chapter xiv

during the siege of antwerp

many days before the germans marched upon antwerp i announced the siege in my paper. in louvain i had seen all the preparations and also the arrival of the austrian 30·5 c.m. which were intended to batter to ruins the bulwark of the national defence.

as soon as the siege had begun, i tried to join the germans, via louvain, and left maastricht again by motor-car. only a few miles from the netherland frontier i met the first soldiers, belgians. when they saw the orange flag with the word "nederland," they let us pass without any trouble. a little farther on the road walked a civilian, who, by putting up his hands, requested or commanded us to stop. we took the most prudent part, and did stop. the man asked in bad dutch to be allowed to drive on with us to brussels, but the motor was not going beyond tirlemont; outside that place motor-traffic was forbidden. the stranger got in all the same, in order to have a convenient journey at least so far.

my new companion tried desperately to speak as good dutch as possible, but failed in the most196 deplorable manner; every time pure german words came in between. he told a story that he stayed at maastricht as a refugee, and now wanted to fetch his children from a girls' boarding-school at brussels. i pretended to believe every word, and after he had forgotten the first story he made up another, saying that he came from liège, where some officers who were billeted on him were kind enough to give him a chance of going to brussels, to purchase stock for his business.

when we were stopped by german outposts he put out of the window a paper at which they just glanced, stood to attention, and said that all was well. they did not even want to see my papers. in a casual way i asked what a miraculous sort of paper he had, and then he pretended that, by the help of those officers who were quartered on him, he had got a certificate from the governor of liège with the order to treat him with great respect and also to allow him to travel by military trains if the opportunity happened to offer itself.

in tongres it was necessary to get a passport signed, and pay three marks each, and ten marks for the motor. but the office of the commander was not open before three o'clock in the afternoon, according to the soldiers who were doing sentry-go in front of the town-hall. wait till three o'clock? no fear! my companion showed his miraculous paper again, and was allowed to go in, but only by himself. i gave him my papers and those of the chauffeur, and also wanted to give him sixteen marks, three each for the chauffeur and myself and ten for the motor, but he said that that was un197necessary. within twenty minutes the fellow came back with our verified passports on which the words "paid: free" were written.

a lot of artillery and a great number of soldiers were in the market-place ready to start. the commander sent one of his officers to us, who addressed me, examined my papers, and then said that i had surely met belgian soldiers on the way. of course i denied this emphatically.

"don't you know then whether there are belgian military in vroenhoven?"

"no."

"and in lanaeken?"

"i know nothing about that."

"didn't hear either about it?"

"no."

evidently he seemed to confide in me, and told me that they had been ordered to clear the north-east corner of belgium of enemies, and that by and by they were going to march upon lanaeken first of all.

when he was gone i gazed for some moments in silence at all these men and guns, destined to go and destroy by and by the heroes, who have done so much harm to the germans, under command of the brave lieutenant count de caritat, burgomaster of lanaeken. i thought of that brave belgian from dinant whom i met on his solitary outpost outside lanaeken, and if i had acted according to my heart's desire, i should have sneaked away to the threatened point in order to warn those courageous men of the approaching disaster.

my mysterious companion touched my shoulder198 and asked whether we should not go on. "all right," i said, and we got in again.

at tirlemont they were very busy rebuilding the burnt houses, although all day long the air shook from the heavy roar of the cannon near antwerp.

i sent the motor back to the netherlands, and went with my companion to the commander's office, where we got a permit to go on by military train.

from the side of brussels many soldiers arrived at the station, who had all been wounded near antwerp.

after a long time we were able to enter a train taking numerous new troops to antwerp. we occupied a first-class compartment, which looked like a cattle-truck: pieces of bread, paper, cigar-ends, and tobacco were lying on the floor and the seats; the ledges of the windows were full of candle-grease.

we jogged on to louvain at a rate of not quite three miles an hour. here and there we had to wait a half or a whole hour to let trains from brussels pass. the reason why the train went so slowly was because a week before a belgian patrol had daringly broken through the outposts and destroyed the railway near lovenjool. that village was then burned down completely and the vicar made a prisoner.

near louvain the train had to stop for another two hours, before it was allowed to enter the station, which was quite close by. i thanked my stars that at last i got rid of my companion, who travelled on to brussels, whereas i got out at louvain. it was too late to be allowed to walk in the streets,199 but the commander gave me an escort of two soldiers, who were to take me to the mission house of the fathers of the sacred heart.

it was very cold that evening, and the outposts at heverlee had all wrapped themselves up in blankets. once or twice we were stopped, but the password of my escort removed all difficulties.

