This little city, at a small distance from Venloo, but whose
advantages of situation, in a country that could be flooded, and the
fortifications which the Dutch had added to its natural defences,
rendered its capture difficult, was besieged by the Spaniards, under
the command of Pierre Ernest de Mansfeld. Its weak garrison made a
noble resistance. Nevertheless, the works of the Spaniards advanced so
rapidly, the fire of the batteries, and the sapping and mining were so
effective, that on the 3rd of December the besieged capitulated. The
reason for our noticing this siege, is the circumstance that it was the
first time bombs were used; they had been invented a short time before,
by a man of Venloo, a maker of artificial fireworks. The garrison and
the citizens, terrified at these globes of fire, which crushed their
houses and set fire to everything around them, made but a feeble
resistance after they had seen their effects. This destructive arm has
been perfected with time, and gave birth to grenades, pot-grenades, and
many other murderous machines.