the first german flag taken
(august 5, 1914)
from the account given by deputy staff major collyns of the 12th line regiment
on leaving visé, i went to milmort, where, on august 5th, i received an order from general leman to go immediately to wandre and to prevent, at any cost, the germans crossing the bridge over the meuse.
on arriving, i made a brief survey of the position. as my battalion was only four hundred strong, the defence meant principally the construction of barricades and the utilising of houses and walls for firing obliquely and from all sides over the bridge of the meuse, over the canal bridge to the west, and over the roads leading to these bridges. with feverish activity, the soldiers set to work. in the various houses indicated, they broke the window-panes, arranged the bedding and sacks of earth against the windows, in order to shelter those who were firing. they then dragged carts, carried planks of wood and barrels, and all kinds of other material, to the bridge over the meuse, piling everything up in such a way as to leave only a narrow passage, scarcely sufficient for one man to cross at a time.
[pg 11]
a barricade was then put up on the road from herstal to vivegnis. the walls of the cemetery, a huge rectangle between the road and the canal, were pierced to form loopholes and so transformed into a regular redoubt. in a very short time, my men were posted behind the windows of the houses and the loopholes of the cemetery, with their mausers ready, on the lookout for the enemy.
these preparations evidently interfered with the plans of the germans and their spies set to work to move us away. one of their agents transmitted to me, by telephone, an order from the staff to leave wandre. as i had received an order to defend the bridge at any cost, i was greatly surprised and asked at once for communication with headquarters.
"i have given no such instructions," answered general leman, in reply to my question. "is collyns still there and can i count on him?" i assured the general that i should on no account leave there without his express order to do so.
on returning to the bridge, to my great amazement, i saw some men taking away the carts which formed our barricade. i called out to them furiously and asked what they were doing. they informed me that they were merely obeying an order they had received from the superintendent of police. i asked the latter what he meant by interfering.
"there is no knowing what to do," he answered, angrily. "the general has just telephoned to me to have the bridge cleared."
"look here," i replied, "i am going to give an order now to the sentinels to shoot down every man who touches the barricades, and i shall hold you responsible for what happens."
[pg 12]
my energetic attitude took effect and there was no further attempt to disobey my orders.
the remainder of the day, august 5th, passed without any other incident. fearing a night attack, i arranged for a new system of lighting. i had some piles of straw soaked in tar and placed at various points, out of sight of the enemy, giving orders to the sentinels to set fire to them in case of an alert.
no information reached me except that the enemy was bombarding the forts violently. as a matter of fact, my position at the wandre bridge constituted a second line of defence, for, at a certain distance in front of us, fortress troops occupied the ground between the pontisse fort and the meuse. i had not much faith in the value of these soldiers, as they belonged to our former recruiting system.
they had left their regiments years ago and had only been under arms again four days. my estimation turned out to be true. at midnight, a sustained firing was suddenly heard in front of us and, very soon after, the fortress troops endeavoured to reach the town by the roads i was defending. i rushed forward to meet them and ordered them to return to their position, threatening to shoot those who disobeyed. they started back, but the darkness prevented my seeing whether they really returned to their posts, or whether they slipped round on our left flank.
towards one o'clock, my sentinels fired and, immediately, the bonfires were lighted. an intense firing then took place, principally from the herstal-vivegnis road. the german musketry and machine-guns replied. a few minutes later, the firing was less intense and was heard farther away. the enemy had been obliged to retreat, but, before long returned in[pg 13] greater force, by parallel streets. once more our firing compelled them to retreat. they then rushed into the gardens, passed through the houses and advanced along the street which cuts the herstal-vivegnis road perpendicularly. this street was simply swept from one end to the other by our soldiers, hidden in the houses skirting the right of the square. after suffering frightful losses, the germans were obliged to escape and take shelter in the gardens. fresh troops appeared and attempted to force the passage. the attacks continued uninterruptedly. mingled with the sound of the orders, of the shouts and cries of "forward!" could be heard the firing of the guns and the dull thud of bodies falling to the ground. whole groups of german foot-soldiers were lying in the streets, at equal distances, their hands clenching the butt end of their guns, guarding their ranks even in death. they lay there, showing their breasts, torn open by the balls, and their hideous wounds. blood trickled over the footpaths and over the roads, there was blood on the fronts of the houses, blood everywhere. huge flames from the bonfires lighted up this scene of carnage. the flames danced, jumped, mingled with each other in golden wreaths, throwing long shadows which seemed to be climbing and running along the walls....
