SIEGE AND CAPTURE OF LIEGE
A view of Liege will assist in revealing its three days' siege,
with the resulting effect upon the western theatre of war. Liege
is the capital of the Walloons, a sturdy race that in times past
has at many a crisis proved unyielding determination and courage.
At the outbreak of war it was the center of great coal mining and
industrial activity. In the commercial world it is known everywhere
for the manufacture of firearms. The smoke from hundreds of factories
spreads over the city, often hanging in dense clouds. It might
aptly be termed the Pittsburg of Belgium. The city lies in a deep,
broad cut of the River Meuse, at its junction with the combined
channels of the Ourthe and Vesdre. It stretches across both sides,
being connected by numerous bridges, while parallel lines of railway
follow the course of the main stream. The trunk line from Germany
into Belgium crosses the Meuse at Liege. For the most part the
old city of lofty houses clings to a cliffside on the left bank,
crowned by an ancient citadel of no modern defensive value. Whatever
picturesqueness Liege may have possessed is effaced by the squalid
and dilapidated condition of its poorer quarters. To the north
broad fertile plains extend into central Belgium, southward on the
opposite bank of the Meuse, the Ardennes present a hilly forest,
stream-watered region. In its downward course the Meuse flows out
of the Liege trench to expand through what is termed the Dutch
Flats.
Liege, at the outbreak of the war, was a place of great wealth and
extreme poverty--a Liege artisan considered himself in prosperity
on $5 a week. It was of the first strategic importance to Belgium.
Its situation was that of a natural fortress, barring the advance
of a German army.
The defenses of Liege were hardly worth an enemy's gunfire before
1890. They had consisted of a single fort on the Meuse right bank,
and the citadel crowning the heights of the old town. But subsequently
the Belgian Chamber voted the necessary sums for fortifying Liege
and Namur on the latest principles. From the plans submitted, the
one finally decided upon was that of the famous Belgian military
engineer Henri Alexis Brialmont. His design was a circle of detached
forts, already approved by German engineers as best securing a
city within from bombardment. With regard to Liege and Namur
particularly, Brialmont held that his plan would make passages of
the Meuse at those places impregnable to an enemy.
When the German army stood before Liege on this fourth day of August,
in 1914, the circumference of the detached forts was thirty-one miles
with about two or three miles between them, and at an average of
five miles from the city. Each fort was constructed on a new model
to withstand the highest range and power of offensive artillery
forecast in the last decade of the nineteenth century. When completed
they presented the form of an armored mushroom, thrust upward from
a mound by subterranean machinery. The elevation of the cupola in
action disclosed no more of its surface than was necessary for the
firing of the guns. The mounds were turfed and so inconspicuous that
in times of peace sheep grazed over them. In Brialmont's original
plan each fort was to be connected by infantry trenches with sunken
emplacements for light artillery, but this important part of his
design was relegated to the dangerous hour of a threatening enemy.
This work was undertaken too late before the onsweep of the Germans.
Instead, Brialmont's single weak detail in surrounding each fort
with an infantry platform was tenaciously preserved long after
its uselessness must have been apparent. Thus Liege was made a
ring fortress to distinguish it from the former latest pattern of
earth ramparts and outworks.
Six major and six minor of these forts encircled Liege. From north
to south, beginning with those facing the German frontier, their
names ran as follows: Barchon, Evegnée, Fleron, Chaud-fontaine,
Embourg, Boncelles, Flemalle, Hollogne, Loncin, Lantin, Liers,
and Pontisse. The armaments of the forts consisted of 6-inch and
4.7-inch guns, with 8-inch mortars and quick firers. They were
in the relative number of two, four, two and four for the major
forts, and two, two, one and three for the minor _fortins_, as
such were termed. The grand total was estimated at 400 pieces.
In their confined underground quarters the garrisons, even of the
major forts, did not exceed eighty men from the engineer, artillery
and infantry branches of the service. Between Fort Pontisse and
the Dutch frontier was less than six miles.
