by Paul Van Pul
Churchill spent 4 October in Antwerp, trying to boost morale. His mere presence and unflinching attitude worked magic. So as he had apparently succeeded, he at once asked London to send the two Naval Brigades that he himself had set up in August but which were still in training. They were the only troops readily available that were not destined for the BEF.
In Winston Churchill the Belgian king had found an ally. Against the wishes of some of his Francophile ministers and generals, King Albert wanted to stay and defend Antwerp with his combined Field and Garrison Army. But all this depended on the timely arrival of sizable reinforcements and a secure link with the as yet unoccupied west of the country.
Hope of this happening was dashed however around midnight when Colonel Tom Bridges, special envoy from British Field Marshal French, pulled into Antwerp. He had travelled in one stretch with his open Rolls Royce from Fère-en Tardenois (Aisne), where the headquarters of the BEF was located, to Antwerp. Because the German armies were already threatening Lille, the dashing envoy had been obliged to skirt far westward. As such he had travelled 600km over the narrow, winding cobblestone roads of northern France and Belgium that night, a remarkable feat in those days!
While London proclaimed that the Belgians were to hold Antwerp until reinforcements arrived, Bridges brought the disturbing news that the whole of the BEF was being transported from the Soissons area, 90km north-east of Paris, to Lille, 200km north of Paris and near the Belgian border. This would dramatically shorten the British supply lines and offer the BEF a quick evacuation route in case the German advance west suddenly accelerated.
Since the German advance was already closing in on Lille the British troops had to be transported from Soissons first west and then along the Channel coast up to Calais. From there they travelled back inland (see map opposite).
A typical example of the uncertain and rapidly changing situation are the orders for their final destination: on 4 October they were supposed to detrain between St Omer and Hazebrouck but the next day this was changed to the area Calais/Gravelines. The disembarkation was even moved back to Etaples/Abbeville on 6 October. Then, when the tactical situation seemed to improve, the orders on 7 October once again reverted to the region of St Omer/Hazebrouck.
For King Albert the future of the Fortified Place of Antwerp was thus sealed. This major British troop redeployment, six army divisions, would most likely provoke a corresponding shift of German forces. This British initiative, with grumbling French approval, would thus create a whole new theatre of operations far west of Antwerp.
With the enemy already in Brussels and now certainly bound to march west in force, suddenly the still free link between Antwerp and the coast was in grave and immediate danger. The promised Anglo-French reinforcements could, on the one hand, be prevented from reaching Antwerp while, on the other, the Belgian Army might get trapped inside the entrenched camp sooner than anticipated.
On 5 October the king’s premonition was strengthened by two messages. At Schoonaerde, 20km east of Ghent, German advance units tried to force the passage of the Scheldt River. Due to fierce resistance they failed but it was inevitable that they would soon try again; this time certainly better prepared.
At 15:00 a dispatch arrived from the Belgian Mission at French General Headquarters indicating that:
On 2 October 1914, engineers of the Fortified Place of Antwerp prepare the destruction of the new bridge on the main railway line between Antwerp and Brussels over the Nèthe River.
Photo archive Thys.
Eight German cavalry divisions are trying to encircle the French left flank … supported by Landwehr infantry attacking the suburbs of Lille.
Likewise from south of Antwerp itself, the news was not encouraging. During the night the Germans had managed to get a foothold on the north bank of the Nèthe River, west of the town of Lierre. The Belgian infantry, constantly suffering from the superior German artillery, had been unable to regain control of the levee. A counter-attack launched the next night failed to throw the enemy back over the river.
In the early morning of 6 October news arrived that the enemy was bombarding three positions around Termonde – 30km south-west of the city – on the Scheldt River upstream from Antwerp. Further west still at Schoonaerde, the defenders, taken under enfilading fire, were retreating from the north bank while it was reported that the enemy was preparing bridging equipment on the opposite side. The Belgian Fourth Army Division, stretched out here along the river, informed High Command that it had no more reserves to engage. Upon this news the Deputy Chief of Staff ordered the Sixth Army Division, which was until then holding the Antwerp outer perimeter south of the Scheldt, to cross the river and march west to reinforce the Fourth and the Cavalry Division to prevent the Germans from crossing the river.
