The Death-Struggle of Lierre Fort
By an Officer of the Garrison
No harvest of impressions will be found in this account, for, although
it might seem that the garrison of a Fort must be crowded together
within the narrow surface occupied by the building, it is in reality
dispersed everywhere: three men here, ten there, in the cupolas, in the
munition stores, at the observation posts. Each man is in his special
department and the contact is much less close than among the troops in
campaign.
When, on account of the destruction of certain parts of the Fort, the
garrison comes gradually nearer together, the moral tension, the lack
of sleep, the irregularity of the alimentation transform the garrison
into a passive troop under an avalanche of blows. The men are still
capable of reaction and of desperate efforts, but the efforts are
silent and, as it were, mechanical. Those who have never lived through
such hours can never know the intensity of the suffering endured by the
defenders of the Fort.
* * * * *
_September 27, 1914._ The cannon is roaring in the distance and appears
to be coming nearer. We can hear Waelhem and Wavre-St. Catherine
firing quite distinctly. Huge tufts of white smoke rise above the trees
in the distance. The Malines Tower has disappeared entirely in the
smoke.
For the last few days, every man has been at his post. German troops,
probably on patrol, have been signalled to us by our watchers, at a
distance of more than 8500 yards from the Fort. They are too far away
for us to do anything. The attack is imminent.
Our men are resolute and their one wish is to open fire.
The day and night have passed without any incident.
_September 28th._ The morning has been calm for us. The cannon is
roaring all the time. Our telephonic communications inform us that
Waelhem and Wavre-St. Catherine are being bombarded violently. At two
in the afternoon, our observation posts signal to us the occupation, by
enemy groups, of localities within our radius of action. The cupolas of
fifteen centimetres open fire and will continue until evening.
The first firing of our cannon was a veritable relief. The nervous
tension, caused by waiting, is over, and the whole Fort is gay and
animated.
At 8 o'clock, bombardment by the Forts of the agglomerations along the
Aerschot road, where we had been informed that the enemy was quartered.
There has been no reply from the enemy.
The aviation had informed us of the construction of siege batteries
within our defence sector. We could do nothing against them, on account
of the distance.
_September 29th._ With the exception of our firing yesterday, all has
been calm.
At 7.30 this morning, characteristic whizzing sounds warned us that
shells were passing over the Fort. The explosions took place a long
way off, probably at Lierre. The screen of trees hides the town from
us. By telephone, we heard that shells were falling at the gates of
Louvain. Before long, it was our turn. Shrapnels came first, and their
strident, metallic explosion surprised our men. Presently shells burst
on the masonry of the barracks. Our T.S.F. antenna is cut. This is the
first phase of our isolation. We are replying vigorously to the enemy's
fire.
At 11 o'clock, suspension of the firing. The men brought into the
firing gallery fragments of shells and shrapnels, bullets and fuses.
From one of the fuses, we found that the measurement of the Germans
is at 5200 yards, which is the average of our own measurement on the
batteries indicated.
At 2 o'clock, the firing on both sides began again. We received
projectiles of 13 centimetres by 5, one of which had fused and came
rolling in front of our office. The town of Lierre was still being
bombarded and we were informed that the civil hospital had been struck
and that eight persons had been killed.
At 5 o'clock, suspension of the firing. At 7.30, renewal which did not
last long and was not very efficacious.
With all this the Fort has not suffered much. There are a number of
holes, chiefly in the barracks masonry, above which simili-cupolas
had been installed. A cupola of fifteen centimetres had been grazed
and a few window-panes broken. All is well and the spirits of the men
excellent. They, are getting bolder and bolder and we are compelled to
stop them moving about in the open.
Sixty-four shells have struck the Fort. We learned, by telephone, in
the evening, that Wavre-St. Catherine Fort, shattered by formidable
shells, had been evacuated. We have heard nothing about the Waelhem
Fort. It has no doubt met with the same fate. This sad news was only
announced to the officers.
At 11.30, an observer warned us of the approach of a column by the
Aerschot road. We accordingly fired on this road and the land around
until about 1.30.
_September 30th._ At 3.40, a grouping of enemy troops was announced to
us beyond the village of Koningshoyckt. At the same time the Fort of
that name and the Tallaert redoubt, which were both being attacked,
appealed for support to the Lierre Fort. Acting on information from
them, and with the aid of their interval observatories, we opened fire
which continued until 6 o'clock. There was no sleep for any one at
night, and this will not be the last night of the kind. From henceforth
there will be no more rest for us.
