Surrender of the fortress of Longwy

On 26 August 1914 the French fortress of Longwy in Lorraine, near the borders with Belgium and Luxembourg, surrendered. From 20 August German troops had surrounded it, and heavy artillery had been destroying its fortifications day after day. The first shells had fallen on the town even earlier, because the fortress lay right on the border and had been on the front line since the start of the war.

The white flag

The garrison numbered about 3,500 men, mainly from the 164th Infantry Regiment, supplemented among others by gunners, sappers and a detachment of customs officers. It was commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Constant Darche. The obsolete walls dating from the time of Vauban could not withstand modern artillery, and after the French defeat in the Battle of the Ardennes there was no longer any hope of relief. The army of the German Crown Prince Wilhelm marched on towards the Meuse and Verdun.

According to French accounts, at about 10.30 a.m. on 26 August a white flag was hoisted over the fortress. The Germans demanded unconditional surrender, but Darche asked for the honours of war for his soldiers. In the end it was agreed that the troops would leave the fortress in the afternoon and lay down their arms only on the way out. According to the same sources, more than half of the garrison had by then been killed or wounded. The defenders went into captivity.

The fate of the defenders and the town

Darche was sent to an officers’ camp at Ingolstadt in Bavaria, and later to Marienburg in West Prussia. Because of illness he was transferred to Switzerland in 1917, and at the beginning of 1918 he returned to France. While the siege was still in progress he was promoted to officer of the Legion of Honour, and in 1920 the whole garrison of Longwy was mentioned in army orders. The French considered that the fortress had fully accomplished its task, since it had tied down German forces for several weeks.

The upper town with the fortress lay in ruins. Longwy, an important centre of the steel industry in the Lorraine iron-ore basin, remained under German occupation until the end of the war in November 1918.