It was through this otherwise undefended gap that Von Kluck purposed
to advance his German army after the presumed immediate fall of
Liege, to that end having seized the Meuse crossing at Visé. The
railway line to Aix-la-Chapelle was dominated by Fort Fleron, while
the minor Forts Chaudfontaine and Embourg, to the south, commanded
the trunk line by way of Liege into Belgium. On the plateau, above
Liege, Fort Loncin held the railway junction of Ans and the lines
running from Liege north and west. Finally, the forts were not
constructed on a geometric circle, but in such manner that the
fire of any two was calculated to hold an enemy at bay should a
third between them fall. This was probably an accurate theory before
German guns of an unimagined caliber and range were brought into
action.
In command of the Belgian forts at Liege was General Leman. He had
served under Brialmont, and was pronounced a serious and efficient
officer. He was a zealous military student, physically extremely
active, and constantly on the watch for any relaxation of discipline.
These qualities enabled him to grasp at the outset the weakness
of his position.
If the Germans believed the refusal to grant a free passage for
their armies through Belgium to be little more than a diplomatic
protest, it would seem the Belgian Government was equally mistaken
in doubting the Germans would force a way through an international
treaty of Belgian neutrality. Consequently, the German crossing
of the frontier discovered Belgium with her mobilization but half
complete, mainly on a line for the defense of Brussels and Antwerp.
It had been estimated by Brialmont that 75,000 men of all arms
were necessary for the defense of Liege on a war footing, probably
35,000 was the total force hastily gathered in the emergency to
withstand the German assault on the fortifications. It included
the Civic Guard.
General Leman realized, therefore, that, without a supporting field
army, it would be impossible for him to hold the German hosts before
Liege for more than a few days--a week at most.
But he hoped within such time the French or British would march
to his relief. Thus his chief concern was for the forts protecting
the railway leading from Namur down the Meuse Valley into Liege--the
line of a French or British advance.
On the afternoon of August 4, 1914, German patrols appeared on
the left bank of the Meuse, approaching from Visé. They were also
observed by the sentries on Forts Barchon, Evegnée and Fleron.
German infantry and artillery presently came into view with the
unmistakable object of beginning the attack on those forts. The
forts fired a few shots by way of a challenge. As evening fell,
the woods began to echo with the roar of artillery. Later, Forts
Fleron, Chaudfontaine and Embourg were added to the German bombardment.
The Germans used long range field pieces with powerful explosive
shells. The fire proved to be remarkably accurate. As their shells
exploded on the cupolas and platforms of the forts, the garrisons
in their confined citadels began to experience that inferno of
vibrations which subsequently deprived them of the incentive to
eat or sleep. The Belgians replied vigorously, but owing to the
broken nature of the country, and the forethought with which the
Germans took advantage of every form of gun cover, apparently little
execution was dealt upon the enemy. However, the Belgians claimed
to have silenced two of the German pieces.
In the darkness of this historic night of August 4, 1914, the flames
of the fortress guns pierced the immediate night with vivid streaks.
Their searchlights swept in broad streams the wooded slopes opposite.
The cannonade resounded over Liege, as if with constant peals of
thunder. In the city civilians sought the shelter of their cellars,
but few of the German shells escaped their range upon the forts
to disturb them.
This exchange of artillery went on until near daybreak of August
5, 1914, when infantry fire from the woods to the right of Fort
Embourg apprised the defenders that the Germans were advancing to
the attack. The Germans came on in their customary massed formation.
The prevalent opinion that in German tactics such action was employed
to hearten the individual soldier, was denied by their General
Staff. In their opinion an advantage was thus gained by the
concentration of rifle fire. Belgian infantry withstood the assault,
and counter-attacked. When dawn broke, a general engagement was
in progress. About eight o'clock the Germans were compelled to
withdraw.
[Illustration: BEGINNING OF GERMAN INVASION OF BELGIUM]
The first engagement of the war was won by the Belgians. It was
reported that the Belgian fire had swept the Germans down in thousands,
but this was denied by German authorities. Up to this time the
German forces before Liege were chiefly Von Kluck's vanguard under
Von Emmich, his second line of advance, and detachments of Von
Bülow's army. On the Belgian side no attempt was made to follow
up the advantage. The reason given is that the Germans were seen
to be in strong cavalry force, an arm lost totally in the military
complement of Liege. The German losses were undoubtedly severe,
especially in front of Fort Barchon. This was one of the major
forts, triangular in shape, and surrounded by a ditch and barbed
wire entanglements. The armament of these major forts had recently
been reenforced by night, secretly, with guns of heavier caliber
from Antwerp. As they outmatched the German field pieces of the
first attack, presumably the German Intelligence Department had
failed in news of them. An armistice requested by the Germans to
gather in the wounded and bury the dead was refused. Thereupon
the artillery duel recommenced.
