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].

Poem ~ Fall of Arras - Friday, 9 October 1914

Thursday, in North West France,

Cathedrals as high specimens,

Of architecture are, for the Hun,

The best of targets - it appears,

That the idea of forcing infantry

From a town, any spire landmark

Seen by the Hun is to be crushed.

From a soldier’s perspective,

The reason is that spires are used

for observation tower purposes,

Acting as a military necessity.

This will no doubt be an excuse,

Of the latest atrocity acted out,

By the Germans army of vandals.

Started in 1501 The Hotel de Ville's

Addition was the belfry, finished 1554.

At 250 feet high with a distinctive clock,

The tower, crowned with a heraldic lion,

Was well known for the peal of bells.

Refugees, departing the town Arras,

On reaching the safety of the coast,

Tell of how Germans, by shelling

The town, in the process smashing

The bell tower of the Hotel de Ville,

As missiles fell upon the cathedral.

A tale of repeated history - St Vaast’s

Stands upon an earlier Christian church

That had been destroyed by Huns.

At this time it could not be said what

Damage may have been done to relics,

As in the Blessed Virgin statue by Cortot,

‘Christ in the Tomb’ credited to Vandycke

Or ‘Descent from the Cross’ by Rubens.

As a look out post the belfry is not needed.

Arras, being a low lying town with heights

About, any observation could be made

From these hills, west of the town, held

In French hands, any expert gunner could

Avoid the tower, with a thought to spare it.

Fighting has been happening about Arras

For days in the east - upon a plain, German

Forces massed on Saturday-firing began

Slowly on Monday, with heavier attacks

Following on Tuesday and Wednesday –

The early guns did not have much effect.

More guns came on Thursday to cause

Destruction and death - all people were

Encouraged to leave promptly the town.

Having some warning, males of 18 to 45

Were advised to go to the coastal towns

For their own protection and safety.

The younger men, of ages to be called

To the ranks, are told to go in avoidance,

Of being taken prisoner by an enemy,

Keen to cut off French reserves - they

Are taking any able bodied civilians

Prisoner - Any unfit by age or incapacity,

Were warned to leave 11.30am Thursday.

But possibly some remain hiding,

In place now being shelled. The French

Military prediction, of the enemy

Attempting to invade within two hours,

Came true - in less time the Germans

Crossed the stream of the eastern

Town boundary, to take a footing within

The town's Vauban fortifications.

One witness who believes that Germans,

Entering Arras by the Porte St Michel -

Which in turn leads to the Grand Place -

Likely to have left via Porte des Soupirs -

But the Gate of Sighs is more appropriate,

For the destroyers of historic monuments.

Once in the town the enemy had no rest.

Allied reinforcements on the west side,

Came in by the still open Amiens road.

The Infantry enter the Porte d'Amiens

As refugees pass by, the other way.

Rifle fire cracks throughout the streets,

To the tapping of the Mitrailleuse volley.

By slow stealth, the enemy are forced

Back, as the French repossess Arras.

The lingering German presence is cut,

Now pushed back to four of the five

Gates, which the enemy finally hold.

by Jamie Mann.

Massey, W.T., 1914. German Vandals - Shells in Cathedral – Arras Belfry Destroyed. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 9 Oct. p.9. Col.7. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11137123/Daily-Telegraph-October-9-1914.html [Accessed: 9th October 2014].

Mann, J., 2014. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 9th October 2014). 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11137123/Daily-Telegraph-October-9-1914.html

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

#WW1 #BattleofArras #WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1poem #GreatWar #ww1centenary #worldwarone #worldwaroneremembered

Refugees, 1914_1008, Arras, French Army, German Artillery, Nord Pas de Calais, Religious Buildings,