The Campaign Round Liège

by J. M. Kennedy

Early on Wednesday morning, by force of numbers, the German advance guard succeeded in entering Liège. Fighting went on in the street for a time.

In view of the strength of the fortifications at Liège, the strategic position of the town, and the fact that the main body of the Belgian army was concentrated there, it became evident that the invaders could not advance without either "containing" Liège—i.e., surrounding the place with a large body of troops, and, as it were, imprisoning the garrison without making any attempt at capture—or reducing the fortresses to such an extent as to drive the main body of the Belgian army before it. The latter plan was adopted and was eventually successful; but not before the heroic garrison, though greatly outnumbered, had succeeded in delaying the German advance for nine or ten days. As time was an essential factor in the German programme, it is difficult for us to over-estimate the advantage which thus accrued to the defenders of Western Europe.

The town of Liège stands on the Meuse, close to the point where the hills on its left bank come to an end, and near the spot where the valleys of the Vesdre and Ourthe on the other side afford routes for roads and railways, east to Verviers and southwards towards the Ardennes. The main stream divides the far-extending city into an older town, wherein is situated the citadel and most of the public buildings, and a newer suburb containing the manufacturing establishments and dwellings of the artisans. The most noteworthy buildings are the magnificent church of St. Jacques, dating from the eleventh century, the handsome Académie des Beaux Arts, the Theatre Royal, built upon the model of the Odéon at Paris, the Palais de Justice, and Town Hall. Liège owes much of its prosperity to the fact that it is the centre of a rich coal district, some of the mines actually extending under the houses and streets.

Iron industries and coal increased its population from 113,000 in 1873 to 169,000 in 1910. The iron manufacturers are chiefly concerned with the production of cannon and those implements of war for which the adjoining township of Seraing is especially famous. The textile industry also employs thousands of workers, while paper, oil, tobacco, leather, gold and silver ware, bicycles, watches, and light machinery of all kinds are manufactured in the busy quarters. Known to the Germans as Lüttich, the city is the capital of the Walloons, a race who have been described as "marked by an indefatigable industry and a fierce and implacable spirit of hostility towards those who have attempted to infringe their privileges." Since its foundation the town has been the scene of endless fighting. Charles of Burgundy sacked it in 1468, and put thousands of its brave inhabitants to death. It was stormed by Maximillian I. in 1649; three times by the French between 1675 and 1691; and was captured by Marlborough in 1702. In the wars of 1792-94 French and Austrians fought repeatedly for its possession, the height of Robermont outside the defences being the spot where the Prince of Coburg was defeated by Marshal Jourdan on September 19th, 1794, in the last battle fought by the Austrians on Belgian soil. The citadel, 500 feet above the sea level, whence the approach of the Germans was anxiously watched, commands a view over the whole of the city and the populous and industrious valleys of the Meuse, while in the South can be seen from its summit the peaks of the Ardennes and northward the Petersburg near Maastricht and the broad plains of Limburg.

Hardly had the siege begun in earnest when a small body of Uhlans, who had been directed by spies to the headquarters of General Leman, the Belgian commander, made a determined attempt to assassinate him by forcing their way into his office and shooting at him with revolvers. One of the General's brother officers lifted him up bodily, carried him to the yard at the back of the house, and dropped him over the wall into the yard alongside. This promptness, in the momentary confusion, was believed to have saved General Leman's life. Two Belgian gendarmes and an officer were killed; but the other Belgians present shot dead the Uhlans who had made the daring raid. There were eight of them in all—two officers and six men.

In a despatch sent off in the evening of August 6th Dr. E.J. Dillon briefly summed up the early fighting. The invading army, he stated, at first expected a mere nominal resistance. Disappointed, they despatched forces to the north and south-east of Liège, where are the forts of Barchon, north of Evegnée, of Fléron and Chaud-fontaine to the east, and of Embourg and Boncelles to the south. The attacks proceeded at various points along this front.

The position at Liège was defended by forts and also by field works, trenches, barbed-wire entanglement, and mines, with artillery served by mobile troops, under improvised cover, who occupied the spaces between the forts, but hidden behind them so that the Germans who endeavoured to pass through these spaces in order to surround the forts were unable to determine the position of the field works and direct their artillery fire against them. This piece of strategy proved fatal to the enemy's troops, who were exposed to artillery fire from the forts, and cut down piecemeal by the defenders within the spaces. The country was favourable to the invaders, owing to the ravines, woods, and winding roads, which enabled them to advance under natural cover. Despite this advantage, the Belgians, who displayed genuine heroism, drove them back with slaughter, but not without themselves making heavy sacrifices, which they did with a degree of valour that commanded universal admiration. The Russian Tsar sent his hearty congratulations.

During the night of Wednesday—Thursday, a tremendous assault was undertaken by the Germans, in which the entire Seventh Army Corps took part. The Belgians manfully held their positions, while the whole country around, illumined by dazzling searchlights, quaked as if shaken by a seismic convulsion. The grey light of morning revealed hundreds of German corpses and also the advance of the German forces against Fort Barchon. The Belgians having formed a mixed brigade of two regiments, proceeded to effect a daring counter-attack from the heights of Wandre. Their advance was as irresistible as an oceanic tide. The Germans stood a few minutes awaiting the onset, and then fled panic-stricken. The Seventh Corps was broken, and a few hours later 5,000 fugitives passed by Maastricht, where they were received, fed, and, curiously enough, sent to Aix-la-Chapelle.

On the south the spaces between the forts of Embourg were the objective of a resolute attack. The invaders advancing within three hundred yards of the Garde Civique were first deprived of their colonel, whom a soldier shot dead, and were then literally mown down like grass by the scythe.