A Journal From Our Legation in BelgiumGibson, Hugh
History
A Journal From Our Legation in Belgium
Gibson, Hugh
Belgium -- History -- German occupation, 1914-1918
Having settled my charges and taken a look round, I went back to the
Legation and got off some telegrams and talked with Bell over the
telephone. He had a lot of news that we had not received and many
errands to be done for people who had friends and relatives here.
A little after midnight friend Nasmith came along and we set out
together for our rounds. We first took a look at one or two places and
then went to my diggings for a sandwich and such rest as we could get
before time to start on our round-up. Soon after midnight, Fortescue
came rolling up in a cab looking for a place to lay his head. He had
just come in from Liege, where he had had a close view of yesterday
morning's heavy fighting. He said the Germans were pouring men in
between the forts in solid formation, and that these sheep were being
mown down by the Belgians heavily intrenched between the forts. The
Germans are apparently determined to get some of their men through
between the forts and are willing to pay the price, whatever it may be.
To-day we hear that the Germans have asked for an armistice of
twenty-four hours to bury their dead.
After we had hung upon his words as long as he could keep going, Nasmith
and I got under way to look after our exodus. The Garde was keeping
order at all places where there were refugees, and I was easy in my mind
about that; my only worry was as to what might happen when we got our
people out into the streets. Promptly at three o'clock we began to march
them out of the Cirque. The hour was carefully chosen as the one when
there were the least possible people in the streets; the evening crowds
would have gone home and the early market crowd would hardly have
arrived. A heavy guard was thrown around the people as they came out of
the building and they were marched quickly and quietly down back streets
to the Gare du Nord. I never saw such a body of people handled so
quickly and yet without confusion. In the station four trains were drawn
up side by side; as the stream of people began pouring into the station,
it was directed to the first platform and the train was filled in a few
minutes. At just the right moment the stream was deflected to the next
platform, and so on until all four trains were filled. After starting
the crowd into the station and seeing that there was going to be no
trouble, I set off with an officer of the Garde Civique to see about
other parties coming from some of the convents. They had not waited for
us, but were already moving, so that when we got back to the station
they tacked onto the end of the first party and kept the stream flowing.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account