At 8 o'clock, the bombardment recommenced, not only on the Lierre Fort
but also on the interval constructions and on the forts and redoubts to
our right. A few shrapnels came first, and then a deluge of shells of
every calibre. Not a single pane of glass could resist this, and the
very ground shook under our feet. This sensation of springy ground will
continue for several days after the bombardment.
At 11 o'clock, utter silence. The interior platforms are damaged and
all circulation within the Fort is difficult, but our armament is still
in perfect condition.
At 12.20, there was an ominous whizzing sound first, and then a noise
like an express train at full speed. The projectile fell above the
barracks with a formidable detonation. After this, a shower of cement
and of masonry fell on the whole of the Fort. We have just received
the first 420 shell. Without intermittence until 6 o'clock, a similar
projectile has arrived every six minutes. We have received fifty-seven
of them in this way. The craters measured from 8 to 10 metres in
diameter. The stoppers were flung 50 metres up in the air and they came
down again like fresh projectiles. One of the first of these shells
fell near us. The lower part, thrown vertically, fell on the edge of
the crater. Its dimensions were remarkable. The fitter was told to
go, _after the bombardment_ and bring this in, in order to weigh and
measure it. He went off at once, during the bombardment, and after
twenty minutes of effort dragged the piece into the office. He was
reproved for this unnecessary imprudence. The soldier replied simply:
"But it was not hot!" This piece measured 388 millimetres in diameter
and weighed 66 kilogrammes. Other fragments picked up had sharp edges:
one of them measured 85 centimetres in length. The explosion produced a
black, bitter, and very dense smoke, which curled round on the ground
and was very slow in dispersing.
The interior telephonic communications are still practicable, with the
exception of the battery adjoining the glacis of the semi-front left
gorge.
The barracks have partially given way and the officers' pavilion is
cut in two. This does not trouble us, as these places were evacuated
a few days ago and orders were given not to stay in them. From the
caponier of the front gorge, we were told by telephone that the vault
was cracked and that the stoke holes were obstructed by earth, and
also by the _débris_ of masonry thrown up by the explosions in the
immediate vicinity. This was evacuated. As to the cupola of fifteen
centimetres on the left, we were informed that the cuirass of 5 cent.
7 of the salient I. had been thrown up in the air and had fallen about
twenty yards from the tower. A shell had fallen in front of the postern
entrance, about fifty yards long, and the compression of air had caused
this damage. A cannon of 8 cent. 7, placed for firing at æroplanes and
Zeppelins, had been flung from its position, the gun carriage had been
entirely turned round and one wheel broken.
When the bombardment ceased, we rushed out to see for ourselves
what the damages were, whilst our cannons continued firing in order
to relieve the Koningshoyckt Fort, which had several of its pieces
too much injured to use, and also the Tallaert redoubt, which was
threatened with a frontal attack.
The archways were cracked everywhere and the paving-stones were torn up
out of the ground, which was all furrowed and broken up. Some of the
communication passages were destroyed. The diameter of the craters was
greater than the distance which separated the jambs. These were all
weakened and the heavy cement arches, deprived of their support, were
absolutely broken, as though they had been hacked by a gigantic blow
from an axe. This bombardment had not disturbed the equanimity of the
soldiers much.
When the masonry or the cement was struck, a shower of bricks and of
shingle covered the Fort, pouring through all the openings violently.
The first time this happened, two men who were at the entrance of a
postern were bruised by the shingles. A jocular man remarked: "Good,
now they are putting pebbles in their shells!"
We heard groans though from the barrack ruins, and we dragged out one
wounded man and two who had been killed. They were civilian workmen who
had come there to install loud-speaking telephones.
The wounded man told us that two or three men, one of whom was a
soldier, were under the ruins of what had served as a mess-room for the
troop. It was impossible to get them out from under the heaps of ruins.
The battery of the glacis was destroyed by two projectiles. We found
neither dead nor living men there. What had become of the gunners? All
was not lost, however, as, with the exception of the cupola of 5 cent.
7 of salient I. all our defence works are still in good condition and
our men do not manifest any anxiety.
_October 1st._ In obedience to orders from our chief, and together
with the neighbouring forts and the interval batteries, we opened a
rapid fire of twenty minutes' duration, at 2 and at 4 o'clock, on the
localities and the roads in front of our line of defence.
