Battle of Liège

Battle of Liège
	Part of World War I
Date	August 5th - August 16th 1914
Location	Liège, Belgium
Result	German victory
Belligerents
Belgium	German Empire
Commanders and leaders
General Gérard Leman	General Otto von Emmich; Erich von Ludendorff
Strength
3rd Belgian Division; 30,000 infantry; ; 500 cavalry; ; 250 artillery;	?
Casualties and losses
?	?

The Battle of Liège was the opening battle of the German invasion into Belgium, and the first battle of World War I. The siege of the city lasted from August 5 until the 16th when the final fort surrendered.

The Schlieffen plan

As Imperial Germany feared a long war against France and the Russian Empire, the Schlieffen plan was conceived which suggested a quick strike to beat France first, as was done successfully in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. In order to do this, neutral Belgium had to be attacked and crossed within a few days.

However, there were two problems with this plan. The violation of the neutrality of Belgium would certainly make the United Kingdom enter the war on France's side. Also, the highly fortified city of Liège was in the path of the German forces.

Fortifications

Liège Forts (Clockwise from N)
Liers
Pontisse
Barchon
Evegnée
Fleron
Chaudfontaine
Embourg
Boncelles
Flemalle
Hollogne
Loncin
Lantin

The Belgian city of Liège lies at the confluence of the Meuse and the Ourthe rivers, between the Ardennes Forest to the south and Maastricht of the Netherlands to the north. The Meuse flowed through a deep ravine at Liège, posing a significant barrier to the German advance.

It lay on the main rail line leading from Germany to Brussels, and eventually to Paris - the same railway that von Schlieffen and von Moltke had planned to use as transport into France. There were massive industrial facilities, factories, and other facilities that would assist the modern defense of the city.

In addition, a ring of twelve forts, based on then-current German fortification methods, had been completed in an 6-10-km radius around the city in 1892. The forts overlapped each other's protective zones of fire, and were designed so that if any one fort fell, the two neighboring forts could still attack a force trying to move through the gap.

Six of the fortresses were built as primary forts, and were given a pentagonal shape with a surrounding ditch and barb-wire entanglements. They were concrete structures armed with two 6-inch and four 4.7-inch guns, two 8-inch mortars and four machine-guns. The guns were mounted in a cupola that could be elevated to fire, then retracted. The forts were linked by underground tunnels, and contained magazines for ammunition, crew quarters for up to eighty men, and ventilation systems. Between each pair of major forts was a triangular secondary fort, named a fortin. These were armed with two 6-inch and two 4-inch guns, a single 8-inch mortar and three machine-guns.

In total the forts had 400 pieces of artillery, although the guns were considered of obsolete design and impractical. (At the time the German Krupp Arms Works was under contract to replace the guns, so the German Army was familiar with the weaponry at the fortresses.) The other weaknesses of the forts were a lack of field artillery pieces to cover the openings between the gaps, a shortage of men needed to guard the city, and (according to German reports after their capture) extremely poor quality concrete used in their construction. Lieutenant General Gérard Mathieu Leman had been personally selected to command the Liège fortifications, and he was under orders from the King to hold the fortress system to the end. Leman had a force of about 25,000 soldiers, including members of the civic guard, to man the defenses.

The battle

To reduce the fortifications of Liège, a special task force of 30,000 troops was allocated, consisting of six brigades of infantry and three divisions of cavalry. These were placed under the command of General Otto von Emmich, accompanied by the staff officer Erich Ludendorff as an observer. War with Belgium was declared on the morning of August 4, and the lead elements of Task Force Emmich crossed the border a few hours later. They advanced to the Meuse river, but found the bridge crossings had been destroyed. By the 5th, however, German forces had crossed the Meuse to the north at Visé.

The Belgian 3rd Division guarded the town from behind hastily constructed earthworks, and on the 5th they successfully repulsed attacks by German infantry passing between the forts. An attack against Fort Barchon was beaten back with heavy losses due to machine-gun and artillery fire. After this failed attack, the Germans performed the first air raid in history by using a Zeppelin to drop bombs on Liège. Meanwhile cavalry moved south from Visé to encircle the town. With the town likely to be invested soon, Leman now ordered the 3rd division to withdraw from the town and rejoin the mobilizing Belgian army to the west.

Ludendorff now took command of the 14th brigade that was able to infiltrate between the forts. This brigade succeeded in capturing the town on the 7th. However the outer ring of forts continued to hold out, blocking German advance due to their interdiction of the railroad lines. The forts endured steady bombardment and attack by the German forces, but most of the forts continued to repulse enemy attacks. Only Fort Fleron was put out of action, its cupola-hoisting mechanism being destroyed by shell fire. The only fort to be captured by infantry assault would be Fort Barchon, which was taken on August 10.

To reduce these fortifications, the Germans would have to employ their massive siege artillery. These would include the Krupp "Big Bertha" 420mm howitzer and some Austrian 305mm Skoda guns. At the time of the construction of the forts it was assumed that the largest guns that could be moved overland were 21cm howitzers, so they had never been designed to withstand the enormous shells from the bigger guns. The shells from these guns landed on the forts from directly above, penetrating the concrete sides and then detonating inside by means of a delayed fuse. One by one the forts were bombarded into submission, with the last, Fort Boncelles, capitulating on August 16. On the 15th Leman was injured at Fort Loncin, and he was carried out unconscious to become a prisoner of the Germans.

Some had suggested the valiant ten-day stand made at Liège served to knock the German timetable off by two days, buying time for the Allies. However, German commanders denied that the siege significantly delayed the schedule of their still-mobilizing army. The ten day siege did, however, serve as a morale boost to Allied forces, and the French President would bestow the cross of the légion d'honneur on the town for their resistance.

Belgian order of battle

The 3rd Belgian Division defended the city of Liège; it was commanded by Lieutenant General Gérard Leman. Within the division, there were four brigades and various other troops:

9th Mixed Brigade, including the 9th and 29th Infantry Regiments, along with the 43rd, 44th, and 45th Artillery Batteries
11th Mixed Brigade, including the 11th and 31st Infantry Regiments, along with the 37th, 38th, and 39th Artillery Batteries
12th Mixed Brigade, including the 12th and 32nd Infantry Regiments, along with the 40th, 41st, and 42nd Artillery Batteries
14th Mixed Brigade, including the 14th and 34th Infantry Regiments, along with the 46th, 47th, and 48th Artillery Batteries
15th Mixed Brigade (5 August), including the 1st and 4th Chausseur Regiments, along with the 61st, 62nd, and 63rd Artillery Batteries
The Fortress Guards, including the 9th, 11th, 12th, and 14th Reserve Infantry Regiments, an Artillery Regiment, four reserve batteries, and various other troops
3rd Artillery Regiment, including the 40th, 49th, and 51st Artillery Batteries
3rd Engineer Battalion
3rd Telegraphist Section
2nd Regiment of Lancers

Overall, there were about 30,000 infantry, 500 cavalry, and 250 artillery pieces to face the German onslaught.

German order of battle

Publications

Paul Hamelius, The Siege of Liège: A Personal Narrative (London, 1914)
J. M. Kennedy, "The Campaign around Liège," in Daily Chronicle War Books (London, 1914)

References

Griess, Thomas E., The Great War, Avery Publishing, 1986.
Marshall, S.L.A., World War I, American Heritage, 1964.
Reynolds, F. J., The Story of the Great War, Vol. III, P.F. Collier & Son, New York, 1916.

External links