6-7 October
Meanwhile the German bridgehead north of the Nèthe river near Lierre had been strengthened with a few guns. These, together with a frontal bombardment, created confusion among the retreating defenders. Soon after noon the Fifth Army Division, worn out, filtered through the Second Army Division positioned in second line north-west of Lierre. The Germans had gained a bridgehead within the fortified position.
As Churchill did not want his two newly arrived British Naval Brigades to be immediately engaged in the front line he ordered them to fall back to a position three kilometres behind the Belgian Second Army Division. With the Second already 5km away from the Nèthe River it was now certain that the whole outer defence of the entrenched camp had to be given up. Soon the Germans could bring their siege artillery to bear on the city centre itself. Only a few more days would be left before the inevitable surrender.
At 16:00, at the Royal Palace in the city, the Defence Council was called to review the situation and make new proposals. Winston Churchill attended the meeting.
Unanimously it was decided that, since the main line of defence had been broken, the entire Field Army should cross the Scheldt to the left bank that same night. To defend the second line around the city, the commander of the entrenched camp, General Deguise,1 asked to retain ten garrison battalions, the British Naval Division and most of the Second Army Division. In peacetime the Second was garrisoned in Antwerp and its officers were well acquainted with the local conditions.
This solution satisfied the king. The defence of the national refuge on the right bank would be entrusted to the same number of British and Belgian troops; a honourable settlement. In the meantime the most exhausted divisions, the First, Third and Fifth, could cross the river and, covered by the Fourth and Sixth, would be able to recoup in relative safety.
At 20:00 the Army Orders for 7 October were issued. In it the entire operation was detailed. Each of the three divisions was to form a separate column and cross the river in a different spot. The Third Army Division was to pass on the southernmost pontoon bridge near Rupelmonde. The First was to cross near Hemixem, while the Fifth had to take the pontoon bridge near the city at Burght. General Headquarters would be installed in St Nicolas, 18km west of Antwerp, the next morning.
After having been engaged in combat for several days and, despite the night time march, the rank and file proceeded swiftly and by seven the next morning all the troops had reached their assigned encampments on the left bank of the Scheldt.
All the tribulations of the previous days passed through King Albert’s mind while he spent the morning of 7 October in Antwerp. It would be hard for him to say goodbye to this jewel in the Belgian military crown; this economic powerhouse of the nation. All the army divisions, except the Second, were now on the left bank of the river. Further along the Scheldt, towards Ghent, the Fourth and Sixth Army Divisions had taken up positions to guard against any enemy intrusion across the river. The First, Third and Fifth, that had suffered most in the previous days, would be able to take a short break in the temporary camp organized on the left bank, opposite the city.
By withdrawing within the second line of forts, the perimeter of the Antwerp Fortifie
d Place had been reduced to 17km. These eight forts – in essence the original fortifications designed by Brialmont – were defended by the garrison troops. The interval of these forts, 10km in all, were occupied by the Belgian Second Army Division and the British Marine Division, now composed of the Royal Marine Brigade and two naval brigades.
Forty-four per cent of this theoretic force would have comprised French troops. Ultimately only 15 per cent of them showed up as the Marine Fusiliers Brigade under Ronarc’h. With a force reduction of more than a quarter the relief operation was doomed from the start.
King Albert deemed this deployment sufficient until the expected arrival of the Franco-British relief force under Major General Sir Henry Rawlinson. With these reinforcements – 53,000 men – it would be possible to return into the city and retake the outer line of forts.
