page_title: Siege of Namur (1914)
section_title: Bombardment
hierarchical_section_title: Siege of Namur (1914) / Siege / Bombardment
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: 30.5 cm Mörser bei Brzezanyin, 1915 (Korps-Kommando Hoffmann)
context_page_description: The Siege of Namur was a battle between Belgian and German forces around the fortified city of Namur during World War I. Namur was defended by a ring of modern fortresses, known as the Fortified Position of Namur and guarded by the Belgian 4th Division. When the siege began on 20 August, the German forces used experience gained at the Battle of Liège and bombarded the forts using German super-heavy siege artillery and four batteries on loan from Austria-Hungary, before attacking with infantry.
  The French army was defeated at the Battle of Charleroi and managed to pass only one regiment into Namur as a reinforcement. The forts were destroyed by the bombardment, some being demolished by conventional heavy artillery rather than the siege guns, due to flaws in the concrete protection encasing the forts. The last of the Belgian fortress troops were forced to surrender on 25 August, after the survivors of the Belgian 4th Division had withdrawn to the south through the French Fifth Army and eventually joined the Belgian field army at Antwerp during the siege.
context_section_description: The bombardment on 21 August was interrupted by fog and by noon the artillery on the north-east and south-east fronts had only fired on forts Marchovelette, Maizeret, Andoy and the intervening ground. The Belgian reply had been meagre and the 1st Guard Reserve Division advanced to the area of Hemptinne and Meeffe. The 3rd Guard Division reached the edges of the villages of Marchovelette, Gelbressée and Wartet, the 22nd Division reached a line near Thon, Goyet and Faulx and the 38th Division reached Andenne. Scrutiny of the ground to the east and south-east of Namur found that it was full of steep ravines and unsuitable for attack, which led Gallwitz to reduce the attack there to a feint and ordered the 38th Division to move to the north bank by the next day.
  Rainy weather hampered German photographic reconnaissance aircraft but the 1st Guard Reserve and 38th divisions were to make the main attack between Daussoulx and Gelbressée, as the 3rd Guard Division waited in reserve. The artillery was directed to commence firing on fort Cognelée. On 22 August the Belgian defenders made two counter-attacks and the 3rd Guard Division was drawn into fighting near Marchovelette, which disorganised the attack and led to a delay until the next day. The bombardment continued, with the artillery commanders being certain that the effect had been devastating and the infantry commanders, engineers and air crews pointing out that return fire from the Belgian forts and intermediate positions had not diminished.
caption: Austro-Hungarian 305mm siege gun
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