1-217-590 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Gerard Leman, Belgian general and defender of Liege, 5-16 August 1914 (1926). After the Germans invaded Belgium on 4 August 1914, the Belgians pinned their hopes on the strategic fortifications of the city of Liege, commanded by General Leman (1851-1920). The defenders held out from 5-16 August, slowing the German advance towards France in the process, until their resistance was ended by heavy artillery bombardment. Leman himself was carried out of the fortress wounded and unconscious, spending the rest of the war as a German prisoner of war before returning to a hero's welcome after the Armistice.