DINANT DESTROYED

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVIII, Issue 61, 9 September 1914, Page 7

DINANT DESTROYED

BY ENEMY'S SHELL FIRE. MORE OUTRAGES. OSTEND, Bth September. The ' Germans destroyed Dinant by shells-fire. The women took refuge in the convents, while hundreds of men were shot. A .hundred prominent citizens were shot in the Place d'Armes. Summers, the manager of a largo weaving factory, employing 2000 persons, and Poucelet, the son of a- former Senator, were both shot, the latter .in the presence of his six children. Germans visited the branch of the National Bank, and demanded all the cash in the Ba'fe. When Wasseize, 'the manager refused, they tried to dynamite the cafe. They' demanded the combination for the lock. The manager refused, whereupon they shot him and hi& two sons immediately. The Prussians assert that these excesses were due to ehots being fired, though admittedly scathlessly, from the heights overlooking Dinant. The Germans, after a five-hours' battle, occupied Melle (four miles southeast of Ghent), and are marching on Ghent. [Dinant is an ancient town on the right bank of the Meuse, in the province of Namur, Belgium, connected by a bridge with the left bank, on which are the station and the suburb of St. Medard. The population is about 80C0. In the tenth century the town passed under the titular sway of Liege, and remained the fief of the prince-bishopric of Tongres till tho French Revolution put an , end to that survival of feudalism. In the middle of the fifteenth century Dinant reached the height of its prosperity. With a population of 60,000 and 8000 workers in cop, per, it was one of the most flourishing cities in Walloon Belgium until it inincurred the wrath of Charles the Bold. Belief in the strength of its walk and of the castle that occupied the centre bridge, thus effectually commanding navigation by the river, engendered arrogance and over-confidence, and the people of Dinant thought they could defy the full power of Burgundy. Perhaps they also expected aid from France or Liege. In 1466, Charles, in hi* father's name, laid siege to Dinant, and on the 27th August carried tho place by storm. He razed the wpJls and allowed' the women, children, and priests to retire in safety to Liege, but the male prisoners he either hanged or drowned in the river by causing them to be cast from the projecting cliff of Bourigues. In 1675, the capture of Dinant formed one of the early military achievements of Louis XIV., and it remained in tho hands of the French for nearly thirty years after that date. The citadel on the cliff, 300 ft or 408 steps .above the town, was fortified by the Dulch in 1818. It is now dismantled, but forms the chief curiosity of the place. The views of the river valley from this eminence are exceedingly fine. Half-way up the cliff, but some distaaice south to the citadel, is the grotto of Montfat, alleged to be the site of Diana's shrine. The church of Notre Dame, dating from the thirteenth century, standsMmmediately under the citadel and flanking the bridge. It has been restored, and is considered by some authorities, although others make the same claim on behalf of Huy, the most complete specimen in Belgium of pointed Gothic architecture. ' The baptismal fonts date from the twelfth century, and the curious spire, in the form of an elongated pumpkin and covered with slates, gives a fantastic and original appearance to the whole edifice. The preseut prosperity of Dinant is chiefly derived from its being a favourite- summer resort for Belgians as well as foreigners. It has facilities for boating and bathing, as well as for trip* by steamer up and down the river Meuse. It is also a convenient central point for execursions into the Ardennes. Although there have been some indications of increased industrial activity in recent years, the population of Dinant is not one-eighth of what it was at the time of the Burgundiane.]