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148-643: During the early campaigns of 1914, the Belgian army had been pushed out of the fortified cities of Liège , Namur and Antwerp by the German advance. Although they succeeded in delaying the Germans at some actions, they were forced to withdraw, first to Antwerp, and into the far north-west of Belgium. By October 1914, the Belgian forces were holding a position along the Yser and Ieperlee canal. After months of retreat,

296-470: A Saxon unit briefly fraternised with a Liverpool battalion. In December 1915, there were orders by the Allied commanders to forestall any repeat of the previous Christmas truce. Units were encouraged to mount raids and harass the opposing line, whilst communicating with the enemy was discouraged by artillery barrages along the front line throughout the day; a small number of brief truces occurred despite

444-552: A Belgian garrison of 6,000 men in peacetime with c.  3,000 members of the Garde Civique . The plan required the 34th Brigade to attack between Forts Loncin and Pontisse, the 27th Brigade to break through between the Meuse and Fort Evegnée on the east bank, the 14th Brigade to penetrate between Forts Evegnée and Fléron and the 11th Brigade between Fléron and Chaudfontaine as the 38th and 43rd brigades attacked between

592-573: A German invasion did not lead to France and Britain being seen as allies or for the Belgian government to intend to do more than protect its independence. The Anglo-French Entente (1904) had led the Belgians to perceive that the British attitude to Belgium had changed and that it was seen as a British protectorate. A General Staff was formed in 1910 but the Chef d'État-Major Général de l'Armée (Chief of

740-407: A German surgeon recorded a regular half-hourly truce each evening to recover dead soldiers for burial, during which French and German soldiers exchanged newspapers. This behaviour was often challenged by officers; lieutenant Charles de Gaulle wrote on 7 December of the "lamentable" desire of French infantrymen to leave the enemy in peace, while the commander of 10th Army , Victor d'Urbal , wrote of

888-540: A Zeppelin airship bombed Liège and killed nine civilians. Léman believed that units from five German corps confronted the defenders and assembled the 3rd Division between forts Loncin and Hollogne to begin the withdrawal to the Gete during the afternoon and night of 6/7 August. The fortress troops were concentrated in the forts, rather than the perimeter and at noon, Léman set up a new headquarters in Fort Loncin, on

1036-457: A common language; many German soldiers had lived in England, particularly London, and were familiar with the language and the society. Several British soldiers recorded instances of Germans asking about news from the football leagues, while other conversations could be as banal as discussions of the weather or as plaintive as messages for a sweetheart. One unusual phenomenon that grew in intensity

1184-581: A compromise in which the field army concentrated behind the Gete River with two divisions forward at Liège and Namur. German strategy had given priority to offensive operations against France and a defensive posture against Russia since 1891. German planning was determined by numerical inferiority, the speed of mobilisation and concentration and the effect of the vast increase of the power of modern weapons. Frontal attacks were expected to be costly and protracted, leading to limited success, particularly after

1332-404: A couple of his buttons and put them in my pocket. I then gave him two of mine in exchange.... The last I saw was one of my machine gunners, who was a bit of an amateur hairdresser in civil life, cutting the unnaturally long hair of a docile Boche, who was patiently kneeling on the ground whilst the automatic clippers crept up the back of his neck. Henry Williamson , a nineteen-year-old private in

1480-632: A defensive line along the west side. The 27th, 24th and the rest of the 11th Brigade entered the town and operations began to capture the forts. On the morning of 5 August, Captain Brinckman, the German Military Attaché at Brussels, met the Governor of Liège under a flag of truce and demanded the surrender of the fortress. Léman refused (" Frayez-vous le passage " [Fight your way through]) and an hour later, German troops attacked

1628-651: A distance of around 30 kilometres (19 mi) from the Belgian North Sea coast between Nieuwpoort and Westende , stretching south-east along the Ieperlee, encompassing both Ramskapelle and Pervijze . From Pervijze, the line then arched south-east between the Yser and Ieperlee, down to Oudekapelle and Reninge . Diksmuide had fallen to German forces shortly before the Battle of the Yser. The front protected

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1776-477: A false report that Belgian troops were attacking from Liège and Namur. On the night of 10/11 August Einem ordered that Liège be isolated on the eastern and south-eastern fronts by the IX, VII and X corps as they arrived and allotted the capture of Forts Liers, Pontisse, Evegnée and Fléron to IX Corps and Chaudfontaine and Embourg to VII Corps as X Corps guarded the southern flank. Before the orders arrived, Fort Evegnée

1924-813: A football match with the German Battalion 371. The Germans won 2–1. On 12 December 2014, a memorial was unveiled at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire, England by Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and the England national football team manager Roy Hodgson . The Football Remembers memorial was designed by a ten-year-old schoolboy, Spencer Turner, after a UK-wide competition. The Midway Village in Rockford, Illinois , United States, has hosted re-enactments of

2072-419: A group of 101 British women's suffragettes at the end of 1914. Pope Benedict XV , on 7 December 1914, had begged for an official truce between the warring governments. He asked "that the guns may fall silent at least upon the night the angels sang", which was refused by both sides. Fraternisation—peaceful and sometimes friendly interactions between opposing forces—was a regular feature in quiet sectors of

2220-402: A letter recalling that the Germans declared a truce for the day. One of his men bravely lifted his head above the parapet and others from both sides walked onto no man's land. Officers and men shook hands and exchanged cigarettes and cigars; one of his captains "smoked a cigar with the best shot in the German army", the latter no more than 18 years old. Congreve admitted he was reluctant to witness

2368-460: A lively game ensued. How marvellously wonderful, yet how strange it was". In 2011 Mike Dash concluded that "there is plenty of evidence that football was played that Christmas Day—mostly by men of the same nationality but in at least three or four places between troops from the opposing armies". Many units were reported in contemporary accounts to have taken part in games: Dash listed the 133rd Royal Saxon Regiment pitched against "Scottish troops";

2516-533: A manoeuvre was intended to pass swiftly through Belgium, between Antwerp and Namur and threaten Paris from the north. Helmuth von Moltke the Younger succeeded Schlieffen in 1906 and was less certain that the French would conform to German assumptions. Moltke adapted the deployment and concentration plan, to accommodate an attack in the centre or an enveloping attack from both flanks as variants, by adding divisions to

2664-761: A mediated peace was inevitable and that it served Belgium's national interest to continue to protect the territory it already held until the Germans could be forced to open negotiations. Consequently, the Yser Front remained generally static for much of the war. Only after the failure of the Ludendorff Offensive in 1918 did the Belgian Army participate in an Allied offensive, the Hundred Days Offensive , making successful advances into German-occupied Belgium. On 28 September 1918, in

2812-492: A number of parts of the line and a few Belgian and German troops met in no-man's land between the trenches. Just like the rest of the Western Front, life on the front line was poor, with soldiers forced to live and sleep in unsanitary trenches, in mud ploughed up by artillery fire. Typhus was a major problem among Belgian troops on the Yser Front, where up to 7,000 soldiers died from diseases contracted there. Within

