LAST TRAIN FROM ANTWERP.
FIRING ON REFUGEES, The following letter, published in an English exchange, was received from a naval officer, and gives a thrilling account of the trip in the last train from Antwerp prior to the fall of the city. Truly' we have crammed in enough adventures in our ten'days in Belgium to lill a book. Our little crowd were for live and a half days and nights without sleep, and wo finished up with thirty-aix hours' solid marching on Belgian cobbles, during which time we covered over lOOftiilcc, with nothing to cat but apples, raw turnips, and chocolate. Antwerp was a veritable inferno. We were two daj'B in the trenches around the inner ring of forts. Beyond us we had the blazing city, and for forty-eight hours we were under the hail of shell fire, the smaller guns being concentrated on the fortifications, while the "Jack JonhsOns" bombarded the city behind. Our little crowd was .the last to leave the trenches, and we crossed the Scheldt on Friday morning at 4.30 and Immediately blew u6 thebridge." In our retirement wc eventually reached a ..tation'in the north of Flanders and caught the last refuge train to Ostend, at 6.30 on the Friday, night', but we were betrayed by spies, as wc had only been going about an hour when our train was stopped,by signal. -Ifc waited about ten minutes and then the train proceeded a bit, to be stopped again. Then a shot rang out, followed by-a »'ery hell of fire. Wc were surrounded by Germans, who wer'o blazing away from all quarters, and incidentally playing a machine gun 'upon us, while over.icad was an aeroplane throwing a searchlight upon. us. v (The train was made up of about', sixty,open, goods waggons. The • trucks 'were chock-a-block full of women and children and babies, and our part}-, which-was composed of 650- officers and men, had had to tumble into the train as best we I'jould, consequently m ,were'scattered up and down the train, which was nearly Half a mile long. It was pitch dark when wc were-attacked; you couldn't hear your own voice, so it was.impossible to give any words- of command, Women and children'yelling and tiring •joiug on all round; It was' a weird iight. Another-officer, a marine, aiid nlyself, ; nipped over the tido-of the truck wc were in to get to the engine' to get die train started up.
We fell into a live wire entanglement, Luckily-for uh we lia'd'thiek booiil"and gaiters on,.null we got out, though the .'due Jinnies ,)ii«do : oiie jump a?, one ■tumbled over the, beastly wires. . ' : ,/\Ve boarded the engine to; iind- that jie driver hail bolted;, while tho stoker, i refugee, and a baby were lying at the •jottoin of the engine pit, paralysed with iptt'r. ■ " f looked over thn other siilo of he 011*51110 to see Hint no j'rio was nbqut mil found a German' vrying to get il)ganl,'but my, revolver *litl all.tlmt was iieecssary, \Vd discovered that thii Hermans had switched the train over into a siding. TJio- driver had taken ,01110 beastly ,val.yo away so that w« •ouldu't start the ira'in up'oithov way, (0 that wc. were fairly in the eartj i'canwhilo an awful din was! going, oh, Presently this;sul)sid'qd,; and ;an order vas passed up to me to surrender 1 as the iicimaiis. were firing on tlie womeli aril v'hildreii. . J.unbmtkled-my sword, and sys together with my revolver and ; Miii'iit'iO)i, I laid' diwii oii^tho,groutd, 'iliiljimvnl of a OcViiiiiii ollleef surrender.lo, :,•■.-.''■ ■... ,', ■'/'■: ..;'..■..
1 wailed lei* uiiuulcs, Njiidiiiolliiug
happened ui'ntii 1 siiw ; a! parity } M' ibtotljl thdywero, becauso 1 it whs pitch <{arJc, bo -j ,1. hriUcli them ami'discbyercd' tliat.-the^-.; wcic ft'croWd'of-130 murines,lo, JtlaHno bttwers, aiul 12 They tolcl | rjie that thev refused'to surrender, and;, ivcro goiug.:to cut their ,wny .througli;-If asked-what, the others to do,. antt they said they had been along tho irain, ami that they.' wouhln It make; up:.', i their, minds, and it was, ndw or never, m-vi I said, "Kight.oli! I'll tail oirto'you," • I i To cut-a long story short, wo march- 1 , i cd : like .blazes ; for .about eight -hbure,';j and' reached Salzotto at >UO' on ,Satur-* !day.morning,'when wo caiight train fpr l y iOstc'hd. ' ' '. '""''_' ' ''''■'■■•,-
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NOT19150304.2.54
Bibliographic details
North Otago Times, Volume CI, Issue 13234, 4 March 1915, Page 7
Word Count
700LAST TRAIN FROM ANTWERP. North Otago Times, Volume CI, Issue 13234, 4 March 1915, Page 7
Using This Item
See our copyright guide for information on how you may use this title.