The fortress was said to be as strong as Liège and it owed its importance in the present war to the fact that it was the apex of the two French flanks. One ran from Namur to Charleroi and the other by Givet to Mezieres.
Warned by their experiences at Liège, the Germans made most determined efforts against Namur. From the north, south and east they were able to bring up their big guns unhindered, and by assaults at Charleroi and Dinant they endeavored to break the sides of the French triangle. Namur finally collapsed but clever strategy enabled the French to fall back upon their main lines.
The fall of Namur, nevertheless, was a decided blow to the allies. This was admitted by the French minister of war, who said at midnight Monday, August 24, of the failure of the "Namur triangle":
"It is, of course, regrettable that owing to difficulties of execution which could not have been foreseen our plan of attack has not achieved its object. Had it done so it would have shortened the war, but in any case our defense remains intact in the face of an already weakened enemy. Our losses are severe. It will be premature to estimate them or to estimate those of the German army, which, however, has suffered so severely as to be compelled to halt in its counterattack and establish itself in new positions."
The object of the French triangle, having its apex at Namur, was to break the German army in two. The British troops, as related in another chapter, were cooperating with the French at Mons. When the Belgians evacuated Namur the Germans had knocked to pieces three of the forts to the northeast of the town with howitzer fire. Between these forts they advanced and bombarded the town, which was defended by the Belgian Fourth Division. Namur was evacuated when the defenders found themselves unable to support a heavy artillery fire.
The Germans attacked in a formation three ranks deep, the front rank lying down, the second kneeling, and the third standing. They afforded a target which was fully used by the men behind the Belgian machine guns. Some fifty or sixty howitzers were brought into action by the Germans, who concentrated several guns simultaneously on each fort and smothered it with fire.
DESTRUCTION OF LOUVAIN
At this stage of the war in Belgium an event occurred that riveted universal attention upon the German operations. On Tuesday, August 25, the beautiful, historic, scholastic city of Louvain, containing 42, inhabitants, was bombarded by the Germans and later put to the torch. The fire, which burned for several days, devastated the city. Many artistic and historical treasures, including the priceless library of Louvain University and several magnificent churches, centuries old, were totally destroyed. Only the Hotel de Ville (City Hall), one of the finest examples of Gothic architecture in Europe, was spared and left standing in the midst of ruins.
The Rotterdam Telegraf, a neutral newspaper, declared that in the devastation of Louvain "a wound that can never be healed" was inflicted "on the whole of civilized humanity." Frank Jewett Mather, the well-known American art critic, bitterly denounced the act as one of wanton destruction, saying that Louvain "contained more beautiful works of art than the Prussian nation has produced in its entire history."
Thus when the first month of war ended, the Germans had made good with their plan of seizing Belgium as a base of operations against France and had arrived in full force at the first line of French defenses, well on the way to the coveted goal, Paris.