SHARP FIGHTING IN BELGIUM

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2260, 21 September 1914, Page 5

SHARP FIGHTING IN BELGIUM

GERMANS REINFORCING ARTILLERY DUEL AT TERMONDE Antwerp, September 18. The Germans are preparing strong.reinforcements outside Liege to prevent attacks from the north ana north-west. There are veiled hints at Antwerp of interesting developments. Military operations in the north-east of Belgium are imminent. . ". Belgian machine guns repelled four hundred- German cavalry, who . were advancing on Dixmuyden,- in West Flanders. Two hundred were killed or wounded. .' . , . Official.—Germans from Brussels engaged in an artillery duel at Termonde on Wednesday and Thursday. A subsequent attempt by the German infantry to advance was repulsed, and the attack was not renewed. ■ Amsterdam, September 18. Reliable information states that the Germans at Brussels have been reinforced by two army corps. There are now 150,000 Germans there. r . ENEMY STRONGLY ENTRENCHING. (Reo. September 20, 3.30 p.m.) Ostend, September 19, morning. The Germans are strongly entrenching along the Sambre from Maubeuge to Namur. Important works have bee erected at Thiun, Faroiennes, famines, and Floreffi; also a deep semi-circle extending from Buggenhout, through Campenou, to North Louvain, where it turns south-east. All the trenches | and redoubts are of reinforced concrete..- 1 . . DESPERATE DEFENCE OP A.BRIDGE. (Reo. September 20, 3.30 p.m.) Ostend, September 19, morning. Ghent reporta stjite that a third fierce battle has been fought at Termonde (about twenty miles south of Antwerp).- The Germans, singing'and shouting, wrecked the town. The ohief feature of the struggle was an attack upon a bridge. A German regiment attempted to rush it in close formation, and the Belgians mowed down the attackers with a machine-gup. Then the Germans fired the bridge. When the last rafter fell, the surviving Belgians plunged into the Scheldt. Many, battling for their lives in the water, were shot. Few escaped. Next day the Germans forced the passage in boats, but were unable to-maintain the landing. Finally they evacuated the town, leaving four guns. During the fight the Germans mounted, a machine-gun'in the tower of the Cathedral, compelling the Belgians to shell the building and seriously damage the tower. The Germans fired the 15th Centuary Town Hall before retreating. Antwerp, September 18. 'At Willebroeck, a few miles north-east of Termonde, the Germans w#re sleeping the Belgians across the canal with machine-guns. The Belgians were unable to cross as the bridge was raised. A soldier volunteered to swim the canal, and id so, under fire. He lowered the bridge, but was mortally wounded. Parts, September 18, midnight. '& party of Germans in, the motor-cars and : uniforms of French prisoners were caught trying' to blow up the railway bridge at Missel, thus severing communications between Dieppe and Havre and Ostend. I :