Sturm of Liege

According to the German plan of war , developed by the chief of the General Staff of the German Army Schlieffen in 1905 , the German army in the upcoming war should conduct a blitzkrieg , using the territory of Belgium to bypass the main defensive lines of the French and cover the French army from the flank ^[4] . As a result, the German command planned to deliver a crushing blow to France through the territory of Belgium . Thus, Belgium was drawn into the impending war.

After the outbreak of the First World War, Belgium declared its neutrality . However, on August 2, 1914, Berlin presented an ultimatum to the Belgian government demanding to let German troops pass through the territory of Belgium, 12 hours were allotted for the reply. The next day, the Belgian leadership responded with a decisive refusal to the German demand, after which Germany declared war on Belgium. Thus, Belgium was forced to enter World War I, despite the proclaimed neutrality .

As the guarantor of the Belgian neutrality, on 4 August the British Empire declared war on Germany. In Belgium, mobilization was announced. The country's army was preparing to defend against the advancing German troops, who had already occupied Luxembourg on 2 August .

August 4, German troops have already crossed the German-Belgian border and invaded Belgium. The first battles between the German cavalry and the 12th infantry brigade of the Belgian army began . German troops moved in the direction of Liege , which was located 30 kilometers from the border and covered the crossings over the river Meuse . All the bridges across the Meuse were blown up by the Belgians. The Germans , coming to the blasted bridges, began to build pontoon bridges , but came under fire from the Belgians. After this failure, the German commanders come to realize that they will have to storm Liege. Thus, in order to continue the offensive, the German troops needed to capture Liege as soon as possible and force the Meuse ^[5] .

The fortifications of Liege were built in the 1880s under the supervision of engineer Henri Brialmon . The defenses of Liege were 6 large forts and 6 small forts ^[6] . The forts were triangular or (depending on the landscape) quadrangular. Yet, most of the forts were built triangular, although this type of fort was criticized by leading engineers from the very beginning ^[7] . The forts were designed to strike the heaviest 210-mm artillery at that time (1888). Concrete poured ordinary weight without reinforcement . Concreting was carried out only during the day, which caused a weak coupling between the layers laid on different days. Each fort was equipped with a steam generator for lighting, pumps and projectors ^[8] . The forts were located on both banks of the Meuse at a distance of 6-9 km from the city. The main part of the fort was underground, only an embankment with armored towers, from which artillery fire was fired, was visible on the surface. There were also smaller towers for rapid-fire cannons and machine guns , deep ditches , which were shelled from concrete casemates. Six large forts, as well as six smaller ones, had a total of 400 guns . Heavy guns were 210-mm howitzers . The armament of the fort consisted of up to eight guns with a caliber of 120-200 mm, three or four 57-mm anti-storm guns. The garrison of a large fort consisted of 400 people, small forts defended 80-100 people ^[1] .

The Belgian forts had small reserves of provisions , only for the daily needs of the garrison, lavatories, showers, kitchens, and morgues located in the counterscarp , which was completely unreliable in wartime. This had a negative effect on the ability of the forts to withstand a long assault. Offices were located directly behind the barracks , open to the rear moat of the fort, with weaker protection than the two “main” sides ^[9] . The rear sides of the forts were deliberately weakened - with the expectation that if the fort was taken by the enemy of the Belgian army, it would be easier to return it by an attack from behind. In addition, this design allowed to arrange natural ventilation of residential and office space (and mechanical ventilation in those days was only born). But this theoretical calculation in practice turned out to be disastrous. Shelling by heavy artillery made the rear moat unreliable, and the German units, taking possession of the interformat intervals, could attack the forts from behind ^[10] . The intervals between the forts were to be maintained by infantry units . However, the Belgians did not want to give Germany a reason to blame Belgium for preparing for war, and began work on the creation of trenches between the forts only on the first day of the war, August 2, 1914. As a result, the Belgian soldiers defended themselves in hastily made trenches covered with wire barriers . Work on the demolition of houses (for a better overview when shooting) and deforestation also began only on 2 August.

The main design flaws of the fortress were:

1. The lack of a central fence, which gave the enemy the opportunity to break into the city and from there threaten all the forts from the rear.
2. The lack of advance preparation of the gaps between the forts, which led to their rapid breakthrough.

In addition to technical, organizational shortcomings were of great importance. These forts are:

1. They were poorly applied to the terrain;
2. They could not support each other, so they were easily surrounded by the enemy and captured one by one;
3. They had a small area on which defensive elements were very closely and crowded. This led to the rapid destruction of all these elements and demoralized the garrison, even when guns of 210-mm caliber began to shoot at it, and the forts were designed for it ^[11] .

