The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-10-08


 were opened from inside. The few hundred Belgians who were there sur rendered at my summons.
 The brigade now came up and took possession of the citadel, which im- mediately put in a state of defense.
 My self-imposed task was now at an end. and l could ask General von Emmich to release me, I intended to leave the fortress by the way I had come, as I wanted to report what had happened to army headquarters, as- certain the whereabouts of other brig ades, and give directions for the bring ing up of the artillery against the forts.
 While I was still in the citadel, sew eral hundred German soldiers turned up. who had been taken prisoners and afterwards released. The leading units of the 34th infantry brigade had brok- en through to the west bank of the Mouse. The action had then been broken off so that the suscessfT$ de- This brigade now arrived, and subse- quently the 11th and 27th, so that when I left General von Emmich he had quite respectable force at his disposal.
 On the other hand news reached us that the French were approaching from Namur, so the situation was still ex- tremely serious. In fact, it could only be regarded as saved when some of the eastern forts had fallen.
 BERLIN FEARS HE IS LOST
 My leave taking from General von Emmich moved me deeply I started at seven o'clock for Aix-la Chapelle and had a somewhat peculiar journey. man of the Garde Civique offered to take me there. He selected car, but declined it. The car l ultimately took broke down before we were out of the citadel, and so I had no choice but to trust myself blindly to the Bel gian soldier.
 For time all went we'll We passed through Nerve where I found that my former headquarters and the sta- tion had been burned down. On reach ing German territory, the driver stop ped suddenly, and told me he could not go any further. Availing myself of various modes of conveyance, I reach ed Aix-la- Chapelle late at night with my Belgian soldier.
 At the Hotel Union I was greeted as one risen from the dead My orderly, Rudolph Peters, who served me faith fully for six long years, was still there with my baggage. His greatest am bition was to get the Iron Cross, but as this would have been contrary to my views on the subject it was not given him.
 
 and then started off during the night on my search for the brigndes. hnd not had my clothes off for nearly ninety hours by chance I came across my old regiment which had been hurried1y rallied mp to help mt Liege. under stood that General Headquarters in Berlin had been entertaining the srav- est fears for our safety.
 The situation of the troops in the | citadel was certainly critical, and was very anxious about them but the l tension relaxed as the enemy remained l inactive
 HELPED IN CAPTURE OF FORT The chronicle of the subsequent events at Liege is the province of off, l cial history. I may mention. however | that I happened to assist at the capture | of Fort Pontsse on the north front and arrived at Fort Loncin. just s il l fell. It had been hit by a shell from l one of our 42 cm. howitzers. The magazine had been blown up and the I whole work collapsed.
 1 A number of daxed and blackened soldiers crnwled out of the ruins, nc. | compnnied by some Germans who hnt been taken prisoner the night Oi l the 5th-6th August. All bleeding. thes came towards with their hands up l stammerinE out, "Nes pms tuer, nc pa: l tuer!, (sDon't kill, Don't kiIl!") We were no Huns, md our men fetch. 1 ed water to refresh our enemies l We gradually got possession of al 1 the works, just in time to enable tht 1 right wing of the German army t' l continue it's march over the Meus' ! into Belgium without hindrance.. ! I great load was taken off my mind. I have always regarded it as a grea l piece of luck that I was able to b. I present at the taking of Liege, if onl, because I had worked on the plan O l attack in peace time, and had alway! been impressed with the importance | of the operation. His Majesty be slowed on me the Order Pour le Merit, for my leadership of the brigade. O 1 course General von Emmich received l it too, as General Officer in Com l mand, for his was the responsibility Besides the taking of Liege was no l a one-man feat. but the result of tn, cooperation of a number, and tn, glory ofsreducing the fortress must b. divided among them.
 SAW DEVASTATION 1 I took part in the further advanc, into Belgium in my capacity as Guar | termaster-General. and thus had al opportunity of gaining a thorough in sight into all questions affecting tn lsupply of an army, Knowledge whicl made my subsequent position as Chic of staff much easier. In my journey ings through the country, I came t I Andenne, where I saw . grusome, dis
 tressing example of the devastation that follows franc-tireur operations. On August 21 I was present at tn crossing of the Sambre, by the 2n Guards Division, west of Namur. Tn preliminarie of the great collisio were carried through with perfec calm. It was wonderful to see tn magnificent men of the Augusta Regi T ment go into battle.
 (Published by special arrangemen with the Mcclure Newspaper Syndicate Copyrighted, 1919, by Harper an
 Brothers. All rights reserved. Copy righted in Great Britain by Hutchin son and company and the Londo
 Times, in Spain by Messrs. Siex an
 Bariel, in Italy by Fratelli Treves. i 1 Canada and Australia. All rights re served for France, Belgium, Holland i Russia, and the Scandinavian countries.
 Tn the next instAllment General Lud . endorff tells how he was hurried t East Prussia as Chief of Staff wit
 HindenburE to check the dangerou
 march of the Russian armies towar