Siege during World War I
The siege of Maubeuge took place from 24 August – 7 September 1914, at the Entrenched Camp of Maubeuge () the start of the First World War on the Western Front. The railway from Thionville (Diedenhofen, 1871–1919) to Luxembourg City, Arlon and Namur into Belgium had been cut by the demolition of the rail bridge over the Meuse at Namur in Belgium. During the siege, the German armies in the north could use only the single-track line from Trier to Liège, Brussels, Valenciennes and Cambrai, which could accommodate a maximum of forty trains a day.
At the end of August the garrison made several sorties but the third was a costly failure, after which the French prepared to receive the German attack. The German bombardment began at 1:00 p.m. on 29 August, assisted by agents in the Entrenched Position who passed reports on the fall of shot, greatly increasing the accuracy of the German guns. The forts and infantry shelters () were wrecked by the German and Austrian super-heavy howitzers; German medium artillery proved unexpectedly effective.
Parts of Maubeuge were set on fire, causing an exodus of civilians and deserters to the village of Hautmont to the south-west. From 1 to 7 September, the French were forced out into the open and infantry attacks from the east gradually overran the French defences on both sides of the Sambre, forcing the survivors back level with Maubeuge. Brigadier-General Joseph Fournier, the governor of Maubeuge, surrendered to General Hans von Zwehl on 7 September, effective at noon the next day.
The French suffered 5,000 casualties and up to 49,000 troops went into captivity, along with several hundred guns and machine-guns; German casualties were 1,100–5,000 men. The garrison had withstood bombardment by heavy and super-heavy artillery, air raids and infantry attacks for fifteen days, longer than any other besieged fortress in Belgium or France, leaving the German 2nd Army short of troops as it pursued the Franco-British Armies southwards towards the Marne.
Background.
1871–1914.
After the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871 the French built more fortresses on the German border and extended the frontier fortifications northwards with new building at Hirson, Maubeuge, Lille and Dunkirk. Raymond Adolphe Séré de Rivières oversaw the creation of a ring fortress, "le camp retranché de Maubeuge" (the Entrenched Camp of Maubeuge) with the construction of six forts and seven intermediate fortifications ("ouvrages", fortified shelters). The town walls, in diameter, had been built by Marshal Sébastien de Vauban in the seventeenth century. Forts de Boussois, des Sarts, de Leveau, d'Hautmont, du Bourdiau and Fort de Cerfontaine were built about beyond the city walls, on a circumference of about . The forts were pre-1885 masonry types except for du Bourdiau, which had a concrete shell, capable of resisting some modern heavy artillery.
The masonry forts had a covering of earth thick, except for Le Sarts, which had a clay layer only thick; the forts made prominent landmarks. (fortified infantry shelters) had been built in the wide gaps between the forts, except between Boussois and Le Sarts where two were built. in the south-east had an infantry parapet and some masonry shelters, the other were low concrete shelters with provision for seating. The forts had no ancillary services like kitchens or first aid posts and water was drawn from a well, which could easily be blocked by artillery fire. The forts contained 80–90 guns which had no overhead cover, making them vulnerable to counter-battery fire, except Boussois and Fort de Cerfontaine, which had two cast iron 155 mm gun turrets and three 75 mm turrets; none of the forts were linked to the citadel.
French forces at the Fortified Camp of Maubeuge:
Governor: Brigadier-General Joseph Fournier
North
East
South
West
Brigadier-General Henri Fournier, an engineer, was appointed Governor on 17 March 1914. His inspection revealed that the defences were in a very poor state and he galvanised the garrison to restore the defences, believing that war with Germany was inevitable. The main zone of resistance was given priority, to stop a German advance well outside the town. Work went on round the clock and new positions were built to close the gap between Fort de Boussois and Le Salmagne. Gaps between ouvrages La Salmagne, Bersillies, Gréveaux and ouvrages Ferriére la Petite and de Rocq were blocked by strengthening the existing fortifications. The depth of infantry breastworks was increased to and new positions were reinforced by tree trunks, steel sheets and overhead cover of of earth. Fields of fire were improved by cutting down trees and demolishing houses, much of the village of Élesmes to the north-east of Maubeuge, being levelled.
In three weeks, 1.5 million pickets were driven into the ground for thousands of kilometres of barbed wire, covering around the fortifications and intervals. Behind the forts, workers levelled the ground for a narrow-gauge railway to connect the forts and the Maubeuge citadel; in twenty-seven days, of track was laid. The fortress guns had ranges of only and were brought forward to the perimeter to counter German artillery with a range of up to . The artillery had a reserve of 250,000 rounds and dumps of 300 rounds per gun were established. Work began on a reserve position in the eastern sector near Élesmes and Assevent, behind the outer works. The support line from bois Mairieux to bois des Saris, Douzies, the outskirts of Louvroil and bois des Bons Pères, was too close to the forts and , vulnerable to being overrun if the main defences fell. There were no fortifications between the support line and the old Vauban ramparts. An advanced position was created in the south-west from bois Hautmont to Quesnoy, close to Hautmont, in the main defensive line.
Prelude.
French preparations.
The Maubeuge garrison had been so busy on the defences that by August 1914, the men were exhausted and there had been no time for the Territorials to receive refresher training, despite them having only just received St. Étienne Mle 1907 machine-guns. Fournier planned to fight in the open as well as under cover, since the fortifications would be bombarded. Troops would have to fight in the open to shift machine-guns to threatened points but the reservists had to rely on requisitioned civilian vehicles. The mobile reserve (General VinckelMeyer) comprised the balance of the active and reserve troops of the 145th, 345th, and 31st Colonial regiments, the two squadrons of the 6th Chasseur Regiment and the four mounted 75 mm batteries.
