"_Next day._--About six last night we had a German attack on our left flank, and drove them off. As they had the range of our entrenchment, we had orders to clear out. So we did so. As I fell in outside, a shell exploded alongside. One man was left on the deck. We had to march back to Antwerp. City in places in flames. Everybody gone. Dead animals in the streets. Shells screaming overhead. Right through the city, over a bridge of boats, which were afterwards exploded, and marched until six this morning. Only one hour's sleep on the pavement of a small town. Thousands of men on the march back, thousands of refugees, Belgians, horses, cattle, and artillery, just like pictures of the retreat from Moscow and such like. We got a train at once, and it's now one o'clock, and we are still in it, bound for the coast. Part of our entrenchment was blown up as we were retreating, so if we had not gone I don't suppose any of us would have been alive. So, taking things all round, we had a pretty brisk time, and seem to have done nothing. Don't know how many miles we marched last night, but it is a picture which will always live in my memory. The conduct of our boys is simply marvellous--just as cool as seasoned veterans. "_Saturday, October 10._--Blankenberghe.[27] Arrived last night; slept at a kind of town hall. Had a meal where the refugees are staying; breakfast at hotel. Girls wearing R.N.V.R.[28] ribbons across their heads. "_Sunday, October 11._--Came aboard collier yesterday afternoon, and still aboard now. There are about 2,000 men here. Accommodation for none, so I slept between the funnel and the engine-room grating. Some even slept on the cylinders. Don't know when we shall shove off." When Mr. Winston Churchill explained why the Naval Brigade had been sent to Antwerp, he said that it was "part of a large operation for the relief of the city which more powerful considerations prevented from being carried out." On the day after the Naval Brigade reached Antwerp (6th October), a part of the Fourth British Army Corps, under General Sir Henry Rawlinson, landed at Ostend and Zeebrugge,[29] and at once marched eastwards. The original object of this force, always supposing that Antwerp held out, was to join hands with the troops defending the city, and then advance across the Scheldt so as to cut the German lines of communication. On the evening of his arrival in Belgium Sir Henry Rawlinson visited Antwerp, and saw with his own eyes that the fortress could not be saved. His business now was to cover the retreat of the forces which had vainly tried to hold the city. [Footnote 24: See Vol. II., p. 127.] [Footnote 25: See Vol. II., p. 126.] [Footnote 26: These high explosive shells were nicknamed "Antwerp expresses."] [Footnote 27: Seaside resort of Belgium, 11 miles north-east of Ostend.]