2960-421: A rapid advance to Retinne, where Belgian troops covered the road with machine-guns and forced the Germans under cover with many casualties. Wussow and a regimental commander were wounded; Ludendorff took over and rallied the survivors, the Belgians were outflanked and c.  100 prisoners taken. At Queue-du-Bois , the advance was stopped during house-to-house fighting, until two howitzers were brought up and

3108-401: A resumption of firing in the afternoon. Another member of Griffith's battalion, Bertie Felstead , later recalled that one man had produced a football, resulting in "a free-for-all; there could have been 50 on each side", before they were ordered back. Another unnamed participant reported in a letter home: "The Germans seem to be very nice chaps, and said they were awfully sick of the war." In

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3256-563: A ring of twelve forts 6–10 km (3.7–6.2 mi) from the city, built in 1892 by Henri Alexis Brialmont , the leading fortress engineer of the nineteenth century. The forts were sited about 4 km (2.5 mi) apart to be mutually supporting but had been designed for frontal, rather than all-round defence. The forts were five large triangular (Barchon, Fléron, Boncelles, Loncin and Pontisse), four small triangular (Evegnée, Hollogne, Lantin and Liers) and two small square forts (Chaudfontaine and Embourg). The forts were built of concrete, with

3404-545: A small region of north-west Belgium which remained unoccupied. King Albert I , commander-in-chief of the Belgian Army, established his headquarters in Veurne , one of the salient's only towns. The Belgian government, under Charles de Broqueville , established itself in exile in Sainte-Adresse , a suburb of the nearby French city of Le Havre . "I maintain that as long as I am here I will oppose everything which spills

3552-441: A surrounding ditch and barbed-wire entanglements; the superstructures were buried and only mounds of concrete or masonry and soil were visible. The large forts had two armoured turrets with two 210 mm (8.3 in) guns each, one turret with two 150 mm (5.9 in) guns and two cupolas with a 210 mm (8.3 in) howitzer each. Four retractable turrets contained a 57 mm (2.2 in) quick-firer each, two before

3700-399: A withdrawal to Argenteau. On the left, a second column was held up at Blegny, east of Fort Barcheron and retired to Battice, when the fate of the other columns became known. To the south-east, the 11th Brigade (Major-General von Wachter) attacked through St. Hadelin and Magnée, where it was also strung out in a narrow column by buildings along the road. Small-arms fire forced the Germans between

3848-526: Is German tobacco. Haha, you say, from a prisoner or found in a captured trench. Oh dear, no! From a German soldier. Yes a live German soldier from his own trench. Yesterday the British & Germans met & shook hands in the Ground between the trenches, & exchanged souvenirs, & shook hands. Yes, all day Xmas day, & as I write. Marvellous, isn't it? Captain Sir Edward Hulse reported how

3996-417: Is it only seems to exist in this part of the battle line – on our right and left we can all hear them firing away as cheerfully as ever. The thing started last night – a bitter cold night, with white frost – soon after dusk when the Germans started shouting 'Merry Christmas, Englishmen' to us. Of course our fellows shouted back and presently large numbers of both sides had left their trenches, unarmed, and met in

4144-652: The coup de main . The 2nd Army Quartermaster General, Major-General Erich Ludendorff, was assigned to the X Corps staff as he was familiar with the plan, having been the Chief of the Deployment Department of the General Staff. On the night of 5/6 August the force was to make a surprise attack, penetrate the fortress ring, capture the town and the road and rail facilities. The invasion began on 4 August; aeroplanes, cavalry and cyclists went ahead of

4292-487: The 2nd (Major-General Friedrich von Krane), 4th (Lieutenant-General Otto von Garnier ) and the 9th (Major-General Karl-Ulrich von Bülow) cavalry divisions. (A German Cavalry Corps was not an army corps in the conventional sense but the largest German cavalry unit that operated in 1914 and was known as a Höheres Kavallerie-Kommando .) The Army of the Meuse had c.  59,800 troops with 100 guns and howitzers, accompanied by Erich Ludendorff as an observer for

4440-570: The Ardennes to the south and Maastricht (in the Netherlands) and Flanders to the north and west. The city lies on the main rail lines from Germany to Brussels and Paris, which Schlieffen and Moltke planned to use in an invasion of France. Much industrial development had taken place in Liège and the vicinity, which presented a considerable obstacle to an invading force. The main defences were

4588-720: The Fifth Battle of Ypres , the Groupe d'Armées des Flandres ("Flanders Army Group" or GAF), under the command of Albert I with the French General Jean Degoutte as Chief of Staff, composed of 12 Belgian divisions, 10 British divisions of the Second Army and 6 French divisions of the Sixth Army attacked the Germans and advanced up to 6 miles (9.7 km). After the following Battle of Courtrai ,

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4736-814: The First Battle of the Marne in early September 1914. The Germans fell back to the Aisne valley , where they dug in. In the First Battle of the Aisne , the Franco–British attacks were repulsed and both sides began digging trenches to economise on manpower and use the surplus to outflank, to the north, their opponents. In the Race to the Sea , the two sides made reciprocal outflanking manoeuvres and after several weeks, during which

4884-566: The German Youth Hostel Association in 1919. An account by Llewelyn Wyn Griffith , recorded that after a night of exchanging carols, dawn on Christmas Day saw a "rush of men from both sides... [and] a feverish exchange of souvenirs" before the men were quickly called back by their officers, with offers to hold a ceasefire for the day and to play a football match. It came to nothing, as the brigade commander threatened repercussions for lack of discipline and insisted on

5032-598: The German-occupied parts of Belgium . Many accounts of the truce involve one or more football matches played in no man's land. This was mentioned in some of the earliest reports, with a letter written by a doctor attached to the Rifle Brigade , published in The Times on 1 January 1915, reporting "a football match... played between them and us in front of the trench". Similar stories have been told over

5180-536: The London Rifle Brigade , wrote to his mother on Boxing Day: Dear Mother, I am writing from the trenches. It is 11 o'clock in the morning. Beside me is a coke fire, opposite me a 'dug-out' (wet) with straw in it. The ground is sloppy in the actual trench, but frozen elsewhere. In my mouth is a pipe presented by the Princess Mary . In the pipe is tobacco. Of course, you say. But wait. In the pipe

5328-627: The Mirror regretting that the "absurdity and the tragedy" would begin again. Author Denis Winter argues that then "the censor had intervened" to prevent information about the spontaneous ceasefire from reaching the public and that the real dimension of the truce "only really came out when Captain Chudleigh in the Telegraph wrote after the war." Coverage in Germany was less extensive than that of

5476-527: The Vesdre river though many obstructions, gained footholds over the Ourthe and captured the bridge at Poulseur. The 38th Brigade reached Louveigne and Theux and the 43rd Brigade reached Stoumont and La Gleize . During a night made difficult by sniping from "civilians" and bombardment by the forts, the brigades prepared to close up to the jumping-off points for the attack next day. The cavalry of Division Garnier

