REASON FOR ABANDONMENT.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 169, 22 August 1914, Page 9

REASON FOR ABANDONMENT.

RAVING HISTORIC MONUMENTS. HOW THE TOWNSFOLK RECEIVED THE GERMANS. Mr Martin Donohoe, correspondent of the ' 4 Daily ' Chronicle",'telegraphing from Ghent, says the .abandonment of Brussels was .the Jesuit of- a conference between the -commanders of the Allies and the civi<* '.authorities,' it being the only method of .saying, .the historic monuments of. the town from German savagery. The decision was highly displeasing to the Civic Guards, "vyho were manning the entrenchments. When thejr were disarmed the- majority of the Civic Guards marched but and entrained for Ghent, in .order, to. .be .re-armed for fighting elsewhere. The Mayor of' Brussels, warned the townsfolk that the city was at the mercy of the enemy,., and urged them to give no ground for hostile action. The townsfolk awaited the coming of the Prussians bravely, though they had been witnessing the arrival Vf thousands of half-clad; homeless peasants, who fled befOfe Prussian bayonets. Mr Donohoe goes on to say that when it was decided not to. defend Brussels ■the wounded were entrained for places of safety. The citizens, often ten deep, stood bareheaded while the wounded were carried out, and cheered the departing trains. Later on there was a considerable exodus of the male population, who feared they -would be made prisoners. Refugees from, the country are now encamped in the public squares. The roads from Louvain are still packed with the retreating soldiers and fugitives in carts,.of wliifth many are drawnby dogs. The majority have lost their money, clothes, horses, aiid cattle, and saved only their lives. .The Germans, are pitilessly, firing fauns, villages, and crops. , A party of UhlAns occupied Brussels on Thursday afternoon. The streets were deserted. Some citizens had d*aped the Belgian flag in crape.