Half an hour later, the Belgian 3rd Division, stationed in Liège, began to evacuate in a hurry to the west. And just a few hours ago, they were gearing up and fighting high, ready to strike at the invading invaders. The officers and soldiers walked heavily, and their young faces were full of shock and loss; The road was mixed with men, horses, and supplies, and they fled quickly in the direction of Luwan in the west.

The sudden collapse of the six fortresses east of the Maas River was a bolt from the blue for the Belgian 3rd Division stationed in Liège. The Belgian garrison in the Liege region relied entirely on these huge fortresses as fire support and defensive fulcrums; Now that these "eyes" have been removed, the Belgian army's defense east of the Maas River can no longer be sustained. After a while, the Germans would encircle Liège from three sides; And this main city, known as the first fortress in Europe, is simply unable to resist the attack of the invaders!

As commander of the 3rd Division, Le Mans knew nothing more about the situation with his troops. The combat effectiveness of the Belgian army has never had anything to do with the word "strong" at all. The neutrality guaranteed by the five great powers of Europe from 1839 onwards made the Belgian army generally regarded as useless; Not only does the military receive pitiful funding every year, but the atmosphere of "good men are not soldiers" in the country also makes it impossible to recruit young people to serve them. The public was indifferent to what was happening abroad, and the parliament was plagued by economic problems, with the end result that the military was left to deteriorate as much as the Turks did. The current Belgian army is poorly equipped and poorly trained, compared to the German army on the other side, which is the best in the world. It's like a world gap!

Besides. Le Mans also misjudged the German line-up in front of him. Emmisi is a temporary task force formed from disconnected independent brigades. Let Le Mans, who judged the lineup according to the normal number, mistakenly think that he was facing the strength of 8 German integrated divisions; Having lost the barrier of the fortress on the east bank, it was clear that the 3rd Division alone in the unfortified city of Liège would not be able to withstand the attack of the Germans, who were eight times their size. In order to avoid being surrounded and eaten by the Germans, and to preserve this division, which was vital to Belgium, Le Mans decided to withdraw his troops from the city and join up with the main force of the Belgian army that was massing in Louvain. In fact, Emmisi's assault force, even with the new reinforcements, was only 5 divisions; If the Belgian 3rd Division had chosen to resist resolutely in the complex street fighting, it would have taken at least several days for the Germans to capture the next day.

Because the fortress east of Liège fell too suddenly. The German army, which was less than ten kilometers away from him, could reach it in the blink of an eye, and the Belgian army, according to Le Mans's order, began to immediately move to the Louvain base camp in the rear. The Belgian army, itself untrained, was in full swing in the headwinds of this hasty retreat: not only were the roads lined with all kinds of baggage and equipment that they had abandoned after their hasty evacuation, but even vital warehouses, barracks, railway stations, and even bridges over the Maas River were not destroyed. Looking at the hastily retreating soldiers, the citizens of Liege were in a heavy mood and sour; After that, what greeted him could only be the miserable life of a slave who died in the country!

On the afternoon of May 5, 1913, the German Maas River Corps, with the air support of Zeppelin troops, captured six Belgian giant fortresses on the east bank of the Maas River, including Pontiz and Evergne. The 2,400 Belgian garrisons defending it were wiped out. They were either killed in the thunderous bombardment of heavy airships, or dragged themselves into the German prisoner-of-war camp in a muddy manner. By the time the sun goes down. The vanguard of the German army had reached the banks of the rough Maas; On the other side of it is the Belgian garrison town of Liège, which is pooled by the river. In the afterglow of the setting sun, the main city of Liège, located on the 150-meter-high steep slope on the west bank of the Maas River, is glittering with gold, like a strong and solid thousand-mile golden city, majestically blocking the westward advance of the German army.

To the surprise of all the German officers and men, including Emmisi, there was no resistance from the Belgian defenders at the Liège support in front of them. After confirming that no explosives had been installed on the central bridge, the German frontal units of the four brigades rumbled across the Maas River and drove at full speed towards the city of Liège in front of them. In the starlight, the Belgian flag on the top of the central tower of Liège was suddenly lowered, and a red and white tricolor Iron Cross flag of the German Empire was slowly raised, hunting and fluttering in the cold night wind.

mothballing warehouses, occupying barracks; Take control of the railroad and garrison the bridge. Under Ludendorff's command, the Germans who entered the city took over the legacy wealth left to them by the Belgian army with great efficiency, and the found baggage was sorted and piled up, and the captured weapons were incorporated into the German units as supplements. On the other hand, the commander of the corps, Emmisi, approached the mayor of Liège and signed an alliance with him under the threat of guns: Liège must bear all the expenses of the German occupation forces and ensure that not a single citizen in the city will attack the German army, otherwise he will suffer the most "cruel" revenge. Emmisi was now full of ambition, and if the airship force had to make another sortie to-morrow, all six fortresses west of Liège would be blown up; And his task of opening the way forward for the main army will be realized with the complete capture of the fortress of Liege!