5624-743: The Vosges Mountains , wrote an account of events in December 1915, "When the Christmas bells sounded in the villages of the Vosges behind the lines... something fantastically unmilitary occurred. German and French troops spontaneously made peace and ceased hostilities; they visited each other through disused trench tunnels, and exchanged wine, cognac and cigarettes for Pumpernickel (Westphalian black bread), biscuits and ham. This suited them so well that they remained good friends even after Christmas

5772-502: The counterscarp , which could become untenable if fumes from exploding shells accumulated, because the forts were ventilated naturally. The forts could communicate with the outside by telephone and telegraph but the wires were not buried. Smaller fortifications and trench lines in the gaps between the forts had been planned by Brialmont but had not been built. The fortress troops were not at full strength and many men were drawn from local guard units, who had received minimal training due to

5920-474: The "unfortunate consequences" when men "become familiar with their neighbours opposite". Other truces could be forced on both sides by bad weather, especially when trench lines flooded and these often lasted after the weather had cleared. The proximity of trench lines made it easy for soldiers to shout greetings to each other. This may have been the most common method of arranging informal truces in 1914. Men would frequently exchange news or greetings, helped by

6068-486: The 14th Brigade, Emmich and Ludendorff were commended and the value of the super-heavy artillery was noted. In 1926 James Edmonds , the British official historian, recorded that General Alexander von Kluck had considered that a delay of 4 to 5 days had been caused by the resistance of the Liège garrisons. The most advanced corps of the 1st Army reached a line from Kermt to Stevoort and Gorsem, 40 mi (64 km) west of Aachen (Aix La Chapelle), from 7 to 17 August and

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6216-516: The 1st/5th Battalion of the Black Watch was billeted in a farmhouse away from the front line. In a later interview (2003), Anderson, the last known surviving Scottish veteran of the war, vividly recalled Christmas Day and said: I remember the silence, the eerie sound of silence. Only the guards were on duty. We all went outside the farm buildings and just stood listening. And, of course, thinking of people back home. All I'd heard for two months in

6364-454: The 22nd day of mobilisation (23 August), which was achieved ahead of schedule. In Bulletin Belge des Sciences Militaires (September 1921), a four-day delay was claimed. John Buchan wrote The triumph was moral – an advertisement to the world that the ancient faiths of country and duty could still nerve the arm for battle and that the German idol, for all its splendour, had feet of clay. In

6512-442: The 27th Brigade (Colonel von Massow) was hemmed in by houses, hedges and fences which made flanking moves extremely difficult. The force was bombarded by the guns of forts Wandre and Barcheron at a defensive position beyond Argenteau, where disorganisation and confusion led to the Germans firing on each other as well as the Belgians. By dawn the brigade had reached Fort Wandre but the arrival of Belgian reinforcements led Massow to order

6660-510: The 43rd Brigade retreated to Fontin and the 38th Brigade withdrew to Lince. The attacks from the north and south had failed and a raid by Zeppelin Z-VI from Cologne, at 3:00 a.m. had little effect. The airship had been fired on by the Belgian artillery and was wrecked near Bonn, while making a forced landing due to loss of gas. In the centre, the 14th Brigade (Major-General von Wussow) advanced at 1:00 a.m., led by Emmich and Ludendorff and made

6808-846: The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders against unidentified Germans (with the Scots reported to have won 4–1); the Royal Field Artillery against "Prussians and Hanovers" near Ypres and the Lancashire Fusiliers near Le Touquet , with the detail of a bully beef ration tin as the ball. One recent writer has identified 29 reports of football though does not give substantive details. Colonel J. E. B. Seely recorded in his diary for Christmas Day that he had been "Invited to football match between Saxons and English on New Year's Day", but this does not appear to have taken place. On

6956-837: The Belgian King Albert I , drafted by Adiel Debeuckelaere , in 1917 which aired many of the movement's grievances. Although the Frontbeweging was unsuccessful in the short term, it succeeded in creating a dedicated political party, the Frontpartij , in post-war Belgium after the German defeat delegitimized many other parts of the Flemish Movement implicated in collaboration with the occupation authorities. Siege of Li%C3%A8ge 1915 1916 1917 1918 Associated articles Associated articles The Battle of Liège (5–16 August 1914)

7104-433: The Belgian army had 20,000 casualties at Liège and that by 8 August the German attackers had suffered 5,300 casualties. Other sources give 2,000–3,000 Belgian killed or wounded and 4,000 prisoners. On 5 August the 4th Division at Namur, received notice from Belgian cavalry that they were in contact with German cavalry to the north of the fortress. More German troops appeared to the south-west on 7 August. OHL had, on

7252-519: The Belgian army, the experience of the Yser Front had led to political upheaval. Of the Belgian soldiers on the Yser, between 65 and 80 percent were Flemish , speaking Dutch, while many of the Walloons spoke dialects such as Gaumais or Walloon . The language of command, however, was French and many Flemish soldiers felt resentful at their treatment by the French-speaking officer class. For

7400-478: The Belgian forces were considerably reduced and were exhausted. They flooded a large expanse of territory in front of their lines, stretching as far south as Diksmuide . Between 16 and 31 October 1914, the Belgians held off the German army at the Battle of the Yser , suffering 3,500 killed and 15,000 wounded. The Battle of the Yser established a front line which would endure until 1918. The Yser Front stretched along

7548-408: The Belgians decided to place a division each in Liège and Namur and on 3 August, the two fortresses were left to resist an invasion as best they could, while the rest of the field army protected Antwerp and waited for intervention by France and Britain, the other guarantors of Belgian neutrality. At Liège, Léman had the 3rd Division and the 15th Brigade of the 4th Division, which had arrived from Huy on

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7696-598: The Boches made a sign showing they wished to speak to us. They said they didn't want to shoot. ... They were tired of making war, they were married like me, they didn't have any differences with the French but with the English". On the Yser Front , where German and Belgian troops faced each other in December 1914, a truce was arranged at the request of Belgian soldiers who wished to send letters back to their families over

7844-563: The British forces were withdrawn from the Aisne and sent north to Flanders , both sides ran out of room. By November, armies had built continuous lines of trenches running from the North Sea to the Swiss frontier. Before Christmas 1914, there were several peace initiatives. The Open Christmas Letter was a public message for peace addressed "To the Women of Germany and Austria ", signed by

7992-528: The British government sent an ultimatum to Germany and declared war on Germany at midnight on 4/5 August, Central European Time . Belgium severed diplomatic relations with Germany and Germany declared war on Belgium. German troops crossed the Belgian frontier and attacked Liège. Liège is situated at the confluence of the Meuse which, at the city, flows through a deep ravine and the Ourthe River , between

8140-455: The British press while in France, press censorship ensured that the only word that spread of the truce came from soldiers at the front or first-hand accounts told by wounded men in hospitals. The press was eventually forced to respond to the growing rumours by reprinting a government notice that fraternising with the enemy constituted treason. In early January an official statement on the truce

