BELGIUM

Manawatu Times, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 12916, 13 October 1914, Page 5

BELGIUM

DESTROYERS AND PLUNDERERS.

ANTWERP FDSED £20,000,000.

Recevied 10.15 p.m. LONDON, Oct. 12

Flushing states that the Germans have fined Antwerp twenty millions sterling.

STORY OF THE BOMBARDMENT.

LONDON, Oct. 12.

British correspondents from Antwerp who have reached Flushing and Amsterdam narrate that Antwerp was afire in eight places on . Wednesday night and it was impossible to put out the fires as the Germans had destroyed the water supply on Tuesday near Fort Waelhem and the shell fire prevented all efforts to repair the waterworks. The German guns were 80 cleverly concealed that the Belgians were unable to locate them and their artillery fire was quite ineffective while the Germans were advancing their big guns south-east of Antwerp. The Germans in unsuspected force attacked the line on the Scheldt from Grimberghen to Wetteren with tbe object of attacking Antwerp from the west. Thirty thousand engaged in this movement forced the passage of the Scheldt near Schoonaerde by means of pontoon bridges. The Belgians had been in the trenches four days and the men were worn out and incapable of withstanding the attacks or" large bodies of men, but they piuckily held their ground for some time. Finaly the Germans advanced to Lotaeren. Meanwhile the panorama of the city from the tower of the Cathedral resembled Gustave Dore'e '• Vision of Hell." The southern portion of the city was x a desolate ruin. \V hole streets were ablaze and the thick black smoke from the blazing oil tanks accompanied by occasional great tongues of fire made a scene o? appalling grandeur. Four miles from the city was « line of the enemy \s guns. Throughout. Wednesday and Thursday morning the civilians in Antwerp endeavoured to escape over a pontoon bridge leading to St. Nicholas, hoping to reach Ghent. The greater part of the second line of forts fell at midday en Thursday and the authorities then claimed the pontoon for military purposes and used it for the transport of the garrison until all were south of the Scheldt, when it was blown up. The last of the Belgians left early on Friday. They maintained heavy gun fire to the last moment in order to gain time for orderly retreat, then they blew up the remaining forts and withdrew. -The Germans entered by the Malines gate at noon. When they entered Antwerp they told the few citizens remaining that the War refugees must return within two days or their homes would be used for the troops and the furniture taken from them.

HEAVY FIGHTING. •' " fS Reeeived 11.10 p.m. LONDON, Oct. 12. There was heavy fighting on Friday afternoon between the retreating garrison and the Germans across the Scheldt, advancing upon the western side of Antwerp.

GERMAN BRUTALITY.

Two hundred German Uhlans cornered a Belgian patrol at Nazareth on Wednesday and after the fight twentyone Belgians were missing, five were discovered wounded and hidden in a ditch and sixteen dead in the open, whereof ten had their heads smashed in by the butt ends of the Germans' rifles.

FITIFUL STORIES OF PANIC AND FLIGHT.

The panic among the population commenced during the bombardment on Wednesday night. Fifteen thousand failed to secure passages on the Ostend steamers. There was a desperate struggle to get aboard a dozen tugboats going to Dutch ports and several fell into the river, some being drowned. It is estimated that 300,000 fled. A correspondent seeking refuge from shells in the cellar of an Antwerp hotel encountered the Australians, Louise Mack, representative of the London Evening News, and Frank Fox, representative of the Morning Post.

There were extraordinary scenes at Flushing. The refugees camped in the streets, sheds and barracks. When a box of bread was carried into the field the refugees made a wild rush, men and women fighting for a portion for some time before they could be persuaded to await further supplies. The majority of the refugees went to Asseehen and Rosendaal where along

the roads there was a ceiseless pilgrimage of women, children and aged men seeking sanctuary in Holland. Here and there was a luxurious motor car with a lady heavily wrapped in rich furs, and others wheeling barrows with a few belongings, but seventy per cent were destitute. A. number of children were born on the roadsides during the flight. Elsewhere aged women terrorised and hunger-stricken died on the pathways.

The Dutch sent motor cars to scour the country to search for aged and sick stragglers. In some cases small babies were separated from their mothers and in hundreds of cases small children arrived in Holland without their parents and Dutch families have already arranged to adopt them if their parents cannot be traced. In one case a woman's husband was kilied by a German shell, and during the flight she lost two children in the turmoil and only her baby remains. While thousands were traversing Esschen there was a rumour that the Germans were coming which caused a panic stampede only quelled when the parish priest ascended t>e church tower, scanned the countryside and as-si-.ied the refugees that it was untrue.

DUTCH SYMPATHY ALIENATED.

ROTTERDAM, Oct. 12

The bombardment of Antwerp has alienated Dutch sympathy with Germany. REWARDS FOR FIRST-FOOT. (Times.— Sydney Sun Service.) LONDON, Oct. 10. It is stated that the Kaiser has promised Iron Crosses to the value of £IOOO to the first soldiers to enter Antwerp. THE IRC:TY OF WAR. As a sample of the irony of war, Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria, brother-in-law of the Queen of the Belgians commanded the besiegers of Antwerp. TRIBUTE AND COMMENT.

Received 12.5 a.m

PARIS, Oct. 12.

The newspapers pay tribute to the latest act of Belgian heroism and self-sacrifice. They point out the small value of fixed fortifications in face of the terrific power of modern siege artillery; also that the capture of the town is a sterile victory, and is an attempt to counterbalance in the eyes of the German people the coming e\acuation of French territory.

THE BLTJEJACKET3 AND MARINES. Received 1.20 am.

OSTENI), Oct. 12

The first party of marines and bluejackets on Sunday, 4th, hurried to

Antwerp. During Monday and Tuesday a large proportion of the Belgians marched westward for the purpose of ensuring a line of retreat. A large additional force of marines arrived at Antwerp on Tuesday morning. An Amsterdam telegram states that the Germans attacked the rearguard of the retreating garrison near St. Nicholas using heavy field artillery from a great distance. The Belgian and British troops crossed the frontier ax different places, mostly around Prttensas. The vanguard were all tif.ken by boat to Flusning and thence to the concentration camp at Basterland. THE RETREAT OF THE TROOPS. Received 12.5 a.m. OSTEND. Oct. 12. With a view of reaching Ostcnd by forced marches six hundred motor cars were used to convey the various contingents of the retreating garrison through Salzaede. The soldiers were relieved of -their knapsacks, which were placed in the vans while loaded motor buses carried the footsore troops who had fallen to the rear. Then came dogs drawing columns of machine guns, next the artillery, and after the rearguard. The flight procession continued for two days.