Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-11-07

die of this line. the land troops bein~
placed on either flank of the sailors
and marines. Behind them lay tho
heavy artillery SO far back as to be out
of reach of shells from the forts.
Fire was opened September Is. anu
by nightfall of September 30 Forc
Waelhem was considered ripe for
storming. a night attack was ordered
Volunteers were called for. Pioneers.
marines and sailors competed Tor mo
dangerous honor. y forlorn hope
advance, given life preservers ana
hand greuades and sent forward ~
swim the moat. cut the wire en'ansie
nents and cover the advance or mo
main storminG column. heh WIN
so yards of the fort, however, the Ger
mans were received with such mur-
derous tirc. particularly from beislai,
canister. that further advance WIS
impossible. l.. 49,.
life" tnterjected at this point lieu-
tenant of pioneers. who had oecn iist-
ening to thestaff otficerS uescr. pe.o,
and supplying him with occisiohai
dates and other details. We sruppeu
out holes with hands. feet. paSohets,
working together-anything TO Set
shelter from that fire. FinshE we sot
orders to fall back and abanoon VI,
storm. Luckily for us the attack Was
made at night. otherwise the Belgiahs
would have got every one of US.
HlNeu 1lSo ASia.
The German lines fell back 800 yards
to give the artillery a free field ana at
daybreak the bombardmcnt was re-
sumed. At $50 pm. the white flag ap-
peared on the fort The commander.
Maj Witte. said that his guns were all
out of action and that he could no
longer hold his men TO the work. These
had even followed the retiring Ger
hss in
tack after the unsuCccss. al attempt 10
storm, but after seeing their COM
rades torn to pieces by exploding shells
or buried under the uptorn walls re
fused to man the works longer, even
though as was stated the commander
had shot twenty OF them. The rem
nant of the garrison, about go men.
were allowed in consideration OF their
honors of war. A German guard
formed up and presented arms to the
little Belgian garrison defling by to
stack arms outside the fort The ON
GERS were allowed to retain their
swords.
Fort Wavre-St. Catherine was also a
difficult nut for the German forces to
crack. moat about fifty yards wide
and elaborate wire entanglements
Charged with a high tension electric
current. according to German accounD
ma king the fort apparently almost i'm
pregnable to direct attack. Neverthe
less volunteers in plenty were found
for the task. The capture of this fort
and of the railroad redoubt brouGh; tn"
attackers to the second line of drfenS..
the Nethe.
Working like beavers since the out
break of the war. the Bclgians had con-
verted this natural obstacle. into yer
liable fortress Successive lines -
trenches, shelter pits and honlbproofH
had been built for the infantry: pos
tons for the field guns were scattered
everywhere; wire entanglements h19
been laid even in the Hooded portions o
the river valley. the water also hid-r
deep trenches dug at irregular int"f-
walls in all directions. and eEcryHA n' =
before the lines We're dug wolf
holes''-deep conical pits filled to tn
brim with mud. which hid sharp steel
spikes TO impale any one stepping int"
them. Fifty-four heavy guns from ih.
forts were brought to this line and
mounted behind earthworks.
Under Vigorous Fire.
The Germans gradually fought their
way to this line and there intrenched.
the hostile trenches being separated by
the width of the flooded valley. SO
vigorous was the fire that a head could
scarcely be shown above the trench
without drawing a fusillade, and the
German and Belgian rif1emen resorted
to the time-worn eXpedient of holding
up their caps to draw the enemy's fire,
giving themselves a chance to get III
an aimed shot. The Belgian machine
guns, with steel shields pierced only
with narrow Sits for aiming. gave par
ticular trouble. the Belgians spraying
the rims of the German trenches with
these to keep down the infantry fire.
The dead in these trenches were all, ac
cording to the German officers. killed
by head shots.
| The position was found to be so for
midable that the German lines We're re-
tired from the river bank and the Ger
man artillery was given the task Of
reducing the Belgian lines sufficiently
! to permit the infantry to resume the
attack with some hope of success. The
| infantry fire was finally beaten down
and Il crossing was forced near the
town of Lierre. which lay in the mill
die of the flood district. German pio-
neers swimming across under cover Of
darkness and laying bridges, over
which the infantry and field artillery
dashed under heavy artillery fire. This
success turned the flank of the Belgian
position, the passages were forced at
various points, and by october Z the
German troops were everywhere across
the Nethe.
Belgian Defense Collapses.
With this success the Belgian defense
practically collapsed. The Belgian