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).
#WW1 #WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1poem #GreatWar #ww1centenary
#worldwarone #worldwaroneremembered
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].
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].
