The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1914-08-11
GERMANS FALL
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mich for the surrender of the forts.
Officials of the war office say that this
reply was sent to the German Com
mand:
1.-THE Belgians may die, but they will
[never surrender"
"lron Corps" In Action.
Resumption of the battle indicates
that the German forces have been re-
inforced by the Third Army corps, the
Iron Corps" numbering 10000 men.
II this is correct the Germans now
have 100000 troops operating against
Liege.
The main attack did not begin until
dawn. An attack has been made upon
Fort Seraing, south of Liege, where a
sever conflict took place. In the dark
ness a German column was sent for
ward to take Fort Seraing at the point
of the bayonet. The advancing troops
were revealed, however, by the flash
lights on the fort, and the Belgian ar
tillery was turned upon the German
troops.
Bursting shells tore great gaps in
the ranks of the advancing troops, but
they continued to move forward, en-
! couraged by their officers. The slopes
| leading to the glacis of the fort was
! quickly strewn with dead, the Bel
gian gunners having no difficulty to
| find the exact range under the glare
of the searchlights.
The ramparts were aflame, but the
only sound which came from the Ger
| mans were the battle cry, Onward
with the Fatherland."
300 Germans Fall.
It is estimated that at least 800 Ger
man soldiers showed wonderful gallan-
try. In the face of the terrific canno-
nades they moved forward without fall
tering.
1t was necessary for the advancing
troops to cross bridge upon which
some of the guns of the fort concen-
! trated their fire. The structure, weak
| ened by the salvoes, soon collapsed
carrying hundreds of soldiers into the
water beneath.
The men who had succeeded in
crossing before the bridge was torn
away did not stay their advance, but
moved steadily forward in the face of
| the whitening fire. The vanguard gain
ed the barbed wire abbatis in front of
! the fort and were tearing it away
when the Belgian machine guns were
turned loose.
! Troops Fell Back.
! The van of the Germans was quickly
| swept away and the troops were COM
PEELED to fall back.
At the head of 100 troops in the van
guard of the assault was Prince Will
liam of Lippe. His body was identified
by the Belgians who left the fort after
the"Germans had retired to bury the
dead.
| By the side of the Prince lay his
son. Both had been killed in the ma
chine gun fire. The bodies were buried
with military honors, under the walls
of the fort.
The bodies of the Belgian soldiers
that fell or were thrown into the river
Meuse during the early stages of the
fighting around the Liege forts, are
now coming to the surface in large
numbers below Fort Pontain, about
five miles northwest of Liege.
| It was around Fort Pontain and the
adjacent Belgian works that the Ger
mans had concentrated their attack in
the first three days of the fighting. The
German military experts had conclud-
ed that the Belgian line of defense
was the weakest at this point, but
these conclusions were subsequently
proved false.
Forts Resemble AnthiIls.
| Fort Pontain, like the other FORTH.
| cations around Liege, are likened to
great iron anthills. The works are not
extensive in size, SO as to lessen the
size of the tarket against which the
enemy's guns might be directed. The
muzzles of the Belgian cannon and
machine guns project above smooth
metal approaches, known as glacis
These had been creased with plumba
go so that they could not be easily
traversed by the infantry.
The forts are built upon eminences
which command the surrounding coun
try. German artillery officers who di
rected the opening assault upon the
forts had gone back to the days O.
Napoleon, and had copied after thu
genius of the Corsican in their attack
Grand Assault Fails.
Instead of trying to reduce thu
works with artillery the German Off
GERS decided to carry them with
grand assault under cover of a can
nonade. The German soldiers tough
with great courage, but their artiller
was not heavy enough to make an
impression upon the solid defense Q
the Belgians. The balls from the sieg
guns ratified harmlessly off the Be
gian works doing practically no dan
age.
Despite the futility of the artiller
: fire, the German infantry and cavalr
. continued their advance, the Germa
. generals hurting their men forwar
, time after time under storm of lea
, which left long rows of dead and dy
: ing Soon masses of corpses wer
. piled up along the slopes leading t
the forts. One Belgian officer descrit
, ed the scene saying: THE dead ar
piled up like haystacks."
CARNAGE 10 Awful.