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Show JSfJTWERP WARNED BY ! S P AN i SH D i P LD MAT Colonel Sorela Carried Notice No-tice of German Intention, to Bombard City. ! FACED GRAVE DANGER Drove Automobile to In-. In-. vested City Under Fire of Sharpshooters. (Correspondence of the Associated Press.) AMSTERDAM, Feb. 13. Certain interesting inter-esting details of the capitulation of Antwerp Ant-werp to the Germans on October 9, and the preceding pourparlers, appear for the first time in the Echo Beige, which is now published in this city. Colonel Sorela, So-rela, military attache of the Spanish legation le-gation at Brussels, who acted as an intermediary between the German commander com-mander and the municipal authorities of Antwerp, Is authority for the account. On October 7, about 10 o'clock in the morning. Colonel Sorela says he was called to the American legation. When he arrjved there he found the American minister and the Spanish minister together. to-gether. They informed him that in accord ac-cord with article 26 of The Hague convention con-vention the German commander had Informed In-formed them that the bombardment of Antwerp was imminent. They had been ' told of this, said the two ministers, because be-cause the German commander had found it Impossible to get In touch with General de Guise, the comrriandant general of Antwerp. The American and Spanish ministers declared that they had refused to charge themselves with this mission, but that the German commander had told them they would be held responsible for all consequences arising from their refusal. Starts for Antwerp. Colonel Sorela was therefore asked to charge himself with the mission, and he accepted it. In a quarter of an hour he was ready for the trip from Brussels to Antwerp. A letter of introduction which had been given him by the maj'or's office of Brussels Brus-sels presented General Sorela as the envoy en-voy of the American and Spanish legations lega-tions and had been addressed to the military and civil authorities of Antwerp. It included documents in which the Ger-knmn Ger-knmn military authorities had engaged themselves to spare a number of historic edifices in the city of Antwerp in case the bombardment should become necessary. A little while afterward Baron de Lancken, plenipotentiary of the German emperor and counsel to Field Marshal von der Goltz, appeared at the legation to conduct Colonel Sorela out of the German Ger-man lines. He left to Colonel Sorela the choice of either being taken through the German lines blindfolded or else engage his word of honor to say nothing of what he might see within the German military ifone. Colonel Sorela gave his word of honor, and then demanded at what hour the-bombardment was to begin. It was not possible then to name the exact time, but Baron de Lancken told the colonel it was unlikely that it would commence before be-fore nightfall. Within an hour the two automobiles left Brussels. The first one, flying the colors of the United States and Spain, carried Colonel Sorela and Baron de Lancken- In the second machine traveled trav-eled three attaches of Field Marshal von der Goltz. After a short delay at Ma-lines, Ma-lines, the automobiles continued on their way, reaching the German outpost line within four hours. Uses White Flag, From that point the Spanish attache continued alone Colonel Sorela, meanwhile, mean-while, had taken the precaution to place between the Spanish and American flags a white flag, which he had thought best to take with him. The distance between the Belgian and German lines was about twelve kilometers. kilome-ters. The automobile was fired on several sev-eral times en route. But he arrived safely safe-ly at the Belgian lines, where he w-as received re-ceived by General de Guise, commander of Antwerp, in the presence of several officers, "I apologized for being the carrier of news of this sort," said Colonel Sorela, "and then presented the papers I had with me. The general seemed to be in a state of high exaltation and told me that he would fight to the death, adding several times that the Germans could commence the bombardment immediately. immediate-ly. The general extended his hand and assured me of his personal regard. "I went to the Spanisli and American consulates. Meanwhile I remained impressed im-pressed with the fact that during mv en-w en-w tire trip I had seen nothing, outside of r troops, but an old peasant, and a milk woman with a lit r la cart. All the refugees refu-gees from the villages neighboring on Antwerp were now In the city Itself." At 7 o'clock in the evening Colonel Sorela So-rela decided to leave Antwerp, and after a number of stops arrived at the outposts, out-posts, at a point where the English troops had joined the Belgians. A battle had started about half an hour before that. Forts No. 4 and 5 of the Inner fortification line of Antwerp were concentrating their fire upon the woods of Contlch. The German artillery was silent. The situation became so serious that the chauffeur, after having gone a!bout 100 yards across the open ground between the two armies, decided to stop. The- two abandoned the automobile auto-mobile and returned to the Belgian position, posi-tion, where they remained until H o'clock that evening. It was Impossible for Colonel Sorela to leave the Anglo-Belgian lino until then. Faced German Fire. Meanwhile the battle continued. Colonel Colo-nel Sorela decided, however, to go on, and did bo under the fire of the Belgian forts and the German artillery, the latter having resumed activity. Nothing but the most extraordinary good luck enabled en-abled the colonel and his chauffeur, a Belgian, to regain the German lines safly. The Germans conducted Colonel Sorela immediately to Malincs. "There General von Moltke, chief of staff of the German army, was waiting for me." explained Colrnel Sorela. "He told me that his troops had been successful success-ful In an action with fie Anglo-Belgian forces, and announced that the bombardment bombard-ment had already started, that it had begun at 1 o'clock In tho morning, German Ger-man time (12 midnight Belgian time). The genera asked me to enter a laree building on the Grand Place with himself him-self and several officers, "Realizing what the fate of the civil population of Antwerp r,nd the refugees j In the citv would be, and fearing for; them, I asked the general to give orders ' that the bombardment be slackened dur- j Ing the first few hours. At the same r time I submitted to him the text of The i Hague convention which I had with me. "The general listened to me attentively, attentive-ly, but terminated my entreaties with the words: " 'It is sad, but It Is the only means we have to economize with the blood of our soldiers, of which we have already shed so much. Tou are a soldier, colonel, and you ought to understand the dire necessities of war.' Then the general excused himself and thanked me. At 3 o'clock In the morning I again entered the Spanish legation Cat Brussels)." |