the death-struggle of lierre fort
by an officer of the garrison
no harvest of impressions will be found in this account, for, although it might seem that the garrison of a fort must be crowded together within the narrow surface occupied by the building, it is in reality dispersed everywhere: three men here, ten there, in the cupolas, in the munition stores, at the observation posts. each man is in his special department and the contact is much less close than among the troops in campaign.
when, on account of the destruction of certain parts of the fort, the garrison comes gradually nearer together, the moral tension, the lack of sleep, the irregularity of the alimentation transform the garrison into a passive troop under an avalanche of blows. the men are still capable of reaction and of desperate efforts, but the efforts are silent and, as it were, mechanical. those who have never lived through such hours can never know the intensity of the suffering endured by the defenders of the fort.
september 27, 1914. the cannon is roaring in the distance and appears to be coming nearer. we can[pg 185] hear waelhem and wavre-st. catherine firing quite distinctly. huge tufts of white smoke rise above the trees in the distance. the malines tower has disappeared entirely in the smoke.
for the last few days, every man has been at his post. german troops, probably on patrol, have been signalled to us by our watchers, at a distance of more than 8500 yards from the fort. they are too far away for us to do anything. the attack is imminent.
our men are resolute and their one wish is to open fire.
the day and night have passed without any incident.
september 28th. the morning has been calm for us. the cannon is roaring all the time. our telephonic communications inform us that waelhem and wavre-st. catherine are being bombarded violently. at two in the afternoon, our observation posts signal to us the occupation, by enemy groups, of localities within our radius of action. the cupolas of fifteen centimetres open fire and will continue until evening.
the first firing of our cannon was a veritable relief. the nervous tension, caused by waiting, is over, and the whole fort is gay and animated.
at 8 o'clock, bombardment by the forts of the agglomerations along the aerschot road, where we had been informed that the enemy was quartered.
there has been no reply from the enemy.
the aviation had informed us of the construction of siege batteries within our defence sector. we could do nothing against them, on account of the distance.
september 29th. with the exception of our firing yesterday, all has been calm.
at 7.30 this morning, characteristic whizzing sounds warned us that shells were passing over the fort.[pg 186] the explosions took place a long way off, probably at lierre. the screen of trees hides the town from us. by telephone, we heard that shells were falling at the gates of louvain. before long, it was our turn. shrapnels came first, and their strident, metallic explosion surprised our men. presently shells burst on the masonry of the barracks. our t.s.f. antenna is cut. this is the first phase of our isolation. we are replying vigorously to the enemy's fire.
at 11 o'clock, suspension of the firing. the men brought into the firing gallery fragments of shells and shrapnels, bullets and fuses. from one of the fuses, we found that the measurement of the germans is at 5200 yards, which is the average of our own measurement on the batteries indicated.
at 2 o'clock, the firing on both sides began again. we received projectiles of 13 centimetres by 5, one of which had fused and came rolling in front of our office. the town of lierre was still being bombarded and we were informed that the civil hospital had been struck and that eight persons had been killed.
at 5 o'clock, suspension of the firing. at 7.30, renewal which did not last long and was not very efficacious.
with all this the fort has not suffered much. there are a number of holes, chiefly in the barracks masonry, above which simili-cupolas had been installed. a cupola of fifteen centimetres had been grazed and a few window-panes broken. all is well and the spirits of the men excellent. they, are getting bolder and bolder and we are compelled to stop them moving about in the open.
sixty-four shells have struck the fort. we learned, by telephone, in the evening, that wavre-st. catherine[pg 187] fort, shattered by formidable shells, had been evacuated. we have heard nothing about the waelhem fort. it has no doubt met with the same fate. this sad news was only announced to the officers.
at 11.30, an observer warned us of the approach of a column by the aerschot road. we accordingly fired on this road and the land around until about 1.30.
september 30th. at 3.40, a grouping of enemy troops was announced to us beyond the village of koningshoyckt. at the same time the fort of that name and the tallaert redoubt, which were both being attacked, appealed for support to the lierre fort. acting on information from them, and with the aid of their interval observatories, we opened fire which continued until 6 o'clock. there was no sleep for any one at night, and this will not be the last night of the kind. from henceforth there will be no more rest for us.
