My War Experiences in Two ContinentsMacnaughtan, S. (Sarah)
History
My War Experiences in Two Continents
Macnaughtan, S. (Sarah)
World War, 1914-1918 -- Hospitals, charities, etc.; World War, 1914-1918 -- Personal narratives, English
At six o'clock the convent party came over and began to prepare
breakfast. The least wounded of the men began to steal away, and we were
left with between thirty and forty of them. The difficulty was to know
how to get away and how to remove the wounded, two of whom were nearly
dead. Miss Benjamin went and stood at the gate, while the shells still
flew, and picked up an ambulance. In this we got away six men, including
the two dying ones. Mrs. Stobart was walking about for three hours
trying to find anything on wheels to remove us and the wounded. At last
we got a motor ambulance, and packed in twenty men--that was all it
would hold. We told them to go as far as the bridge and send it back for
us. It never came. Nothing seemed to come.
The ---- Vice-Consul had told us we were under his protection, and he
would, as a neutral, march out to meet the Germans and give us
protection. But when we enquired we heard he had bolted without telling
us. The next to give us protection was the ---- Field Hospital, who said
they had a ship in the river and would not move without us. But they
also left and said nothing.
We got dinner for the men, and then the strain began to be much worse.
We had seven wounded and ourselves and not a thing in which to get out
of Antwerp. I told Mrs. Stobart we must leave the wounded at the convent
in charge of the Sisters, and this we did, telling them where to take
them in the morning. The gay young nurses fetched them across on
stretchers.
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About 5 o'clock the shelling became more violent, and three shells came
with only an instant between each. Presently we heard Mrs. Stobart say,
"Come at once," and we went out and found three English buses with
English drivers at the door. They were carrying ammunition, and were the
last vehicles to leave Antwerp. We got into them and lay on the top of
the ammunition, and the girls began to light cigarettes! The noise of
the buses prevented our hearing for a time the infernal sound of shells
and our cannons' answering roar.
As we drove to the bridge many houses and sometimes a whole street was
burning. No one seemed to care. No one was there to try and save
anything. We drove through the empty streets and saw the burning houses,
and great holes where shells had fallen, and then we got to the bridge
and out of the line of fire.
We set out to walk towards Holland, but a Belgian officer got us some
Red Cross ambulances, and into these we got, and were taken to a
convent at St. Gilles, where we slept on the floor till 3 a.m. At 3 a
message was brought, "Get up at once--things are worse." Everyone seemed
to be leaving, and we got into the Red Cross ambulances and went to the
station.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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