Ecrasite? I didn't realize it was that stable. Did it not have a couple of unexplained premature explosions early on?
A Better Rifle at Halloween
- Thread starter diesal
- Start date
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- Tags
- britwank rifles ww1 different
from what i understand Ecrasite like all picric acid based explosives had issues with forming unstable metal salts when in contact to copper alloys used in detonators.
Though looking at the source I found on ecrasite it was a report from US observation of Austria's acceptance trials and private demonstrations by the manufacturers in 1902 so no idea how well they performed during the war
Fort D’ Emines
10th September 1914, Namur.
Dawn arrived slowly, the German commanders had surveyed the shattered remnant of the failed attack two days prior and decided on a change of plan. The attack would commence as soon as there was sufficient light for the attacking division to pick its way through the shattered and blasted landscape. The high explosive shells fired by the German guns had dug massive craters all through the attack zone, where they struck the trenches and breastworks used by the French and Belgian defenders, they shattered them or blasted great holes in the defences. But for every shell that hit a trench or a breastwork two or three went long or short, wasting their power blasting great gouts of soil into the air, destroying trees, ploughing through fences, pulverising drains, it was as if a delinquent giant had taken to the area with a hoe, with no thought but destruction in mind.
The whistles sounded again, the infantry had once again infiltrated as far forward as they could, in fact from the steady stream of casualties that trickled back from the attacking regiments showed that they had evaluated the risk of being killed by their own artillery as less than having to cover another 50 or 100 yards under rifle and machine gun fire. The decision was a prudent one, the guns ceased firing and the infantry were up and moving forward quickly, the defenders scrambled through their own shattered defences to man their guns. They won the race, the machine guns fired, stuttering out death in steady bursts, they played the stream of bullets over the attacking Germans, at the same time the riflemen began firing adding more whistling death to the steadily brightening dawn.
The attacking infantry, shook of the deaths of their comrades, scarcely flinching as a heavy tithe was taken of their ranks, they rapidly gained the first line of trenches, bayonets flashed as outnumbered French defenders were rapidly pushed out from the first line. The attackers paused but only briefly, they redressed their lines and continued the attack. The second line of defences around the fortress was weaker than the first, the attack gained the second line with greater ease, there were fewer machine guns in this line and the defenders had clearly expected the first line to have greater effect and with the failure of the first line, the second shattered like cast iron hit with a hammer.
The final objective was the thoroughly ruined defences of the Fort itself; the defenders were Belgian and they had been equally unsettled by the failure of their infantry defenders, but they were fighting for their homes and they were filled both with hatred for the invader and a desire live up to the heroic standard of Liege. The fortress would hold for hours, but eventually the weight of infantry and the destructive power of the guns would prevail, Fort D’ Emines had also fallen, now the way into Namur had opened saving for hasty trenches which ringed the town.
Dawn arrived slowly, the German commanders had surveyed the shattered remnant of the failed attack two days prior and decided on a change of plan. The attack would commence as soon as there was sufficient light for the attacking division to pick its way through the shattered and blasted landscape. The high explosive shells fired by the German guns had dug massive craters all through the attack zone, where they struck the trenches and breastworks used by the French and Belgian defenders, they shattered them or blasted great holes in the defences. But for every shell that hit a trench or a breastwork two or three went long or short, wasting their power blasting great gouts of soil into the air, destroying trees, ploughing through fences, pulverising drains, it was as if a delinquent giant had taken to the area with a hoe, with no thought but destruction in mind.
The whistles sounded again, the infantry had once again infiltrated as far forward as they could, in fact from the steady stream of casualties that trickled back from the attacking regiments showed that they had evaluated the risk of being killed by their own artillery as less than having to cover another 50 or 100 yards under rifle and machine gun fire. The decision was a prudent one, the guns ceased firing and the infantry were up and moving forward quickly, the defenders scrambled through their own shattered defences to man their guns. They won the race, the machine guns fired, stuttering out death in steady bursts, they played the stream of bullets over the attacking Germans, at the same time the riflemen began firing adding more whistling death to the steadily brightening dawn.