8288-459: The Christmas period and reflected a mood of " live and let live ", where infantry close together would stop fighting and fraternise, engaging in conversation. In some sectors, there were occasional ceasefires to allow soldiers to go between the lines and recover wounded or dead comrades; in others, there was a tacit agreement not to shoot while men rested, exercised or worked in view of the enemy. The Christmas truces were particularly significant due to

8436-579: The Eastern Front the first move originated from Austro-Hungarian commanders, at some uncertain level of the military hierarchy. The Russians responded positively and soldiers eventually met in no man's land. The truces were not reported for a week, eventually being publicised to the masses when an unofficial press embargo was broken by The New York Times , published in the neutral United States, on 31 December. The British papers quickly followed, printing numerous first-hand accounts from soldiers in

8584-698: The Flemish troops, the disquiet culminated in 1916 with the establishment of the Frontbeweging ("Front Movement") which gained a membership of 5,000 soldiers. Although part of the Flemish Movement , the Frontbeweging called for greater regional autonomy in Belgium, rather than Flemish independence, and the creation of Dutch-speaking regiments. Its most celebrated work was the Open Letter to

8732-419: The French and Russians modernised their fortifications on the frontiers with Germany. Alfred von Schlieffen , Chief of the Imperial German General Staff ( Oberste Heeresleitung , OHL) from 1891–1906, devised a plan to evade the French frontier fortifications with an offensive on the northern flank, which would have a local numerical superiority and obtain rapidly a decisive victory. By 1898–1899, such

8880-401: The GAF advanced some 40 miles (64 km) more. The front was held uniquely by Belgian forces, which numbered around 221,000 men by September 1918. Throughout the war, the Belgian Army was supplemented by escapees of military age ( évadés ) from German-occupied Belgium . Altogether, around 20,000 Belgian soldiers died on the Yser during the war. In 1914, the Christmas truce was observed in

9028-448: The General Staff), Lieutenant-Général Harry Jungbluth was retired on 30 June 1912 and not replaced until May 1914 by Lieutenant-General Chevalier de Selliers de Moranville who began planning for the concentration of the army and met railway officials on 29 July. Belgian troops were to be massed in central Belgium, in front of the national redoubt ready to face any border. On mobilisation, the King became Commander-in-Chief and chose where

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9176-408: The General Staff. In August 1914, the Germans realised that the garrison at Liège would be larger than anticipated and that prompt mobilisation had given the Belgians time to make progress on the defences between the forts. Six reinforced brigades and II Cavalry Corps under the X Corps commander were to be ready on 4 August, the third day of mobilisation, at Aachen , Eupen , and Malmedy to conduct

9324-438: The German armies in eastern Belgium were closed for the duration of the siege and German troops did not appear in strength before the city of Namur at the confluence of the Sambre and Meuse rivers until 20 August. With the experience gained at Liège, the German 2nd Army completed the Siege of Namur in two days. Belgian military planning was based on an assumption that other powers would expel an invader. The likelihood of

9472-506: The Germans but did not interfere with their plans and that demolitions of railway tunnels and bridges were a more serious cause of delay. Sewell Tyng wrote in 1935 that the southward advance of the German armies had begun on 14 August, after all of the forts on the right bank had fallen. The eleven-day siege had been a "bitter disappointment" to the German commanders; there had been failures of co-ordination, which had led to several incidents of German infantry firing on each other. Liaison between

9620-587: The Meuse (General Otto von Emmich ) consisted of the 11th Brigade of III Corps (Major-General Friedrich von Wachter), the 14th Brigade of IV Corps (Major-General Friedrich von Wussow), the 27th Brigade of VII Corps (Colonel Benno von Massow), the 34th Brigade of IX Corps (Major-General Richard von Kraewel), the 38th Brigade of X Corps (Colonel Oertzen) and the 43rd Brigade of XI Corps (Major-General Hülsen). The cavalry component consisted of Höherer Kavallerie-Kommando II ( II Cavalry Corps [HKK II]), Lieutenant-General Georg von der Marwitz ), consisting of

9768-412: The Ourthe and Meuse; the II Cavalry Corps was to envelop the fortress and assemble to the north-west. The terrain made an advance across country impractical, so the attackers were to form marching columns behind vanguards, with slung rifles only to be used on officers' orders; white armbands and a password ("Der Kaiser") were to be used for recognition. The outer fortress defences were to be bypassed in

9916-507: The Scots Guards, was court-martialled for defying standing orders to the contrary. While he was found guilty and reprimanded, the punishment was annulled by General Douglas Haig , and Colquhoun remained in his position; the official leniency may perhaps have been because his wife's uncle was H. H. Asquith , the Prime Minister. In December 1916 and 1917, German overtures to the British for truces were recorded without any success. In some French sectors, singing and an exchange of thrown gifts

10064-443: The Vesdre, the 38th Brigade (Major-General von Hülsen) advance had begun on 5 August at 8:00 p.m. with the 43rd Brigade in reserve. The attackers were severely bombarded while still on the start-line and a thunderstorm, roadblocks and difficult forest paths made the advance harder. At Esneux and Poulseur, German supplies were looted "by Belgian civilians" and had to be rescued. An engagement began in woods east of Fort Boncelles; Hülsen

10212-497: The Western Front, for example, a German unit attempted to leave their trenches under a flag of truce on Easter Sunday 1915 but were warned off by the British opposite them. At Easter 1915 on the Eastern Front there were truces between Orthodox troops of opposing sides; the Bulgarian writer Yordan Yovkov , serving as an officer near the Greek border at the Mesta river , witnessed one. It inspired his short story "Holy Night", translated into English in 2013 by Krastu Banaev. In November,

10360-452: The Western Front. In some areas, both sides would refrain from aggressive behaviour, while in other cases it extended to regular conversation or even visits from one trench to another. On the Eastern Front , Fritz Kreisler reported incidents of spontaneous truces and fraternisation between the Austro-Hungarians and Russians in the first few weeks of the war. Truces between British and German units can be dated to early November 1914, around

10508-433: The Yser refused to participate in Allied offensives for most of the war. King Albert I , in command of the Belgian armed forces, believed that Belgium's neutrality meant that its army should only be used to further Belgium's national interests. Albert was sceptical of the value of offensive warfare, advocated by the British and French, which he believed to be costly and unable to achieve decisive victory. Albert believed that

10656-409: The army was to concentrate. Amid the disruption of the new rearmament plan, the disorganised and poorly trained Belgian soldiers would benefit from a central position, to delay contact with an invader but it would also need fortifications for defence, which were on the frontier. A school of thought wanted a return to a frontier deployment in line with French theories of the offensive. Belgian plans became

10804-411: The battle but were insufficient to stop German infiltration . The forts were also vulnerable to attack from the rear, the direction from which the German bombardments were fired. The forts had been designed to withstand shelling from 210 mm (8.3 in) guns which, in 1890, were the largest mobile artillery in the world but the concrete used was not of the best quality and by 1914 the German army had

10952-415: The blood of our soldiers uselessly on bloody and repetitive exercises that are doomed to failure. I do not hesitate to say that [...] I find this thinking dangerous, leading to a war of excess dangerous and risking the sacrifice of thousands of men without gain..." Albert I, in conversation with his minister (December 1916) Despite protecting the northern sector of the Western Front, the Belgian army at

11100-448: The bridge at Visé had been blown and were engaged by small-arms fire from the west bank. Jäger pushed the Belgians out of the village but the bridging train of the 34th Brigade was delayed and fire from the Liège forts made the area untenable. The 27th, 14th and 11th brigades reached their objectives from Mortroux to Julémont , Herve and Soiron . The 9th Cavalry Division, followed by the 2nd and 4th Cavalry divisions, advanced south of

11248-449: The brigade was on high ground north-west of Herstal, with its units mixed up and having suffered many casualties. Belgian troops counter-attacked from Liège and the troops were bombarded by Liers and Pontisse until 10:15 a.m., when Kraewel ordered a retreat, which had to run the gauntlet between the forts and suffered many more casualties. The retreat continued all the way back to the Meuse at Lixhe, with 1,180 casualties. The advance of

11396-432: The brigades scattered around the town. The 11th Brigade advanced into the town and joined the troops there on the western fringe. The 27th Brigade arrived by 8 August, along with the rest of the 11th and 14th brigades. Fort Barcheron fell after a bombardment by mortars and the 34th Brigade took over the defence of the bridge over the Meuse at Lixhe. On the southern front, the 38th and 43rd Brigades retreated towards Theux after

11544-434: The citadel and two at the base. A retractable searchlight was built behind the 150 mm turret with a range of 2–3 km (1.2–1.9 mi). Small forts had a 210 mm (8.3 in) howitzer cupola and three of the quick-firers. The heavy guns and quick-firers used black powder ammunition, long superseded in other armies, which raised clouds of smoke and obscured the view of the gunners. The 150 mm (5.9 in) guns had

11692-431: The city on 7 August when Erich Ludendorff drove in and convinced the garrison to surrender. The surrounding forts fought on and several attacks by German infantry were costly failures. Super-heavy siege guns arrived and destroyed the forts one by one; the last fort surrendered on 16 August. The siege of Liège may have delayed the German invasion of France by four to five days. Railways in the Meuse river valley needed by

11840-401: The dark, so that Liège could be attacked during the day. In the north, the 34th Brigade (Major-General von Kraewel) had eight battalions, less their artillery, as the rest of the brigade was on the far side of the Meuse being ferried over. The attack began on 6 August at 2:30 a.m. from the village of Hermée and was bombarded with shrapnel shell by the Belgian artillery, which disorganised

11988-557: The day the Guards Reserve Corps of the German 2nd Army arrived to the north of the fortress zone and the XI Corps of the 3rd Army, with the 22nd Division and the 38th Division , arrived to the south-east. A siege train, including one Krupp 420 mm and four Austrian 305 mm howitzers accompanied the German troops and on 20 August, Belgian outposts were driven in. Next day, the German super-heavy guns began to bombard

12136-438: The debatable, shot-riddled, no man's land between the lines. Here the agreement – all on their own – came to be made that we should not fire at each other until after midnight tonight. The men were all fraternizing in the middle (we naturally did not allow them too close to our line) and swapped cigarettes and lies in the utmost good fellowship. Not a shot was fired all night. Of the Germans he wrote: "They are distinctly bored with

12284-497: The east and two from the south. The attacks were supported by heavy artillery but the German infantry were repulsed with great loss. The attack at the Ourthe forced back the defenders between the forts, before counter-attacks by the 12th, 9th and 15th Brigades checked the German advance. Just before dawn, a small German raiding party tried to abduct the Governor from the Belgian headquarters in Rue Ste Foi. Alarmed by gunfire in

12432-463: The east bank forts of Chaudfontaine , Fléron , Évegnée , Barchon and Pontisse ; an attack on the Meuse, below the junction with the Vesdre, failed. A party of German troops managed to get between Fort de Barchon and the river Meuse, then was forced to retreat by the Belgian 11th Brigade. From the late afternoon into the night, the German infantry attacked in five columns, two from the north, one from

12580-418: The eastern and south-eastern forts. The Belgian defenders had no means of keeping the German siege guns out of range or engaging them with counter-battery fire. By evening two forts had been seriously damaged and after another 24 hours the forts were mostly destroyed. Two Belgian counter-attacks on 22 August were defeated and by the end of 23 August, the northern and eastern fronts were defenceless, with five of

12728-490: The evening, according to Robert Keating "The Germans were sending up star lights and singing – they stopped, so we cheered them & we began singing Land of Hope and Glory – Men of Harlech et cetera – we stopped and they cheered us. So we went on till the early hours of the morning". In an adjacent sector, a short truce to bury the dead between the lines led to repercussions; a company commander, Sir Iain Colquhoun of

12876-541: The field, taken from letters home to their families and editorials on "one of the greatest surprises of a surprising war". By 8 January 1915, pictures had made their way to the press, and the Mirror and Sketch printed front-page photographs of British and German troops mingling and singing between the lines. The tone of the reporting was strongly positive, with the Times endorsing the "lack of malice" felt by both sides and

13024-516: The first interpreter he met from the German lines was from Suffolk and had left his girlfriend and a 3.5 hp motorcycle. Hulse described a sing-song which "ended up with ' Auld lang syne ' which we all, English, Scots, Irish, Prussians, Württenbergers, etc, joined in. It was absolutely astounding, and if I had seen it on a cinematograph film I should have sworn that it was faked!" Captain Robert Miles, King's Shropshire Light Infantry , who

13172-456: The first of the much larger 420 mm howitzers , (L/12 420 mm (17 in) M-Gerät 14 Kurze Marine-Kanone ) and could call on Austro-Hungarian 305 mm howitzers ( Mörser M. 11). The Belgian 3rd Division (Lieutenant-General Gérard Léman) along with the attached 15th Infantry Brigade defended Liège. The division comprised five brigades and various other formations with c.  32,000 troops and 280 guns. The Army of

13320-470: The first volume of Der Weltkrieg (1925), the German official historians wrote that the Battle of Liège had ended just in time for the German armies to begin their march up the Meuse valley. The Aix-la-Chapelle–Liège railway line was operational by 15 August, although repairs had been necessary at the Nasproue tunnel and the line at Verviers, where 17 locomotives had been crashed together. The efforts of

13468-466: The force of c.  1,500 men isolated during the night. During the morning of 7 August, Emmich made "a desperate and bold decision" that the bridges in Liège were undefended and ordered the town to be occupied. Infantry Regiment 165 ( Oberst von Oven) crossed the river over the bridge and reached the north-western gate without resistance, taking several parties of Belgian infantry prisoner. Ludendorff, motoring ahead of Infantry Regiment 27 under

