the wavre-st. catherine combat
by sub-lieutenant henroz, in command of the 1st company of the 1st battalion of the 2nd regiment of fortress carabineers
(september 28-october 10, 1914)
as the germans were harassed by the belgian army and uneasy as regarded the flank of their line of communication, they decided to take their revenge on the antwerp fortress, which was the refuge of our army after each of our offensive operations.
at the end of september, the enemy had received a reinforcement of troops of all kinds of arms, but more particularly of siege artillery and pioneers, as these had been freed by the fall of maubeuge.
on the 27th of september, at 7 in the morning, i received orders to occupy the trenches with my company and to suspend all work. my company was in the interval of the dorpveld redoubt and the wavre-st. catherine fort. it was supported on the right by the company of the staff deputy captain commander havenith, who was in command of the interval. the germans, that day, had commenced driving back the detachment of the 1st army division, which was holding the front of the line. we knew,[pg 170] therefore, that they were going to attack us, but we were convinced that our positions were absolutely inviolable, as we had organised them so carefully and they were bristling with engines of warfare of every kind. we awaited the first contact, therefore, with the greatest confidence. the whole day was very calm all around the fort. a belgian a?roplane was brought down and fell in our lines, near to our little post.
monday, september 28th. there was every promise of a fine day. far away, in the background, two boche captive balloons went up. they were rocking about at the wind's pleasure, in a threatening way. we could hear the purring of their motors. both these signs were prophetic of an imminent attack. towards 11 o'clock, a distant whizzing sound was heard. this was soon transformed into a thunderous roaring, which increased all the time and finished in a formidable explosion. through the trench lookout, we could see, at about 150 metres in front of the wavre-st. catherine fort, a column of smoke at least twenty yards high. it was a 420 millimetre which had just exploded. exactly eleven minutes later, a second shell fell, with the same noise, within fifty yards of the glacis. every man was ready, and all eyes were fixed on the fort with anguish. we did not have to wait long for the third shell. eleven minutes later it burst, straight on the fort....
"poor catherine!" said the men. in spite of her wounds, though, catherine continued spitting forth her balls. the firing of the 420 continued, at intervals of eleven to twelve minutes, the whole of the morning. during the afternoon, the firing was still more intense and the shells then arrived in salvos of two. many of[pg 171] them, fortunately for the fort, missed their mark, but the resistance was seriously endangered. the cementing and the plating had only been calculated in view of a bombardment with guns of twenty-one centimetres at the most. we frequently saw five or six of the artillery-men come out from the earthworks and, between two storms, climb quickly on to the fort and fill up the excavations, made by the projectiles, with sacks of earth. at the approach of the next bolides, they rushed away again as quickly as they could. some of them even, braving the metal monsters, continued their work. these courageous men gave the soldiers in the trenches a fine example of heroism. we watched them in amazement and felt our own courage increase. the bombardment ceased at exactly 4.30 in the afternoon. the cement of the fort was cracked and the passages blocked by the sickening odour of the gases. there was no victim on either side. the wavre-st. catherine fort had received its baptism of fire.
tuesday, september 29th. the 1st and 2nd divisions were now in the 3rd sector, waelhem-lierre; the 3rd and 6th divisions in the 4th sector, waelhem-escaut; the 4th division occupied termonde, and the 5th formed the general reserve. the bombardment began again at daybreak, and very soon the huge shells were falling thickly on the fort. occasionally, one of these masses, badly aimed, burst on the interval. it was a regular earthquake. the ground shook and it seemed as though the earth were about to open and swallow us up. presently, the firing increased in intensity. at certain moments, the fort was cannonaded, at a speed of twenty to twenty-five a minute, with shells of every calibre. the noise was deafening.[pg 172] we could scarcely hear each other speak. everyone feared for the fort and each time that a shell was "drunk in" by it, the men murmured: "poor catherine!" towards ten o'clock, the firing of shrapnels on to the interval commenced. commander havenith gave me the order to occupy the fighting trench, with a section. the remainder of my troop took up their quarters in the trench-shelter, about fifty yards behind us.