The attacking infantry, shook of the deaths of their comrades, scarcely flinching as a heavy tithe was taken of their ranks, they rapidly gained the first line of trenches, bayonets flashed as outnumbered French defenders were rapidly pushed out from the first line. The attackers paused but only briefly, they redressed their lines and continued the attack. The second line of defences around the fortress was weaker than the first, the attack gained the second line with greater ease, there were fewer machine guns in this line and the defenders had clearly expected the first line to have greater effect and with the failure of the first line, the second shattered like cast iron hit with a hammer.
The final objective was the thoroughly ruined defences of the Fort itself; the defenders were Belgian and they had been equally unsettled by the failure of their infantry defenders, but they were fighting for their homes and they were filled both with hatred for the invader and a desire live up to the heroic standard of Liege. The fortress would hold for hours, but eventually the weight of infantry and the destructive power of the guns would prevail, Fort D’ Emines had also fallen, now the way into Namur had opened saving for hasty trenches which ringed the town.
10th September is OTL start of the German retreat at the battle of the Marne.
In TTL Namur is still holding - just.
In TTL Namur is still holding - just.
A New Advisor
10th September 1914, London.
Winston Churchill was furious, he had had to listen Sir John French pouring scorn on the French Army again. The French and Belgian Army were on the defensive, General Joffre had accepted the total failure of Plan XVII, Joffre had been desperately trying to reinforce his troops holding back the German tide. Plan XVII had called for swift attack into Alsace and Lorraine but it had been defeated, thousands of French soldiers had died and no real ground had been gained, if anything the Germans had captured ground in the disputed regions from France. Hundreds of thousands were dead, wounded or captured and the German steam roller was swinging into France, it had been delayed by the stout defence of Liege but the Germans were advancing. They were threatening Lille, a vital rail hub through which much of the supplies for the BEF flowed. The defenders drawn from the 82nd Territorial Division, reinforced with men from the garrison of Dunkirk and any other available troops numbered approximately 20,000 men.
Sir John was demanding that the BEF disengage from the fighting it was doing on the Mons-Condee Canal and retire towards Mauberge or St Quesnoy, “The damned French are beaten, Namur will fall and the BEF will be captured” was his plaintive complaint, Sir John was aware that a retreat such as this would expose the French Army which was desperately holding Namur to possible envelopment and certainly require them to retreat themselves to avoid this, the fall of Namur would further unhinge the defences along the Meuse potentially causing the loss of much of northern France.
Churchill was nothing if not decisive, “Sir John, we cannot win this war without risk. We cannot win this war without France, you advise that we betray our gallant ally, I accept your resignation as my principle military advisor, you may leave now”
Sir John spluttered impotently, his mouth opening and closing, Churchill snapped “just get out, I have work to do”, with that Sir John Turned on his heel and retreated. Churchill picked up the phone on his desk and instructed the voice on the other end “Get me General Grierson”
Winston Churchill was furious, he had had to listen Sir John French pouring scorn on the French Army again. The French and Belgian Army were on the defensive, General Joffre had accepted the total failure of Plan XVII, Joffre had been desperately trying to reinforce his troops holding back the German tide. Plan XVII had called for swift attack into Alsace and Lorraine but it had been defeated, thousands of French soldiers had died and no real ground had been gained, if anything the Germans had captured ground in the disputed regions from France. Hundreds of thousands were dead, wounded or captured and the German steam roller was swinging into France, it had been delayed by the stout defence of Liege but the Germans were advancing. They were threatening Lille, a vital rail hub through which much of the supplies for the BEF flowed. The defenders drawn from the 82nd Territorial Division, reinforced with men from the garrison of Dunkirk and any other available troops numbered approximately 20,000 men.
Sir John was demanding that the BEF disengage from the fighting it was doing on the Mons-Condee Canal and retire towards Mauberge or St Quesnoy, “The damned French are beaten, Namur will fall and the BEF will be captured” was his plaintive complaint, Sir John was aware that a retreat such as this would expose the French Army which was desperately holding Namur to possible envelopment and certainly require them to retreat themselves to avoid this, the fall of Namur would further unhinge the defences along the Meuse potentially causing the loss of much of northern France.
