Lieutenant-General Victor Joseph Dieudonné Deguise (22 December 1855 – 18 March 1925) was a

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

general responsible for the defence of Antwerp during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

.Biography at firstworldwar.com
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Career

Deguise entered the Belgian Army in 1874 as a lieutenant in the engineering corps. By 1888 he was appointed as professor of fortifications at the Military Academy of the Belgian Army. Between 1909 and 1911 he was the commander of the engineering units in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

. Between 1911 and 1914 he was a director of the 3rd military district in Belgium, responsible for fortifications.

World War I

At the outbreak of World War I he was the military governor of the important port city of Antwerp (at that time the third largest port of the world). After the German attack on Belgium on 4 August 1914, he was ordered by King Albert I of Belgium, the commander-in-chief of the army, that he must hold Antwerp by all means. The Belgian army retreated to the

National redoubt of Belgium The National Redoubt (french: Réduit national, nl, Stelling van Antwerpen) was a strategic defensive belt of fortifications built in Belgium. The National redoubt was the infrastructural cornerstone of Belgian defensive strategy from 1890–19 ...

on 20 August 1914, from where it conducted two sorties out of Antwerp to force the German army to detach additional troops to the siege and to harass the enemy lines of communication during the

First Battle of the Marne The First Battle of the Marne was a battle of the First World War fought from 5 to 12 September 1914. It was fought in a collection of skirmishes around the Marne River Valley. It resulted in an Entente victory against the German armies in the ...

. The formal Siege of Antwerp started on 28 September 1914, when following the Siege of Maubeuge heavy siege artillery units had become available. Deguise managed to withstand determined German attacks until the beginning of October, thus enabling the escape of significant Belgian and British military personnel towards Nieuwpoort. However the arrival of heavy German siege guns (such as the Big Bertha) made his position untenable, and he was forced to surrender the city on 10 October 1914. He was able to escape to similarly neutral the Netherlands (along with many of his troops) where he remained interned until the end of the war.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Deguise, Victor 1855 births 1925 deaths Belgian prisoners of war World War I prisoners of war held by Germany Belgian Army generals of World War I Royal Military Academy (Belgium) faculty