at 8 o'clock, the bombardment recommenced, not only on the lierre fort but also on the interval constructions and on the forts and redoubts to our right. a few shrapnels came first, and then a deluge of shells of every calibre. not a single pane of glass could resist this, and the very ground shook under our feet. this sensation of springy ground will continue for several days after the bombardment.
at 11 o'clock, utter silence. the interior platforms are damaged and all circulation within the fort is difficult, but our armament is still in perfect condition.
at 12.20, there was an ominous whizzing sound first, and then a noise like an express train at full speed. the projectile fell above the barracks with a formidable detonation. after this, a shower of cement[pg 188] and of masonry fell on the whole of the fort. we have just received the first 420 shell. without intermittence until 6 o'clock, a similar projectile has arrived every six minutes. we have received fifty-seven of them in this way. the craters measured from 8 to 10 metres in diameter. the stoppers were flung 50 metres up in the air and they came down again like fresh projectiles. one of the first of these shells fell near us. the lower part, thrown vertically, fell on the edge of the crater. its dimensions were remarkable. the fitter was told to go, after the bombardment and bring this in, in order to weigh and measure it. he went off at once, during the bombardment, and after twenty minutes of effort dragged the piece into the office. he was reproved for this unnecessary imprudence. the soldier replied simply: "but it was not hot!" this piece measured 388 millimetres in diameter and weighed 66 kilogrammes. other fragments picked up had sharp edges: one of them measured 85 centimetres in length. the explosion produced a black, bitter, and very dense smoke, which curled round on the ground and was very slow in dispersing.
the interior telephonic communications are still practicable, with the exception of the battery adjoining the glacis of the semi-front left gorge.
the barracks have partially given way and the officers' pavilion is cut in two. this does not trouble us, as these places were evacuated a few days ago and orders were given not to stay in them. from the caponier of the front gorge, we were told by telephone that the vault was cracked and that the stoke holes were obstructed by earth, and also by the débris of masonry thrown up by the explosions in the immedi[pg 189]ate vicinity. this was evacuated. as to the cupola of fifteen centimetres on the left, we were informed that the cuirass of 5 cent. 7 of the salient i. had been thrown up in the air and had fallen about twenty yards from the tower. a shell had fallen in front of the postern entrance, about fifty yards long, and the compression of air had caused this damage. a cannon of 8 cent. 7, placed for firing at ?roplanes and zeppelins, had been flung from its position, the gun carriage had been entirely turned round and one wheel broken.
when the bombardment ceased, we rushed out to see for ourselves what the damages were, whilst our cannons continued firing in order to relieve the koningshoyckt fort, which had several of its pieces too much injured to use, and also the tallaert redoubt, which was threatened with a frontal attack.
the archways were cracked everywhere and the paving-stones were torn up out of the ground, which was all furrowed and broken up. some of the communication passages were destroyed. the diameter of the craters was greater than the distance which separated the jambs. these were all weakened and the heavy cement arches, deprived of their support, were absolutely broken, as though they had been hacked by a gigantic blow from an axe. this bombardment had not disturbed the equanimity of the soldiers much.
when the masonry or the cement was struck, a shower of bricks and of shingle covered the fort, pouring through all the openings violently. the first time this happened, two men who were at the entrance of a postern were bruised by the shingles. a jocular man remarked: "good, now they are putting pebbles in their shells!"
[pg 190]
we heard groans though from the barrack ruins, and we dragged out one wounded man and two who had been killed. they were civilian workmen who had come there to install loud-speaking telephones.
the wounded man told us that two or three men, one of whom was a soldier, were under the ruins of what had served as a mess-room for the troop. it was impossible to get them out from under the heaps of ruins.
the battery of the glacis was destroyed by two projectiles. we found neither dead nor living men there. what had become of the gunners? all was not lost, however, as, with the exception of the cupola of 5 cent. 7 of salient i. all our defence works are still in good condition and our men do not manifest any anxiety.
october 1st. in obedience to orders from our chief, and together with the neighbouring forts and the interval batteries, we opened a rapid fire of twenty minutes' duration, at 2 and at 4 o'clock, on the localities and the roads in front of our line of defence.