Churchill was nothing if not decisive, “Sir John, we cannot win this war without risk. We cannot win this war without France, you advise that we betray our gallant ally, I accept your resignation as my principle military advisor, you may leave now”
Sir John spluttered impotently, his mouth opening and closing, Churchill snapped “just get out, I have work to do”, with that Sir John Turned on his heel and retreated. Churchill picked up the phone on his desk and instructed the voice on the other end “Get me General Grierson”
Of course they don't know that OTL's situation was much more desperate 😉
Back at Rules
10TH September 1914, London.
Winston Churchill was back at Rules, his usual table in private room, with him was his new advisor General Grierson, they were discussing the progress of the war. Churchill was quizzing Grierson on how he thought the war should be fought. “Guns, its guns that will win it, Liege fell because the Germans blasted their way in, infantry against unsuppressed machine guns is a blood bath, when we go on the attack our guns will have to smash the German defences and pin down their reserves. As it stands, we don’t have the guns to do that, our 4.5” Howitzer and 60 pounder gun, fire a useful high explosive shell, but we have few of them. Our 18 pounder guns are next to useless, we have plenty of shrapnel shells they can smash up an attack but can’t cut barbed wire or damage trenches or breastworks.” He paused took a sip of the water that was by his hand and carried on, “the other thing we don’t have anywhere enough shells, neither shrapnel of which we have more or high explosive of which we have nothing like sufficient.”
A waiter arrived to take their order, Churchill was surprised to notice that Sir James Grierson ordered plainly grilled steak with steamed vegetables, Churchill commented recalling that Sir James was a well-known gourmand, the General merely grunted “Doctors orders”
Churchill knew something of the limitations of the artillery, he had spent a lot of time with Admiral Scott who could only curse the artillery limitations of the Royal Navy and the unwillingness of Sir John French to accept the offer of additional guns from old naval reserves. Grierson was keen to bring into service as many of the artillery pieces as possible and had agreed to send territorial artillerymen and new recruits for training as soon as the improvised gun carriages were ready.
“Lille is likely to fall, the French garrison occupies the old citadel and the later defences but they are old and will not stand much artillery, especially the super heavy guns which the Germans seem to have in abundance. We must secure the ports on the coast, we must send more men to France.” What do we have available, Churchill asked, he was as aware of the status of the territorial forces, but he needed to hear what Grierson would say. “We have another 8 divisions of the territorial force here in Britain. Several of those divisions are to be deployed to the empire to take over for Regular units. They will leave most of their artillery and transport units here but the infantry will go out to replace the regulars. Only in Egypt, India and South Africa do we have formed brigades to replace but there are regular battalions deployed all over the world that can return to Britain for service in France. This will take time, the Indian Army units will be in France in October and they will be most welcome but they also lack the heavy guns we need.
The Welsh, West Riding, Highland and Lowland divisions are all available, the Highland division has been suffering a measles epidemic and have almost 400 men in hospital, ideally the Highlanders will stay here until their men are recovered and they can make up for the training they have missed.”
Churchill was pleased by the succinct way in which Grierson had given his summary of the current position, he was glad the man was available to him. It had been mentioned that he had fallen somewhat afoul of Sir John French, this fact alone not to mention that he had been a keen student of the German Army had suggested him for the role when Churchill had finally decided on the need to replace Sir John.
Churchill mentioned to Grierson the existence of the Royal Naval Division, Sir John snorted “they will be keen no doubt but most are naval ratings, they didn’t volunteer to be foot soldiers, they don’t have enough artillery or machine guns, keep them in Britain, you will need them soon enough if this war goes for as long as I think it will. The Royal Marines on the other hand they might be useful, Ostend and Zeebrugge have a solid garrison but German Cavalry are advancing on Nieuwport, the Royal Marine Brigade could go ashore there and guard it. They can hold off Cavalry easily enough and secure more of the coastline for us. Orders can be issued to two more territorial divisions to go to France, if they land in Calais they can deploy to Hazebrouck and hold that that it will secure the railway junction and protect the coast. But the French must hold Lille, they must hold.” The two men continued their lunch and their discussions, more British Troops would deploy to France.