"is it much farther?" one of my armed guides asked.

"no, only a couple of minutes."

"i am thirsty. i should like very much to have a glass of beer."

"yes," i replied, "but everything is closed."

"yes, yes, but we shall like it also to-morrow, hi, hi, hi!"

it is as if the curse of drink always pursued the garrison in louvain, for when and wherever i met german soldiers in that town, or came into touch with them, they were always drunk. that evening, also, i was glad when i arrived at the mission house, tipped the men, and got rid of them until the next day.

the fathers were already in bed, but i soon got them out again. within ten minutes i was enjoying what, in the circumstances, was a splendid meal, and the fathers were absorbed in the daily and illustrated papers which i had brought for them.

the conditions at louvain were the same as some weeks ago: hunger and misery. some male prisoners had come back, and also over 150 female prisoners, who for more than a month had been in captivity in the munster camp. during the last days a real reign of terror ruled. hostages were200 continually claimed, and nearly always they took clerics. the week before the people had feared a new destruction. it was said that there had been shooting again, but happily the inquiry showed that a german soldier did it, and he was punished. the shot had been fired in front of the josephite convent.

a remarkable strike had taken place in the leo xiii hospital. the head of this institution, dr. tits, also had been taken as a hostage. it was the most blackguardly act one can think of, to take away the man who had spent night and day mostly nursing wounded germans. dr. noyons found it so harsh that he took counsel with the other doctors, and they decided not to resume work before dr. tits came back. this of course happened immediately.

the man who bears the full responsibility for the destruction of louvain, general von manteuffel, had left already when i visited the town this time, and nobody has ever been able to find out what became of him. the latest proclamations were all signed: "by order of the general government of brussels—the etappe-commander."

louvain was of course on tenterhooks about the course of the siege of antwerp, but everybody was quite confident that this fortress would withstand a long, long time, although they saw quite well that the german attack was very fierce, for the tremendous roar of the cannon never ceased for a moment.

a walking excursion of one day took me to201 brussels. i might have done it in a few hours less, but i lost my way in the wood-paths near brussels, for at a certain moment i read on a finger-post, "brussels four miles"; and after walking for a long time, and wondering whether i should ever finish those four miles, i read suddenly: "brussels—eight miles!" that gave me such a shock that once more i had nearly taken the wrong way.

i put all my hope on a car that loomed up in the distance. it was assisting in the reprovisioning of brussels, and only for that reason had the carman got permission to use it. i signalled to him, and he stopped—a big lout of a man who evidently had had a drop too much; he would not allow me to ride on with him, because he preferred to remain alone on his car than to help a spy. "i am a belgian, a belgian, and not a traitor, not a traitor of my country," he assured me, with a lot of beery tears. in any case the man meant well, and probably he had tried to drown his troubles in drink.

in other circumstances i should not have taken so much trouble, but i was so tired that i gave the man all my papers to make him see that i was a netherland journalist. but according to him that didn't matter at all, because the netherlanders were quite as dirty as the germans, for they had allowed the enemies of belgium to pass through their country, and so on. in a torrent of words i told him that there was not a word of truth in it, and that the belgian government would surely lose no time in declaring the same as soon as the country was free again. at last i appealed to his heart by relating all the netherlanders had done for the belgians. this had the desired effect, and i was allowed to drive home with him.

202 at every inn he felt thirsty, and made me feel quite clearly that i had every reason to treat him. and every time that we went back to our seats he said again:

"yes, but now you see if after all you are a spy, you see, then, you see, i'll knock you down, you see?"

