Above all, the Battle of Liège was a moral victory for Belgium, the allies, and the world. The immediate fall of the fortress would have produced a disastrous effect on the morale of Belgium, her army, and the allies. If the tiny army of Belgium, ill-prepared for 20th Century warfare, could hold out against the mighty German juggernaut, then the outlook of the French and British to stop the invasion was good. The German army as myth would remain so.
The real hero of Liège was General Leman. He felt that his mission was to hold out to the last. He refused to surrender the fortress or himself; and his fort, Loncin, held out to the end. Even after becoming prisoner, he implored the remaining two commandants to hold out to the death.
The fortress troops marched into captivity to German prisoner-of-war camps. General Leman joined them. The Germans occupied the abandoned forts and in most cases removed the turrets. Between the two wars, the fortified position was upgraded. Four modern forts were built, three to the east of Liège, Forts Neufchateau, Battice, and Tancremont, and one to the north, Fort Eben-Emael. The latter would be recognized as the most powerful fortress in Europe until May 1940, when a small group of German paratroopers captured the fort in 48 hours. Several of the older forts were modernized, but fell very quickly. The heroics of 1914 were not to be repeated.
Today, the forts serve a variety of purposes, from junkyards to shooting ranges to private businesses. Some of them are open for tours. Under the rubble of Fort Loncin, undisturbed since 1914, lay the bodies of 350 men who died in the terrible explosion of August 16th. May their cause never be forgotten.
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