Massacre of Tamines

The massacre of Tamines was the summary executions and mass murder perpetrated by the German army against Belgian civilians in the town of Tamines in Namur, Belgium in the early period of the First World War.On the morning of August 4, 1914, German cavalry entered Belgian territory. Acting in ordinance with the Schlieffen Plan, written out in 1905, 2 German armies cross Belgium to attack France from the north. Belgium declares the war on Germany for the first time in its history, which causes German armies to rush Belgium on August 3 on the city of Liège, which they seize. On August 8, the cityofficially fell into German hands. The Belgian army, however, put up more resistance than the German strategists had expected. The resistance of the forts, numerous around Liège, slowed down the German advance, their capture resulting in the death of approximately 5,000 German soldiers. Liège, however, still fell. This city was the only important barrier on the road to the invasion. This made the first German army able to move towards Brussels, while General Von Bülow, at the head of the second army, continued its route towards Basse-Sambre, in the direction of Namur and Charleroi.General von Bülow arrived on August 12 at Huy. Upon arrival, Belgian brigade withdrew to Andenne. On 20 August, on the orders of General von Bülow, a German column shot more than two hundred civilians in Andenne. The second German army continued up through the Meuse valley, reaching the Sambre at Namur. They arrive near Tamines, between Namur and Charleroi, on August 20. There, they face multiple French soldiers.

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