Rehearsals: The German Army in Belgium, August 1914

6. Dinant: Introduction, Leffe

CHAPTER 6 Dinant: Introduction, Leffe DINANT: INTRODUCTION Although it goes unmentioned in German records and memoirs (there is a passing reference in the German White Book)¹, a decisive French victory on August 15 may have provoked the destruction of Dinant and the massacre of its inhabitants on the 23rd . The French repelled a premature attempt on the part of the Third Army to force a passage of the Meuse. (The larger significance of von Hausen’s failure is open to debate, but at least one German commentator felt it was a critical factor in the German check at the Marne two weeks later.)² Seven days after the German retreat from Dinant, a reconnaissance operation in the town went badly awry, and this probably sealed the town’s fate, if it had not been determined earlier. For centuries Dinant had been a vital crossing point. Three major roads descend into the steep Meuse valley from the east and one from the west. It was via the latter that Dinant had twice been conquered. In 1466 Charles the Bold sacked the city, then quite large and prosperous. (A member of the Hanseatic League, it produced bronzeware – the original dinanderie – and brass and copperware that was widely exported.) All males who fell into the hands of the Burgundians were murdered. Louis XIV repeated the achievement in 1675, with less dire consequences for the Dinantais. Now the threat came from the east. The French, suddenly Belgian’s ally, were not long in arriving. At 6:00 p.m. on Thursday, August 6, the 1st battalion of the 148th regiment of Lanrezac’s Fifth Army disembarked in Dinant after the brief train ride from its headquarters in Givet, just 68 kilometers to the south. Skirmishes with uhlan patrols soon followed. As elsewhere throughout Belgium , the burgomaster of Dinant, M. A. Defoin, issued ordinances on the 6th requiring residents to hand in all weapons and ammunition to the police, and forbidding any participation in the war. He even banned rallies in support of Belgium and her allies. The regulations were posted throughout town and published in the local paper.³ Dinant before the war, from the steps leading to the Citadel. View of le Rocher Bayard and Dinant from Les Rivages. Dinant: Introduction, Leffe 259 By the 15th , with clear indications of an impending attack, sixteen companies of the 2nd Division of the Ist Corps, commanded by Franchet d’Esperey, prepared to defend the Meuse crossings. The three companies of the crack 148th Regiment, which had been earlier sent north, were recalled to Dinant and, with a machine-gun section, guarded the Dinant bridge. Another machine-gun section and two companies of the 33rd regiment defended the other bridge in the vicinity, at Bouvignes just to the north. Two other companies of the 33rd were sent to the Citadel, towering 300 feet above the town. It had been completely rebuilt by the Dutch between 1818 and 1821, but had long been decommissioned. Apart from patrols, these two companies were the only soldiers in Dinant proper, on therightbank.Asresidentssoonrecognized,theFrenchhadnointention of defending the town itself – only its bridgehead. They would engage the Germans from the heights of the left bank. Reflecting the unfortunate priorities of the French Army before the war, the forces deployed at Dinant possessed only one howitzer. Dinantais privy to this information may have consoled themselves: they could survive the French bombardment in their cellars; élan and the rapid-firing “75s” would drive out the invader. On the 15th , the French 2nd Division faced two cavalry divisions, a Guard division and three battalions of the 5th Infantry Division, all units of the XIIth Corps (the Ist Saxon Corps) of the Third Army.⁴ After several hours of intense fighting, the French abandoned the Citadel with heavy losses. About half of its defenders were able to make their way down the steps and back to the left bank, where the battalion commander was still frantically phoning for artillery support. This arrived soon after the retreating companies. By 5:00 p.m., the French guns, firing from the crest above the left bank, had silenced the German artillery, and a counter-attack from the southwest was underway. Soon French troops were swarming across Les Rivages, the southern faubourg of Dinant. When some soldiers imprudently dashed up the steps of the Citadel, they discovered that the Germans had abandoned the stronghold. The German flag was promptly hauled...