Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1914-09-10
FALL OF NAMUR EXPLAINED
Fire Of Germans so Terrible Defend.
ers Can Make no Reply.
FOG OF HELP TO AsSAILANTs
Guns 90 Tcutons OutrauRc Those 81
BeIRIans and Latter Have Go Lite
Fiat waItinR End OF
shooting.


oSTENp. Belgium. Sent. e.-via Tom
don)--The remnant OF the Nsmur CART
son has arrived here. brining a story
witch explains to some extent why
stronghold believed so nearly impreg-
rahle fell.
OF 5000 men IN the forest In tho en-
vironments Of Namur. i2,ON have returned
90 Belgian soil making the Belgian loss
AZ Namur In killed. wounded and miss
ing iA0o0.
II seems that under cover Of the fog.
the Germans finally got their new siege
guns into positions from which they
could concentrate their fire on a single
point OF the Namur dofenscs. The guns
were at minimum distance Of three
miles from the Belgian trenches and
consequently outranEed the Belgian guns.
Can't Fire In Return.
without troubling about the forts,
said one of the survivors. tho Germans
first centered their rain of steel upon our
entertainments. For ten hours cur brave
young fellows stood the terrible ordeal
unable to fire a shot In return. Any man
rlsl;lnc his head above the fire swept
rainparts had it blown off. Lyins flat on
our stomachs. all we could do was to
wait for tho firing To end Whole regi-
ments were being deciminated. The loss
among our officers was terrible.
Meanwhile many German guns had
been turned on the forts, especially
Maizeret and Msrchovelette. The men "
them. armed with guns Of much smaller
caliber than the Germans, could offer
but feeble resistance. Maizeret. in fact.
rf,,rg
not less than 200 shells at the rate Of
twenty a minute
Seventy-fivc Perish.
AT Marcbovellette seventy-tive men
persisted at the batteries and both forts
soon surrendered The other works, how
ever we're stll holding out when the army
lett the town. SO much confidence had
been placed In General Michael and his
staffs ability to hold the fortress, that
! the eventual retirement of the forces had
| not been provided for and as a result
! the greatest confusion ensued. No pro-
vision had been made for the destruction
/ OF stores and these. together with the
! fortress artillery and most OF the field
artillery, fell into the hands of the enemy
| At the cadet school alone was stOrs OF
| 100000 rstions.
Ambulance Corps suffers.
The ambulance corps was a heavy sur.
=, ferer through lack of organization losing
! $50 out OF 800 men. Many of our sick and
! wounded were left behind in Namur, but
I such as could be moved were got thfougr
to the French lines and eventually were
transferred to French hospitals
"On the retreat the narrow road wal
choked with men, horses and vehicles o.
our enormous park OF motor cars only
two were saved, for the Germans entered
the town close on our heels.
1--WE were doomed to disappointment
after disappointment. The French ha,
been obliged to fall back and could onl!
send us two regiments. These bravel!
fought their way to us, joining us II
t greatly reduced numbers not far fror
t Namur. Our generals had believed tina
] the destruction OF the bridge at Jambe
would cover our retreat but the German;
= moving more rapidly. cut our retreat nes
, Boise De Vilers, six miles from NamuI
where their machine guns made cea
2 sweep of the several motors filled wit
r Belgian officers. At last we cut our wa
: through. but at a terrible loss.
Lose Most of Officers.
Here the Eighth and Thirteenth reg
ments especially distinguished them
selves. They lost nearly all OF their OF
!, ficers. One of our commisariat train
fell into the hands of the enemy. Gu
troops continued their retreat, ever pun
sued ever harassed. Moreover We tum
bled right into the path of the Frenc
I retreat from Charleroi and it was nS
until we got to Philippeville that OF
E troops were pulled together again and Re
, formed