FIERCE FIGHT TO CROSS NETHE

The crossing of the River Nethe was attended by great loss to the Germans.  They hurled their infantry recklessly against the Belgian trenches, and while they lost enormous numbers, eventually succeeded in crossing the river.  One of the unsuccessful attempts was described by an independent observer as follows: 

“The Germans succeeded in getting a pontoon completed and they came down to the river bank in solid masses to cross it.  As they came every Belgian gun that could be turned on the spot was concentrated on them and they were blown away, blocks of them at a time, and still the masses came on.

“The Belgian officers spoke with enthusiasm of the steadiness and gallantry with which, as each German company was swept away, another pushed into its place.  But it was a dreadful sight, nevertheless.

“At last the bridge went, shattered and blown to bits.  The Belgian guns continued for a while to search the opposite river bank, but the Germans fell back and no more masses of men came down to where the pontoon had been.  Allowing for all exaggerations, there can be no doubt that the German loss must have been extremely heavy.”

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: