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The Battle of Liège (5–16 August 1914) 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 Battle of Charleroi was fought on 21 August 1914, between French and German forces and was part of the Battle of the Frontiers. The French were planning an attack across the river Sambre, when the Germans attacked and the French Fifth army was forced into a retreat, which prevented the German army from enveloping and destroying the French.
The fort was heavily bombarded by German artillery in the Battle of Liège. Barchon was upgraded in the 1930s in an attempt to forestall or slow an attack from Germany. It saw action in 1940 during the Battle of Belgium, and was captured by German forces. It is preserved as a museum and may be visited by the public.
During the battle of Liège the forts were pounded by heavy German artillery of 21 cm, 28 cm and 42 cm. The forts had never been designed to resist such heavy artillery. The bombardment exposed the forts' shortcomings in living arrangements, sanitation, ventilation, construction and protection, culminating with the explosion of the Fort de ...
The invasion of Belgium or Belgian campaign [2] (10–28 May 1940), often referred to within Belgium as the 18 Days' Campaign (French: Campagne des 18 jours; Dutch: Achttiendaagse Veldtocht), formed part of the larger Battle of France, an offensive campaign by Germany during the Second World War.
The forts were built in a ring around Namur about 7 km (4.3 mi) from the city center. After the Franco-Prussian War (1870–1871), Germany and France fortified extensively their new frontier in Alsace and Lorraine. The comparatively undefended Meuse valley through Belgium provided an alternative for invasions of France or Germany.
[citation needed] By the end of the war, Germany would be at war with 27 nations. Ludendorff, with the Kaiser's blessing, [36] helped Lenin and other 30 or so revolutionaries in exile return to Russia. [37] Ludendorff agreed to send the Bolsheviks in Switzerland by train through Germany from where they would then travel to Russia via Sweden. [38]
The conscription of German men at the start of the war created a manpower shortage in German factories important for the war effort. From 1915, the Germans encouraged Belgian civilians to enlist voluntarily to work in Germany but the 30,000 recruits of the policy proved insufficient to meet demands. [12]