Winston Churchill was back at Rules, his usual table in private room, with him was his new advisor General Grierson, they were discussing the progress of the war. Churchill was quizzing Grierson on how he thought the war should be fought. “Guns, its guns that will win it, Liege fell because the Germans blasted their way in, infantry against unsuppressed machine guns is a blood bath, when we go on the attack our guns will have to smash the German defences and pin down their reserves. As it stands, we don’t have the guns to do that, our 4.5” Howitzer and 60 pounder gun, fire a useful high explosive shell, but we have few of them. Our 18 pounder guns are next to useless, we have plenty of shrapnel shells they can smash up an attack but can’t cut barbed wire or damage trenches or breastworks.” He paused took a sip of the water that was by his hand and carried on, “the other thing we don’t have anywhere enough shells, neither shrapnel of which we have more or high explosive of which we have nothing like sufficient.”
A waiter arrived to take their order, Churchill was surprised to notice that Sir James Grierson ordered plainly grilled steak with steamed vegetables, Churchill commented recalling that Sir James was a well-known gourmand, the General merely grunted “Doctors orders”
Churchill knew something of the limitations of the artillery, he had spent a lot of time with Admiral Scott who could only curse the artillery limitations of the Royal Navy and the unwillingness of Sir John French to accept the offer of additional guns from old naval reserves. Grierson was keen to bring into service as many of the artillery pieces as possible and had agreed to send territorial artillerymen and new recruits for training as soon as the improvised gun carriages were ready.
“Lille is likely to fall, the French garrison occupies the old citadel and the later defences but they are old and will not stand much artillery, especially the super heavy guns which the Germans seem to have in abundance. We must secure the ports on the coast, we must send more men to France.” What do we have available, Churchill asked, he was as aware of the status of the territorial forces, but he needed to hear what Grierson would say. “We have another 8 divisions of the territorial force here in Britain. Several of those divisions are to be deployed to the empire to take over for Regular units. They will leave most of their artillery and transport units here but the infantry will go out to replace the regulars. Only in Egypt, India and South Africa do we have formed brigades to replace but there are regular battalions deployed all over the world that can return to Britain for service in France. This will take time, the Indian Army units will be in France in October and they will be most welcome but they also lack the heavy guns we need.
The Welsh, West Riding, Highland and Lowland divisions are all available, the Highland division has been suffering a measles epidemic and have almost 400 men in hospital, ideally the Highlanders will stay here until their men are recovered and they can make up for the training they have missed.”
Churchill was pleased by the succinct way in which Grierson had given his summary of the current position, he was glad the man was available to him. It had been mentioned that he had fallen somewhat afoul of Sir John French, this fact alone not to mention that he had been a keen student of the German Army had suggested him for the role when Churchill had finally decided on the need to replace Sir John.
Churchill mentioned to Grierson the existence of the Royal Naval Division, Sir John snorted “they will be keen no doubt but most are naval ratings, they didn’t volunteer to be foot soldiers, they don’t have enough artillery or machine guns, keep them in Britain, you will need them soon enough if this war goes for as long as I think it will. The Royal Marines on the other hand they might be useful, Ostend and Zeebrugge have a solid garrison but German Cavalry are advancing on Nieuwport, the Royal Marine Brigade could go ashore there and guard it. They can hold off Cavalry easily enough and secure more of the coastline for us. Orders can be issued to two more territorial divisions to go to France, if they land in Calais they can deploy to Hazebrouck and hold that that it will secure the railway junction and protect the coast. But the French must hold Lille, they must hold.” The two men continued their lunch and their discussions, more British Troops would deploy to France.
Picric acid was (and is) more powerful than TNT and easier and cheaper to produce. The nitration process is easier to handle in phenol than toluene.
BTW there were in fact several grades of TNT, much US production and most UK was 'pellite', a rather impure form whose production omitted the recrystallisation step in the process to save time and money (about 2d per pound produced).
UK, and Empire, explosives production was constrained by production of nitric acid and other feedstock chemicals, toluene and acetone for example and MNT (obtained from Borneo). Even building the production plants is going to be slow; historically it took well into 1915 to begin this due to a lack of experience (there was almost no TNT production in the UK before the war and picric acid was not manufactured on a large scale). Things like acid-resistant pottery for nitration vessels will be a bottleneck.
The Oldbury pilot/example plant was only operational in early June 1915.
