THE YPRES TIMES
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line. On the five of the six attacked fronts the Germans were repelled with appalling
losses at Herstal, hundreds of field-grey bodies littered the battlefield and amongst
whom were the Colonel of the 89th Mechlemburg Grenadiers, the flag-carrier and three
officers with drawn swords, all killed together. At Rhees, 239 prisoners were captured
including five officers. At Liéry, General von Wussow and regimental Colonel Kruger
lost their lives. At Beyne-Heusay, Colonel Schultze of the 20th Infantry Regiment
was shot. At Ougrée, 150 prisoners were captured from the 38th Brigade and
amongst those killed in action was Prince Friedrich Wilhelm von Lippe, Colonel of
the 74th I.R.
In one area between the forts of Evegnée and Fléron, the 14th Brigade, after having
lost in quick succession, two commanding officers, was firmly taken in hand by Major
of the General Staff von Ludendorff who happened to arrive on the spot. He managed
to pierce the opposing line by a powerful attack on a weakened Belgian Infantry position
and pushed right towards the city of Liége. At dawn, a detachment of the 7th Battalion
German Jaegar Regiment reached the outskirts of the town. Some of the inhabitants
of the suburbs, seeing these unknown uniforms believed them to be the vanguard of
the British reinforcements shouted Vivent les Anglais The Germans, through
sheer luck, reached the Rue de Sainte Foi where General Leman's headquarters were
situated. After a fight with the Staff Officers, clerks, orderlies and gendarmes, the
enemy were either killed or put to flight, after which the headquarters were removed
to the fort of Loncine on the Western side of the Meuse. This measure, taken at such
a critical time when nobody knew what was happening in adjacent areas completely
disorganised the defence. Without higher leadership and devoid of reinforcements
where help was most urgently needed, the Infantry gradually vacated their improvised
trenches after expending all their ammunition. Repeated counter attacks held the
enemy pro tern., but one area after another was eventually lost and the forts left to defend
themselves.
The emplacements of the forts were perfectly known to the German General Staff
who for more than twenty five years were aware that they would have to be attacked.
In peace time, German officers were sent to spend their holidays in the neighbourhood
of Liége so as to become familiar with the ground, and the Belgian Government having
no reason to expect a breach of the neutrality treaty never passed a law against spying.
The large area occupied by the forts made them huge targets and they were built
at a time when no guns exceeding a calibre of 8 inches were conceived. Their walls
and vaults had been made to withstand nothing heavier than 21 centimeter shells.
They were unable to survive the terrific detonations of the Krupp 12 inch howitzers or
the Skoda 17 inch mortars.
The garrisons left to themselves without any hope of relief, resisted to the extreme
limit of human endurance. One by one, the forts were shelled to pieces, their gunners
suffocated by the fumes in the underground cellars or in the turrets, the magazines
were blown up. Few men escaped a horrible but heroic death. The last fort to be
destroyed was Fort Loncine where General Leman had established his headquarters
and from where he had done his best to keep in touch with the other forts through the
precarious means of despatch runners. On August 16th, Loncine's powder magazine
exploded and General Leman was picked up unconscious from amongst the ruins of his
last fort.
The guns of Liége had thus been silenced and the flood of the German invasion
started rolling through central Belgium towards Paris.
M. de Hasque,
Honorary Lieutenant, Belgian Army, Late
Belgian Interpreter and Liaison Officer with B.E.F.
Ypres Area from January, 1915 to the end of the War.
