Poem ~ Fall of Antwerp - Saturday, 10 October 1914

Wednesday, 7 October, 2.30 a.m.

Within the darkness of night, Antwerp

Is a city under siege - by 4 a.m. enemy

Attacks of heavy shells and shrapnel,

Hit upon buildings - in the city's outskirts

Including a bakery and an innocent church.

Return firing was made as naphtha shells

Burst flames in the night, making chaos,

About the exposed cathedral of 'Our Lady.'

At 8.30 a.m. the Belgians, it is reported,

Emptied huge petrol tanks into the canal

But details are curtailed by censors mark.

All Wednesday the streets are full to brim,

With frightened refugees fleeing in alarm

Of the belief that Antwerp is a city doomed.

All night had passed cold, but in a fine state,

City people emerged carrying their bedding,

Heading towards the pontoon bridge, to flee 

Towards waiting steamboats which prepare

To leave at daybreak, for ports of Folkestone

Or Ostend; Where the Belgian Government

And their legations are to make a relocation.

A pontoon bridge built upon the Scheldt River,

By Belgian army engineers - initially a lifeline

To link Antwerp's Steenplein to the far bank

Of Boeienweide - formed of linked walkways,

Between the masts of small boats - bringing

Daily supplies to the city, from the safer west,

As the Kaiser's army laid siege upon the east.

It's usage of supply access to evacuation route

For both capital of government and Royalty.

Impassable roads by the Scheldt to St Nicholas

Are made by massed vehicles, from simple gigs

To Millionaire’s motor cars - all loaded with goods

Lares and Penates – For hope people keep their

Gods close - This compelling sight, has its’ own

Unnerving beauty – Again cut by a censors mark.

At the riverside, tree reflections on silent waters,

Lit by an early morning’s slight haze - to mock

A morning stroll of city's population, who tread

Their path upon a river's paved landing piers -

Sad faces witness, to see Antwerp’s precarious,

Beauty - now at the mercy of unseen gunnery -

At any instant might savage annihilation break -

Bring to the people vivid thoughts at every step.

Further on the river, at half a mile, were moored

Eastern Railway Steamboats, whose planned

Route from Antwerp to Harwich, included Tilbury.

The waiting boats on whose decks refugees were

Being tightly packed, as a paper reporter walked

In the crowded place.  People crowded in every

Space, In chairs, or lying on floors succumbing

To fatigue’s bleak sleep, through a bleak night.

The steamers were ready to leave at dawn,

To navigate through minefields by daylight.

At 5.30 am, the began the steamers journey.

Later in the morning  by11.30 am renewed

German shelling of Antwerp, from a southerly

Direction - out of them only two fell in the city,

A shell in the Rue Volk, being witnessed as

Little more than an average firework display.

Early in the siege affecting the city’s stability,

Within the suburb of Waelhem, near Malines,

Were the waterworks, ran by an English firm,

Providing fresh water for the city’s supplies.

Where also an outlying fort, defended the city.

Both being targeted by heavy enemy shelling,

The damage forcing water needs from wells.

On noon, Wednesday, the bombing continued.

Thursday a.m. – a Rotterdam reporter from

The Nieuwe Rotterdamsche Courant, returned

From Antwerp, telling of the first shrapnel shells,

Raining upon the city, by Wednesday at 9 pm.

Fires then broke out around the South Station,

And of Bercham - damaging shells, fell at a rate.

Twenty shells a minute caused many fatalities

As people hurried to find shelter – damages

Were made to Antwerp’s Law Courts, museum

And Hippodrome - Belgian troops began falter,

West of the narrow river Scheldt, beaten back,

Retreating over a bridge back into the town.

by Jamie Mann.

Anon.,1914. Bombardment of Antwerp – Buildings in flames – Terrible Plight of the Population – Shells near Cathedral. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 10 Oct. p.9. Col.4. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11149668/Daily-Telegraph-October-10-1914.html [Accessed: 10th October 2014].

Mann, J., 2014. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 10 October 2014). 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11149668/Daily-Telegraph-October-10-1914.html

http://worldwaroneblogger.blogspot.co.uk/

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The pontoon bridge built upon the Scheldt River,  Antwerp 1914

Source: Epoch Times, By Associated Press, 2014. World War I Centenary: A Photographic Look Back at ‘The Great War [online] (updated 1 June 2014) Available at: <http://m.theepochtimes.com/n3/737236-world-war-i-centenary-a-photographic-look-back-at-the-great-war/> [Accessed: 10th October 2014].

  Another view of the pontoon bridge built upon the Scheldt River,  Antwerp 1914

Source: Flanders Today, 2014. Antwerp replicates famous pontoon bridge for war centenary weekend. [online] (updated 1 October 2014)  Available at: <http://www.flanderstoday.eu/art/antwerp-replicates-famous-pontoon-bridge-war-centenary-weekend> [Accessed: 10th October 2014].