at 7 o'clock we buried our dead.
from 8 o'clock, the intervals, the koningshoyckt fort and the tallaert redoubt were actively bombarded. our turn did not come until 10.15. only nine projectiles were sent to us.
at 1 o'clock the bombardment began again and, as on the previous day, a shell came every six minutes.
towards 3 o'clock, the semi-caponier on the right was hit. the aim had been shortened, as the firing had hitherto generally been directed at the left half of the fort. most of the men had taken refuge in the right half. on this account, no one was wounded, but the fifteen centimetre cupola was disabled[pg 191] by the blocks of cement coming from the half demolished tower. some of these blocks measured nearly a cubic yard. the men were quickly evacuated to the front.
a gunner, bringing information bulletins, now arrived all covered with mud. as the cupolas had been covered with soaked earth, the men thought that he must have taken this covering off by crawling over the cupola, and his comrades blamed him for this. the good fellow was surprised at their accusation, as he had simply rolled into a crater under the firing, and this was why he was in such a muddy state.
the bombardment continued and we saw that our intact shelters were becoming fewer and fewer. the artillery commander fell into a crater. he could not walk and had to be taken to the infirmary. the commander of the fusiliers, overworked and intoxicated by the gas from the explosions, was ill and one of the doctors was ill too. the influence of the gases became more and more distressing. some of the men had fainting fits, others wept. certain of them were depressed and seemed to be awaiting the shell which should finish them off. neither persuasions nor threats from the commander of the fort, aided by the doctor and the chaplain, took any effect on these men, who were awaiting death like irresponsible cattle.
towards 7.30 in the evening, this infernal bombardment slackened and very soon it ceased. the fort had received 60 of the terrible 420 shells. the commander of the lierre-tallaert interval announced an attack by the enemy infantry supported by field artillery.
[pg 192]
the men pulled themselves together, the cupolas were occupied, and the firing line filled with machine-gunners and fusiliers. the tallaert redoubt could not do much and asked for help.
we fired with all our pieces on to the ground in front of the accessory defences of the interval. the enemy attack, under our firing, was defeated about 9 o'clock. all the garrison had taken part in the fight, even our invalids. the commander of the fusiliers went back to his post on the rampart.
the fort was once more bombarded and at 11 o'clock, a fresh attack on the interval began, without any better result for the enemy than the first one.
october 2nd. at 2 o'clock, the third attack on the interval began. the firing line on the front of the fort head was inundated with cartridges from the enemy machine-guns. our fusiliers replied with fury. their commander had the hardest work to regulate the firing. the heated guns got choked. no matter, our men were determined the germans should not pass. our cannons fired at full speed. the noise was deafening. for more than two hours, we lived in the midst of this hell and we no longer heard the enemy's balls which came in swarms whizzing over our heads. one of the cannons was disabled by the firing. the second one did double work, but before long could not keep its place in the battery either.
at 4.30, we knew by the red fuses, that the enemy was retreating. the interval had not been crossed and not a single wire of the accessory defences had been cut. this success gave our men fresh hope and confidence; they were almost joyful. their fatigue was very evident though. as soon as the enemy attack was withdrawn, the firing gallery stopped[pg 193] replying to calls. we went to see what was happening and found the whole staff asleep. the officer had thrown himself down on a mattress, and on getting up he staggered with fatigue. there had been a few minutes' respite and all the men, not having to keep on the alert, had succumbed to their exhaustion.
the commander of the fort himself, a little time before, had fallen asleep in a cupola in full action.
the commander of the fort artillery, who still could not walk, was evacuated, together with another wounded man. food was then distributed and repairs done. the replenishing of the cupolas with ammunition was effected, thanks to the covered passages that were still intact.
at 7.20 the bombardment began once more. enemy a?roplanes had been to see the state of the fort, and the destruction then became systematic. every six minutes a 420 projectile arrived—"the block train," as the men called it. we watched the progress of the bombardment with great anxiety.
