Siege of the Belgian Fortress of Aubin-Neufchateau: Day 2

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

Fortress Bloc Descriptions

• 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 2: Saturday 11th of May 1940

0.05 Enemy machine gun near Bloc P (Wartime entrance) opens fire. Machine gun cupola from BIII and automatic rifles from observation cupolas from BP fire back. Enemy machine gun is silenced.

1.00 Bloc BIII (main entrance) sees moving lights on the glacis on the edge of the moat and hears tapping noise on the outer wall. Order sent to Head Coffer (CII) and Gun Turret Bloc BII to open fire with machine guns, anti-tank gun and grapeshots. The light and the tapping noise vanish.

1.30 A patrol comes back to the fort and reports enemy artillery batteries being set up between the villages of Bombaye and Fouron. The Brigadier leading the patrol was killed. His crew explains that the fort is slowly but surely being surrounded and it is getting difficult to get through enemy lines. They brought back enemy weapons and artifacts to show they had to fight their way back through it.
(No patrols will be able to go through from then onward. On the second day of the war, Aubin fortress is surrounded).

Enemy Engagement and Patrolling

2.58 NV2 has gone silent. Another Observation Post belonging to the fort is presumed lost…

3.52 Main telephone exchange contacts the fort and explains that the Germans are certainly tapping into the phone lines. The conversations must be done in Walloon (a local dialect) from now on.

4.30 One of the two machine gun cupolas from Gun Turret Bloc BI reports its aiming window was broken by enemy fire, maybe a sniper. No casualties. The (armoured) aiming window is replaced.

4.36 Fifty rounds of 75mm fired at a crossroad in nearby Warsage village.
(It is one of the main roads and is randomly shelled to keep any possible German convoy from using it).

5.07 Stukas attack the forts. Order sent to lower both gun turrets to protect them. The explosions can be felt inside the combat blocs. The enemy uses 250kg and 500kg bombs.

5.09 MN11 calls for help, it is being attacked by enemy infantry. They have one casualty, killed inside the observation cupola. A man is stuck inside the cupola next to his dead colleague as his body blocks the access trapdoor. The fort’s gun turrets fire 20 rounds toward the bunker. Attack repulsed for now.

5.27 New attack on MN11, new call for help. Another 20 rounds are fired. The enemy retreats again.

Continued Enemy Assaults and Counteractions

6.08 MN11 signals the enemy is investing a farm nearby and fires on the bunker. Order to the gun turrets is given to fire 20 High Explosive and 10 hardened rounds (AP) onto the farm.

6.45 Bloc P signals enemy troops alongside the wall separating the bloc from the road. Order given to Mortar Bloc to fire 15 bombs in that direction and to CIII Anti-Tank Bloc to fire 10 Shrapnel shells on target with one of the 47mm guns. Target eliminated. MN11 has gone silent. Only two of the fort’s Armoured Observation Posts are left in action (NV5 and NV2). One is being fired upon.

7.15 Enemy infantry spotted trying to get close to Bloc O (Observation post/auxiliary air intake). Gun turret engages them with the 75mm guns. The enemy soldiers start running and are mowed down by one of the machine gun cupolas from BIII.

8.31 Fort is under heavy shelling. Enemy battery spotted. The turrets stay lowered. Call for help to Battice fortress to engage the enemy battery. Coordinates passed along. Battice engages the enemy with counter-battery fire and hits the target. One gun destroyed, the others are abandoned by the Germans as they try to evacuate their dead and wounded from their position.

9.03 Bloc CIII reports being engaged by a German Pak 36 (37mm anti-tank gun) situated on the top of the road near the 3 Chimneys crossroad. They fire 20 rounds on the objective and silence it. Their aiming reticule was damaged during the firefight and they had to aim looking down the barrel of their gun.

9.32 Enemy assault teams spotted running toward the fort. The fort’s combat blocs engage them inflicting casualties and stalling the assault.

9.40 Fort is shelled by heavy calibre. Several batteries seem involved. Bloc BII, BM, and CIII are engaged by heavy machine-gun fire.

9.50 One of the enemy batteries is spotted in a nearby quarry. Bloc BI ordered to fire 50 shells in that direction. The crew inside the turret under stress open fire too early while the turret is still rising. Turret out of service, both canons damaged.
(The engineers will work in difficult conditions to repair both canons. Both muzzles are damaged. The canons are cut and shortened. One will be back in action that night and the other the following morning but the rate of fire is slowed down and the operational range will be shortened for that gun turret from then onward).

Intense Artillery Engagements

10.01 The Germans open fire on BI, BII, and BIII with 37mm PaK and 88mm Flak guns situated at the 3 Chimneys crossroad. Call for help sent to Barchon fortress to ask them to engage the enemy canons.

10.04 Bunker O.296 (NV5) signals enemy infantry 200 metres from their position. Mortar Bloc ordered to engage them with twenty-five 81mm bombs. The enemy launches a new infantry assault on the fort. All battle stations fire at will and on sight.

10.30. Enemy assault repulsed. The Germans revert to shelling the fort.

11.15 Mortar Bloc (BM) signals enemy machine guns taking position near La Heydt. Order to BII to engage them with fifty rounds of 75mm.

