Ruins in Vise, Belgium, after destruction of town by German forces during World War I. The German armies entered Belgium on August 4, 1914, and entered Vise that day as part of the opening movements of the Battle of Licge. A small group of Belgian gendarmes opposed the advancing Germans and two of their number, Auguste Bouko and Jean-Pierre Thill, were killed in the action becoming the first Belgian casualties of World War I. Bain News Service August 1914.