Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1914-10-23
TAKING OF ANTWERP
German Big Guns Wrought Terrible
Havoc.


Havoc.
On his arrival in Antwerp, the As
sociated Press correspondent found
the city guarded by bluejackets and
marine infantrymen from the German
stations at Kiel, Kuxhaven and Will
helmshaven.
Detachments of sailors among them.
recruited from the German merchant
marine. were armed only with cut
lasses and revolvers. They lay sever
al weeks behind the army, taking no
part in the fighting and evidently are
destined for sea duty after the cap
ture of a port.
German staff officers assured the
correspondent that the German COM
mander, General Won Beseler, had
found easy victory in his campaign
where hard fighting was expected
and desperate resistance where little
trouble had been anticipated. The
officers said Antwerp had fallen eight
days earlier than expected. the Bel
gians evidently being disheartened by
their nine weeks defeat and also be-
cause of the easy manner in which
the positions behind the river Neithe
was carried, October and Z.
AS the correspondent drove
through miles of the streets Of Ant
werp, the city seemed to have suffer-
ed less than had been believed. In
dications of damage wrought by the
German shells were observed in all
quarters but the destruction usually
was confined to individual houses at
widely scattered points.
At German headquarters 1t was
said this fact was due to the definite
plan Of the Germans to convince
Antwerp with a minimum Of damage
that further resistance was useless.
The heavy IL and 16 inch guns, 1t
was stated, were not used against the
city proper, but shells from the small
er mortars were dropped throughout
the place, a few in each section until
every quarter had been Systematically
visited
How accurately the public build
;ngs were avoided seemed to have
been proven by a shell hole in the
pavement at the side entrance to the
city hall and in the destruction of a
house across the street from that
building. The church Of Our Lady
the pride of Antwerp, has a hole
eight or ten feet in diameter in one
transept window. and in an adjoining
wall 80 feet above the floor Other
wise the edifice was not damaged.
The artillery used by the Germans
before Antwerp was stronger than
was generally known. In addition tc
their widely heralded 16-inch mortars
and a large number of 12-inch siege
guns, they had two Austrian auto
mobile batteries of IL guns.
The effect of the big guns on Ant
werp's outer Notifications was more
striking than at Liege. Two armor-
ed turrets at Fort de Waver-St. Ca
therine were put out Of action with
single shot, their steel beds being
broken in two and the heavy masses
of metal hurled five or six yards
away. In another fort the concrete
embankment was pierced and the
steel turret uprooted.
German staff officers say that when
the river Neithe was crossed the Bel
gian defense virtually collapsed. The
Belgians abandoned their heavy ar
tillery and machine guns while the
Germans entrenched themselves. ex-
pecting a counter attack.
The officers declare that after SO
German shells had been dropped in
various quarters of Antwerp, the
white flag appeared on forts six and
seven on the inner girdle of forti-
fications. The burgomaster of the
city then came out and offered to
surrender Antwerp but was told that
the terms of capitulation could be
ARRANGED only with the Belgian mill
tray autnOrltleS. Inc DuTBolldSteI
plea that these officers could not be
found led to an order for suspen-
sion of the attack.
The German troops then pushed in
through the girdle of inner posts and
past the undefended city hall, find
ing that the retiring garrison had
blown up the bridge across the river
Schedlt, and also had interposed a
belt of flames against the invaders
by firing the oil tanks and covering
the surface of the river with burn
ing oil.
Antwerp is a dead city. The popula-
ton has fled and the streets are de-
serted.