"yes, yes, but now listen; i have told you already that...."

"but don't you see if you should, don't you see, you see i am a patriot."

"oh, but listen: my papers...."

"yes, but you see they may be forged, you see. they may shoot me, you see, but a traitor, you see, no, then i would knock you down, you see...."

that happened each time that he started again, and i was more tired by trying to convince this man than if i had walked all the rest of the way to brussels. but after all i got there.

there was much more liveliness in the belgian capital than during my first visit; it was as if the bombardment of antwerp had wakened the people out of their slumber, an apparent slumber only, for no citizens were ever more faithful to the belgian cause than those of brussels.

there was shouting enough in the streets and on the boulevards; here hawkers tried to sell maps of the fortress of antwerp; there women and girls offered scarf-pins with the portrait of burgomaster max. everybody had such a pin, and i soon sported one too, for only then did these lady-sellers leave me alone.

the german proclamations in brussels were nearly as numerous as the max pins. they showered them during the last days on the town, the one203 more insolent than the other. after reading those things, a proclamation by burgomaster max affected me beneficially, whenever i could find one amongst the mass of other bills posted on the walls. such a document testified to a grand soul and a firm character, which vindicated courageously the rights of the oppressed people.

in the streets and in the cafés i saw a great many marines who had taken part in the fights near antwerp and were sent to brussels for a few days' rest. it was remarkable that so many of them who had only lately looked death in the face, thought that they could not amuse themselves better than by mixing with girls of the worst description. although i cannot, of course, always believe what soldiers, fresh back from a fight, assert in their over-excited condition, i assumed that i might conclude that things went badly with the defence of antwerp.

a trip from brussels to the scene of the fight convinced me still more. i passed some time with the artillery which had already silenced waelhem, and was now used against the other defences. the sight of such an action was less interesting than one might think, as i could not get to the places where the infantry were storming. only the thunder of all these guns overwhelmed and gave me an idea of the terror that was created.

from antwerp, which i could see clearly from the positions of the artillery near waelhem, high columns of smoke rose up from the belgian artillery, which was harassing the german positions.

here i also saw in action one of the 30·5 cm. austrian howitzers mentioned before. the clumsy204 monster was constantly being shunted on a rail forward and backward, and at long intervals sent a gigantic projectile to the threatened quarters. the sound was terrific, and the pressure of the air made people at a great distance tremble on the ground. the austrian artillerists were still equipped as if they had to fight in a rough, mountainous country; the soles of their shoes were all over covered with hobnails.

the red cross service was well arranged, the wounded were transported regularly, a large number of motor-cars being used.

all soldiers and officers took the siege of the great fortress calmly, convinced that at the most it would be able to hold out for very few days. reliable information soon gave me the same impression, although i had wished it might have been quite different. when i left the scene of the fight all the forts from waelhem to st. cathérine-waver had been silenced and in the hands of the germans, who would soon attack the inner circle of forts.

in brussels the people seemed to be of a different opinion. german reports about successes obtained were simply not believed, and people persisted in their opinion that antwerp would be invincible. the more reports of victories the germans posted on the walls, the more excited people became, and205 palmed off upon each other all sorts of victories of the allies.

at the café quatre bras, near tervueren, the innkeeper told me that the germans had asked the netherland government for permission to place a 42 cm. on netherland territory in order to be able to shell antwerp also from that side, but that the netherland government had refused. i tried as hard as possible to explain to the man that all stories of such requests were mere gossip. when more and more people entered the café i withdrew into a corner. they were all very excited, and some of them had drunk more than was good for them. they related with violent gesticulations that the allies had surrounded brussels and might be expected to enter the town at any moment, that all was over with the germans, and so on. shouts of "vive la belgique!" and "vive notre roi!" sounded until suddenly i drew their attention. they looked me up and down critically, and one of them asked:

"who are you?"

"a netherland journalist, who is trying to get news for his paper."

"what, a netherlander!—a netherlander! all traitors! you are helping the germans, but we are not afraid of either german or netherlander."

they crowded threateningly round me, getting more and more excited.

i saw that i must act, and jumped on a chair.

