The Siege of the Belgian Fortress of Aubin-Neufchateau: Day by Day Account

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

Fort Structure and Armament

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 11: Monday the 20th of May 1940. The Beginning of the End…

00.02 25 grapeshot rounds fired all over the Massif (roof) just in case (The Eastern wall near Bloc CII is very damaged and enemy infantry can access the moat through the breach). 50 rounds of 75mm fired on Ellenooz road to harass potential German traffic.

01.00 All machine guns ordered to fire a couple of rounds across their field of fire, BM ordered to fire 10 rounds per side on the Glacis to secure the fort’s perimeter. All sentries called to ensure they are all at their stations and awake. Encrypted telegram received from HQ. Cannot decipher.

02.25 10 rounds of 75mm over the Massif. Red flares seen over the 3 chimneys crossroad. White flares near Canelle. German troops might be maneuvering around the fort under cover of darkness.

04.10 Request HQ to send again previous telegram. BM ordered to fire 25 X 81mm bombs on each of the 3 sides of the fort.

Night Attacks and Defensive Measures

05.10 B3 is attacked! German infantry is in the moat and are launching grenades and satchels over the rolling bridge protecting the main entrance. One of those charges rips the automatic rifle protecting the bridge from its mount. The automatic rifle is still working, the man manning the position opens fire again.

All the machine guns of B3 are firing at will. The Germans are deploying smoke screens around B3. The machine gun in the casemate overlooking the postern (main access to the moat) is completely destroyed by an explosion. What remains of the Maxim machine gun and its mount are removed and an automatic rifle is used instead. Armour plating and sandbags are used to try and protect the position. The man manning the automatic rifle covering the bridge is wounded and replaced. The commandant actually sends a man and some volunteers up the stairs to B3 to make sure it hasn’t fallen to the enemy. There is only one rolling bridge and a double set of armoured doors left between the Germans and the inside of the bloc itself which is the main gateway to the fort.

05.57 German troops with a white flag come toward BP. They want to parley. They have a priest from Val Dieu monastery with them and a letter addressed to the commandant who refuses to read it. He refuses to surrender his position or even discuss the topic. Order to not fire toward BP without authorization so as to not harm the German negotiators as they came under a white banner.

Less than 30 minutes after the Germans have left, the fort is heavily shelled.

06.48 Bloc C3 and B3 heavily targeted for more than an hour. Enemy artillery spotted near Simenon House. Both turrets are authorised to engage with 50 rounds of 75mm.

06.55 BP spots two other artillery pieces near bunker NV7 and near the Mortroux-Warsage road. Mortar Bloc engages both with 50 rounds each.

07.10 One of the two observation cupolas on BP is violently hit. A shell gets clean through one of the embrasures (view port), killing one sentry and wounding his colleague. The cupola is evacuated. Both gun turret blocs (B1 and B2) are under heavy shelling.

07.20 All blocs are under intense shelling. It is getting heavier. All non-essential personnel are ordered to the lower levels. All ammunition present in the combat blocs is also sent down to the lower levels for safety’s sake. Both gun turrets are eclipsed. Only sentries are allowed to stay at their combat stations. The sentry in the remaining cupola in BP spots enemy movement near Delacroix House. BM fires 50 rounds of 81mm on the objective.

Morning Assaults and Heavy Shelling

07.45 The remaining cupola on Bloc P receives two direct hits and is temporarily out of order. The bloc’s main air intake tube is also damaged. The air intake tube is important as it supplies 35,000 cubic meters of air per hour to the fort’s main blocs, galleries, and barracks. Mortar Bloc fires 50 rounds around BP to defend its perimeter. BO (An observation bloc which doubles as the auxiliary air intake station of the fort) is violently targeted by enemy artillery.

08.00 Direct hit on BO’s observation cupola. Both sentries are badly hurt. The bloc’s air intake is also damaged. The fort’s chaplain is on site helping the wounded. German shrapnel hits his helmet without wounding him. Gun turrets are authorised to open fire in the vicinity of Notre-Dame where a German battery is thought to be. German battery reported near Appelboom. B2 targets it with 50 rounds.

