{"id":5623,"date":"2021-11-03T15:21:24","date_gmt":"2021-11-03T14:21:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.landofmemory.eu\/sujets-thematiques\/the-16-forts-of-the-fortified-position-of-liege\/"},"modified":"2022-08-03T11:44:06","modified_gmt":"2022-08-03T09:44:06","slug":"the-16-forts-of-the-fortified-position-of-liege","status":"publish","type":"sujets-thematiques","link":"https:\/\/www.landofmemory.eu\/en\/sujets-thematiques\/the-16-forts-of-the-fortified-position-of-liege\/","title":{"rendered":"The 16 forts of the Fortified Position of Li\u00e8ge"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The forts of Li\u00e8ge: a concrete belt surrounding the city<\/h2>\n\n

The Fortified Position of Liege (P.F.L.) consists of 12 fortifications that surrounded the city in 1914, 1916, and 1940. They were heavily armed and built with concrete. Some were even constructed partially underground. Because of their strategic positions, they protected each other, the city of Li\u00e8ge itself, and its main bridges.<\/p>\n\n

The heroic resistance of the Belgian forces within the P.F.L. at the beginning of the 14-18 war (from 4 to 16 August 1914) played a decisive role in the beginning of the conflict. It allowed the French troops to organize themselves while the forts were violently shelled by the first shots of the new Big Bertha artillery. In memory of this feat of arms, Li\u00e8ge was the first city outside France to receive the French Legion of Honor. In addition, as a testimony to this courage, it hosts a unique symbol: the Inter-Allied Memorial. During the Second World War, the Li\u00e8ge forts continued their mission at the bloody cost of many soldiers.<\/p>\n\n

As a last tribute, Paris renamed the Viennese caf\u00e9 that evoked the enemy, to give it the name of caf\u00e9 li\u00e9geois, known and drunk everywhere on the terraces of the Cit\u00e9 Ardente!<\/p>\n\n

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