Salt Lake Tribune | 1914-10-11 | Page 1 | Anglo-Belgian Army Escapes from Antwerp

ANGLO-BELGIAN ARMY ESCAPES FMJfTlERP One British Naval Brigade Compelled to Enter Holland Hol-land and Lay Down Their Arms ALLIES UNABLE TO RAISE THE SIEGE British Offer to Cover Re treat of the Belgians, but Their Commander Insists In-sists Upon Remaining LONDON Oct 11 12 40 a m. The first official adm sa on that the Br tish . part c pated m the defense of Antwerp i is contained in an adm ralty announce ment that three naval br gades with heavy guns had been sent there dux ing the last week of the German at tack The announcement adds that In the retreat from Antwerp two of the Br t sh br gades reached Ostend safely The other however was cut off to the north of Lokeren (a town in East Plan ders twelve miles northeast of Ghent) and 2000 of the men were interned in Holland The retreat of the Belgian army was accompl shed successfully The losses of the Br t sh saval bn g ades probably w 11 be less than 500 out of a total of 8000 men Official Statement The secretary of the admiralty makes the fo ow n0 announcement In response to an appeal by the BeU an government, a mar ne brigade and two naval brigades together with some heavy naval guns manned by a detachment of tl e royal navy the who e under command of General Paris P M. A. were sent by h 3 majesty s government to partlc pate in the defense of Antwerp during the last week of the attack Up until the n ght of Monday last, October 5 the Be g an army and ma ine br gade successfully defended the ne of the Iet e r ver Ear y on Tuesday morn ng tl e Be gian forces on the r ght of Mai nes Pere we e forced by a heavy German attack cove ed by very powerful art ery to ret re and In consequence the who e of the defense was w tl drawn to the Inner 1 ne of forts the intervals between wh ch had been strong y fort fled The e ound which had been lost en ab ed the enen y to p ace h a batteriee to bombard the city The inner ine of defenses was ma n alned du ing "Wednesday and Thu sday wh e the city endured a ruth ess bombardment Remarkable Defense The be la or of the royal mar nes and nava br gades In the trenches I and in the fle d was pra seworthy in a h gh deg ee and remarkab e in un ts i so new y formed and owing to the i protection of t e intrench nents the losses in spite of the severity of the fie a e probably less than BOO out of a total force of 8000 men The de fense could have been ma nlalned for a longer per od but not long enoug to a low of adequate forces be ng sent to the r relief w thout prejud ce to the main strategic si uat on i The enemy a so began on Thursday I to press strong y on the 1 no of com mun cations near Loke en The Be gian forces defending th s point fought with great determ nat on but were g adually presaed back by numbers j In these circumstances the Be gian and Br tish m tary authorities in Antwerp dec ded to evacuate the city i The B t sh offe ed to cover the re treat but General de Guise de Ired that they shou d eave before the last d v slon of the BeUlan army One Brigade Lost After a long n g t march to Sa nt G lies t e three nava br gades en trained Two out of the t ree have arrived safelv at Ostend but ow ng to ircumstances which are not yet fully known the greater part of the first nava brigade was cut off by a German attack north of Lokeren and 2000 officers and men en ered Dutch territory in the ne ghborhood of Hu st and laid down the r arms in accord ance with the laws of neutra ty The retreat of the Be gian array has been successfu y accomp shed The armored tra ns and heavy guns were al brought away The re reat from Ghent onward of the d vis on of the Belgian army was cove ed by the British reinforcements " ast numbers of the non combatant populat on of Antwerp men women and children are streaming in fl ght in scores of thousands westward from the ruined and burning city The admiralty a so reports In the same statement that the naval aviat on party laving completed ts attack on Dusse dorf and Co ogne already reported, has re turned safe y to Its base, protected by armored ca s