"what," i exclaimed, "you dare to say that the netherlanders act with the germans? no, shall i tell you something? the germans have asked206 the netherland government for permission to place a 42 cm. gun on their territory to shell antwerp from that side, but the netherland government have refused."

"lies, gossip."

"lies, gossip? ask the proprietor."

"yes, men, what the gentleman says is true."

the rest was lost to me, for the men crowded round the innkeeper, who now aired his knowledge about the occurrence and evidently spoke with true conviction. at the end of the conversation they took their tankards from the bar, and shouted and cried: "ah, well, if that is so, vive la hollande! vive la belgique! vive notre roi!" suddenly we were the best of friends.

in louvain people would not believe that antwerp was on the point of surrendering, and persisted in the opinion that the fortress would hold out much longer, and was in a better position than ever before.

the german officers at the commander's office were elated in consequence of the reports received, and also told me that antwerp would not be able to hold out for more than two days. they also tried to explain this to the people in the hall who were waiting for their passports. i followed the conversation, but not very closely, and one of the officers explained on a map what he asserted. willy-nilly, because they had to get their passports, the waiting people listened to him. suddenly i heard him say: "and after all we might have surrounded antwerp also on the north by crossing netherland territory, as we did when we invaded belgium."

207

those words gave me a shock, for i had heard that german officers always tried to encourage the belgians in their wrong opinion about the alleged violation of netherland neutrality, but i had not been able to believe it. with an innocent face i asked the officer:

"where did the germans cross netherland territory?"

"near maastricht. you know where maastricht is?"

and he summoned me to look at the map, where he pointed out to me where maastricht was.

"hullo!" i said, "but in those days i was in and about maastricht, but i never noticed anything of it."

"and yet it is so. are you perhaps a netherlander?"

"oh yes, i am a netherland journalist."

"is that so? i beg your pardon, but won't you come with me? i suppose that you want a passport. i will take you to the commander."

he was quite upset, and evidently thought that the best plan was to muzzle me by taking me away from the others as quickly as possible.

i asked and got the commander's permission to travel to liège by military train, and from there to the netherlands, not only for myself, but also for a netherland girl of nine years, whose parents in amsterdam had repeatedly and persistently asked me to see whether there would be any possibility of letting their little girl come back from a louvain boarding-school. the sisters with whom she was let her go with me when i showed them a letter208 from her father. that child had already seen a good deal! the sisters had fled with all the children at the time of the conflagration, and hidden themselves for days in a farm in the neighbourhood.

during the last days hundreds of lads had left louvain for the netherlands, and the migration went on throughout the whole occupied part of belgium. it was the exodus of the levies of 1914 and 1915, who had been called up, and many of whom had been sent to germany as prisoners. the germans themselves had not a little furthered the flight of these crowds; by proclamations they had warned the lads not to try to escape, for otherwise all of the levies of '14 and '15 would be taken prisoners, and the parents of the fugitives would be punished. at heverlee and louvain the lads of both levies had to present themselves every friday at this station. the consequence was that the following friday not one single boy of those levies was to be found in either place.

no more wounded were taken to the hospitals of louvain, as it had been decided to send them straight on to germany for the present; yet there were many wounded men who were being nursed there already, and the doctors had their hands full attending to the wounded who passed the town. dr. noyons told me that the previous sunday a train with 600 wounded had arrived from northern france, and he and his assistants had been requested "just" to dress the wounds again of some of them. the condition of these unfortunate men must have been awful; not one had a dressing less than eight days old. most of them had had it on much longer,209 and then these were merely emergency dressings. they were laid on straw in cattle trucks, many of them even in filth, and infection had worsened their condition to a great extent. dr. noyons and his colleagues tried to give the poor fellows as much relief as possible, but as a matter of course they could not do very much during a short stay at a station.

the general condition of the town was not calmer during these last days. new hostages were taken continually, and generally, as before, they were clerics, in consequence of which the religious services were in a continual muddle, and sometimes on sundays no holy mass could be said. burgomaster nerinx had now posted proclamations in which he called for volunteers to serve as temporary hostages, instead of the priests, during the hours of religious service. as if it were office work they mentioned: "the service begins in the afternoon at ... o'clock and will end after ... days at ... o'clock."

