User blog:ANIMALGAMINGXzero/Belgium in ww1

'''Belgium declared neutrality in august 1914 but germany ordered that german soldiers be let through on august 3rd they denied and germany invaded on the same day thinking the war would be over quick and france destroyed quickly but on august fifth germany found belgian defence at a fort near the city of Liège the german command wanted to take belgium before help could come from france and the united kingdom the city was important due to the railroad system belgium was on its own during the battle the german command thought the battle would last two days but belgian commander Gérard Leman managed to get 32,000 soldiers and 280 machine guns the number of soldiers were around equal to the german army but lacked weapons and training.The germans began an attack on the fort  from the east crossing a nearby river and began an air raid to bring a quick surrender of the general.On august 8th german commander ordered that the city may be sieged and the city fell on august 16th and all forts in the east of the country had fallen by august 12th. German command began attacking the north of the country after letting the horses rest and began a move to take the city of helen belgium saw the german troops moving to the city and ordered to have the bridge destroyed germany got 1,000 troops through before the bridge was blown up the battle cut off from soldiers and supplies the german army was left there they followed ordered thinking the belgians would of been crushed and attempted a cavalry charge to bring a quick victory but the belgians quickly opened fire knocking down the first line of attack and launched a counterattack soon the german army were forced back and crossed the river on foot after the crippling defeat they suffered at the hands of the Belgians forces this did little to halt the german army as the city as taken quickly afterwards. The german army entered the capital of belgium capital of brussels without a fight on august 20th on the same day german forces got to the the city of namur which had defence but german command saw they were repeating protocol from Liège german soldiers also were 102,000 compared to 35,000 belgian troops. Germany bombarded the fort using german heavy siege artillery and 4 batteries borrowed from their ally Austria Hungary then sent out Infantry to finish off the remaining defence with the city falling after five days French troops came to help hold the city but to no avail the french fifth army retreated from belgium after the defeat at the battle of charleroi and the final battle before crossing into france began on august 23rd the battle of mons near the french border since the french fifth army had left the british forces at mons were weak and unprotected due to their retreat the battle lasted a day and all forces retreated to the marne river in france leading to the end of most belgian fighting in europe but belgian forces in the belgian congo remained and were ready to defend from german attack from german east africa which was about to begin even though that treaties stated that no fighting will happen in their  colonies but german commanders in german papua new guinea attacked making the united kingdom to began an invasion of all german colonies but due to this Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck was allowed to invade colonies bordering it which included the belgian congo but then in europe parts of the north of belgium were still under belgian control and under their king albert the 1st some wanted to escape to neutral netherlands which began the battle of antwerp the 2nd most populated city in belgium they were forced back to the yser river while 30,000 belgians escaped to the netherlands but back at the yser river a battle had began with french belgian and british naval support against the german army it ended in an allied victory and the yser river became a part of the western front but this left 95 percent of belgium was left under german control.'''

'''Belgian troops in congo were ready to fight and take out german east africa which was under the command of paul von lettow-vorbeck but there was another threat from the north of the belgium controlled congo it was the german controlled kamerun The united kingdom and france also sent troops to help take it out quickly germany was unable to send troops to help in africa and other places away from the nation so most of them were taken quickly with the assault of the allied powers kamerun fell in january of 1916 they began attacks on mahiwa due to raids done by Paul von lettow vorbeck in order to get more resources but were defeated due to his planning and lost other battles like the battle of mahiwa german east africa while not fully under Paul von lettow vorbeck control it never fell during the war but paul was not the only commander in german east africa but this would not come up until late 1916 but back in europe Germany was ready to take the city and river of yser and in april of 1915 the germans first used poison gas in order to destroy the defence the soldiers were unprepared for this since the geneva convention said this was not allowed but it happened and any soldier that attempted to run out of the trenches were mowed down by german machine gun fire leading to mass loss of life but the allies refused to let the city besieged and held the defence and stopped the german attack and the fronts stalemate continued but back to the belgian congo Belgian Charles Tombeur and british empire Charles Crewe Launched the tabora the oldest soldier of any army during the war Kurt Wahle was one of the generals from germany during this and took over most of rwanda burundi but a main goal was to take Lake Tanganyika and was belgium’s only naval battle during the war german east africa navy was under the command Gustav Zimmer Belgium the british empire also joined belgium during the battle and Lake Tanganyika was taken along with important railroad systems back in europe its july 1917 the third battle of yser better known as the battle of passchendaele the germans attacked it in an attempt to take the railway system in order to get more resources to its army but the attack failed and the counter attack resulted in an allied capture of westhoek but the battle was brutal and a german counter attack allowed them to gain ground back september 1917 the allies want to finish off the remaining german troops in german east africa the last land in africa german controlled by this point and begin the mahenge offensive which took most of german east africa but paul von lettow vorbeck took his troops into the south were he wanted to keep fighting in an area without having to risk many troops.in europe in 1918 april where the german army attacks the ypres again in the fourth battle of ypres by this time in the war because thai american and brazilian support were coming in But because of this german troops made a charge to paris with all their troops due to the surrender of russia and romania belgium troops were in the second  battle of the marne and had the battle of Château-Thierry which resulted in an allied victory the french and british began the hundreds day offensive in order to end the war once and for all which began with the fifth battle of the yser were the allies attacked and King albert the first would return to brussels after the victory belgian troops moved on and in the battle of courtai which belgian troops marched on ghent.'''

King albert the first entered the city of ghent with his wife on a horse in victory knowing that soon the country will be freed by the allies and the war will be over The last important cavalry charge of the battle the charge of burkel where the belgian troops attacked german troops and pushed all the way up to the border with the netherlands germany surrendered on november 11th but Paul von lettow vorbeck kept fighting on till november 23rd he was informed of germany’s surrender earlier but refused until november he returned to germany saying he could of kept fighting for years king albert would rule until his death on february 17th 1934 because of an mountaineering accident belgium gained land from germany after the war because the people voted to join after the Treaty of Versailles.Belgium also gained modern day rwanda and burundi for the belgian congo from germany in the treaty while the united kingdom annexed the rest except for modern day cameroon which was handed over to the french empire belgium would remain like this under albert the first son Leopold iii until the outbreak and german invasion of world war 2.