Another, often omitted, constraint was ideological; it was rapidly apparent (to Moulton and others) that the private sector simple couldn't be relied on for wartime production but they idea of massive state intervention , the seizure of plants under DoRA and government construction of facilities, was unpalatable to laissez-faire doctrinists.
Very true, but TNT’s greater stability was considered an asset as a filler. The same relationship existed between Picric acid and nitrocellulose compounds (cordite in the British case). Cordite was both cheaper and easier to produce than Lyddite but was not stable enough to survive the acceleration within the shell. Picric acid and it’s derivatives were the first organic chemical compounds that were considered stable enough to do so.
As I said, I believe a better mix based off Picric acid is the best bet for the British. An earlier Shellite would be quite satisfactory. US Compound D was based on Phenol through Picric acid but was considered to have a similar stability to TNT (with the consequence of also being less powerful than Lyddite). Shellite would be an improvement in stability without drastically reducing power. Thus avoiding having even large shells bursting against even light armour rather than bursting after penetration, as intended.
I think it is probably more accurate to say that production was constrained by the size of orders in peacetime compared to wartime. Chemical industries in first order nations tend to size themselves based on the market. It is very hard to overstate the level of expansion in the requirements for explosives during WW1. Small numbers (in the army) and a marked desire for economy (in both Army and Navy) led to relatively small orders. The massive expansion in need for shells, both numbers and larger types, led to a massive lag between requirements and capabilities, as would be expected. It took time for industry expansion to catch up.
IIRC several companies were producing TNT for commercial purposes. Nobel being the largest. In the event that TNT had been chosen as a filler then large orders would have been placed with these companies, necessitating an expansion in production. It probably would have begun to match prewar Lyddite production by the outbreak of war. Which of course would not have come close to meeting requirements during wartime and would have to have been expanded again.
I have not read anything of Moulton’s opinions of the time. But if that is his view I must strongly disagree with him. Private Industry was very capable of delivering what the government asked for, as long as government asked for amounts that allowed capacity to be maintained.
The balance between private and public capacity for war industries is an argument with examples going back at least to the establishment of the Royal Powder Factory in the 1600’s. It is the same argument that shaped the fate of the Royal Small Arms Factory at Enfield and the expansion of Private Shipyards alongside the Royal Dockyards in the Ironclad era and beyond. IMO hindsight shows that though the government is well served to maintain some production capacity (As a reserve for wartime, an opportunity to experiment with and model new technology and, perhaps most importantly, to allow the government to act as an informed customer) it will never be able to meet all needs in wartime, only in peace. And doing so in peace means that private experience, which is much more scalable, tends to be lost entirely.
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Lille Defiant
11th September 1914, Lille.
The defenders of Lille had been further reinforced in the night, two brigades had arrived one from Dunkerque another from Paris, they had arrived by blacked out trains creeping silently into the stations before hurriedly disembarking the newest defenders.
The Germans had attempted to rush the city the day before, but they had failed, the initial defenders of the city, territorials of the 82nd division, fortress gunners and reserve artillerymen in addition to some reserve cavalry plus the 1500 men from the Dunkerque garrison had faced the first wave. They like the defenders of Liege had spent the last week in frantic activity, breastworks had been prepared, trenches dug and stoutly constructed buildings had been loopholed to be held by the reservists.
General Herment, the garrison commander had been bombarded by demands by the mayor that Herment declare Lille an open city, the general had finally lost his patience with the man telling him that if he didn’t stop his pestering he would be called up and sent to his own territorial unit, Hernent reminding him that he would re-join the colours at his final rank of Caporal-Chef.
Instead he had ordered the mayor to support the defence, suitably chastened he became a convert to the defence of his city, doubly so when he received a telegram from the President of France demanding that Lille become a second Liege. The men of Lille had been sorted, anyone with military experience no matter his age had been armed and put to building or manning the defences, this included men who had served in the war of 1870 and all younger, those few who had never served merely laboured under the direction of the army. The evacuation of the women had been undertaken over the last 4 days, increasingly franticly as the Germans came closer.
