Reliving the Siege of the Belgian Fortress of Aubin-Neufchateau

Relive day by day the siege of the Belgian fortress of Aubin-Neufchateau as recorded in the commander’s log.

Descriptions of Fortress Elements

BI = B1 or Bloc 1. Armed with a twin 75mm gun turret and two machine gun cupolas.
BII = B2 or Bloc 2. Armed with a twin 75mm gun turret and two machine gun cupolas.
BIII = B3 or Bloc 3. Peacetime entrance. Armed with 3 machine gun cupolas and a machine gun in casemate.
BO = Bloc O. Air intake and observation bloc.
BM = Mortar Bloc. Armed with three 81mm mortars and an observation cupola.
BP = Bloc P. Wartime entrance and auxiliary air intake. Two observation cupolas and a machine gun casemate.
CI = C1 or Coffer 1. Protects the moat. Armed with a 47mm AT gun and a machine gun.
CII = C2 or Coffer 2. Protects the moat. Armed with two 47mm AT guns and two machine guns.
CIII = C3, Coffer 3 or Anti-Tank Bloc. Armed with two 47mm AT guns in cupolas.

Day 3: Sunday, 12th of May 1940

1.15 Noise heard over CI coffer. BI fires a series of grapeshots in that direction.
1.30 Bloc O reports German machine gun teams being set up in the cemetery and the ruins of the peacetime barracks. Bunker NV5 calls in. They are exhausted. They have hoisted a white flag and haven’t seen anybody ever since.
4.02 Request sent to Battice fortress to fire on the ruins of the peacetime barracks.
5.36 Mortar Bloc fires interdiction shots toward Jacob Castle and on Fouron’s main crossroads. 50 bombs per objective. A gun turret opens fire on a convoy. The lead vehicle is damaged and the convoy blocked and in disarray. High rate of fire on the objective ordered.
6.12 Fifty bombs fired by Mortar Bloc as interdiction fire at Val Dieu crossroad.

German Movements and Counteractions

7.55 CIII signals a column of German soldiers on bicycles going toward the town of Warsage. Order sent to BI to fire Shrapnel rounds on the objective and order to BM to fire 81mm bombs on the La Heydt crossroad simultaneously. The column panics and tries to do a U-turn. By doing so, they cross the field of fire of the machine gun cupola of BI which opens fire and of CIII which opens fire with its 47mm canon. The Germans try to change direction again and are engaged with 81mm bombs from BM again.
8.45 Column of 100 German soldiers on horseback spotted near Bombaye. Order sent to one of the gun turrets to fire 25 rounds at the entrance of that village.
8.56 German convoy spotted on the road to Warsage. They are engaged by a 47mm gun from CIII and from machine gun cupolas. One of their lorries catches fire. The convoy executes a hasty U-Turn and drives back toward Aubel.
9.04 BIII spots some soldiers crawling in the tall grass toward the moat. Request sent to Mortar Bloc to engage them with 25 bombs. HQ calls and requests the fort sends patrols out on reconnaissance. We explain we are surrounded and besieged and cannot execute the order. Multiple sightings of German planes, some flying over the fort at low altitude.
9.24 German assault against Bunker NV5 despite its white flag. Mortar Bloc fires 50 rounds in defense of the bunker.
9.33 Concentration of German soldiers on horseback spotted in Bombaye again. Order sent to BI to engage them but one of its damaged guns stops working. Engineers sent in urgently for repairs. Both damaged canons in BI can only fire low yield charges, reducing their range. Request sent to Battice and Evegnee forts to engage the horsemen in Bombaye.

Artillery and Infantry Sightings

9.47 Infantry spotted crawling toward the fort from the 3 Chimneys crossroad. BM fires 81mm bombs on them. BO signals rolling enemy artillery fire advancing toward Bloc BI.
11.07 CIII spots something moving in the cemetery. Mortar Bloc fires 25 rounds in that direction.
12.02 BIII signals artillery battery advancing towards Appleboom farm where they seem intent on setting up. 50 rounds of 75mm fired on the objective. The Germans retreat. Probable artillery spotters seen inside the farm. 10 rounds of 75mm fired on that objective. The enemy retreats for good.
12.27 Infantry spotted coming toward the fort from the 3 Chimneys crossroad. They are engaged by one of our 47mm guns (CIII) and machine guns. BII starts a back-and-forth rolling artillery barrage on that position.
12.43 The one canon inside the BII turrets breaks down just as the canon in BI turret is repaired. Engineers sent to BII. The canon is repaired by 12.50. It was the firing pin.