In addition to these serious shortcomings, fortifications were not modernized, and by 1914 they were already seriously outdated. The old forts could not withstand the new models of heavy weapons. The fortress guns had a smaller firing radius than siege artillery, and the latter could fire the fortress with impunity. Therefore, despite the efforts of General Lehmann to strengthen the fortress, the forts began to surrender one after another, as soon as the Germans began shelling heavy weapons ^[8] .

Belgium

The 3rd Infantry Division and the Infantry Brigade from the 4th Infantry Division were located in Liege. In addition, there was a garrison and other troops in Liege, about 36,000 soldiers and officers altogether. However, the garrison of the fortress consisted almost entirely of older age reservists . Also in each company of the Belgian troops there was only one officer . The commander of the 3rd Infantry Division and the commandant of the fortress was Lieutenant-General Gerard Lehman ^[1] .

Germany

The German command to capture Liege created a grouping of troops, which was called the Maas army , under the command of General Emmich . The structure of the troops that were supposed to take the fortress included six reinforced infantry brigades from the 2nd Army , the 2nd Cavalry Corps (three divisions) under the command of General Marwitz . Initially, the German forces were 59,800 soldiers and officers with 124 guns, among which were 4 heavy mortars of 210 mm caliber ^[2] . Also in the operation involved a representative of the General Staff Erich Ludendorff .

By the end of the day on August 5, German troops approached the line of forts of Liege. The German command decided to seize the fortress with a surprise attack. On August 5, after artillery preparation , the German regiments went on the offensive between the forts. However, the artillery of the Germans did not cause any harm to the Belgian forts. The Belgians also attacked the attackers with heavy losses. In certain places, the Germans managed to break through to a close distance to the forts, but the fire of machine guns destroyed the ones that had broken through ^[12] . At Fort Barshon, a bayonet started, in which the Belgian units managed to drive the Germans back. The expectation of a sudden powerful attack by the Germans was not justified, the German troops suffered heavy losses. A Belgian officer later recalled the details of the attack of the German troops:

They did not even try to disperse, they fell on each other, forming a terrible barricade of the dead and wounded. We even began to fear that it would close our review and that we would not be able to conduct aimed fire. The mountain of corpses has already become huge, and we thought whether to shoot directly at her or go out and take away the corpses ourselves. Believe it or not, this real wall of the dead and dying allowed the Germans to creep closer and rush to the front slopes of the forts, but they did not manage to run half the way - our machine guns and rifles swept them away at once. Of course, we also suffered losses, but they were insignificant compared to the slaughter we committed to the enemy.

- ^[13]

On the night of August 6, the Germans decided to launch a new attack. General Ludendorff headed the 14th brigade instead of the assassinated brigade commander, Major-General von Wussow ^[14] . In the new attack the Germans managed to break through in the gap between the forts Fleron and Evenye. By the middle of the day, on August 6, units of the 14th German Brigade broke through the ring of forts and consolidated on the right bank of the Meuse. Also on August 6, for the first time in the history of wars, the Germans launched an air raid. Zeppelin , which took off from Cologne , dropped 13 bombs on Liege, killing 9 civilians. In addition, the artillery of the 14th brigade from the dominant heights began to bombard the city. These measures were taken to intimidate the defenders of Liege ^[15] .

In addition, the Germans resorted to military tricks, sending a detachment disguised as an English uniform to the city. The Germans, arriving in Liege by car to the headquarters of Commandant Lehmann, demanded a meeting with the general. However, their plan failed and they were exposed. After that, Lehman left the city and went to Fort Lonsen ^[14] .

After the German brigade managed to break through the ring of forts, it became clear to Lehman that the 3rd Infantry Division needed to be maintained. Fearing that it would be cut off from the main forces, General Lehman ordered the withdrawal of the 3rd division to the west bank of the Meuse ^[15] .

During the retreat of the Belgian troops, Ludendorff, along with the adjutant, ahead of his troops by car, was the first to break into emptying Liege, after which he drove through the entire city to the citadel, the garrison of which, yielding to panic, surrendered to him as a prisoner ^[16] .

After the 3rd Division left the city, units of the 14th German Brigade entered Liege . Thus, on August 7, the Germans managed to capture Liege and several crossings across the Meuse. However, this did not bring any benefit to the Germans, since the main ferries were under fire from the forts, which continued to resist ^[17] .

After that, three more German infantry brigades broke into the city. In order to capture the forts of Liege and begin to force the Meuse, the German command pulled up three more army corps, bringing the number of its troops from Liege to 100,000 people ^[18] . On 10 August, the German infantry captured the first fort of Barshon. At that time, siege guns of 305 and 420 mm caliber arrived at Liege ^[19] . The most powerful guns easily destroyed the outdated fortifications of forts ^[20] : Fort Pontiss fell first, on the same day after the artillery bombardments 2 more forts were taken. After the Germans opened a hurricane, destructive fire from heavy guns , all the forts of Liege fell. After the destruction of the forts began the promotion of the 1st German army . By August 16, the Germans captured all the forts, except the last - Lonsen. After the bombing, when an ammunition depot exploded in the fort, the Germans rushed in and found General Lehman unconscious. The general was captured ^[21] .

