The Secretary of Royal
Society of Architects of Antwerp,
Alfred Portielje arrived at
Charing Cross with wife
And child, having departed
Antwerp with news of attacks.
Came a Zeppelin above the
city of Antwerp at night.
In the established darkness
of Monday night gone
Was the sudden blast of an
explosion in a square,
Nearby to where Mr P. was
staying – being about to run
Out to find what had
happened, Mr P. took a call
From the fire station -
being a member of that brigade.
Then running out to the nearby
square, he helped people
Escape from a house,
destroyed by the Zeppelin bomb.
Six families were saved
along with 2 children
And a woman of 76 years -
who all stated that there was
No one else – within the
next three hours groans
Were heard to find a female
servant had been left behind.
Having fallen in the middle
of the square, the blast
Had wrecked a lot of houses
– six people were killed;
A child, four women and a policeman
on duty.
Fragments of the bomb were
found being 9' in diameter.
An ordinary gun shell,
encased in a sack, acting as a tail
Keeping the point down to
strike the ground on impact.
Following this night Antwerp
by 8pm, is plunged into darkness
To provide no guide to any
further Zeppelin raid.
Although Antwerp fears such
dropped shells, there is no panic,
Nor shortage of food - the
population are led to believe
It will be sometime before
any German can reach their city.
Witnesses to this night are
London news agency photographers,
Stephenson and Horton. These
men were staying close to where
A bomb fell – at 10pm the
men were walking about the town.
On hearing the hum of an
aeroplane, all pedestrian eyes
Looked up to follow the
searchlights cutting the dark sky,
But nothing could be seen.
Soon after midnight, the hum
Was heard again. Then, by
1pm, the Zeppelin was visible.
The enormous sight marked by
6 explosions over 15 minutes.
The noise from the
retaliating guns, only added to the confusion.
From this attack some
considerable damage was done.
300 yards from the Royal
residence opposite the Café Sport,
In Rue Douze Mois, a bomb
had hit a house, the front blown.
Shell fragments were found
to have gone through seven walls,
Traces being found at the
back of the property.
Little was reported in the
press for fear of stirring panic,
But few slept soundly that
night in the city of Antwerp.
by
Jamie Mann
Anon.,
1914. Bomb Dropping Scenes. The Daily Telegraph, [online]
29
Aug. p.4. Col.7. Available at:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11062042/Daily-Telegraph-August-29-1914.html
[Accessed: 29th August
2014].
Anon.,
1914. Scenes in Antwerp - Zeppelin Shell Terror. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 29 Aug. p.4. Col.7. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11062042/Daily-Telegraph-August-29-1914.html
[Accessed: 29th August
2014].
Mann, J., 2014. 100
years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 29
August 2014).
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