"We are comfortably installed in cattle-trucks," notes Fusilier R. in
his pocket-book. "At Creil we see houses that were burnt by the Germans.
Night comes; we try to sleep, but in vain. It is very cold. We shiver in
our trucks." But over the dunes, along which the train had been running
since it left Boulogne, a patch of purple light appeared; then other
fires twinkled, green and red, and the keen breath of the open sea made
itself felt--Dunkirk. Here a surprise awaited the brigade: a change in
the orders; it was not to turn out, but the trains were to go on
"towards Belgium, towards the enemy," to Antwerp, in short.
The men stamped with joy. They hung over the doors of the trucks, waving
their caps in greeting to Belgian territory.[6] The Admiral went off in
the first train with his staff. On the afternoon of the 8th he found
General Pau on the platform at Ghent. The great organiser of the
connections between the Allied Armies had just left Antwerp, where he
had been to plan out the retreat of the Belgian army with King Albert.
He informed the Admiral that the railway had been cut above the town,
and that the six divisions which were defending Antwerp had begun to
fall back upon Bruges; two divisions were echeloned to the west of the
Terneusen Canal, and three to the east. Only one division was still in
Antwerp, with 10,000 English troops.[7] The Belgian cavalry was covering
the retreat on the Scheldt, to the south of Lokeren. There was no longer
any question of entering Antwerp; the contingent was to co-operate in
the retreating movement with the English reinforcements which were
expected, and with the troops of the garrison at Ghent; everything
seemed to indicate that the enemy would try to gain ground in the west,
and to invest the Belgian army, exhausted by two months of incessant
fighting, and the forces from Antwerp that were supporting it at
intervals along the Dutch frontier. But, to ensure the success of this
enveloping manoeuvre, the Germans would first be obliged to take Ghent
and Bruges, which they might so easily have done a month earlier; they
had deliberately neglected this precaution, feeling confident that they
would be able to occupy them at their own time without firing a shot.
By the end of August, indeed, General von Boehn's Army Corps had
advanced to Melle, within a few miles of Ghent. Although no resistance
had been offered, Melle had been partially burnt and pillaged; the
Germans had spared only the distillery where their troops were
quartered, which belonged to a naturalised Bavarian. To save the town
from effective occupation by the enemy, the Burgomaster, M. Braun, had
agreed with General von Boehn to undertake the victualling of the German
troops stationed at Beleghem. The requisition was not a very harsh one
for war time. But the foes were to meet again; on August 25, the morrow
of Charleroi, the Kaiser would have cashiered a general as duly
convicted of imbecility who had ventured to suggest that in October
France, supposing her to be still alive, would have had strength enough
in her death-throes to detach units and send them to the help of
Belgium. Be this as it may, it is certain that the Belgian army owed its
salvation to this erroneous calculation, or foolish presumption.
The effort the enemy had scorned to make in August against Ghent and
West Flanders was now determined upon in October, after the fall of
Antwerp. The conditions seemed to have changed but little. Ghent, an
open town, spread over an alluvial plain at the confluence of the
Scheldt and the Lys, which branch off here into innumerable canals, is
open on every side to sudden assault. It has neither forts nor
ramparts. We could only rely upon improvised defences to check the
advance of the enemy. The garrison, under the command of General
Clothen, was reduced to eight squadrons of cavalry, a mixed brigade, a
volunteer brigade, and two line regiments, none of them up to full
strength. However, with our 6,000 rifles, they would suffice to deploy
in the loop of the Scheldt, and on the space between the Scheldt and the
Lys to the south of the town, which seemed to be specially threatened.
If the English 7th Division arrived in time on the following day, it
would reinforce the front, which it would be unnecessary to extend
further for the purposes of a purely temporary defence, designed to give
the army in Antwerp an additional day or two. The fighting would
probably be very severe; neither General Pau, who was responsible for
the plan, nor Admiral Ronarc'h, who was to direct the principal effort,
had any illusions on this score.
"Salute these gentlemen," said the General to his Staff, pointing to
the naval officers; "you will not see them again."[8]
The rest of the brigade followed hard upon the Admiral. The last trains
arrived at Ghent during the night. The whole population was astir,
cheering the sailors as they marched through the town to their
respective barracks: the Leopold Barracks, the Circus, and the Theatre
Flamand. The officers and the Admiral were lodged at the Hotel des
Postes.[9] The reveille was sounded at 4.30 a.m. The men drank their
coffee and set off for Melle, where the Belgians had prepared trenches
for them.