Near Termonde, on Wednesday, the 7th, the fighting was just as fierce.
The Belgians had four batteries of field guns there which succeeded in
destroying the locks of the river (the Scheldt), thus flooding a part
of the river and blocking the Germans. Later they engaged in a hot duel
with the German artillery. Two of the Belgian batteries were completely
destroyed early in the action and all of the men serving them were
killed. Not until the last of the remaining guns were put out of action
did the Belgians withdraw.
Of the casualties in and around Antwerp during the siege it is possible
only to make an estimate. It was said after the Germans entered the city
that their total loss in killed, wounded and missing was near forty-five
thousand men. German officers were credited before the attack with
saying that they would sacrifice 100,000 men, if necessary, to take
Antwerp. It is probable that the German casualties numbered at least
twenty-five thousand, while the Belgian losses in actual killed and
wounded were probably five thousand The latter fought from entrenched
positions, while the heavy German losses were sustained in the open and
at the river crossings. The casualties among the British marines,
who arrived only a day or two before the city capitulated, were
comparatively insignificant. STORY OF AN EYEWITNESS--HARROWING SCENES
ATTENDING THE FALL OF ANTWERP AND THE EXODUS OF ITS PEOPLE
A vivid picture of the pathetic scenes attending the fall of Antwerp was
given by Lucien A. Jones, correspondent of the London Daily Chronicle,
who wrote on October 11th as follows:
"Antwerp has been surrendered at last. The bitterest blow which has
fallen upon Belgium is full of permanent tragedy, but the tragedy is
lightened by the gallantry with which the city was defended. Only at
last to save the historic buildings and precious possessions of the
ancient port was its further defense abandoned. Already much of it had
been shattered by the long-range German guns, and prolonged resistance
against these tremendous engines of war was impossible. Owing to this
the siege was perhaps the shortest in the annals of war that a fortified
city has ever sustained. Heroic efforts were made by the Belgians to
stem the tide of the enemy's advance, but the end could not long be
delayed when the siege guns began the bombardment.
"It was at three minutes past noon on Friday, October 9th, that the
Germans entered the city, which was formally surrendered by Burgomaster
J. De Vos. Antwerp had then been under a devastating and continuous
shell fire for over forty hours.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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