But for the moment his main worry was the protection of the communications with the coast. No reinforcements could be sent in when the Germans threatened the city of Ghent, halfway between Antwerp and Ostend.
Before his return to London, Churchill and General Rawlinson, who had been appointed commander of the Anglo-French ‘Expeditionary Force for the Relief of Antwerp’ on 3 October, had reached an agreement with the Belgian government that Churchill described to Lord Kitchener as follows:
That while the town endures bombardment General Paris with naval division and Belgian support will defend inner line forts to the utmost.
That the rest of the Belgian Field Army shall be immediately withdrawn across the Scheldt to what they call the entrenched camp of the left bank. The Scheldt, various forts and entrenchments, and large floods protect this area, and here they hope to find time to recover and re-form. From this position they will aid to the best of their ability any relieving movement that may be possible from the west.
Rawlinson will organize relieving force at Ghent and Bruges and prepare to move forward as soon as possible.
Henry Rawlinson and Churchill left Antwerp for the coast in the evening. Some 15km outside Ghent they met with Rawlinson’s brother, Alfred. He was one of the thousands of well-to-do British gentlemen who had volunteered enthusiastically at the start of the war. While driving his own Hudson sports car equipped with, among other things, four spare tyres, he was now a relay runner of sorts between the various headquarters. Together the small convoy drove to Bruges from where Churchill continued to Ostend where a fast Royal Navy destroyer was waiting for him.
For a moment the king contemplated staying in Antwerp, at least until the German bombardment of the city centre began. His sheer presence would certainly bolster the morale of the troops that had been left behind. This chivalrous gesture appealed to his spouse, Queen Elisabeth, but Baron de Broqueville expressed the fear that the longer the king remained in the city the greater the chance that, in a surprise attack, he might be taken prisoner by the enemy. Such a development would, of course, be the most disastrous that could happen to the country and it had to be avoided at all cost.
Based on a few second-hand remarks some historians have maintained that the king intended to surrender in Antwerp. This seems to us – and we are not alone in this opinion – to be rather far-fetched. All indications are that this was not the case. We present our personal view in the next few lines.
As the location of the Royal Palace in the city centre was well known to the Germans it was feared that it could become a target for an aerial bombardment by German zeppelins. So, in order to secure his personal safety King Albert suggested at some point that he should move from the palace to the fortified barracks in the suburb of Berchem. There he would be in relative safety and very close to the city aerodrome at Wilrijkse Plein from where an aeroplane could fly him out at a moment’s notice. As in those days there were still large open pastures outside the old continuous fortifications, it was even possible to land alongside the railway tracks in Berchem and pick up the monarch within walking distance of his new quarters.
There was another important factor that must have weighed heavily on the Belgian decision to ‘abandon’ the Fortified Place of Antwerp. After the Battle of Gravelotte in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 Marshal Bazaine had opted for a retreat of his Army of the Rhine inside the Fortified Place of Metz instead of retreating towards Paris to join a newly formed French Army at Châlons. As such he enabled the Prussian Army to fully encircle Metz and cut him off from the rest of France. Now, forty years later, a similar scenario was about to unfold unless the Belgian Army was to retreat to the west to join the Entente armies.
However, there were now more urgent matters. Since General Headquarters had been moved to St Nicolas the king was without news from the High Command. In order not to paralyse the supreme command of his army it was finally decided that he would not postpone his departure.
At 12:00 the king gave his last orders to the commander of the entrenched camp. General Deguise and his troops would retreat to within the second line of forts and continue the defence from there. The king nevertheless emphasized his desire that advantage should be taken of the different possibilities of the Fortified Place in order to delay the enemy.
Around 13:30 the royal couple left the palace and drove to the pontoon bridge near Het Steen (The Stone), the medieval castle on the riverfront. The still remaining citizens and the thousands of refugees cramming the streets near the riverfront applauded and cheered the royal couple on their slow journey. Amidst exceptional crowding they managed to cross but it took an hour and a half to cover the remaining 18km to reach St Nicolas. The road being filled with an amalgamation of refugees, soldiers and an unbelievable assortment of carts, wagons and motorcars, it was difficult to make progress.
