a head above the
rest of the crowd. He fixed his piercing black eyes upon the eyes of
the priest; then he beckoned him to come and turned and walked out,
followed by the priest.
The soldiers made no attempt to stop them. They seemed to recognize an
authority that they could not help obeying, even though they did not
want to. The Cardinal accompanied by the three priests went on down the
road and out of Malines towards Brussels. They walked about half way
to the city and then took the trolleys.
In speaking of the Germans, the Cardinal is reported to have said,
"They are so stupid, these Germans! Sometimes I feel that they are like
silly, cruel children, and that I should do something to help them."
He loves America and the Americans and is grateful for all that the
United States have done for his suffering people. He told one of his
fellow-workers who had become discouraged, "If you follow a great
Captain, as I do, you will never be discouraged."
In him martyred Belgium has found a voice heard round the world. He has
never ceased to denounce the atrocious crimes of the German masters of
his country and he has continually sought to comfort and cheer his
unhappy people. He sees far, and so he sees clearly the power outside
ourselves that finally brings to Right the victory over Might. His
Pastoral Letter, Christmas, 1914, will never be forgotten nor will the
words of cheer to his suffering people when he reminds them of the
greatest truth of life, that only through sacrifice and suffering come
the things best worth while. His statement in letters to the German
Commandant of the facts concerning the deportation of Belgians into
Germany, to work as virtual slaves, will forever form part of the
records of history's blackest deeds.
This Pastoral Letter of Christmas, 1914, is in part as follows:
It was in Rome itself that I received the tidings--stroke after
stroke--of the destruction of the church of Louvain, of the
burning of the Library and of the scientific laboratories of our
great University and of the devastation of the city, and next of
the wholesale shooting of citizens, and tortures inflicted upon
women and children, and upon unarmed and undefended men. And
while I was still under the shock of these calamities, the
telegraph brought us news of the bombardment of our beautiful
metropolitan church, of the church of Notre Dame, of the
episcopal palace, and of a great part of our dear city of
Malines.
Afar, without means of communication with you, I was compelled
to lock my grief within my own afflicted heart, and to carry it,
with the thought of you, which never left me, to my God.
I needed courage and light, and sought them in such thoughts as
these. A disaster has come upon the world, and our beloved
little Belgium, a nation so faithful in the great mass of her
population to God, so upright in her patriotism, so noble in her
King and Government, is the first sufferer. She bleeds; her sons
are stricken down, within her fortresses, and upon her fields,
in defense of her rights and of her territory. Soon there will
not be one Belgian family not in mourning. Why all this sorrow,
my God? Lord, Lord, hast Thou forsaken us?
The truth is that no disaster on earth is as terrible as that
which our sins provoke.
I summon you to face what has befallen us, and to speak to you
simply and directly of what is your duty, and of what may be
your hope. That duty I shall express in two words: Patriotism
and Endurance.
PATRIOTISM
When, on my return from Rome, I went to Havre to greet our
Belgian, French, and English wounded; when, later at Malines, at
Louvain, at Antwerp, it was given to me to take the hands of
those brave men who carried a bullet in their flesh, a wound on
their forehead, because they had marched to the attack of the
enemy, or borne the shock of his onslaught, it was a word of
gratitude to them that rose to my lips. "O brave friends," I
said, "it was for us, it was for each one of us, it was for me,
that you risked your lives and are now in pain. I am moved to
tell you of my respect, of my thankfulness, to assure you that
the whole nation knows how much she is in debt to you."
For in truth our soldiers are our saviors.