The
Siege of Antwerp (, , ) was an engagement between the
German and the
Belgian, British and French armies around the fortified city of
Antwerp during
World War I. German troops besieged a garrison of Belgian fortress troops, the Belgian field army and the British Royal Naval Division in the Antwerp area, after the German invasion of Belgium in August 1914. The city, which was ringed by forts known as the
National redoubt, was besieged to the south and east by German forces. The Belgian forces in Antwerp conducted three sorties in late September and early October, which interrupted German plans to send troops to France, where reinforcements were needed to counter the French armies and the
British Expeditionary Force (BEF).