The air at the re-established General Headquarters was filled with anxiety. The latest intelligence reports spoke of the enemy having been sighted north of the river near Schoonaerde while fighting was going on in Termonde and Wetteren. The Fourth Army Division had tried to contain the damage but, being stretched over 30km along the river-bank, this was an almost impossible task.
Meanwhile an important German cavalry detachment had been sighted marching towards Ghent, but this time coming from Lille in the south. The enemy was clearly threatening the Belgian supply line Ostend-Ghent-Antwerp. With the Anglo-French relief force nowhere near, it was better to play it safe. The covering force near Ghent under the Belgian General Clooten had to be strengthened with part of the First Army Division, the remainder to go by rail to Ostend to protect the new base.
The Fifth Army Division, having been heavily engaged in the battle for the Nèthe River, could not be considered a fighting unit anymore. It, therefore, was ordered to march westward on a northerly route along the Dutch border.
In the evening the Army Orders for the next day were issued accordingly. While the Third Army Division was to move to Lokeren, a town almost halfway between St Nicolas and Ghent, the Fourth and Sixth Army Divisions were to cover this withdrawal from the south. Both divisions would remain in position along the Scheldt northern bank, between the towns of Termonde and Berlaere. Further west the Cavalry Division was to destroy the bridge at Wetteren.
7-8 October
As a result of these orders however, the Belgian Army would be stretched out over a front of some 130km, from east of Antwerp to Ostend. The Belgians would not be able to maintain such a large deployment for long. Nevertheless, all good intentions of the Commander-in-Chief to keep the corridor between Antwerp and Ghent open would soon be dashed.
During the night of 7 to 8 October, High Command, apparently without the king’s knowledge, ordered the Fourth Army Division to withdraw north to Waesmunster before daybreak, after which the Sixth Army Division would execute a similar manoeuvre, but towards Loochristy, 10km west of Lokeren. Abandoning the defence of the river east of Ghent meant giving up all hope of relieving the Réduit National, the Antwerp Fortified Place. Certain staff officers had evidently given up the idea of any military resistance along the winding Scheldt.
NOTE
1. Victor Deguise (1855–1925).
Chapter II
Into the Unknown
For the king and queen, lodged at the Walburg Château owned by the mayor of St Nicolas, Mr. van Naemen, the night was just as short as for anyone else trying to catch a few hours of sleep. At midnight the royal couple was awakened by an alarmingly loud cannon shot. It appeared as if the enemy was closing in on the town. The king got up and sent the commandant of his gendarmerie escort to investigate at General Headquarters. Once there staff officers informed the commandant that the explosions they heard were from German siege artillery bombarding the city of Antwerp.
As there did not seem to be any immediate danger, the royal couple went back to bed. But evidently it was difficult to fall asleep again; every fifteen minutes or so a distant salvo shook the windows. In the end, around 06:00 on Thursday morning, 8 October, both got up and started preparations to leave.
An hour later King Albert left St Nicolas for the town of Selzaete, some 25km west along the Ghent-Terneuzen Sea Canal and near the Dutch border. Upon arrival Captain Commandant Galet, who accompanied the king on the trip, descended upon the offices of the re-established General Headquarters. Here he found out, to his great dissatisfaction, about the repositioning of the two army divisions mentioned earlier. This move was certainly endangering the link between the Field Army and the defenders of the Antwerp Fortified Place. As long as Antwerp had not fallen to the German Armies, the king wanted the Field Army to keep a corridor open so as to extract as many men in fighting condition as possible. Immediately officers were sent to both army divisions with the following orders: for the Fourth to halt the retreat and hold the line of the Durme river and for the Sixth to occupy the railway between Lokeren and Ghent.