13616-427: The front throughout the war. These often began with agreement not to attack each other at tea, meal or washing times. In some places tacit agreements became so common that sections of the front would see few casualties for extended periods of time. This system, Ashworth argues, 'gave soldiers some control over the conditions of their existence'. The December 1914 Christmas Truces can therefore be seen as not unique but as

13764-414: The greatest range at 8,500 m (9,300 yd) but the black powder smoke limited the realistic range to about 1,500 m (1,600 yd). The forts contained magazines for the storage of ammunition, crew quarters for up to 500 men and electric generators for lighting. Provision had been made for the daily needs of the fortress troops but the latrines, showers, kitchens and the morgue had been built in

13912-589: The high ground overlooking Liège and captured the Citadel of Liège . Ludendorff sent a party forward to Léman under a flag of truce to demand surrender but Léman refused. Bülow gave command of the siege operations at Liège to the VII Corps commander (General Karl von Einem ) with the IX and X Corps under his command. The three corps had been ordered to advance over the Belgian border on 8 August. At Liège, on 7 August, Emmich sent liaison officers to make contact with

14060-453: The houses and delayed the advance, which did not reach Romsée until 5:30 a.m., where the Belgian 14th Regiment had been able to prepare defences. The Belgians were defeated but only after artillery had been brought forward; the advance towards Beyne-Heusay bogged down. Uncertainty about the flanks led Wachter to order a retirement to ravines east of Magnée, to gain cover against the bombardment from forts Pieron and Chaudfontaine. South of

14208-473: The impression that the Citadel had been captured, found that he was alone with the garrison and bluffed them into surrender. The town and the Meuse bridges had been captured with most of the railway lines intact. Emmich sent officers to make contact with the other brigades and the 11th Brigade began an advance into Liège at noon, through artillery fire from Fort Chaudfontaine, was in the town by evening and formed

14356-472: The infantry and their commanders was inadequate; attacking before the super-heavy artillery was ready had caused a disproportionate number of casualties. Tyng wrote that the delay imposed on the Germans was about 48 hours, although various authorities had claimed anything from no delay to five days. In 2001, Hew Strachan wrote that the German advance had been delayed by 48 hours because the concentration of German active corps had taken until 13 August. Liège

14504-468: The infantry, with leaflets requesting calm from Belgian civilians. On the right flank, II Cavalry Corps with the cavalry Division Garnier and the 34th Infantry Brigade, advanced to take the crossings over the Meuse at Visé , to reconnoitre towards Brussels and Antwerp and prevent the Belgian army from interfering with the attack on Liège. The advance into Belgium took place in suffocating hot weather; roadblocks slowed German progress; cavalry found that

14652-468: The infantry. A German battalion turned against Pontisse and the rest fought their way into Herstal , where a house-to-house fight against Belgian troops "and civilians" began and then took Préalle under flanking fire from forts Liers and Pontisse. Troops under Major von der Oelsnitz got into Liège and nearly captured General Léman, the Military Governor before being killed or captured. By dawn

14800-504: The informal cessations of hostility along the Western Front. The Germans placed candles on their trenches and on Christmas trees, then continued the celebration by singing Christmas carols. The British responded by singing carols of their own. The two sides continued by shouting Christmas greetings to each other. Soon thereafter, there were excursions across No Man's Land, where small gifts were exchanged, such as food, tobacco, alcohol, and souvenirs such as buttons and hats. The artillery in

14948-510: The left flank opposite the French frontier, from the c.  1,700,000 men which were expected to be mobilised in the Westheer (western army). The main German force would still advance through Belgium to attack southwards into France, the French armies would be enveloped on their left and pressed back over the Meuse, Aisne, Somme, Oise, Marne and Seine rivers, unable to withdraw into central France. The French would either be annihilated by

15096-598: The manoeuvre from the north or it would create conditions for victory in the centre or in Lorraine on the common border. At midnight on 31 July/1 August, the German government sent an ultimatum to Russia and announced a state of Kriegsgefahr during the day; the Ottoman government ordered mobilisation and the London Stock Exchange closed. On 1 August the British government ordered the mobilisation of

15244-457: The morning of 14 August and the garrison of Fort Fléron surrendered in the afternoon, after a Minenwerfer bombardment. The X Corps and the 17th Division were moved to the north and VII Corps to the south of the Liège–Brussels railway and on 15 August, a bombardment began on the forts to the west of the town. Fort Boncelles fell in the morning and Fort Lantin in the afternoon and Fort Loncin

15392-488: The most dramatic example of the spirit of non-cooperation with the war that included refusals to fight, unofficial truces, mutinies , strikes and peace protests. A Christmas truce memorial was unveiled in Frelinghien , France, on 11 November 2008. At the spot where their regimental ancestors came out from their trenches to play football on Christmas Day 1914, men from the 1st Battalion, The Royal Welch Fusiliers played

15540-458: The navy, the German government ordered general mobilisation and declared war on Russia. Hostilities commenced on the Polish frontier, the French government ordered general mobilisation and next day the German government sent an ultimatum to Belgium, demanding passage through Belgian territory, as German troops crossed the frontier of Luxembourg. Military operations began on the French frontier, Libau

15688-402: The night of 5/6 August and increased the garrison to c.  30,000 men. Léman deployed the infantry against attacks from the east and south. The terrain and fortresses at Liège favoured an attack by coup de main because the gaps between the forts had not been maintained and some areas were cut by deep ravines, immune to bombardment by the fortress artillery. The General Staff assumed

15836-439: The nine forts in ruins. The Namur garrison withdrew at midnight to the south-west and eventually managed to rejoin the Belgian field army at Antwerp; the last fort was surrendered on 25 August. Books Websites Books Websites Christmas truce 1915 1916 1917 1918 Associated articles The Christmas truce (German: Weihnachtsfrieden ; French: Trêve de Noël ; Dutch : Kerstbestand )

15984-414: The north, though in fact the main body of that force was still to the east and did not cross the Meuse until 8 August, when the reservists had arrived. Believing he would be trapped, Léman decided that the 3rd Infantry Division and 15th Infantry Brigade should withdraw westwards to the Gete, to join the Belgian field army. On 6 August, the Germans carried out the first air attack on a European city, when

16132-418: The number of men involved and the level of their participation—even in quiet sectors, dozens of men openly congregating in daylight was remarkable—and are often seen as a symbolic moment of peace and humanity amidst one of the most violent conflicts in human history. During the first eight weeks of World War I , French and British troops stopped the German attack through Belgium into France outside Paris at

16280-682: The opposing trenches. The Florentine newspaper La Nazione published a first-hand account about a football match played in no man's land . In Italy the lack of interest in the truce was probably due to the occurrence of other events, such as the Italian occupation of Vlorë , the debut of the Garibaldi Legion on the front of the Argonne and the earthquake in Avezzano . After 1914, sporadic attempts were made at seasonal truces; on

16428-520: The parapet saw the incredible sight of our soldiers exchanging cigarettes, schnapps and chocolate with the enemy". General Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien , commander of the II Corps , issued orders forbidding friendly communication with the opposing German troops. Adolf Hitler , a corporal in the 16th Bavarian Reserve Infantry, was also an opponent of the truce. In the Comines sector of the front there