it was self-evident that very few were keen to offer themselves as temporary substitutes for the clerics.

i have, happily, not seen much of the distressing flight of the antwerp population, as i happened to be at liège when the fortress fell into german hands. i went to zundert via maastricht and breda, in order to go to the conquered fortress from that netherland frontier-town, north-east of antwerp.

a good many refugees were on their way to the netherlands, but the bulk of the crowd had passed before my visit along the long road which i walked now in the opposite direction. i did not arrive in210 antwerp before nightfall and was then very tired. the town was dark, dismal, and deserted, and only german soldiers went about in the streets, apparently looking in vain for a shop or café where they might find some diversion. i myself, exhausted by a walk of twenty-five miles, sauntered along, constantly looking for some place or other to pass the night. not a shop or hotel was open, and yet my stomach was craving for food, my body for rest. at last i met a policeman and told him of my difficulty.

"yes, sir," he answered, "that will be difficult enough. everybody has fled, even my own wife and children. i remained because i thought it was my duty, and now i have been tramping through the streets already for over twenty-four hours, without being relieved. it seems that by far the greater number of my colleagues fled also."

"don't you think you could find me some hotel, or private people who might put me up?"

"i am very much afraid i shan't be able, but come along, and we'll try together."

so we went from street to street, without any result. he rang the bell at many houses where he knew that acquaintances lived, but always in vain, and at last the kind man had to give it up.

i went on by myself, and arrived at last in a street where i noticed a light in a house. when i came near, i stood opposite a small café, with "lodgings" over the door. i was hardly able to go on, and did not care whether it was "lodgings" or "hotel," if i could only get in somewhere.

but i did not stop long, for after a good look211 round it seemed the best to try and get away as quickly as possible, and in that i succeeded. one understands, however, that it was a terrific disappointment for a man so tired to leave again after thinking that he had at last found a place for rest. at length i found an hotel near the central station.

antwerp had suffered from the horror of war. the bombardment had destroyed many beautiful quarters almost entirely, and even damaged badly a number of hospitals. of course the loss of many lives had to be deplored.

the next day i had the pleasure of an interview with cardinal mercier, whose residence in antwerp i had been able to find out at last. a wealthy lady had offered his eminence her grand house. in one of the rooms i waited for the arrival of the cardinal, the metropolitan of the belgian church provinces, who, both as a prelate and a patriot, had been tried so sorely in this war, which ravaged both his university town and his episcopal town. although he was exceedingly busy, his eminence had the kindness to grant me an audience.

as i was still musing about the tragedy of this venerable personality in these hard days of war, the door was opened suddenly and his spare figure stood before me. it was a moment full of emotion, and perhaps i might not have recovered myself so quickly if the kind prelate had not met me with so much kindness.

after his eminence had allowed me to kiss his ring, he asked me to sit down. i had now a good opportunity to notice how grief dwelt on his212 entirely spiritualised face, in its frame of white hair. but his extraordinary kindness in intercourse did not leave him for one moment.

in connection with the summons, which had been sent in the name of the archdiocese to de tijd, and had been proclaimed in all the churches of antwerp in the morning, his eminence insisted that it should be printed in its entirety, as very many priests had taken refuge in the netherlands, whose help was pressingly wanted in the arch-diocese in many of the parishes.

and he went on to say that he desired especially, most fervently the return of the fled population.

"really, in all sincerity," he said, "no danger need be feared. i should be very grateful if the newspapers in the netherlands would draw attention to the following promises which the german authorities gave me, and authorised me to make in their name:—

"1. the young men need not fear that they will be taken to germany in order to serve in the german army, or be compelled to do any work.

"2. should the police regulations be infringed anywhere by some individuals, the authorities will find the guilty parties and punish them, without attributing the guilt to the entire population.

"3. the german and belgian authorities will do everything in their power to prevent scarcity of food."