Relentless Shelling and Communication

12.59 Battice fortress signals German convoy heading toward the fort. It is out of their range. They communicate the fire coordinates to us. Orders sent to BII to fire 20 rounds on the objective.
13.25 Germans spotted laying in the grass on the glacis, trying to cut through the barbed wires. Immediately engaged with machine guns.
13.30 HQ calls in for a report. Announce Aubin fortress will be mentioned in the daily dispatches again for its resistance. The second machine gun cupola on BII has been damaged and the machine gun has to be replaced by an automatic rifle. One of the two 47mm canons of CIII is out of action and is replaced by an automatic rifle also. (The engineers will manage to repair the canon by 19.50 that night).
13.51 Men spotted trying to cut through the network of barbed wires around the fort. They are engaged. CIII reports being engaged by an anti-tank gun out of their field of fire. BM engages the canon with 25 bombs of 81mm and neutralizes it. BI reports having taken a direct hit by an 88mm gun. Optics destroyed. Engineers called in to replace the optics.
14.18 Battice requests we observe the effect of its artillery on an enemy position and communicate them coordinate corrections if necessary.

14.37 BO signals 3 heavy canons pulled by horses on the Warsage road between the towns of Warsage and Berneau going toward the town of Fouron. Order sent to gun turrets to fire 50 rounds of 75mm on that convoy at maximum rate of fire.
14.49 HQ calls in: German troops spotted on a road near Warsage. We engage them with the Mortar Bloc. Bloc P signals a machine gun fires on its observation cupolas as well as on the Bloc CIII. The enemy machine gun seems very close. They guess the whereabouts of the enemy machine gun team and BII fires 4 Shrapnel rounds in that direction. The machine gun goes silent.
15.30 Battice fortress calls in. German convoy spotted in Hagelstein. Gun turrets ordered to fire 50 rounds in that direction.
15.50 BP signals heavy shelling falling very close to the fort. The enemy battery seems to be near Richelle. We call Evegnee fort to communicate this information. They are able to spot the artillery battery and engage it for us. Enemy mortar team spotted in the cemetery. Call for help sent to Battice. They start firing on the cemetery.

The Fort’s Strategic Actions

16.00 Enemy artillery fire now falls on the fort. The two gun turret blocs seem the main targets of this barrage. A sentry spots the muzzle flash of the German canons. They seem to fire from between Berneau and Fouron. One of the gun turret opens fire in that direction. Perfect aim. We can observe a violent flash and black smoke. They have certainly hit an ammo crate. 50 rounds of 75mm ordered on that objective.
16.45 BI gun turret is hit by 88mm AP shells.
17.06 The fort engages another enemy battery spotted thanks to their muzzle flash. Battice communicates the coordinates of another enemy battery firing on us and also passes on those coordinates to another fort so it can fire on that objective on our behalf.
17.54 Heavy enemy shelling. BP spots muzzle flash on the Mortroux-Bombaye road. BM fires 50 bombs on those coordinates.
18.08 Bloc O signals a lorry column going toward Fouron. Gun turret ordered to fire 25 rounds at the entrance of the Fouron village.

Night Operations and Final Actions

18.40 Several enemy planes spotted. HQ calls in to see how we are holding on.
19.41 BIII signals cows on the glacis near the moat. It can only mean one thing: Barbed wires have been cut or damaged by shelling. Germans spotted trying to enter a small abandoned bunker in the valley in front of the fort. Order sent to BII to fire on the bunker with 25 rounds of 75mm.
20.00 BII signals anti-tank obstacles near its position have been damaged by the enemy shelling. Order sent for a team to get ready to mine the breach as soon as darkness sets in. (It is a dangerous job as it is outside the moat and the outer walls). Request sent to Battice fortress to fire on Canelle woods and on the ruins of the peacetime barracks. Order for BM to fire on those same ruins with 50 rounds of 81mm. Order sent to the engineers to do maintenance on guns inside gun turrets as soon as possible.
20.23 Order sent to all Blocs. From now on, every night, from dusk till dawn, the Mortar Bloc has to fire on all three sides of the fort at a rate of 30 rounds per hour. All machine guns to randomly fire a couple of rounds through their fields of fire every 10 minutes and gun turrets ordered to randomly fire grapeshot in random directions. This set of orders will hopefully deter the Germans from trying to approach the fort at night.
20.40 BO spots muzzle flashes near the Eben fort, along the Albert canal. Hears heavy gunfire. It’s not for us. Coordinates noted and sent to HQ.
23.50 BP signals it can see two German teams coordinating their positions by firing flares. Mortar Bloc ordered to fire on both with 30 rounds of 81mm.

See you tomorrow for Day 4!
RBM.