The initial attack of the First Army had come at noon the previous day. It had not been particularly aggressive, the Germans had come forward through the open country between Tourcoing and Lille in skirmish order not the tightly controlled columns that had been there usual practice. They had encountered the defences arrayed before them, some were ancient forts dating as far back as the illustrious Vauban, others were more recent construction, the most recent were the extemporaneous fortifications created with so much effort over the last couple of days. The defenders had allowed the skirmish line to advance to within 250m before engaging them, this was done for two reasons, by drawing them forward they enabled the defences to engage the maximum number of attackers, secondly it would tempt the Germans to bring their guns into range of the 75mm guns of the defences.
The attackers reached the markers for 250m, almost as one over 1500 rifles spoke, the field grey troops were struck by a sleeting hail of copper jacked lead. The Territorials were older men, the territorials were men 35 to 41 years of age, the reserve of the territorial army comprised men aged from 42 to 48.
The men of the reserve of the territorial army who formed part of the defences of Lille included men from Tourcoing who had withdrawn from their city rather than be slaughtered by the massive army bearing down on them. But Lille was different, it had real fortresses, mostly ancient and built of brick and stone, not reinforced concrete but they would be more than sufficient to at least delay the Germans at least until they brought their super heavy guns. The light artillery which faced the defenders was capable of slaughtering troops in the open, it was not so effective against strong points and defences, it did fire high explosive but those shells were much lighter than those used at Liege and Namur, with correspondingly smaller fillings of TNT.
The first defensive line was lightly held, its role was to stop the initial rush, which it had just done and then cause the attackers to bunch up, with the attacking infantry slowed down, it was time for several batteries of artillery to open fire. The 75mm guns, which were ubiquitous within the French army could easily fire 10 rounds per minute, even with old and unfit reservist gunners. They fired now, lacking high explosive shells they could only fire shrapnel but this was perhaps the best ammunition to use for the circumstances, the German attackers had gone to ground when they came under fire. The shrapnel shells had been well fuzed and each shell spilt its deadly cargo over the attacking infantry, heavy casualties ensued.
The opening phase of the battle only lasted until the Germans could get their howitzers into action, they did this quickly having expected Leige to be defended, signallers rapidly connected batteries to forward observers, forward observers gave fire direction and soon the howitzers fired. The light but deadly shells arcing high into the sky to fall back to earth before exploding, breaching defences and once smashing in an aged brick fortification which housed a rare and valuable machine gun.
The firing had gone on for much of the rest of the day, a great deal of it was futile as the defenders had withdrawn save for the thinnest line of their own, meant more than anything else to fixate the attackers on this position rather than the more important and substantial defences closer to the citadel. The casualties were light among the defenders but they were heavy enough for anyone unfortunate to have been struck with shot or shell.
The frustrated attackers ceased probing the defences as the night fell, they continued to fire their artillery into Lille, now and then firing deeper into the city, they had the ability to shell both the town centre and citadel. But it was clear that it was a race between more German guns getting into action in the morning and the ability of the French to swell the ranks of the defenders. So far France was winning, but the attackers had done little fighting in the past few weeks and so they remained fresh with only a limited numbers of replacements and new men filling out their ranks. They were also young men hardened by their training not oldsters brought back to the colours by orders and the threats of the foe. The likewise the Germans had the newest equipment available, not ancient weapons obsolete decades previous.
The next attack would come this day and with the power of the First Army behind it, it was likely to succeed.
The defenders of Lille had been further reinforced in the night, two brigades had arrived one from Dunkerque another from Paris, they had arrived by blacked out trains creeping silently into the stations before hurriedly disembarking the newest defenders.
The Germans had attempted to rush the city the day before, but they had failed, the initial defenders of the city, territorials of the 82nd division, fortress gunners and reserve artillerymen in addition to some reserve cavalry plus the 1500 men from the Dunkerque garrison had faced the first wave. They like the defenders of Liege had spent the last week in frantic activity, breastworks had been prepared, trenches dug and stoutly constructed buildings had been loopholed to be held by the reservists.
General Herment, the garrison commander had been bombarded by demands by the mayor that Herment declare Lille an open city, the general had finally lost his patience with the man telling him that if he didn’t stop his pestering he would be called up and sent to his own territorial unit, Hernent reminding him that he would re-join the colours at his final rank of Caporal-Chef.
