General Leman was consulting with his officers at military headquarters, on August 6, 1914, when they were startled by shouts outside.  He rushed forth into a crowd of citizens to encounter eight men in German uniform.  General Leman cried for a revolver to defend himself, but another officer, fearing the Germans had entered the city in force, lifted him up over a foundry wall.  Both Leman and the officer made their escape by way of an adjacent house.  Belgian Civic Guards hastening to the scene dispatched an officer and two men of the German raiders.  The rest of the party are said to have been made prisoners.

The end being merely a question of hours, General Leman ordered the evacuation of the city by the infantry.  He wisely decided it could be of more service to the Belgian army at Dyle, than held in a beleaguered and doomed city.  Reports indicate that this retreat, though successfully performed, was precipitate.  The passage of it was scattered with arms, equipment, and supplies of all kinds.  An ambulance train was abandoned, twenty locomotives left in the railway station, and but one bridge destroyed in rear beyond immediate repair.  After its accomplishment, General Leman took command of the northern forts, determined to hold them against Von Kluck until the last Belgian gun was silenced.

Early on August 7, 1914, Burgomaster Kleyer and the Bishop of Liege negotiated terms for the surrender of the city.  It had suffered but slight damage from the bombardment.  Few of the citizens were reported among the killed or injured.  On behalf of the Germans it must be said their occupation of Liege was performed in good order, with military discipline excellently maintained.  They behaved with consideration toward the inhabitants in establishing their rule in the city, and paid for all supplies requisitioned.  They were quartered in various public buildings and institutions, probably to the number of 10,000.  The German troops at first seemed to present an interesting spectacle.  They were mostly young men, reported as footsore from their long march in new, imperfectly fitting boots, and hungry from the lack of accompanying commissariat.  This is proof that the German’s military machine did not work to perfection at the outset.  Later, some hostile acts by Belgian individuals moved the German military authorities to seize a group of the principal citizens, and warn the inhabitants that the breaking of a peaceful attitude would be at the risk of swiftly serious punishment.  Precautions to enforce order were such as is provided in martial law, and carried out with as little hardship as possible to the citizens.  The Germans appeared anxious to restore confidence and win a feeling of good will.

For some days after the capitulation of the city the northern forts continued a heroic resistance.  So long as these remained uncaptured, General Leman maintained that, strategically, Liege had not fallen.  He thus held in check the armies of Von Kluck and Von Buelow, when every hour was of supreme urgency for their respective onsweep into central Belgium and up the Meuse Valley.  The Germans presently brought into an overpowering bombardment their ll-inch siege guns.