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Text Chapter 871 Liege Fortress

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    On July 22, 1911, Germany declared war on France.  The next morning, the German army rushed into Belgium, preparing to attack France through the passage.  The Belgian army had to fight against the German invasion, and the two sides launched a bloody battle.

    There were more than 100,000 German forwards on the Western Front, carrying 200 cannons. Under the command of Commander Emih, they quickly rushed towards the natural danger of the Maas River in Belgium.  If the German army rushes across the Meuse River, the door to Brussels, the capital of Belgium, will be opened.  Belgium is a small country, sandwiched between the two powerful countries of Germany and France, so the people's awareness of war preparations is extremely strong.  In order to deal with the invasion of Germany from the east, the Belgian government spent huge sums of money to build a fortress defense system with the city of Liege as its core on the Maas River in the eastern part of the country.

    Belgium plans to fight independently against any potential enemy, whether it is Germany, France or Britain.  In early August 1911, Belgian troops were deployed across the country's borders, as they had been for many years.  When King Albert received the ultimatum from Berlin, his chief of staff, General Selers de Morinville, began to implement a contingency plan: concentrate the army in the center of Belgium, leaving Liege and Namur  The fortress group can slow down the German invasion.  Liege is located on the main road between Belgium and France, and the German army neither wants to pass through the rugged road in the south, nor does it want to attack through the Netherlands in the north of Belgium, even though it will be less than ten kilometers away and the terrain is flat.

    The city of Liege is surrounded by a dozen fortresses and was designed and built by Henry Alexis Blairmont, an outstanding engineer in the late nineteenth century.  Blairmont chose not to use the star-shaped fort system of French engineer Vauban, but instead designed his own group of forts to withstand the new rifled artillery.  Except for the hills made of concrete, masonry, and earth, the main part of the fortress is underground.  Each fortress has a retractable dome that can be equipped with many artillery pieces, the largest of which can be up to 6 feet.  When this state-of-the-art fort was completed in 1892, it was not properly maintained.  Blairmont also requested the construction of smaller fortifications and trenches to connect and protect the main fortress group, but the Belgian government did not carry out these construction plans.  Their garrisons were patchy, many of them drawn from local guard units and receiving only minimal training.  On July 22, King Albert ordered the start of support operations in response to the German ultimatum, while mobilizing all troops and bringing them to optimal combat strength.  The commander of the Liege Fortress Group, Lieutenant General Girard Lehmann, was ordered to "defend with your entrusted troops until the last moment."

    The Belgian army had little opportunity to complete all preparations because the German army entered their country on July 23.  The temporary unit in the German army responsible for occupying Liege was the Meuse Army Corps commanded by Otto von Emich, with a total of eight brigades under its jurisdiction.  The main infantry and cavalry commanded by Emich were ordered to capture the bridge across the Meuse River near Liege and eliminate all resistance encountered.  However, when he and his troops arrived at the river, they found that most of the bridges had been destroyed and had to be replaced by pontoon bridges.  When these measures also came under fire from the other side, the Germans found themselves forced to attack the fortress of Liege.

    Liege is located at the intersection of the Maas and Ourte rivers, between the Ardennes Forest in the south, Maastricht in the Netherlands, and the Flanders plain in the northwest.  The Maas River flows through Liege along a deep valley and forms an important barrier for it.  Germany's main railway to Brussels passes through Li¨¨ge, and finally to Paris.  Count von Schlieffen and Moltke wanted to use this railway to transport troops into France.

    The German troops rushed to the Maas River and found that all the bridges on the river were destroyed, so they immediately built a boat bridge to cross the river.  At this time, the Belgian defenders stationed at the forts in Liege immediately opened fire violently on the German troops with artillery and machine guns. The German troops crossing the river were caught off guard and fell into the water one after another, causing numerous casualties.  Emich was furious when he saw this. While ordering the German army to continue the attack, he mobilized 200 cannons to bombard the forts of Liege Fortress.  Immediately, the sound of artillery boomed on both sides of the Maas River, and the smoke filled the air. Both sides engaged in fierce artillery battles and offensive and defensive battles.  The Liege Fortress is indeed extremely strong. The German artillery shells that hit the roof of the fort only emitted a puff of smoke and were not damaged at all.  The Belgian defenders had already made precise measurements of the terrain around the fort, and the German field positions were already within the range of their artillery rulers.  As a result, the Belgian army's artillery fire was extremely accurate and caused great losses to the German army.  The battle continued until sunset, with the Germans paying heavy sacrifices and finally crossing the Maas River to the north of Li¨¨ge. The two sides were still in a stalemate in the middle and south.  Despite the fierce bombardment, the forts of Liege Fortress were safe and sound.

    On July 23, during the day, the German army failed to attack repeatedly. Emich was very anxious.  He decided to make a sneak attack at night and catch the fortress defenders off guard.  It rained heavily that night. Tens of thousands of German troops quietly moved towards each fort under the cover of night and wind and rain.  Suddenly, bright searchlight beams were shot from each fort, illuminating the dark wilderness like daylight, exposing all the moving German troops in the wilderness.  The cannon on the fort roared again, knocking the German troops off their feet.