08.20 Another German position detected near the Moudrerie crossroad. It is targeted by both the Mortar Bloc and the gun turret at B2.

The commandant expects a German assault and calls Battice fortress. They agree to an emergency safe word: If Aubin calls in “T-Z Inf.,” it means the massif (roof) is overrun by German infantry. Battice is to open fire on Aubin fortress if it receives this call.

Fire support requested from Battice to help shell the German gun position near Appleboom. One of the three mortar tubes in BM is temporarily out of action. BO is badly damaged (cupola and air intake) and evacuated. An assault is expected. Inside the fort’s combat blocs, soldiers start erecting sandbags and steel beams as barricades to seal positions if needed.

09.20 One of the German gun positions firing on the fort is hit. Sentries can see German lorries evacuating their own wounded and dead from the position. When they see a German tractor approaching one of their guns to try and tow it away, the tractor is fired upon.

09.50 One of C3’s cupolas receives a direct hit fired from the 3 chimneys crossroad. The aiming reticule of the gun is damaged.

Afternoon Onslaught

10.20 One of B1 machine gun cupola receives a direct hit. It seems to have come from the Coolen farm. Order sent to BM to engage it with 50 rounds.

10.25 Muzzle flashes seen near Goffman farm, BM to engagewith 50 81mm bombs.

10.45 C3 opens fire with its 47mm gun on a German tank seen in a meadow. B1 engaged by a gun position that seems to be near the woods farm. Request Battice fortress to engage that position.

11.00 German gun position in Hecheberg opens fire on the fort. Aubin fights back with 50 rounds of 81mm on that position. German battery neutralised. B1 gun turret opens fire on woods farm but its remaining gun jams. The turret is eclipsed and engineers are called in. It will take 25 minutes for the engineers to repair the gun after which the gun turret resumes firing on the woods.

12.00 German spotter detected near a house by the 3 chimneys crossroad. 10 rounds of 75mm are fired on this position. German shelling is intensifying again. The crew can feel the reinforced concrete walls vibrate.

C3 targeted by direct fire. BP under heavy shelling. BM violently targeted by shelling.

12.15 B3 shelled again. All non-essential personnel goes to the lower level, only leaving sentries in the surface bloc.

The German shelling is now so heavy that the vibrations are felt inside the command and control post of the fort 35 meters underground! Battice fortress reports being under heavy shelling also.

Critical Moments and Heroic Defense

German spotter discovered in a farm near Les Waides. BM fires 50 rounds in that direction.

12.45 BM is ordered to target Hocheberg again where German gun positions still remain. The mortar bloc carries out the order despite being under heavy fire.

13.35 Two hits from heavy German siege artillery are felt all the way to the command and control office of the fort. B1 under heavy artillery fire again.

14.10 C3 is now under machine gun fire coming from the cemetery. German shelling suddenly stops. Everyone is ordered to rush to their battle stations: German assault thought to be imminent! Mortar bloc ordered to fire 100 rounds all around the fort’s perimeter. B1 gun turret ordered to fire on the cemetery and around Bloc P to secure it.

14.15 German shelling restarts but at a slower rate. Machine gun fire engages one of the machine gun cupolas on B3. One of the rounds impacts against the aiming reticule. The soldier at that position suffers cuts to the face caused by flying glass shards.

14.25 B3 spotted a German gun position. BM fires 50 rounds in that direction.

14.38 German infantry assault toward Bloc C2 (double-coffer protecting the moat)! C2 defends itself with machine gun fire, 47mm guns, and grenades. Gun turret on B2 tries to provide cover fire by firing grapeshots. German guns engage the machine gun cupola on Bloc B2 with direct fire. Both machine gun cupolas are evacuated, but the gun turret remains in action. C3 spots a lot of German infantry in shell craters all around the fort. Mortar Bloc ordered to fire along the 3 sides of the fort. Explosions are felt inside the fort, the Germans are trying to breach Bloc C2 which keeps on defending itself. B3 reports smoke grenades being used by the Germans.

14.55 German infantry seen trying to rush through the outer wall breach near C2, ladders spotted also. C2 resists, B1 fires grapeshots in support. Another German infantry assault on the fort is underway! This is the 22nd infantry assault on the fort since May the 10th! All machine guns and guns still in working order are in action. The Germans suffer heavy losses. The fort will repulse 24 infantry assaults in total over the whole period of the siege.

