BELGIANS DESTROY FORTIFICATIONS OF ANTWERP.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15737, 12 October 1914, Page 9

BELGIANS DESTROY FORTIFICATIONS OF ANTWERP.

GRAIN -LADEN BOATS IN HARBOUR SUNK. FROM GHENT TO THE SEA STILL FREE OF GERMANS. (Received October 12, 1.30 a.m.) Amsterdam, October 10. Tin' pastern forts, including Lierre, ceased firing on, Friday morning, enabling flic Germans to force their way into Antwerp, where the Belgians blew tip the fortifications- The civic guards were disbanded Tin" majority immediately volunteered for the regular army. The Mutch arc behaving with fine generosity to the refugees. Rotterdam. Maastricht, Tilburg, Middelburg, Amsterdam, and Dordrecht arc all taking large contingents. At Essechon 1000 fugitives ate camping along the railway lines, stretching a rough covering from the telegraph poles as protection from the weather, and living in railway coaches. From Client to the sea is still free from the Germans. Many refugees preferred to go to Bruges, Ostend, and the coast towns. Endless processions were camping throughout Thursday and Friday night They soon exhausted the food of the wayside inns and farms. The scenes were unprecedented since the Spaniards sacked Antwerp in Ift^ti. Some refugees .state that they saw the King of the Belgians with his arm in a sling. A Belgian officer states that the garrison withdrawing across the Scheldt fought a desperate rearguard action, fighting loiiliiuiiiig fiercely westward. The surrender of the city was orderly, the authorities hoisting white flairs on church towers and public buildings. All grain-laden • boats in the harbour had been previously sunk. A fierce bayonet fight preceded the enemy's entry of the suburb of Berchem. Refugees from Antwerp opened holes in the walls of their houses to enable retreat, in case of emergency, from house to house along whole streets. People at every big Dutch station met the incoming trains and offered fugitives bread, biscuits, tea, and" milk.