Germans occupy Mechelen

On 28 September 1914 German troops occupied Mechelen (French: Malines), a city lying halfway between Brussels and Antwerp. On the same day German siege artillery began shelling the outer forts of Antwerp, and Mechelen found itself just behind the German front line.

A city in front of the fortress

Mechelen, the seat of the archbishops and primates of Belgium, lay in the path of any army advancing on Antwerp from the south. Since August it had been on the front line of the fighting between the German corps watching the fortress and the Belgian army. During the first Belgian sortie from Antwerp at the end of August the city came under German artillery fire for the first time, and the shelling was repeated in September as well. Most of the inhabitants then fled to Antwerp, to the area around Lier and Duffel, or to the Netherlands. Shells destroyed part of the historic buildings in the centre and damaged the tower of St Rumbold’s Cathedral, including its great clock.

At the end of September the Germans began a regular siege of Antwerp. The troops of General Hans von Beseler pushed the Belgian outposts back several kilometres and occupied a line from the Nete to the Scheldt that included Mechelen. Heavy guns were set up east and south of the city, and on 28 September they opened fire on the forts of Sint-Katelijne-Waver and Walem. From that day Mechelen remained under German occupation until the end of the war.

Cardinal Mercier

Mechelen was the residence of the archbishop, Cardinal Désiré-Joseph Mercier. At the turn of August and September he was in Rome for the conclave that elected Benedict XV pope. On his return he found his cathedral partly destroyed and his diocese devastated. At Christmas 1914 he issued the pastoral letter “Patriotism and Endurance”, in which he paid tribute to the fallen soldiers and murdered civilians and reminded Belgians that the occupier’s authority was not legitimate authority and was owed no inner obedience. Because the Germans had cut off the post, the letter was carried around and distributed by hand. The occupation authorities tried to stop it being read out in churches and, according to many accounts, confined the cardinal to his residence for a time. From then on Mercier became a symbol of Belgian resistance to the occupation.