THE FALL OF ANTWERP

Timaru Herald, Volume CI, Issue 15502, 12 November 1914, Page 5

THE FALL OF ANTWERP

• ■ . ♦ —r— * ■ PLIGHT OF THE CITY. OUTBREAKS OF FIRE. TERRIFIC BOMBARDMENT. In the siege operations against Antwerp the Germans used no less than 200 guns of 11. 12, and 16-inch calibre, j some of them .having a range ot more than eight miles. The British, I rench, and Russian Ministers were the last ot the diplomatic body to leave Antwerp. The places in Antwerp which suffered the most severely are the Southern Station, the Palace of Justice, the Avenue de I'lndustrie, and quarters in these vicinities. An officer whom a newspaper correspondent at Ostend ; met, stated that the bombardment of the cathedral at Antwerp had begun at the hour he left the city. Fire had broken out in nuj.ny places. Th© Germans used their 16'.n. howitzers with terrible effect QJi the inner ring of forts, but guns of the snifyl'er calibre were- employed for the destruction of the city itself. The airship which dropped a bomb on the law courts was subjected to a terrific fire. \ SKY RED WITH FLAMES, The uninterrupted thundering of guns at Antwerp was heard at Rosendaal througnout the night preceding the entry of the Germans. The firing slackened a little in the early morning. The sky was red with the flames of Antwerp. Rosendaal is about 20 miles north of Antwerp, in Holland. . The following despatch from Rotterdam was sent to the London "Daily News'* not many hours before the surrender of the town: — ' 'The defenders of Antwerp are now fighting behind the second lme of forts. The bombardment of the city goes on. Fire in the city is said to have reached tremendous proportions and desperate fighting is proceeding. '-'lt is confidently reported by a man who watched the bombardment of Antwerp from a distance about halfpast four o'clock on Thursday afternoon that he saw the guns of the forts concentrate their fire on one particular spot in the a number of shells burst together and almost at the same moment he saw a large cigar-shaped body fall to the earth. He had seen several Zeppelins in times of peace and is confident that the falling object was a Zeppelin. Bystanders, he said, were similarly confident. ' 'Last night was a terrible one for the people of Antwerp, for shells were literally rained on the town and many civilians were killed and wounded before they could take shelter in cellars. RAIN OF PROJECTILES. "The special correspondent of the "Nieuw Rotterdamsche Courant" relates that the first shrapnel fell in tile town at nine o'olcck and that almost immediately fire broke out, especially in the neighbourhood .of the south station.'At Berham. a southern suburb, grave damage was done. , "During the whole night projectiles rained on the town, sometimes at the rate : of ; . more. than. 20 : a minute:;tfnrthe neighfedurlibod • of'.ilie •station' 1 '". M&riy houses were absolutely destroyed while the hippodrome was burned to the ground. The law courts and museum have been damaged. "Severe fighting is still proceeding ■outside the town and many wounded are being brought from the fighting line. _ Belgian troops, which had been fighting to the west of the Scheldt, were repulsed by the Germans. They crossed the river and came into the town.'' SCENES OTJTSTDE THE CITY. The following description of the operations in BeJgium preceding the investment of Anxwerp appeal's in the London "Times":— "It was just before reaching Torrfonde, thrice bombarded and reduced to ashes by the German torch-bearers, that the first note of battle reached my ears. A little further along the road and I was listening to the full symphony of war's awful orchestra—the boom of heavy guns, the roar of field artillery, the swift staccato passages of the mitrailleuse, and the rippling ratt'e of the rifle. The orchestra itself was invisible, for in this flat country there is no rising ground that can afford a bird's eye view over a wide expanse. "It was necessary, if one wanted to see, as well as hear, to push on into the actual field of operations. This I did, advancing, with a long column of infantry going up to the firing line, to behind the artillery. I took mv place behind a battery of three Impounders There were other guns, invisible but loud-voiced, in a wood away to the right, a squadron of lancers was waiting in the village street, and along the fields in advance the infantry were deployed. In the village itself tragic scenes were being payed. Wounded soldiers were limping in from the firing line, bleeding and dirty. Peasants were flymg out, terrified by the sudden horror m their midst. Weeping wemen, w.th children clinging to their' skirts were runimg along the roads behind,' whilst their menfoifc were hastily collecting such few household treasures as tinev could wheel away in barrows. "Brave priests, who, "although they must long before have realised the ! danger, had remained at their posts, moved among them with calming wiard and helping hand. "And affl around, continually increasing in volume, the thunder of the guns. THE HEAVY GTJNS. "But all this, pitiful enough, was a mere prelude to the drtaafui thing thai followed. It came witnout warning/ as sudden as a thunderbolt from the b-iie vo.d of a perfect summer sky. Up to the moment of which 1 write, wiaen the village was only half emptied of its peasant occupants, there iiad been no reply to the Belgan artillery. Suddenly tnei- e .sounded a new note in the dreadful symphony: It was a thin whine, that swiftly crescendoed into a dreadful shriek. Then a thud tihat shook the ground, and in a field 500 yds from the last house of the village a, huge cloud of smoke that seemed to rise from the earth like a fountain. • "Three seconds later another shriek, something that hurtled overhead, and again the thud and the smoke, . this t me some distance bahind our lines There could be no doubt as to what had happened. The Germans had brought up their heavy guns. The ehel.s were bursting along the line of retreat. The brave gunners from Antwerp continued to serve their battery, v though I saw two struck' bv shrannel bullets, -v/itih the officer standing by puffing at his cigar as he directed' the fire."