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 Liège itself, and its main bridges.
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, Liège 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 Liège forts continued their mission at the bloody cost of many soldiers.
As a last tribute, Paris renamed the Viennese café that evoked the enemy, to give it the name of café liégeois, known and drunk everywhere on the terraces of the Cité Ardente!
Discover the events taking place in Verdun during the festive season! Christmas concert, theatre, conference... there is something for everyone at the Verdun Memorial.
The Belgian Lignard Lange seized the flag and its harness among the German corpses. It was the very first flag conquered in combat on all the fronts of the Great War.