From mid-August, the Maubeuge defences were divided into five sectors; the 1st sector (General Peyrecave) west of the Mons railway to the Sambre with four territorial battalions and a battalion of the 32nd Colonial Regiment in reserve at Douzies. The 2nd sector (Colonel Guérardel) in the south-west from the Sambre to Solre was held by five and a half Territorial battalions, with one battalion of the 3rd Colonial Regiment at Ferriéres la Grande in reserve. The 3rd sector (Colonel de La Motte) from the Solre to the Ouvrage du Feignies was defended by five and a half Territorial battalions and a Customs battalion. The 4th sector (General Ville) from to Héronfontaine was garrisoned by Five Territorial battalions and a battalion of customs officers. The 5th Sector (Colonel Callan) from Héronfontaine to the Mons railway was defended by one Territorial battalion and a Compagnie de Marche (improvised company) from the 145th Infantry Regiment depot which, also provided a Battaillon de Marche to garrison Maubeuge.
Maubeuge.
On 7 August 1914, Fournier had warned the Minister of War Adolphe Messimy of the lamentable state of the Maubeuge defences and was sacked the next day before General Paul Pau from (GQG, general headquarters) with General George Desaleux and an engineer colonel, had been able to report on the situation. Pau vindicated Fournier, who was reinstated but the confidence of the civilians and the garrison was affected. After enjoying a trade boom created by the arrival of army reservists, the morale of civilians in Maubeuge slumped further when they heard of German atrocities from Belgian refugees. On 15 August, gunfire was heard from the Meuse valley to the east and that evening news of the Battle of Dinant (15–24 August) was followed by reports of a counter-attack by the French 1st Army Corps. On 12 August, Field Marshal Lord Kitchener had predicted a German offensive through Belgium but sent the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) to Maubeuge as planned. The BEF landed in France from 14 to 17 August and assembled from Maubeuge to Le Cateau by 20 August.
Dawn broke misty on 21 August and no air reconnaissance was possible until the afternoon. The BEF began to advance northwards from Maubeuge towards Mons, despite reports from aircrew that a column of German troops "stretched through Louvain as far as the eye could see". At Maubeuge, news arrived of the fall of most of the Fortified Position of Namur in Belgium and placards put up on the town walls ordering preparations for a siege began an exodus of 25,000 civilians. British aircraft arrived on 22 August and the passage of a Scottish regiment raised civilian morale briefly, only to be dashed by reports that German troops had crossed the Sambre at Charleroi. From 17 August, Maubeuge came under the command of General Charles Lanrezac, commander of the Fifth Army and at the Battle of Charleroi (21–23 August) the Fifth Army and the BEF were defeated and forced to retreat. The ministerial instructions of 1910 had envisaged that Maubeuge might stand a short siege while covering the concentration of the field armies, not indefinite isolation after a retreat by the field armies. Lanrezac considered adding the regular and reserve regiments to the Fifth Army but rejected the idea. The Maubeuge garrison cut the rail lines and engineer detachments blew the rail bridges at Jeumont, Berliaumont and Fourmies towards the Belgian frontier.
German preparations.
That the BEF might assemble at Maubeuge was known to the Germans but a concentration at the Channel ports was thought possible. On 21 August, General Karl von Bülow ordered the 1st Army (General Alexander von Kluck) to veer southwards towards Maubeuge. On 24 August, the VII Corps, on the right flank of the 2nd Army, advanced until the 13th Division was stopped by fire from the Maubeuge garrison. On 25 August, the corps was ordered to isolate the south-eastern fringe of the town with the 13th Division and advance against the right flank of the BEF, south of Maubeuge towards Aulnoye with the rest of the corps. German air reconnaissance revealed the beginning of a French general retreat towards Verdun, Mézières and Maubeuge. The 14th Division of the VII Reserve Corps, was ordered south to Binche to join the IX and VII Corps to surround Maubeuge and the BEF; late in the afternoon it was found that the BEF had escaped. Bulow made General Karl von Einem responsible for the investment of Maubeuge, with the VII Corps (less the 14th Division), VII Reserve Corps (less the 13th Reserve Division), IX Corps and the artillery and siege units released by the end of the Siege of Namur.
The German 2nd Army bypassed Maubeuge to the east and the Entrenched Camp was surrounded on 26 August. On 27 August, Hans von Zwehl (VII Reserve Corps) was ordered to conduct the siege with the 17th Division of IX Corps; the 13th Reserve Division ( Alfred von Kühne) was diverted to Maubeuge and VII Corps was ordered south, less one brigade. Zwehl planned to attack the fortress from the north-east, with a secondary attack from south of the Sambre. Three sectors were established, one from the Trouille stream to the Sambre below Maubeuge, the second from the Sambre to the Solre brook and the third sector from the Solre to the Sambre north of the fortifications. A regiment of cavalry was to cover the gap to the west and north. The 21 heavy Austrian 305 mm howitzer and super-heavy German 420 mm "Gamma Mörser" batteries from Namur were to be deployed between Givry and Solre. By 2 September, the 27th Reserve Infantry Brigade had taken over the first sector, the 26th Infantry Brigade held the southern sector and elements of the 13th Reserve Division held a new fourth sector to the west around Bavay.
Siege.
24–28 August.
From 24 August, Fournier received information from spies on the German advance and planned a reconnaissance in force north of Maubeuge, to discover German intentions, harass the besiegers and give