A hot and oppressive day disclosed woods rent and scarred, standing
wheat fields shell-plowed and trampled, and farm houses set ablaze.
The bringing of the Belgian wounded into Liege apprised the citizens
that their side had also suffered considerably. Meanwhile, the
Germans were reenforced by the Tenth Hanoverian Army Corps, from
command of which General von Emmich had been detached to lead Von
Kluck's vanguard, also artillery with 8.4-inch howitzers.
The bombardment on this 5th day of August, 1914, now stretched from
Visé around the Meuse right bank half circle of forts to embrace
Pontisse and Boncelles at its extremities. In a few hours infantry
attack began again. The Germans advanced in masses by short rushes,
dropping to fire rifle volleys, and then onward with unflinching
determination. The forts, wreathed in smoke, blazed shells among
them; their machine guns spraying streams of bullets. The Germans
were repulsed and compelled to retire, but only to re-form for a
fresh assault. Both Belgian and German aeroplanes flew overhead
to signal their respective gunners. A Zeppelin was observed, but
did not come within range of Belgian fire. The Belgians claim to
have shot down one German aeroplane, and another is said to have
been brought to earth by flying within range of its own artillery.
During the morning of August 5, Fort Fleron was put out of action
by shell destruction of its cupola-hoisting machinery. This proved a
weak point in Brialmont's fortress plan. It was presently discovered
that the fire of the supporting forts Evegnée and Chaudfontaine
could not command the lines forming the apex of their triangle.
Further, since the Belgian infantry was not in sufficient force
to hold the lines between the forts, a railway into Liege fell
to the enemy. The fighting here was of such a desperate nature,
that General Leman hastened to reenforce with all his reserve.
This battle went on during the afternoon and night of August 5,
into the morning of August 6, 1914. But the fall of Fort Fleron
began to tell in favor of the Germans. Belgian resistance perforce
weakened. The ceaseless pounding of the German 8.4-inch howitzers
smashed the inner concrete and stone protective armor of the forts,
as if of little more avail than cardboard. At intervals on August
6, Forts Chaudfontaine, Evegnée and Barchon fell under the terrific
hail of German shells. A way was now opened into the city, though,
for the most part, still contested by Belgian infantry. A party
of German hussars availed themselves of some unguarded path to
make a daring but ineffectual dash to capture General Leman and
his staff.
General Leman was consulting with his officers at military headquarters,
on August 6, 1914, when they were startled by shouts outside. He
rushed forth into a crowd of citizens to encounter eight men in
German uniform. General Leman cried for a revolver to defend himself,
but another officer, fearing the Germans had entered the city in
force, lifted him up over a foundry wall. Both Leman and the officer
made their escape by way of an adjacent house. Belgian Civic Guards
hastening to the scene dispatched an officer and two men of the
German raiders. The rest of the party are said to have been made
prisoners.
The end being merely a question of hours, General Leman ordered
the evacuation of the city by the infantry. He wisely decided it
could be of more service to the Belgian army at Dyle, than held in
a beleaguered and doomed city. Reports indicate that this retreat,
though successfully performed, was precipitate. The passage of it
was scattered with arms, equipment, and supplies of all kinds.
An ambulance train was abandoned, twenty locomotives left in the
railway station, and but one bridge destroyed in rear beyond immediate
repair. After its accomplishment, General Leman took command of the
northern forts, determined to hold them against Von Kluck until
the last Belgian gun was silenced.