the projectiles could be heard from afar, and they struck first the left and then the right of the fort. the flank salients being very close together, the blow struck either one or the other of these projections indifferently. the soldiers remarked this and made bets as soon as the sound of the projectiles was heard in the distance. the salient i. was well sprinkled first and then the firing was on the front. the covered passage to the right of the front gave way. it was by this that the ammunition supply for the cupolas was effected. how many men were under the ruins? a roll-call was impossible. we had to evacuate part of the front, and half of the staff had to take refuge in the semi-caponier on the right.[pg 194] all telephonic and telegraphic communication was cut off. the lierre office no longer replied, as the town had been evacuated.
the firing now approached the right semi-caponier, and a shell burst fifteen yards from the entrance.
the men were ordered to keep at the other side of the fort, which was no longer bombarded. it was impossible to warn those who had remained at the front caponier. the explosions continued every six minutes, and the bombardment was carried on systematically by series, and in an invariable manner. by observing where the projectiles fell, we could calculate just the moment when it would be time to move away. the first firing of a series was dangerous for us. as soon as the explosions followed each other too quickly, the men collected together, as soon as they heard the whizzing, waited for the projectile to fall, and then rushed off to their fresh shelter.
this game could not, however, continue very long. the projectiles seemed to be following us, and the arches gave way one after another after we had left them.
towards 2 o'clock in the afternoon, the order was given to the commander of the fusiliers to collect his men in groups and to send them, in the intervals between the firing, to the postern gate of the fort, which, so far, was intact. the order was carried out and we were able to pass, in the most miraculous way, between the projectiles. the firing now continued for some time on the left part of the fort and the men grouped themselves on the berm in the space which separates the parapet from the moat against the outside talus of the semi-front of the right[pg 195] gorge. just at that moment the two hundred and thirty-fifth 420 shell fell on the fort.
with the exception of the danger from the pieces of masonry and from the explosions, which did not injure any one seriously, we were fairly safe. towards noon, the projectiles came more frequently and the men who were under the entrance postern and in the guard-room were called inside. all the defence works were by this time either destroyed or of no use. the corridors and posterns were obstructed by huge blocks of masonry. the cupola of 5 centimetres 7 of salient iv. was the only one which appeared to be in good condition, but it was impossible to get to it. the garrison's last shelter was now threatened in its turn. a projectile burst on the edge of the moat, a few yards beyond the entrance to the fort, and this caused a moment's panic. the bombardment continued, making it impossible for us to reoccupy the building. at 2.30, a formidable detonation and a dense smoke made us presume that the koningshoyckt fort had just been blown up.
we saw that the firing of our field-batteries, which were in position at the back of us, had shortened their aim, in order to cover the retreat of the troops in the intervals. their shrapnels burst just at the height where we were stationed. german batteries were now placed to the right of the fort, so that we were caught between two fires.
it was not possible for us to re-enter the ruined fort. the 420 shells continued to fall on it every six minutes with hopeless regularity. our reserve rations and cartridges were buried under the ruins. there was no more drinking water, the guns were empty, and the men starving with hunger.[pg 196] there was, perhaps, just time to prevent ourselves from being surrounded. we had to make the attempt under a deluge of shrapnels. the men were worn out, and it was with a feeling of intense sadness and discouragement that, at 6 o'clock, the officers decided to take them toward lierre. the defence had lasted four interminable days, under a bombardment which allowed of no rest and which prevented our relieving each other. counting beforehand on the demoralising effects of their terrible engines of warfare, the germans had imagined that on the night of the 1st to the 2nd of october, a strong attack would make them masters of the fort.
their three attempts at assault were so many failures for them. when, twenty-four hours later, they actually entered the fort, it was merely a heap of ruins which fell into their hands.
fighting is nothing if only one can return the blows one receives. the range of the enemy's artillery was considerably beyond ours, so that they were protected from our firing. we were obliged to wait, with folded arms, until death saw fit to take us.
this waiting, in a dark passage of masonry, which one knows is doomed to be destroyed and which every six minutes is in danger of being dashed to pieces by the projectiles that one hears coming, means enduring the agony of death over and over again.
such an experience acts on the best tempered nerves, and the heroism of those who awaited death there, simply because they had been ordered to do so, was all the more admirable because it was simple, unobtrusive heroism, about which the world has hitherto never known.