Instead he had ordered the mayor to support the defence, suitably chastened he became a convert to the defence of his city, doubly so when he received a telegram from the President of France demanding that Lille become a second Liege. The men of Lille had been sorted, anyone with military experience no matter his age had been armed and put to building or manning the defences, this included men who had served in the war of 1870 and all younger, those few who had never served merely laboured under the direction of the army. The evacuation of the women had been undertaken over the last 4 days, increasingly franticly as the Germans came closer.
The initial attack of the First Army had come at noon the previous day. It had not been particularly aggressive, the Germans had come forward through the open country between Tourcoing and Lille in skirmish order not the tightly controlled columns that had been there usual practice. They had encountered the defences arrayed before them, some were ancient forts dating as far back as the illustrious Vauban, others were more recent construction, the most recent were the extemporaneous fortifications created with so much effort over the last couple of days. The defenders had allowed the skirmish line to advance to within 250m before engaging them, this was done for two reasons, by drawing them forward they enabled the defences to engage the maximum number of attackers, secondly it would tempt the Germans to bring their guns into range of the 75mm guns of the defences.
The attackers reached the markers for 250m, almost as one over 1500 rifles spoke, the field grey troops were struck by a sleeting hail of copper jacked lead. The Territorials were older men, the territorials were men 35 to 41 years of age, the reserve of the territorial army comprised men aged from 42 to 48.
The men of the reserve of the territorial army who formed part of the defences of Lille included men from Tourcoing who had withdrawn from their city rather than be slaughtered by the massive army bearing down on them. But Lille was different, it had real fortresses, mostly ancient and built of brick and stone, not reinforced concrete but they would be more than sufficient to at least delay the Germans at least until they brought their super heavy guns. The light artillery which faced the defenders was capable of slaughtering troops in the open, it was not so effective against strong points and defences, it did fire high explosive but those shells were much lighter than those used at Liege and Namur, with correspondingly smaller fillings of TNT.
The first defensive line was lightly held, its role was to stop the initial rush, which it had just done and then cause the attackers to bunch up, with the attacking infantry slowed down, it was time for several batteries of artillery to open fire. The 75mm guns, which were ubiquitous within the French army could easily fire 10 rounds per minute, even with old and unfit reservist gunners. They fired now, lacking high explosive shells they could only fire shrapnel but this was perhaps the best ammunition to use for the circumstances, the German attackers had gone to ground when they came under fire. The shrapnel shells had been well fuzed and each shell spilt its deadly cargo over the attacking infantry, heavy casualties ensued.
The opening phase of the battle only lasted until the Germans could get their howitzers into action, they did this quickly having expected Leige to be defended, signallers rapidly connected batteries to forward observers, forward observers gave fire direction and soon the howitzers fired. The light but deadly shells arcing high into the sky to fall back to earth before exploding, breaching defences and once smashing in an aged brick fortification which housed a rare and valuable machine gun.
The firing had gone on for much of the rest of the day, a great deal of it was futile as the defenders had withdrawn save for the thinnest line of their own, meant more than anything else to fixate the attackers on this position rather than the more important and substantial defences closer to the citadel. The casualties were light among the defenders but they were heavy enough for anyone unfortunate to have been struck with shot or shell.
The frustrated attackers ceased probing the defences as the night fell, they continued to fire their artillery into Lille, now and then firing deeper into the city, they had the ability to shell both the town centre and citadel. But it was clear that it was a race between more German guns getting into action in the morning and the ability of the French to swell the ranks of the defenders. So far France was winning, but the attackers had done little fighting in the past few weeks and so they remained fresh with only a limited numbers of replacements and new men filling out their ranks. They were also young men hardened by their training not oldsters brought back to the colours by orders and the threats of the foe. The likewise the Germans had the newest equipment available, not ancient weapons obsolete decades previous.
The next attack would come this day and with the power of the First Army behind it, it was likely to succeed.
Ramontxo
Donor
Another wonderful post. Will the two new Brigades be enough to sustain the defence until the city is reinforced? With the advantage the defence had I hope the Germans will have to wait for their heavy artillery. Anyway this more time lost for them.
Thanks a lot for your good work
Thanks a lot for your good work
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