"your eminence may permit me to remark that the second clause especially is very important and much more comforting than a previous declaration of the imperial governor, that owing to occasional213 mistakes he cannot prevent the innocent population from having to suffer with those who are guilty. may i ask, has this favourable result been obtained by your personal intervention?"

"that is to say ... yes. i have suggested these measures and they have been consented to. i hope that they may induce all the refugees in the netherlands to return at once. a press bureau in your country has circulated the report that i too had planned to fly. there was no truth in it at all. it was my duty not to leave my people, is not that so? the shepherd must stay with his sheep, the vicars must do the same, and those who went away must therefore come back."

"your eminence visited malines last tuesday, i have been told. i may perhaps ask how you found the condition of the cathedral and the town?"

the cardinal's face was overclouded suddenly, and quietly he answered:

"pardon me, it is perhaps better not to say a word about that for the moment. we are living through difficult times."

i understood and respected the restraint of the belgian primate, who went on then:

"tuesday of next week i hope to be at malines again, and on the 20th of this month the administrative service of the archdiocese will be reinstalled."

"then you will stay again at the episcopal palace, your eminence?"

"yes, certainly. it will take time of course, but the damage done to the st. rombout church214 and the palace is not irreparable; the church has suffered very much, the spire is less damaged."

"much will be needed to repair what has been damaged in this unfortunate country."

"yes, yes. an immense amount will be necessary. we are about to form committees; but so much is needed. in england they are also forming committees, and i have received money already from england, scotland, and ireland, and the netherlands...."

for a moment he gave way to emotion. he hesitated for a few seconds, and i saw tears in his eyes. he then went on with a trembling voice:

"the netherlands is a generous country. how grateful, how immensely grateful am i to the netherland people for what they have done for poor refugees. i cannot sufficiently express my gratitude. i have received reports from priests who came back, and i am deeply moved by them. they told me how at roosendaal the netherland soldiers gave all their bread to the refugees, knowing well that for some time they themselves would not get any other. no! i can never be sufficiently grateful for such sacrifices. and catholics and non-catholics all joined in it. that is beautiful, very, very beautiful."

"your eminence, what the netherlands did for the poor belgians came from the heart of the people, and i know for certain that the catholics will be eager to contribute to the rebuilding of the destroyed churches and houses."

"the netherlands has done already so much, but if it would come to the assistance of our215 unfortunate people also in this way it would greatly gladden the archiepiscopal government, who will be only too happy to accept gifts in these difficult times; and perhaps the right reverend netherland bishops may be willing to send the gifts for this purpose to us. we might then distribute those gifts among the parishes in the country which have suffered most."

"well, in any case, your eminence, i promise to bring it to the knowledge of the catholics in the netherlands, and you may rely upon their readiness. but now i will not take more of your valuable time, which you give so zealously to the poor and the unfortunate. i thank you very much for having granted me this audience."

"it was in the interests of our suffering country, and we are those who ought to be grateful. may i insist once more that you ask our refugees to come back to antwerp and don't omit to state the three favourable regulations...."

his eminence then got up, kindly offered me his hand, the ring on which i kissed, and escorted me to the door in the amiable, simple way of which i shall retain the memory for ever.

i can see now once more how little germans care about the given word. they asked and obtained from cardinal mercier his co-operation to incite the population to return, but the cardinal, always anxious to safeguard his compatriots, made conditions to which they consented.

the first of them was that no young man should be taken to germany, or compelled to work. now how many lads are not already in germany, how216 many have not been compelled, especially in both the flanders, to do work for the germans? and were not loyal people who refused to do it imprisoned? yes! did not these violators of law and right proclaim that all appeal to international agreements would be useless? "we shall no longer punish a whole population for the deeds of individuals," they also promised cardinal mercier. but many communities have had fines and taxes imposed upon them in consequence of the offence of one individual.

and although they also promised to do everything in their power to prevent lack of food in belgium, they have bled to death the unfortunate country by continuous impositions and taxes, and thrown many into poverty and misery.

yes, in the most scandalous manner they have violated the promises which the germans gave cardinal mercier. but what signifies a word if treaties are only "scraps of paper?"