gradually, the adversaries' vigour weakened, their efforts diminished, and there were long intervals between the attacks. as soon as the heads of the assaulting columns came within reach of our firing, they were mown down. the rest disbanded and, rushing in all directions, hid in the gardens and cellars. during a lull, a few of my brave men explored the surrounding district and, a few minutes later, the[pg 14] soldier lange brought me the flag of the 89th regiment of mecklenburg grenadiers, which he had found just below the houses facing the vivegnis road. the colonel, the adjutant-major, the standard bearer, and a number of officers were lying there near their glorious trophy. i seized the flag and went forward to my soldiers crying: "victory! victory!" there was wild enthusiasm and, spontaneously, they burst out with our national anthem: the braban?onne, and shouts of "long live the king! long live belgium! long live the major!" the officers hurried to me to congratulate me and, i may as well confess it, in a state of excitement that made my soldiers forget all hierarchy, they rushed to me and grasped my hand. ah, the brave fellows!
the firing became less and less violent and, towards eight in the morning, the enemy beat a final retreat. a strange man-hunting chase then began in the little gardens of the houses. there were boches hidden in the bushes, crouching down behind heaps of leaves. some of them held up their hands, crying, "comrades, do not shoot!" others, on the contrary, fought to the last. in one garden, a dozen of them refused stubbornly to surrender, and were massacred. after confiding the flag to engineer hiard, who undertook to take it to general leman, i went through the streets of the town. stretcher-bearers were carrying away the germans or dressing their wounds. near the square, i witnessed a very painful scene. as one of the stretcher-bearers approached, a german officer raised his pistol. our man snatched it from him, but, whilst he was calling one of his colleagues to help him, the boche drew out his pocket-knife and cut his own throat. there were helmets, swords, guns,[pg 15] and fragments of all kinds of things strewing the ground and i could not resist the temptation of sending a little collection to the liége town hall.
just at that moment, i heard some alarming news. i was told that there had been an attempt to assassinate general leman; that the germans had entered liége, that they already occupied herstal, and that they threatened to bar our way. in spite of our success, our situation was extremely perilous. whatever might happen, i had given my solemn promise to general leman that i would hold the bridge and i was determined to keep my word. i sent word to the governor telling him what my position was. i told him that the germans had retreated and were probably within a certain distance of my lines, that i saw the possibility of going forward and throwing them back under the firing of the pontisse fort, but that i could not undertake this attack, unless i could be sure that the heights of wandre, situated on the right bank, were in the possession of our troops, as otherwise i should be exposed to the enemy crossing the bridge and getting at us from the other side. i sent three cyclists, one after the other, to headquarters but, to my great disappointment, i received no answer and so did not dare leave our shelter.
towards ten o'clock, captain grossman arrived. he was formerly an officer of my battalion and now, since the mobilisation, he was in the 2nd battalion of the 32nd line regiment.
"major," he said, "i was in position on the right bank of the meuse and i have received orders to fall back. i heard that you were on the other bank and i have come to place myself at your disposal. do not pack me off again, major. make use of[pg 16] my hundred and fifty men." this help was a godsend.
"grossman," i answered, "this is just like you. i am very thankful you have come. we succeeded at visé and we have taken a flag here and a number of prisoners. i will give you an opportunity of doing something worth doing. the situation is as follows: the enemy is retreating in front of us, but my left is threatened and we are threatened from behind. i also know that a fairly important german force is in rhèes cemetery, and may be able to turn round us. go by basprial towards the heights, clear the ground of what you find there, hold the troops which now occupy rhèes, at all costs, and endeavour to make an impression on them. i fancy you will do a good stroke there, grossman."
the commander started off at once with his company and, towards one in the afternoon, he crossed the bridge again, followed by four hundred prisoners, among whom were seven officers, lieutenant count von moltke included, the grand-nephew of the famous marshal.
"i congratulate you heartily, grossman," i said, "and, by way of reward, you shall take the prisoners to liége."
a few minutes later, i received notice that general bertrand was coming with his brigade to the left bank, that i was to cover his passage by the wandre bridge and form, afterwards, the rear-guard of his troops, which were retiring in the direction of ans....