The next morning, another group of giant airships from Koblenz arrived at the front of the battlefield, and the Belgian citizens of Liège finally had the opportunity to see the battleship in the sky up close. As the Kirovs writhed their massive bodies and flew through the air not far from the floor, casting shadows on the ground, all the citizens of Liège were stunned by the horror in front of them. Celestein, a member of the House of Commons in Liège, happened to be in Place Saint-Pierre when he saw "a fat shark flying in the air" in the sky, which obscured the red sun and was so large that it was impossible to believe his eyes.

"This monster has a demon-like fanged mouth and fierce eyes, like a demon who has just broken free from hell. There was a commotion on the ground, and the citizens screamed and fled in all directions, and even the British would not have been so frightened when they saw Napoleon's military flag. After a long time, someone finally recognized it as an airship. The airship crossed the city of Liège at a speed of more than 30 knots and reached directly above the western fortress still in our possession, and the fire of the idiot defenders did not have any counter-attack effect at all. A black cylinder fell from the sky, followed by a terrible explosion, and the ground shook. The people gathered in the west of the city fell back and forth, as if there had been an earthquake; A violent wind blew their hats hundreds of meters away...... "Celestein wrote in his diary afterwards.

By noon on 6 May, all 12 fortresses of the fortress of Liège had fallen, littered with twisted steel bars, burning debris and fragmented corpses. These fortifications built by the Belgians, which were historically declared lost under the thunderous bombardment of the 420-millimeter cannon Grand Berta, have become a defenseless chopping block in the face of aerial bombs in the air. At this time, the three large armies on the right flank of the German army were still in the process of mobilization, assembly and material transportation, and Schlieffen planned a timetable for them to officially set out on the 10th day of mobilization. Emmisi, who had captured Liège in advance, decided to make persistent efforts, leaving part of his forces to defend the occupied area, while the rest of his forces went directly to the Luvin area, where the main force of the Pembern army was located. With the superiority of artillery and machine-gun firepower, Emmisi was fully confident that with the support of airships, he would crush all resistance of the Belgian army.

When the news of the German conquest of Liège came, Berlin was jubilant and intoxicated. Liège, known as the first fortress in Europe, was breached in less than ten hours, which is a brilliant victory worth writing about from any point of view! Ecstatic people rushed to the beer hall to congratulate each other, laugh and smell the wine. At the same time, the loud and solemn announcement of the spokesman of the German government sounded on the radio: the fortress of Liège, which took 15 years to build and 30 years to operate, was completely vulnerable to the imperial army; The 3rd Division of the defending army fled in disarray, collapsed, and was defeated and annihilated in the near future. Finally, the German government sent a message to the Kingdom of Belgium, urging it to immediately renounce all resistance; Otherwise, the angry Teutonic will be unstoppable in destroying any enemy in front of them.

In the palace, the excited Kaiser Wilhelm affectionately referred to Moltke the Younger as "the dearest Caesar General"; And according to Moltke Jr.'s diary, "he also kissed me wildly." Subsequently, a large number of medals were sent to the front overnight, and both Emmisi and Ludendorff wore blue, platinum and gold Crosses of Merit on their chests.

When Qingying learned the news, she couldn't help but burst into tears of relief. I have invested so much money in the research and development of technology and mass production orders on the airship, and now I have finally seen results. In the early stage of World War I, which lacked air defense means, bombing airships with large bomb loads were invincible!

Based on the efforts of the Kirovs, the German right-wing troops who entered Belgium ahead of schedule have already seized the opportunity, and they will undoubtedly have a wider choice than they have in history. Whether it's a long-distance run or a steady advance, this heavy punch can be retracted and released freely, and Yujia can be dealt with. There is no need to worry about the problem of the right flank, and now it is necessary to focus on the battlefield of the left flank of the German army. (To be continued......)

PS: Yesterday's subscription results were so dismal, can you give the author some motivation?