The Irish standard., 1914-09-12
REMNANT OF BELGIAN GARRISON
ARRIVES At osTEND WITH
TALE OF HOPELESS STAND
TO SAVE STRONGHOLD.
$4,000 DEFENDERS FELL
DURING DEADLY ATTACK
These Include Killed and Wounded
Brave Boys Withstood Hail Of
Steel for Ten Hours Without 1O.
kna Able to Return Fire-Ro-
treat Disastrous, Also.

0stend, Belgium (via London), Sept.
l0.-The remnant Of the Namur gar
rison has arrived here, bringing
story which explains to some extent
why q stronghold believed 80 nearly
impYegnable fell.
Beletans Lose 1900.
OF $4,000 men in the forts In the
environs of Namur, 10000 have re-
turned to Belgian soil, making the
Belgian loss at Namur in killed.
wounded and missing, $4,000.
It seems that, under cover of the
fog, the Germans finally got their new
siege guns into position from which
they could concentrate their fire on
single point of the Namur defenses.
The guns we're at a minimum distance
of three miles from the Belgian tren-
ches and consequently outranged the
Belgian guns.
Fire on Entertainments.
without troubling about the forts"
said one of the survivors, "the Ger
mans first centered their rain Of steel
upon our entertainments. For 10 hours
our brave young follows stood the ter
rible ordeal, unable to fire shot In
return. Any man risking his head
above the fire-swept ramparts had 1t
blown off. Lying fiat on our stom-
achs, all we could do was to wait for
the firing to end. Whole regimen,
were being decimated The loss among
our officers was terrible.
But Feeble Resistance.
meanwhile, many German guns
had been turned OH the forts, especi-
ally Maizeret and Marchovelette The
men in them, armed with guns Of
much smaller caliber than the Ger
mans, could offer but feeble resist
ance. Maizerct. in fact, fired only 10
shots. while receiving no less than
ute.
"At Marchovelette, Is men perished
at the batteries. and both forts soon
surrendered. The other works, how
ever, were still holding out when the
army left town. So much confidence
had been placed in General Michel
and his Stairs ability to hold the fort.
ress that the eventual retirement OF
the forces from 1t had in no way been
provided for and as a result the great
est confusion ensued.
Stores Go to captors.
"No provision had been made for
the destruction Of the stores and all
Of them, together with the fortress ar
tillery and most OF the field artillery,
fell into the hands of the enemy. At
the cadet school alone was store of
100000 rations.
"The ambulance corps was a heavy
sufferer through lack of organization,
losing $50 out OF 600 men. Many of
our sick and wounded were left be.
hind in Namur, but such as could he
moved were got through to the French
lines and eventually were transferred
to French hospitals.
The Disastrous Retreat.
ION the retreat the narrow road
was choked with men, horses and We
hicles. OF our enormous park Of mo-
tor cars only two were saved, for the
Germans entered the town close on
our heels.
1--WE were doomed to disappoint.
ment after disappointment. The French
had been obliged to fall back and
could send US only two regiments
These bravely fought their way to u.s.
Joining us in greatly reduced numbers
not far from Namur.
Our troops continued their retreat,
ever pursued, ever harassed. More
over we tumbled right into the path
of the French retreat from Chartered,
and 1t was not until we got to Philippe
Vile that our troops were pulled to.
gether again and reformed"