At 7 o'clock we buried our dead.
From 8 o'clock, the intervals, the Koningshoyckt Fort and the Tallaert
redoubt were actively bombarded. Our turn did not come until 10.15.
Only nine projectiles were sent to us.
At 1 o'clock the bombardment began again and, as on the previous day, a
shell came every six minutes.
Towards 3 o'clock, the semi-caponier on the right was hit. The aim had
been shortened, as the firing had hitherto generally been directed
at the left half of the Fort. Most of the men had taken refuge in
the right half. On this account, no one was wounded, but the fifteen
centimetre cupola was disabled by the blocks of cement coming from the
half demolished tower. Some of these blocks measured nearly a cubic
yard. The men were quickly evacuated to the front.
A gunner, bringing information bulletins, now arrived all covered with
mud. As the cupolas had been covered with soaked earth, the men thought
that he must have taken this covering off by crawling over the cupola,
and his comrades blamed him for this. The good fellow was surprised
at their accusation, as he had simply rolled into a crater under the
firing, and this was why he was in such a muddy state.
The bombardment continued and we saw that our intact shelters were
becoming fewer and fewer. The Artillery Commander fell into a crater.
He could not walk and had to be taken to the Infirmary. The Commander
of the Fusiliers, overworked and intoxicated by the gas from the
explosions, was ill and one of the doctors was ill too. The influence
of the gases became more and more distressing. Some of the men had
fainting fits, others wept. Certain of them were depressed and seemed
to be awaiting the shell which should finish them off. Neither
persuasions nor threats from the Commander of the Fort, aided by
the doctor and the chaplain, took any effect on these men, who were
awaiting death like irresponsible cattle.
Towards 7.30 in the evening, this infernal bombardment slackened and
very soon it ceased. The Fort had received 60 of the terrible 420
shells. The Commander of the Lierre-Tallaert interval announced an
attack by the enemy Infantry supported by field Artillery.
The men pulled themselves together, the cupolas were occupied, and the
firing line filled with machine-gunners and Fusiliers. The Tallaert
redoubt could not do much and asked for help.
We fired with all our pieces on to the ground in front of the accessory
defences of the interval. The enemy attack, under our firing, was
defeated about 9 o'clock. All the garrison had taken part in the fight,
even our invalids. The Commander of the Fusiliers went back to his post
on the rampart.
The Fort was once more bombarded and at 11 o'clock, a fresh attack on
the interval began, without any better result for the enemy than the
first one.
_October 2nd._ At 2 o'clock, the third attack on the interval began.
The firing line on the front of the Fort head was inundated with
cartridges from the enemy machine-guns. Our Fusiliers replied with
fury. Their Commander had the hardest work to regulate the firing.
The heated guns got choked. No matter, our men were determined the
Germans should not pass. Our cannons fired at full speed. The noise was
deafening. For more than two hours, we lived in the midst of this hell
and we no longer heard the enemy's balls which came in swarms whizzing
over our heads. One of the cannons was disabled by the firing. The
second one did double work, but before long could not keep its place in
the battery either.
At 4.30, we knew by the red fuses, that the enemy was retreating. The
interval had not been crossed and not a single wire of the accessory
defences had been cut. This success gave our men fresh hope and
confidence; they were almost joyful. Their fatigue was very evident
though. As soon as the enemy attack was withdrawn, the firing gallery
stopped replying to calls. We went to see what was happening and
found the whole staff asleep. The officer had thrown himself down on a
mattress, and on getting up he staggered with fatigue. There had been a
few minutes' respite and all the men, not having to keep on the alert,
had succumbed to their exhaustion.
The Commander of the Fort himself, a little time before, had fallen
asleep in a cupola in full action.
The Commander of the Fort Artillery, who still could not walk, was
evacuated, together with another wounded man. Food was then distributed
and repairs done. The replenishing of the cupolas with ammunition was
effected, thanks to the covered passages that were still intact.
At 7.20 the bombardment began once more. Enemy aëroplanes had been to
see the state of the Fort, and the destruction then became systematic.
Every six minutes a 420 projectile arrived--"the block train," as the
men called it. We watched the progress of the bombardment with great
anxiety.
The projectiles could be heard from afar, and they struck first the
left and then the right of the Fort. The flank salients being very
close together, the blow struck either one or the other of these
projections indifferently. The soldiers remarked this and made bets as
soon as the sound of the projectiles was heard in the distance. The
salient I. was well sprinkled first and then the firing was on the
front. The covered passage to the right of the front gave way. It was
by this that the ammunition supply for the cupolas was effected. How
many men were under the ruins? A roll-call was impossible. We had to
evacuate part of the front, and half of the staff had to take refuge
in the semi-caponier on the right. All telephonic and telegraphic
communication was cut off. The Lierre office no longer replied, as the
town had been evacuated.
The firing now approached the right semi-caponier, and a shell burst
fifteen yards from the entrance.
The men were ordered to keep at the other side of the Fort, which was
no longer bombarded. It was impossible to warn those who had remained
at the front caponier. The explosions continued every six minutes, and
the bombardment was carried on systematically by series, and in an
invariable manner. By observing where the projectiles fell, we could
calculate just the moment when it would be time to move away. The first
firing of a series was dangerous for us. As soon as the explosions
followed each other too quickly, the men collected together, as soon as
they heard the whizzing, waited for the projectile to fall, and then
rushed off to their fresh shelter.
This game could not, however, continue very long. The projectiles
seemed to be following us, and the arches gave way one after another
after we had left them.
Towards 2 o'clock in the afternoon, the order was given to the
Commander of the Fusiliers to collect his men in groups and to send
them, in the intervals between the firing, to the postern gate of the
Fort, which, so far, was intact. The order was carried out and we were
able to pass, in the most miraculous way, between the projectiles. The
firing now continued for some time on the left part of the Fort and the
men grouped themselves on the berm in the space which separates the
parapet from the moat against the outside talus of the semi-front of
the right gorge. Just at that moment the two hundred and thirty-fifth
420 shell fell on the Fort.
With the exception of the danger from the pieces of masonry and from
the explosions, which did not injure any one seriously, we were fairly
safe. Towards noon, the projectiles came more frequently and the men
who were under the entrance postern and in the guard-room were called
inside. All the defence works were by this time either destroyed or
of no use. The corridors and posterns were obstructed by huge blocks
of masonry. The cupola of 5 centimetres 7 of salient IV. was the only
one which appeared to be in good condition, but it was impossible to
get to it. The garrison's last shelter was now threatened in its turn.
A projectile burst on the edge of the moat, a few yards beyond the
entrance to the Fort, and this caused a moment's panic. The bombardment
continued, making it impossible for us to reoccupy the building. At
2.30, a formidable detonation and a dense smoke made us presume that
the Koningshoyckt Fort had just been blown up.
We saw that the firing of our field-batteries, which were in position
at the back of us, had shortened their aim, in order to cover the
retreat of the troops in the intervals. Their shrapnels burst just at
the height where we were stationed. German batteries were now placed to
the right of the Fort, so that we were caught between two fires.
It was not possible for us to re-enter the ruined Fort. The 420 shells
continued to fall on it every six minutes with hopeless regularity. Our
reserve rations and cartridges were buried under the ruins. There was
no more drinking water, the guns were empty, and the men starving with
hunger. There was, perhaps, just time to prevent ourselves from being
surrounded. We had to make the attempt under a deluge of shrapnels. The
men were worn out, and it was with a feeling of intense sadness and
discouragement that, at 6 o'clock, the officers decided to take them
toward Lierre. The defence had lasted four interminable days, under a
bombardment which allowed of no rest and which prevented our relieving
each other. Counting beforehand on the demoralising effects of their
terrible engines of warfare, the Germans had imagined that on the night
of the 1st to the 2nd of October, a strong attack would make them
masters of the Fort.
Their three attempts at assault were so many failures for them. When,
twenty-four hours later, they actually entered the Fort, it was merely
a heap of ruins which fell into their hands.
Fighting is nothing if only one can return the blows one receives. The
range of the enemy's Artillery was considerably beyond ours, so that
they were protected from our firing. We were obliged to wait, with
folded arms, until Death saw fit to take us.
This waiting, in a dark passage of masonry, which one knows is doomed
to be destroyed and which every six minutes is in danger of being
dashed to pieces by the projectiles that one hears coming, means
enduring the agony of death over and over again.
Such an experience acts on the best tempered nerves, and the heroism of
those who awaited death there, simply because they had been ordered to
do so, was all the more admirable because it was simple, unobtrusive
heroism, about which the world has hitherto never known.