Early on August 7, 1914, Burgomaster Kleyer and the Bishop of Liege
negotiated terms for the surrender of the city. It had suffered
but slight damage from the bombardment. Few of the citizens were
reported among the killed or injured. On behalf of the Germans it
must be said their occupation of Liege was performed in good order,
with military discipline excellently maintained. They behaved with
consideration toward the inhabitants in establishing their rule
in the city, and paid for all supplies requisitioned. They were
quartered in various public buildings and institutions, probably to
the number of 10,000. The German troops at first seemed to present
an interesting spectacle. They were mostly young men, reported as
footsore from their long march in new, imperfectly fitting boots,
and hungry from the lack of accompanying commissariat. This is proof
that the German's military machine did not work to perfection at the
outset. Later, some hostile acts by Belgian individuals moved the
German military authorities to seize a group of the principal citizens,
and warn the inhabitants that the breaking of a peaceful attitude
would be at the risk of swiftly serious punishment. Precautions to
enforce order were such as is provided in martial law, and carried
out with as little hardship as possible to the citizens. The Germans
appeared anxious to restore confidence and win a feeling of good
will.
For some days after the capitulation of the city the northern forts
continued a heroic resistance. So long as these remained uncaptured,
General Leman maintained that, strategically, Liege had not fallen.
He thus held in check the armies of Von Kluck and Von Bülow, when
every hour was of supreme urgency for their respective onsweep into
central Belgium and up the Meuse Valley. The Germans presently
brought into an overpowering bombardment their ll-inch siege guns.
On August 13, 1914, Embourg was stricken into ruin. On the same
day the electric lighting apparatus of Fort Boncelles having been
destroyed, the few living men of its garrison fought through the
following night in darkness, and in momentary danger of suffocation
from gases emitted by the exploding German shells.
Early in the morning of August 14, 1914, though its cupolas were
battered in and shells rained upon the interior, the commander
refused an offer of surrender. A little later the concrete inner
chamber walls fell in. The commander of Boncelles, having exhausted
his defensive, hoisted the white flag. He had held out for eleven
days in a veritable death-swept inferno.
Fort Loncin disputed with Boncelles the honor of being the last to
succumb. The experience of its garrison differed only in terrible
details from Boncelles. Its final gun shot was fired by a man with
his left hand, since the other had been severed. Apparently a shell
exploded in its magazine, and blew up the whole fort. General Leman
was discovered amid its débris, pinned beneath a huge beam. He was
released by his own men. When taken to a trench, a German officer
found that he was merely unconscious from shock.
When sufficiently recovered, General Leman was conducted to General
von Emmich to tender his personal surrender. The two had previously
been comrades at maneuvers. The report of their meeting is given
by a German officer. The guard presented the customary salute due
General Leman's rank. General von Emmich advanced a few steps to
meet General Leman. Both generals saluted.
"General," said Von Emmich, "you have gallantly and nobly held your
forts."
"I thank you," Leman replied. "Our troops have lived up to their
reputation. War is not like maneuvers, _mon Général_," he added
with a pointed smile. "I ask you to bear witness that you found
me unconscious."
General Leman unbuckled his sword to offer it to the victor. Von
Emmich bowed.
"No, keep it," he gestured. "To have crossed swords with you has
been an honor."
Subsequently the President of the French Republic bestowed on Liege
the Cross of the Legion of Honor. To its motto in this instance
might have been added appropriately: Liege, the Savior of Paris.
The few days of its resistance to an overwhelming force enabled
the Belgium army to improve its mobilization, the British to throw
an expeditionary army into France, and the French to make a new
offensive alignment. It will forever remain a brilliant page in war
annals. In a military estimate it proved that forts constructed on
the lastest scientific principles, but unsupported by an intrenched
field army, crumple under the concentrated fire of long-range,
high-power enemy guns.
The fall of the northern and eastern Liege forts released Von Kluck's
army for its march into central Belgium. Meanwhile the Belgian army
had been concentrated on a line of the River Dyle, with its left
touching Malines and its right resting on Louvain. Its commander,
General Selliers de Moranville, made his headquarters in the latter
city. The Belgian force totaled 110,000 men of all complements.
Whether this included the reinforcement by the Liege infantry is
uncertain.
During August 10 and 11, 1914, General Moranville threw forward
detachments to screen his main body in front of the German advance.
On the 11th a rumor that the French had crossed the Sambre, moved
General Moranville to extend his right wing to Eghezee, with the
hope of getting in touch with the Allies. That the French and British
were hastening to his support could not be doubted. They were already
overdue, but assuredly would come soon. That was the Belgian reliance,
passing from mouth to mouth among the Court, Cabinet Ministers,
General Staff, down to the factory toilers, miners, and peasants
on their farms. The Sambre report, like many others in various
places, proved unfounded.
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