reach of the Belgian artillery. On August 15, 1914, Fort Loncin was destroyed by a German hit on its ammunition depot. 350 men were killed immediately, and half of the fort was destroyed. To this day, the remains of these men remain buried in the ruins of the fort. After establishing a defensive line near Liege, the Germans marched westward, and on September 4 the first shells were aimed at the axis Walem-Breendonk. Then, for a couple of weeks, the Germans concentrated on the front in France. On September 22, the attack on the defence of Antwerp was renewed but now focused on Walem-Lier, with the intention of breaking the ring of forts and capturing Antwerp. On September 30, German heavy artillery destroyed the forts of Walem, Sint Katelijne Waver and Koningshooikt. On October 2, Fort Lier suffered the same fate. Fort Kessel fell on October 4. On October 5, the bombardment of Fort Broechem started. On October 6, Fort Broechem was put out of action. The position of Antwerp then became untenable. On October 9, the Belgian Army abandoned the east bank of the river Scheldt, blowing up the forts of Schoten, Brasschaat, Merksem, Kapellen and Lillo. In all, the Germans had fired 590 rounds of ammunition and 2,130 shells onto the forts, whose garrisons were helpless against an enemy who bombarded them from a distance. But the forts did enable the Belgian Army to escape; on October 10, it abandoned the west bank of the Scheldt and retreated behind the Yser line, about 150 km to the west, where it would resist for the rest of the war. Interbellum and Second World War 1918–1939 In the First World War the vulnerability of the forts had become evident. The development of artillery went faster than the construction of resistant fortifications. The concept of forts had become redundant. After the First World War the forts were therefore no longer seen as a defence line, but the role of the forts would be in the form of infantry support. Between the two world wars minor modifications were carried out to the forts. This involved: Rearmament, where parts of the old guns were replaced by the placement of light and heavy machine guns. The old gun turrets were replaced by so-called Abri élémentaires, half circular armored bunkers. Six of these were built per fort. Locally improving the armor with reinforced concrete, Placement