6, Forts Chaudfontaine, Evegnée and Barchon fell under the terrific
hail of German shells. A way was now opened into the city, though,
for the most part, still contested by Belgian infantry. A party
of German hussars availed themselves of some unguarded path to
make a daring but ineffectual dash to capture General Leman and
his staff.

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.