16576-574: The plan for a swift attack. On 30 July, the Chief of the Belgian General Staff proposed a plan to counter a violation of Belgian territory by the German army, by assembling the field army astride the Gete River between Hannut , Sint-Truiden , Tienen , Hamme and Mille. The King rejected this, as it was directed only at a German invasion and ordered a deployment further west from Perwez , Tienen, Leuven and Wavre . On 1 August,

16724-414: The popular tendency has been to see the December 1914 Christmas Truces as unique and of romantic rather than political significance, they have also been interpreted as part of the widespread spirit of non-cooperation with the war. In his book on trench warfare, Tony Ashworth described the 'live and let live system'. Complicated local truces and agreements not to fire at each other were negotiated by men along

16872-464: The prohibition. On the German side, a general order from 29 December 1914 already forbade fraternisation with the enemy, warning German troops that "every approach to the enemy...will be punished as treason". Richard Schirrmann from Altena (North Rhine Westphalia, Germany) ,the founder of the „Jugendherberge“ and a soldier in a German regiment holding a position on the Bernhardstein, one of

17020-427: The region fell silent. The truce also allowed a breathing spell during which recently killed soldiers could be brought back behind their lines by burial parties. Joint services were held. In many sectors the truce lasted through Christmas night, continuing until New Year's Day in others. On Christmas Day Brigadier-General Walter Congreve , commander of the 18th Infantry Brigade , stationed near Neuve Chapelle , wrote

17168-451: The reorganisation of the Belgian army begun in 1911, which was not scheduled to be complete until 1926. The forts also had c.  26,000 soldiers and 72 field guns of the 3rd Infantry Division and 15th Infantry Brigade to defend the gaps between forts, c.  6,000 fortress troops and members of the paramilitary Garde Civique , equipped with rifles and machine-guns. The garrison of c.  32,000 men and 280 guns

17316-499: The resistance of the Liège garrisons may have stopped the Germans from reaching the area by 10 August. General Karl von Bülow , commander of the 2nd Army, wrote that Liège had been besieged by six composite brigades and a cavalry corps and on 10 August, OHL had hoped to begin the advance to the French border three days later but that the siege delayed the march until 17 August. In 1934, the British historian Charles Cruttwell , wrote of "brave Belgian resistance" at Liège, which surprised

17464-422: The same day, ordered the 2nd Army units assembled near the Belgian border, to advance and send mixed brigades from the IX, VII and X corps to Liège immediately. Large numbers of German troops did not arrive in the vicinity of Namur until 19–20 August, too late to forestall the arrival of the 8th Brigade, which having been isolated at Huy, had blown the bridge over the Meuse on 19 August and retired to Namur. During

17612-448: The sides settled on little more than arrangements to recover bodies. The following year, a few units arranged ceasefires but the truces were not nearly as widespread as in 1914; this was, in part, due to strongly worded orders from commanders, prohibiting truces. Soldiers were no longer amenable to truce by 1916; the war had become increasingly bitter after the human losses suffered during the battles of 1915. The truces were not unique to

17760-401: The south, the 9th Cavalry Division rested its horses and held the crossings of the Ourthe and Amblève rivers . Guarding the attacking corps from cavalry reported to be between Huy and Durbuy , rather than push on to take the Meuse crossings between Liège and Huy; the southern brigades closed up to the Ourthe at Esneux , Poulseur and Fraiture . By the evening of 5 August, the coup de main

17908-542: The state of the ground, but that the contemporary reports were either hearsay or refer to kick-abouts with made-up footballs such as a bully-beef tin. Chris Baker, former chairman of the Western Front Association and author of The Truce: The Day the War Stopped , was also sceptical but says that although there is little evidence the most likely place that an organised match could have taken place

18056-486: The street, Léman and his staff rushed outside and joined the guard platoon fighting the raiding party, which was driven off with twenty dead and wounded left behind. German cavalry moved south from Visé to encircle the town; German cavalry patrols had been operating up to 20 km (12 mi) west of Liege, leading Léman to believe that the German II Cavalry Corps was encircling the fortified area from

18204-439: The time that the war of manoeuvre ended. Rations were brought up to the front line after dusk and soldiers on both sides noted a period of peace while they collected their food. By 1 December, a British soldier could record a friendly visit from a German sergeant one morning "to see how we were getting on". Relations between French and German units were generally more tense but the same phenomenon began to emerge. In early December,

18352-476: The trenches was the hissing, cracking and whining of bullets in flight, machinegun fire and distant German voices. But there was a dead silence that morning, right across the land as far as you could see. We shouted 'Merry Christmas', even though nobody felt merry. The silence ended early in the afternoon and the killing started again. It was a short peace in a terrible war. A German Lieutenant, Johannes Niemann, wrote "grabbed my binoculars and looking cautiously over

18500-416: The truce for fear of German snipers. Bruce Bairnsfather , who fought throughout the war, wrote: I wouldn't have missed that unique and weird Christmas Day for anything.... I spotted a German officer, some sort of lieutenant I should think, and being a bit of a collector, I intimated to him that I had taken a fancy to some of his buttons.... I brought out my wire clippers and, with a few deft snips, removed

18648-479: The two days anticipated by the Germans. For 18 days, Belgian resistance in the east of the country had delayed German operations, which gave an advantage to the Franco-British forces in northern France and in Belgium. In Graf Schlieffen und der Weltkrieg (1921) Wolfgang Förster wrote that the German timetable of deployment had required its armies to reach a line from Thionville to Sedan and Mons by

18796-418: The village was captured around dawn. By noon, the brigade had reached high ground near a Carthusian convent and saw a white flag flying on the Citadel over the river. An officer was sent forward to investigate and found that the flag was unauthorised and was repudiated by Léman. Attempts were made to contact flanking units but communications to the rear had been cut and no ammunition had been delivered, which left

18944-480: The war.... In fact, one of them wanted to know what on earth we were doing here fighting them." The truce in that sector continued into Boxing Day; he commented about the Germans, "The beggars simply disregard all our warnings to get down from off their parapet, so things are at a deadlock. We can't shoot them in cold blood.... I cannot see how we can get them to return to business." On Christmas Eve and Christmas Day (24 and 25 December) 1914, Alfred Anderson 's unit of

19092-434: The week leading up to 25 December, French, German and British soldiers crossed trenches to exchange seasonal greetings and talk. In some areas, men from both sides ventured into no man's land on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day to mingle and exchange food and souvenirs. There were joint burial ceremonies and prisoner swaps , while several meetings ended in carolling . Hostilities continued in some sectors, while in others

19240-404: The western side of the city. German artillery bombarded the forts and Fort Fléron was put out of action when its cupola-hoisting mechanism was destroyed by the bombardment. On the night of 6/7 August German infantry were able to advance between the forts and during the early morning of 7 August, Ludendorff took command of the attack, ordered up a field howitzer and fought through Queue-du-Bois to