    The importance of the fortThe machine guns also opened fire, ferociously chasing down the fleeing German infantry.  When the German army was in chaos, the Belgian infantry stationed mobilely in the wilderness also launched an attack. The German army was beaten from all sides and suffered heavy casualties, so it had to withdraw from the battle in a hurry.

    On July 24, Emich changed his strategy and concentrated his forces to attack the 4Mo Fort on the east bank of the Maas River first.  The German artillery fire was as dense as rain, completely covering the fort.  Then the German infantry launched a charge.  However, the German field artillery did not damage the fort at all. The Belgian army's artillery once again stretched out and fired from all directions, killing and wounding the attacking German troops everywhere.  Emich's eyes turned red and he ordered the Germans to attack continuously regardless of casualties.  The German soldiers were extremely brave and marched forward risking their lives one after another.  Finally, some German troops rushed into the blind spot of the fort. The artillery could not hit them, and they gradually approached the fort.  At this time, countless light and heavy machine guns suddenly protruded from the shooting holes under the fort, and tongues of flame spurted towards the rushing German troops.  Immediately, the German troops fell one by one, and those behind rushed down and fell again. The corpses were piled as high as a hill.  The whole day's battle was such a bloody massacre. Emikh was so angry that he almost lost his mind, but it was of no use at all.  At night, the German army launched another sneak attack, and they were greeted by another barrage of artillery fire. In addition to heavy casualties, they received nothing.

    In this way, the German army attacked Li¨¨ge day and night, losing countless troops, but made no progress for three days and three nights.  The German Chief of Staff Xiao Mao was shocked by the news. If this continues, it will inevitably delay the German offensive operations on the entire Western Front.  He immediately sent Colonel Ludendorff, deputy chief of staff of the German 2nd Army, to lead troops for reinforcements, and transferred giant siege weapons from the General Staff Headquarters to Li¨¨ge.  Ludendorff was an extraordinary person. He was later promoted to deputy chief of staff of the German Army and was one of the most famous generals of the German army in World War I.  Ludendorff hurriedly led three German brigades to Liege and arrived at the front line on the afternoon of July 25.  Before he could catch his breath, Ludendorff immediately commanded the troops to attack Li¨¨ge.  He saw from the telescope that the intensive artillery fire of the German army did no damage to the forts in Liege. When the German infantry charged, they were immediately violently bombarded by the Belgian defenders' artillery. The charging troops' limbs were scattered, and their bodies were scattered.  Ludendorff took a breath and finally understood why the German army had been unable to attack Liege.

    Ludendorff immediately adjusted his deployment. While ordering the German army to continue attacking Liege, he sent a messenger to the city of Liege to recruit surrender.  Lieutenant General Girard Lehmann, the commander of the Belgian garrison, refused the German army's surrender, but he found that the German army had increased its troops to Liege, and he only had one division in his hands, and Liege was already isolated and helpless.

    "General Zhao, as far as I know, your country also encountered the same problems we are facing now when it attacked Vladivostok during the war with Russia more than ten years ago. I don't know what method your country took?" Luden  Dolph asked.

    After the war started, General Zhao Bowen, who came to Germany, also came to the front line. He brought dozens of staff officers with him to learn about the German attack tactics so that he could understand the combat power of the German army and the Allied Powers.

    "Heavy artillery and airships! At that time, we used a lot of large-caliber heavy artillery to bombard the Russian fortress, and the navy's battleships also joined in. The most important ones were airships, which dropped aerial bombs weighing 500 kilograms from high altitudes.  It can easily penetrate the top of the fortress!" General Zhao Bowen said.

    "Well, General Zhao, we are also prepared to adopt this method!" Ludendorff said.

    On July 25, one of the German army¡¯s giant siege weapons arrived.  This is a giant airship with a metal steel rod as a skeleton inside, a tough fabric on the outside, and then filled with helium, allowing it to fly at a certain speed.  The airship is huge in shape, oval in shape, pointed at both ends and rounded in the middle, with a volume of about 20,000 cubic meters.  There is a cab below the airship, which can carry personnel, weapons and ammunition, and aerial shooting can be carried out from here.  Ludendorff immediately ordered airships to bomb the city of Liege.  Soon, an airship flew over the city of Liege. People all over the city didn't know what it was and came out to watch the excitement.  The personnel on the airship immediately dropped bombs one after another and fired machine guns in all directions.  Explosions occurred immediately in the city of Liege. The people knew that something bad was going on and ran around in chaos. The whole city was full of chickens and dogs.  The airship turned around and flew away.  Ludendorff's intention was to intimidate the Belgian defenders, but he did not want to actually bomb the city.  As a result, the airship dropped a total of 13 bombs, killing 9 civilians.  However, this move caused huge chaos in the city, and the people in the city were shaken.  Lieutenant General Girard = Lieutenant General Lehmann knew that the city was ultimately undefeated. In order to prevent civilians from suffering more casualties, he ordered the defenders in the city to withdraw to the nearby fort, and he himself withdrew to the Ronson fort to the west of the city. Belgium  The army abandoned the city of Liege.  On July 26, the German army successfully entered the city of Liege.  At this time, the forts around Li¨¨ge remained firm and unyielding, preventing the Germans from taking a step further.  Ludendorff immediately ordered the German army to stop the attack. He had no second thoughts and was waiting for the arrival of the decisive giant siege weapons.
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