The Battle of Liège, Belgium
August, 1914
On August 4th, 1914, six brigages detached from the Second German Army - The Army of the Meuse - began the first move in the execution of the Schlieffen/Moltke Plan - to smash quickly through the defenses of Liège, Belgium. Neither Schlieffen nor Moltke counted on a spirited defense at Liège by a small but proud Belgian division, led by General Leman, who had been ordered by his King to hold out to the bitter end. Hold out he did, for 12 more days, the modern forts of the city preventing von Kluck's First Army from crossing the Meuse in strength. In order to get through the gap, the forts needed to be destroyed, one by one, piece by piece, before the Germans could continue.
This is a story of the Battle of Liège and the role the forts played in that contest. It is also about the men who manned the forts and the intervals, a group of men from the tiny country of Belgium that stood up to one of the world's superpowers, one with a seemingly invincible army. The German government had asked Belgium to kindly step aside so its 2 million man army could pass through on its way to destroying France, thus making Belgium a state within the German Reich. But Belgium refused to give in to the ultimatum, and put up a fight that had the whole world watching in awe. It was not the forts that held up the Germans - it was the men who commanded them and the brigades that held the ground between them. This is their story.
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