For the capture of Liege, Generals Ludendorff and Emmich were awarded the Order of Pour le Mérite (For Merit) ^[21] .

After the final fall of Liege , on 17 August the German troops launched a decisive offensive against the French-Belgian border. The movement of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd German armies through Belgium began. Von Kluck's 1st Army moved to Brussels . To her left , the 2nd Army of von Bülow went to the French border, the 3rd Army of von Hausen continued to advance to the left. The German command planned to launch a general offensive on August 15 , so the resistance of Liege delayed the Germans by only 2 days, not 2 weeks, contrary to popular opinion ^[21] .

After the fall of Liege, units of the 1st and 2nd armies began to force the Meuse. After that, the German command launched a plan of attack on France through the territory of Belgium. The Belgian army covered Brussels , part of the forces were on the River Dil , one infantry division remained to protect Namur . By August 18, between the advancing German armies and the Belgian troops, battles ensued, as a result of which the Belgian units retreated across the River Diel. On August 20, the retreating Belgian army approached Antwerp . The German command allocated a part of the forces from the 1st Army for the siege of Antwerp . At this time, the main forces of the German troops seized the capital of Belgium - Brussels. Thus, the 1st, 2nd and 3rd German armies overcame a significant part of the territory of Belgium and reached the Brussels-Namur- Dinan line , preparing to engage in battle with the main forces of the French army ^[22] .

During the siege, the fortifications fulfilled their role, delaying the German army for a time sufficient to mobilize the armies of France and Belgium. The siege revealed the shortcomings of the device forts and the Belgian strategy in general. The forts themselves suffered from a poor understanding of the concrete technology by the builders, as well as from the absolutely inadequate security of the garrison and ammunition depots from the fire of super-heavy artillery. The air, unsuitable for breathing from the bombing, the smoke of its own guns and human waste was the cause of the surrender of most positions ^[23] . And yet, the delay near the fort allowed Belgium and, more importantly, France to mobilize forces. If the Germans managed to capture Liege as quickly as they had expected, the German army would be under Paris before the French could organize its defense in the First Battle of the Marne ^[24] .

• The Siege of Namur (1914)
• The Siege of Antwerp (1914)

In Russian:

• Yakovlev V.V. The history of fortresses. - St. Petersburg: Polygon, 1995. - ISBN 5-86617-007-8 .
• Zayonchkovsky A.M. The First World War. - SPb. : Polygon, 2000. - 878 p. - ISBN 5-89173-082-0 .
• The history of the First World War 1914-1918. / edited byI. I. Rostunova . - M .: Science , 1975. - T. 1. - 446 p.
• Liddel Garth B. 1914. The truth about the First World War. - M .: Eksmo , 2009 [1930]. - 480 s. - (Fracture history). - 4300 copies - ISBN 978-5-699-36036-9 .
• World Wars of the 20th Century: In 4 kN./ In-t universal history. - M .: Science, 2002. - ISBN 5-02-008804-8 . Prince 1: World War I: East. essay / Ed. ed. G. D. Shkundin. - 2002. - 686 pages. Il. ISBN 5-02-008805-6 (in translation)
• Verzhkhovsky D.V. The First World War, 1914-1918. - M .: Science , 1954. - 203 p.
• Barbara Tuckman . The first blitzkrieg. August 1914 = The Guns of August. - M .: AST , 1999. - 640 p. - 5000 copies - ISBN 5-7921-0245-7 .
• John Keegan. World War I. - Historical library. - AST , 2004 . - 576 p. - ISBN 5-17-012437-6 .

In English:

• Donnell Clayton. The Forts of the World War I. - Osprey Publishing, 2007. - ISBN 978-1-84603-114-4 .
• Paul Hamelius. The Siege of Liège: A Personal Narrative . - London , 1914 .
• Griess, Thomas E. Atlas for the Great War (The West Point military history series) . - Avery Publishing Group, 1986 . - 58 p. - ISBN 089529303X .
• Marshall, SLA World War I (The American Heritage Library) . - Houghton Mifflin Company, 1987 . - 516 p.
• Reynolds, FJ The Story of the Great War . - New York : PF Collier & Son, 1916 . - T. 3.

•   Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sturmie Liege
• Sturm of Liege, 1914 (eng.)
• Siege of Liege, August 5-15, 1914