12.30 Enemy canon firing at BI spotted near the Goffart farm. Coordinates sent to Barchon fortress so they can engage that target. Barchon will neutralise it within 20 minutes.

12.45 Enemy battery spotted taking position near Berneau. Order sent to BII to engage it with 100 shells of 75mm. The enemy retreats, several dead men and horses and damaged hardware spotted on-site. Bloc BI and BIII are under heavy enemy fire/shelling.
(Information reaches the fort that thanks to its action and the action of the other forts of the region, German convoys are trying to advance cross-country and do everything to avoid driving on roads as it is too dangerous for them).

Heavy Fighting and Artillery Damage

13.30 NV2 is attacked by enemy infantry. Order to fire 25 rounds of 75mm to protect it. BII gun turret engages enemy guns near La Heydt with 50 rounds of 75mm. One of the machine gun cupolas on BII is hit by a German 88 mm anti-tank round. The aim was perfect and hit the embrasure, totally destroying the machine guns and its mount. The enemy AP shell passed between the two men manning the machine gun and is stuck inside the cupola! Nobody was hurt. The embrasure is consolidated with steel beams and the gun crew will have to use an automatic rifle from now on. A machine gun cupola on bloc BI suffers the same fate.
(At that point in time, Aubin fortress is on the receiving end of heavy shelling with 20 enemy rounds per minute impacting the structure).

14.00 Call for help sent to Battice fortress. Request sent so they can target Goffart farm and Canelle woods. Battice engages the enemy in Canelle woods at 14.30. The enemy abandons its canons and retreats. The Germans later try to come back and retrieve the canons but are engaged again by Battice’s guns and retreat for good. They are then engaged by Aubin’s own machine guns.

15.10 Coffer CI signals the outer wall in front of the chimney bloc is being heavily shelled. A German spotter aircraft is seen flying over the fort and is certainly fine-tuning the enemy artillery fire. The fort’s own AA gun crews had to seek shelter inside the fort as enemy shelling has made their position outside Bloc P too dangerous. Nothing can be done about that aircraft.

15.34 New enemy gun crew appear at Canelle woods and at Goffart farm. Call for support fire sent to Battice to engage Canelle woods and Barchon to engage Goffart farm.

15.51 New German infantry assault on the fort in the direction of blocs BP and BO and toward the fort itself from both the East and the West. Barchon fortress fires shrapnel shells over bloc BO and BP to protect them while Aubin engages the other assault groups with machine gun fire.

16.00 Battice fortress counter battery fire on the Canelle woods has chased the Germans from that location for the time being. Bloc BI and BIII are under heavy fire. 30 to 40 German infantrymen are spotted near Goffart farm and are engaged with machine guns.

Final Hours of Day 2

16.21 Both machine gun cupolas of Bloc BI are damaged. They are patched up but the crew will have to use automatic rifles as both machine gun mounts are out of order.

16.30 Very heavy shelling. Call sent to the other forts in the region to see if anybody can spot the enemy artillery batteries.

17.00 Mortar Bloc observation cupola receives a direct hit with an anti-tank gun. One of the embrasures is damaged. No casualties.

17.30 New enemy assault on the fort toward Bloc BI and BIII. Bloc BII fires grape shots, the Mortar Bloc fires 50 bombs and BIII engages enemy assault infantry with machine gun cupola.

17.45 Coffer CII reports direct hit on its 47mm canon. Observation Post O.352 reports being under fire but cannot locate the point of origin of those projectiles.

18.00 Coffer CI reports direct hit on its automatic rifle embrasure (embrasure = port).

18.07 Gun turret BII is stuck and cannot be lowered. The numerous glancing blows it incurred created grooves on its flanks that prevent it from being lowered. The crew finally manages to lower it manually. Then the engineers get to work, removing the grooves with blow torches.

18.11 Bunker O.352 reports being surrounded and under fire. New enemy infantry assault on the fort and both gun turrets currently out of order. Call for help sent to Battice for cover fire.

18.20 Bunker OP O.352 has gone offline.

18.45 Direct hit on one of the guns inside BII turret. Impossible to repair, the whole assembly is broken. The gun embrasure is condemned with armour plates and sandbags. This gun turret will have to fight on with only one gun instead of two.
(To sum up the day, one gun turret (BI) has two guns damaged with as a consequence a shorter range and slower rate of fire, the second gun turret (BII) has only one gun in good order remaining in service).

19.28 Battice calls, they have spotted and neutralised an enemy battery firing on us. HQ calls and announces Aubin fortress is cited in today’s dispatches for its stubborn resistance.
(20 enemy infantry assaults on the fort were repulsed that day).

19.52 OP O.352 comes back online and reports lights near the Trembleur slag heap.

21.35 Situation is calm again. Call to HQ to report on damaged gun turrets. Request new canons for them. HQ replies that it is impossible to resupply the fort.

23.45 Order to the Mortar Bloc to fire on all three sides of the fort randomly during the night to deter any more enemy assault.

See you tomorrow for Day 3.
-RBM.