CROONAERT Posted 16 March , 2006 Share Posted 16 March , 2006 Calling any Belgian Army experts!!!! Could anyone let me know what the "Artillerie Liege" actually was? I have this as an official unit designation (no number or anything, just "Artillerie Liege" plain and simple), but cannot find anything out about them. Who were they, and what did they do? I have a list of the artillery units engaged during the fighting of 1914, but the "Artillerie Liege" isn't mentioned (for either that battle , or anywhere else that I can see!). Could it possibly be a pre-war designation for the various fortress artillery batteries that were present in 1914? - a sort of "garrison" artillery unit? Any thoughts welcome. Thanks, Dave. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aconnolly Posted 16 March , 2006 Share Posted 16 March , 2006 Dave This may help - but I'm no where near certain. Andrew http://users.skynet.be/fonck/ouvertur.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Tom Posted 16 March , 2006 Share Posted 16 March , 2006 Andrew Many thanks for a very interesting steer. Old Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CROONAERT Posted 16 March , 2006 Author Share Posted 16 March , 2006 Dave This may help - but I'm no where near certain. Andrew http://users.skynet.be/fonck/ouvertur.html Thanks Andrew. That site was actually one of my sources for the individual artillery units, but nothing is mentioned of a unit called simply "Artillerie Liege". It might be a pre-war designation, by the way. Cheers anyway, Dave. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaeldr Posted 16 March , 2006 Share Posted 16 March , 2006 Quote: Could it possibly be a pre-war designation for the various fortress artillery batteries that were present in 1914? - a sort of "garrison" artillery unit? Dave You could well be right here See this site http://www.geocities.com/~brialmont/oppose.html Where the seemingly very well informed writer marks the diff between the Divisional artillery and that of the forts themselves Regards Michael D.R. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CROONAERT Posted 16 March , 2006 Author Share Posted 16 March , 2006 Quote: Could it possibly be a pre-war designation for the various fortress artillery batteries that were present in 1914? - a sort of "garrison" artillery unit? Dave You could well be right here I think I am! (Thanks for your response, by the way, Michael - a very informative webpage) After a flash of inspiration, I think I got my answer! I decided to check the Belgian wargraves records and found some 1914 casualties who's unit was simply"Vestingsartillerie Liege" (Fortress Artillery, Liege). Also, many of these had a 5 digit service number beginning with "3" (the person I am looking for had a service number of 32980 - making him a recalled reservist of the class of 1905/6 in the fortress artillery). Seeing as there wouldn't really be much room to stamp the word "vestings" on the dog-tag (which was the source of my query), I expect that "Artillerie Liege" and "Vestingsartillerie Liege" are the same unit? Any thoughts? Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CROONAERT Posted 17 March , 2006 Author Share Posted 17 March , 2006 Seeing as there wouldn't really be much room to stamp the word "vestings" on the dog-tag (which was the source of my query), I expect that "Artillerie Liege" and "Vestingsartillerie Liege" are the same unit? Forgot the "basics" for a while there! - "Vestingsartillerie Liege" would never have appeared on a dogtag from that period - it would have been stamped in French, not Dutch! (So it would have been "Artillery de Forteresse, Liege" - I think "Artillerie Liege" is easier, and , probably , so did they!!! ) Dave. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CROONAERT Posted 17 March , 2006 Author Share Posted 17 March , 2006 For those interested, here's the tag that prompted my query... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaeldr Posted 17 March , 2006 Share Posted 17 March , 2006 Dave, That’s a very nice item you’ve got there I am fairly sure that this web site was recommended by an early pal/thread here on the GWF, two or three years back – it always struck me as authoritative Best regards Michael D.R. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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