pleted by bringing the 38th Div. and the ist Guard Res. Div. (somewhat intermingled) into the N.E. area, opposite forts Cognelee and Marchouelette. At the same time the 3rd Guard Div. condensed as much force as possible on its right, opposite the latter fort. A div. (the I4th Res. Div.) arriving from the II. Army was disposed on the N.W. side, to threaten Forts Emines and Suarlee. Thus 2j divs. out of five were placed on the front selected for assault, which was little more than 3 m. wide. No general reserves were kept back. The artillery was in position and opened fire in the morning, except some of the super-heavy batteries which were not ready till the afternoon. On the morn- ing of Aug. 23 the assault was to be made. According to the German official account, there were many misgivings, for it was evident progress had hitherto been slow, the intervals were known to be well prepared and manned, and it was thought that the time allowed for crushing the forts was too short.
Von Gallwitz, however, persisted in his decision and in reality the defence was on the point of collapse. Fort Marchouelette, bombarded by 2i-cm. howitzers from 10 A.M. on Aug. 21 and by 42-cm. howitzers from the morning of Aug. 22, was almost in- capable of resistance, and collapsed in ruin, with two-thirds of the garrison dead, at 1:40 P.M. on Aug. 23. Fort Cognelee, under bombardment by the Austrian 30-5-011. howitzers on the previous evening, had given in some time before. But here the battle had already passed inside the fort ring. The un- successful fighting and notably a counter-attack in the evening of Aug. 22 had exhausted the defenders of the interval trenches and redoubts, many of which were lost before dawn of Aug. 23. To sustain the battle, moreover, Lt.-General Michel had expended practically all his reserves.
Thus the German assault of Aug. 23, delivered with very heavy forces and accompanied by an intensive bombardment of the forts by super-heavy and of the intermediate positions by heavy field artillery, was completely successful. The break occurred near Fort Cognelee where the French contingent began to re- treat about 10:30 A.M. One by one, from left to right, the fighting groups of this front gave way; the rightmost, on the Meuse, being the last to conform, were mostly cut off and forced to surrender, though they had had no difficulty in maintaining the frontal defence against the weakened left of the 3rd Guard Div. The Emines-Suarlee sector troops, turned on their right after the break-through near Cognelee, withdrew in succession from right to left towards the Sambre bridge at Bauce, but the forts, intact, prevented any attempt to break through on the part of the newly arrived i4th Res. Div. outside this front and Fort Emines inflicted losses on the Germans as they pursued south- ward from Cognelee. Meanwhile, the bombardment on the E. front, where, as has been noted, a large part of the German siege artillery still remained, had destroyed Fort Maizeret before nightfall of Aug. 22, though the infantry in front did not realize the fact till 2 P.M. on Aug. 23, long after it had been evacuated. The artillery then turned upon Fort Andoy, but this fort re- pulsed a premature attack of the weak infantry forces in its front, and was unconquered at nightfall. Nevertheless, the collapse of the interval defence N. of them caused the commander of the E. sector to withdraw from his line of redoubts from about 12:30 P.M. and by 7:30 P.M. all troops except the garrisons of Forts Andoy and Dave had taken refuge in the southern sector, W. of the upper Meuse.
Once through the main line of defence von Gallwitz's attack- mass met only disconnected resistances on its way to Namur, and the Germans entered the town at 7 P.M. The Sambre bridges were however blown up, and the rest of the evening had to be given up to reorganization of the much mixed-up units which had converged on the narrow front Bouge-Namur-Pont de Bauce. On the morning of Aug. 24 von Gallwitz prepared to reduce the remaining forts; the 38th Div. by way of Bauce was to attack Fort Malonne, the 22nd Div. to continue its attack from E. to W. against Forts Andoy and Dave, and the ist Guard Res. Div. from Namur, the i4th Res. Div. outside, and the siege artillery which had reduced Marchouelette and Cogne- lee, were to capture Forts Emines and Suarl6e. The 3rd Guard Div. remained in Namur, ready to support any of these three attacks as required, and to overawe the inhabitants, with whom there was sporadic fighting followed by house-burnings.
Lt.-General Michel, meantime, after collecting the disordered forces coming in from N. N.W. and E. in the area between the Sambre and Fort St. Heribert, had decided that it was impossible to remain there, the more so as on the one flank the French V. Army on the Sambre was already beginning to fall back, and on the other a German advance on Dinant was hourly threatened. The retreat of the Namur garrison began on the same night; it was not possible to carry it out according to a scheme, and each column had, in the main, to fend for itself. Part of the retreating forces narrowly escaped capture by troops of the German II. Army which were advancing in pursuit of the French. Finally, however, the remnant of the Belgian 4th Div. was reassembled and sent by train to Havre and thence by sea to rejoin the army at Antwerp. The total number of prisoners taken by the Germans was about 6,700.
The Germans had still to reduce the remaining six forts which barred the roads and railways necessary for the further advance of the German II. Army. This task was promptly taken in hand Aug. 24. On that day Emines and Suarlee, hitherto immune, were heavily bombarded, while from front and rear the infantry closed up on them. South of the Sambre, however, Fort Malonne fell without resistance to the bold summons of a Prussian Guard lieutenant with four men, and Fort St. Heribert capitulated after a short bombardment by field and medium calibres. Against Fort Andoy, the bombardment of Aug. 23 continued till the fort was surrendered, a heap of ruins, at n A.M. on Aug. 24. On Aug. 25 at 3 P.M. the last fort on the E. side, Dave, surrendered to bombardment by 2i-cm. and medium artillery.
To the reduction of Emines and Suarlee, the whole power of the 42-cm. and 3o-s-cm. artillery N. of the Meuse was devoted on the morning of Aug. 25. In a few hours their cupolas were pierced or jammed and their concrete galleries and chambers blown in, and both surrendered about 4 P.M. (C. F. A.)
NANSEN, FRIDTJOF (1861- ), Norwegian scientist, explorer and statesman (see 19.162), carried out as professor of oceanography in Christiania University much important work on the variation of oceanic currents and the water of the Norwegian Sea (see OCEANOGRAPHY). During the World War he did much relief work, and interested himself with admirable results in the welfare of prisoners of war. His work was recog- nized by his appointment as High Commissioner of the League of Nations for the repatriation of prisoners of war. On the insti- tution of schemes for the relief of the starving Russian populace in 1921, he was appointed one of the commissioners in charge of the project. His more recent works include Northern Mists (1911) and Through Siberia (1914).
NAOROJI, DADABHAI (1825-1917), Indian politician (see 19.167), died at Versova, near Bombay, June 30 1917. He had been indefatigable in proclaiming the long since discredited doctrine that the British connexion with India, with its concomitant of home charges without economic equivalent, constituted a drain upon India which kept her poor; and this, with the demand for increased Indian agency, was the keynote of his collection of writings and speeches Poverty and Un-British Rule in India (1901). While he kept firmly to constitutional agitation, condemning violent methods when they arose, his constant assertions of " the drain " and that Great Britain was breaking her pledges did much to generate beliefs from which sprang the extremist school of Indian political thought. In the moral strength given by the simplicity and purity of his manner of life, and his unselfish inflexibility of patriotic aim, rather than in exceptional intellectual or constructive power, lay the secret of the unrivalled position " the Grand Old Man of India," as he was called for a generation, held in the affections of his fellow countrymen of all classes. He finally left England early in 1907, and the last 10 years of his life were spent in retirement, from which he emerged only to receive the hon. LL.D of Bombay University in 1916.
NAQUET, ALFRED JOSEPH (1834-1916), French chemist and politician (see 19.236), died in Paris March 12 1916.