19388-555: The years, often naming units or the score. Some accounts of the game bring in elements of fiction by Robert Graves , a British poet and writer (and an officer on the front at the time) who reconstructed the encounter in a story published in 1962; in Graves's version the score was 3–2 to the Germans. The truth of the accounts has been disputed by some historians. In 1984 Malcolm Brown and Shirley Seaton concluded that there were probably attempts to play organised matches that failed owing to

19536-539: Was a series of widespread unofficial ceasefires along the Western Front of the First World War around Christmas 1914. The truce occurred five months after hostilities had begun. Lulls occurred in the fighting as armies ran out of men and munitions and commanders reconsidered their strategies following the stalemate of the Race to the Sea and the indecisive result of the First Battle of Ypres . In

19684-643: Was an early fraternisation between German and French soldiers in December 1914, during a short truce, and there are at least two other testimonials from French soldiers of similar behaviour in sectors where German and French companies opposed each other. Gervais Morillon wrote to his parents "The Boches waved a white flag and shouted 'Kamarades, Kamarades, rendez-vous'. When we didn't move they came towards us unarmed, led by an officer. Although we are not clean they are disgustingly filthy. I am telling you this but don't speak of it to anyone. We must not mention it even to other soldiers". Gustave Berthier wrote "On Christmas Day

19832-728: Was attached to the Royal Irish Rifles , recalled in an edited letter that was published in the Daily Mail and the Wellington Journal & Shrewsbury News in January 1915, following his death in action on 30 December 1914: Friday (Christmas Day). We are having the most extraordinary Christmas Day imaginable. A sort of unarranged and quite unauthorized but perfectly understood and scrupulously observed truce exists between us and our friends in front. The funny thing

19980-497: Was awarded the French Légion d'honneur in 1914. The effect of German and Austrian super-heavy artillery on French and Belgian fortresses in 1914 led to a loss of confidence in fortifications; much of the artillery of fortress complexes in France and Russia was removed to reinforce field armies. At the Battle of Verdun in 1916, the resilience of French forts proved to have been underestimated. In 2009 Herwig wrote that

20128-550: Was bombarded by a German light cruiser SMS  Augsburg and the British government guaranteed naval protection for French coasts. On 3 August the Belgian Government refused German demands and the British Government guaranteed military support to Belgium, should Germany invade. Germany declared war on France, the British government ordered general mobilisation and Italy declared neutrality. On 4 August

20276-427: Was captured after a bombardment. IX Corps isolated Fort Pontisse on 12 August and began a bombardment of Forts Pontisse and Fléron during the afternoon, with 380 mm (15 in) coastal mortars and Big Bertha 420 mm (17 in) siege howitzers. The VII Corps heavy artillery began to fire on Fort Chaudfontaine, Fort Pontisse was surrendered and IX Corps crossed the Meuse to attack Fort Liers. Fort Liers fell in

20424-426: Was insufficient to man the forts and field fortifications. In early August 1914, the garrison commander was unsure of the troops which he would have at his disposal, since until 6 August, it was possible that all of the Belgian army would advance towards the Meuse. The terrain in the fortress zone was difficult to observe from the forts because many ravines ran between them. Interval defences had been built just before

20572-626: Was music; in peaceful sectors, it was not uncommon for units to sing in the evenings, sometimes deliberately with an eye towards entertaining or gently taunting their opposite numbers. This shaded gently into more festive activity; in early December, Sir Edward Hulse of the Scots Guards wrote that he was planning to organise a concert party for Christmas Day, which would "give the enemy every conceivable form of song in harmony" in response to frequent choruses of Deutschland Über Alles . Roughly 100,000 British and German troops were involved in

20720-400: Was near the village of Messines : "There are two references to a game being played on the British side, but nothing from the Germans. If somebody one day found a letter from a German soldier who was in that area, then we would have something credible". Lieutenant Kurt Zehmisch of the 134th Saxon Infantry Regiment said that the English "brought a soccer ball from their trenches, and pretty soon

20868-490: Was obliterated in a magazine explosion; Léman was captured. Forts Hollogne and Flémalle were surrendered on the morning of 16 August after a short bombardment. By the morning of 17 August, the German 1st Army , 2nd Army and 3rd Army were free to resume their advance to the French frontier. The Belgian field army withdrew from the Gete towards Antwerp from 18 to 20 August and Brussels was captured unopposed on 20 August. The siege of Liège had lasted for eleven days, rather than

21016-462: Was occasionally recorded, though these may simply have reflected a seasonal extension of the live-and-let-live approach common in the trenches. On 24 May 1915, Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) and troops of the Ottoman Empire at Gallipoli agreed to a 9-hour truce to retrieve and bury their dead, during which opposing troops "exchang(ed) smiles and cigarettes". Although

21164-463: Was over". He was separated from the French troops by a narrow No Man's Land and described the landscape "Strewn with shattered trees, the ground ploughed up by shellfire, a wilderness of earth, tree-roots and tattered uniforms". Military discipline was soon restored but Schirrmann pondered over the incident and whether "thoughtful young people of all countries could be provided with suitable meeting places where they could get to know each other". He founded

21312-402: Was published, claiming it was restricted to the British sector of the front and amounted to little more than an exchange of songs, which quickly degenerated into shooting. The press of neutral Italy published a few articles on the events of the truce, usually reporting the articles of the foreign press. On 30 December 1914 Corriere della Sera printed a report about fraternisation between

21460-418: Was ready but it was obvious that no surprise could be obtained, given the resistance of the Belgian army "and civilians" in densely populated country, where movement had been slowed by hedges and fences. An envoy was sent to the fortress commander in Liège, who replied with "Frayez-vous le passage" ("You must fight your way through"). Emmich considered that delay would benefit the defenders and continued with

21608-539: Was the opening engagement of the German invasion of Belgium and the first battle of the First World War . The city of Liège was protected by a ring of modern fortresses, one of several fortified cities to delay an invasion to allow troops from the powers which had guaranteed Belgian neutrality to assist the Belgian Army in the expulsion of the invaders. The German 1st Army arrived late 5 August 1914 and captured

21756-478: Was unable to cross the river at Lixhe until 5:00 a.m., due to artillery fire from Liège and the 34th Brigade managed to cross by 10:30 p.m., only by leaving behind the artillery and supplies. The 27th Brigade reached its jumping-off positions from Argeteau to St. Remy and La Vaux and had mortars commence firing at the forts in the afternoon; an attack on Fort Barchon was repulsed. The 14th and 11th brigades reached their objectives with some fighting at Forêt and in

21904-467: Was wounded and Belgian small-arms fire at the rear of the column, threw it into confusion. The Belgian defences were captured by the morning of 6 August but the brigades had become mingled; Boncelles village was captured but fire from the fort forced the Germans into woods to the north-west. Attacks were made later against high ground south and south-west of Ougrée. Skirmishing went on all day, with many casualties around Fort Boncelles; as ammunition ran short,

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