14.56 Bloc C2 is breached! Explosive charges detonate against the bloc’s searchlight and 47mm gun ports. One Belgian soldier is killed on the spot, crushed by the gun. Another one is wounded (he will die in the fort’s infirmary the next day). The Germans are using grenades and flamethrowers to try and clear the bloc. C2 is compromised, the survivors rush downstairs. If the Germans enter the bloc, the whole fort could also be compromised. Belgian engineers place 280 kilos of explosives at the bottom of the stairs leading to the coffer (Bloc C2), seal the airlock with steel beams and sandbags, close the armoured doors and detonate the charge as German infantrymen start to make their way down the stairs.

In a modern Belgian fort such as Aubin, each bloc was designed to be sealed from the rest of the structure, using steel beams and sandbags stocked in each bloc and detonated if such a need occurred. Explosive charges were kept inside the fort in the event the destruction of a bloc was necessary to avoid the enemy penetrating inside the fort. The partial remains of the German soldiers who were caught in the explosion of the staircase have been found in the ruins of the bloc. They remain at their resting place.

With the loss of C2, two out of the three sides of the moat are no longer protected (C2 was a double coffer, protecting two sides of the moat simultaneously). The Germans take advantage of the situation to rush onto the Massif of the fort and attack gun turrets and cupolas with flamethrowers and explosive charges.

Distress radio call to Battice fortress: TZ Inf. ! TZ Inf. ! TZ Inf. !

Battice opens fire on Aubin with its 120mm and 75mm guns. The Germans are caught in the open and retreat. The German assault has been repulsed, but at what cost…

15.23 The gunners at B1 report that their gun is showing serious signs of wear and tear. Despite that, the turret is ordered to fire shrapnel rounds on the fort’s Glacis. BP is under small arms fire. B3 loses one of its 3 machine gun cupolas. It is utterly destroyed and cannot provide any protection for the men inside, it is evacuated.

Battice calls, they are detecting preparations for another assault on Aubin. Assault confirmed and underway! Requesting support from Battice, 120mm shrapnel, and 60mm HE if possible. Coffer C1 is under assault but resists. German smoke grenades deployed. BM opens fire along the fort’s perimeter while B1 fires grapeshots over the massif. All battle stations ordered to fire at will. C1 ordered to fire its 47mm gun over the massif by ricochet.

15.45 German infantry spotted assembling near Sart farm. Engaged by B1 gun turret: 50 rounds of 75mm.

BP is under infantry assault. BM fires 75 rounds on the bloc to scatter the German attack.

16.10 Enemy spotted on the roof of Bloc C2, engaged by 25 rounds of shrapnel fired by B1. German assault! Battice is called for help once again.

The gun turret at B2 is out of order: The German assault teams placed shaped charges on the turret. While the shaped charges did not penetrate, they created enough damage that the gun turret could no longer be raised or eclipsed. The gun turret crew suffered burns on their hands and faces but made it back down alive. The fort only has one gun turret left with one gun remaining.

16.30 B3 is under attack! One soldier in B3 is wounded by shrapnel: The Germans are still engaging the rolling bridge and the casemate defending it with explosive charges and grenades.

16.48 B1 reports its gun is really worn out and both its machine gun cupolas are obstructed by debris and rubble. BM reports small cracks are now visible along the bloc’s concrete walls. The fort is bombed by Stukas. The vibrations are enough to cause leaks on the central heating pipes running alongside the galleries and corridors 35 meters below.

Final Hours of Defense

17.05 B3 is attacked once again but is still holding on. Both B3 and BP receive the order to resist “a outrance,” meaning “to the end.” B3 and BP are the fort’s two entrances.

17.25 The Germans are still seen roaming around the fort and are penetrating inside C2 again. They can’t go far as the staircase and corridor leading down into the fort have been destroyed by the garrison.

Distress call sent to Battice. Aubin’s remaining 75mm gun (inside gun turret B1) is so worn out, it barely works anymore. It is still used to try and repulse the Germans seen near C2.