during this change, a volley of shrapnels fell on the communication trench. four men were very slightly wounded, one of whom was sergeant claudot, a volunteer. we were obliged to evacuate him. presently, it was the turn of the wavre-st. catherine village to get its share. several of the volleys made a fair number of victims, some of whom were civilians. this caused a panic and the people, terrified and wild with fear, rushed off taking with them a few of their possessions. the women, in tears, dragged their little ones along with them, and the children, without knowing why, uttered the most heart-rending cries. just as the darkness was coming on, several houses were in flames. we were present, and absolutely powerless, at this lamentable scene, and we were furious at not being able to avenge these unfortunate people. on every side, the cannon was thundering. the air, saturated with smoke, was bitter, and the odour of the powder was suffocating. gradually, everything became calm once more and the sentinels went to their posts, just beyond the network of barbed wire. up to the present, our cooking had always been done in the trench, by the side of the machine-gun shelter. during the bombardment, a wretched shell had plunged into the water in[pg 173] which the soup was cooking, and had scattered the meat and broth everywhere. as all communication with our rear was cut, it was impossible to get fresh food. i advised my men to be economical with what they still had and, above all, to keep their reserve rations at any cost. they were quite calm, unmindful of the danger they had run during the day, and they did not protest in the least. they went bravely to their observation posts, whilst their comrades took a little rest. the night passed by without any incident.
wednesday, september 30th. the company was still occupying the same position. the sun had scarcely risen, when the bombarding of the forts, of the interval, and of the redoubt began as fresh as ever. a reinforcement arrived for me, the 2nd company of the 3rd battalion of the 6th line regiment, which at once occupied the shelter trench. more than three hundred men were huddled together in this hole. i began to fear a 42 dropping on this trench. what a horrible carnage it would be! i trembled to think of the danger my men were in. they never even thought of this themselves. they were delighted about the unexpected reinforcement and their one idea was victory. shells of every calibre were raining down from every side, and shell-mines were exploding with a frightful noise. the firing was getting more exact and reached our parapet. the trench shook, and i wondered whether it would fall in. fragments of the shells fell at our feet, and suddenly one shell hit the trench. as soon as the smoke was dispersed, we saw, with horror, that several men were buried under the débris. we could hear them calling out and, for the first moment, we all remained motionless, riveted to the spot in stupor and horror.[pg 174] then several men rushed to the rescue of their comrades. i advanced and saw that our poor vander stappen had been decapitated. his head lay intact at his feet. three others, one of whom was sergeant dooms, were seriously wounded. the shells continued to arrive in showers. it was frightful! the men were lying down on the ground, with their blankets over their heads to protect them from the shell fragments, and in order that they might not see anything. a soldier, near me, took out of his pocket-book the portrait of his wife and children. there were three of them grouped around their mother. during this infernal bombardment, the poor man, seeing death so near, wanted to see his own family once more. with tears in his eyes, he shook his head sadly. i sat down by him and, in a few words, i managed to revive his courage. he got up suddenly and, shaking his fist in the enemy's direction, called out: "come on then, you vile boches, we shall see whether you are as good with the bayonet as with your 42." he had scarcely uttered the last word, when a still more formidable explosion than all the others made us start. the powder room of the fort had been blown up. poor catherine! our artillery, placed in the intervals, although like us subjected to a violent bombardment, was answering courageously. our men were encouraged by this; they felt they were being supported. it was now exactly 11.45. a breathless messenger arrived and, with a trembling hand, gave me a sealed letter. it was an order from the commander of the fortified position of antwerp.
"in spite of the bombardment, no matter how terrible it may be, you must resist to the uttermost, even to death!" good, we will resist!
[pg 175]
i dismissed the messenger, a boy of eighteen. without troubling in the least about the shells and shrapnels, he hurried back to his post. the germans were still bombarding the dorpveld redoubt furiously. a 42 fell on a house near the fort. nothing was left of it but a heap of ruins, and some of the bricks fell into our trench. the hours passed by and the day gradually came to an end. in the evening, the cannonading was less intense and the soldiers took advantage of this to move about and stretch their limbs. they were gay, glad to see each other again, and to have escaped death. they were also awaiting the arrival of the boches most hopefully. the results of the day's combat had been: one killed and five wounded. when once the little posts were all organised, everyone was on the watch. none of the men wanted to rest. they were convinced that there would be a night attack and they all wanted to be there, in order to fire the first shot, and to receive the enemy in a proper way. contrary to our expectation, the night passed by without incident, except for a few patrols being seen near the village.
thursday, october 1st. the company occupied the same post. the bombardment, both in the intervals and on the positions in the rear, began again and was still more terrible than on the preceding days. the boches poured down upon us their projectiles of every calibre. our men remained there undaunted, in spite of showers of shot. the batteries replied all the time. the forts alone were silent, as they had been completely destroyed. the bombardment continued with the most intense violence, as though the enemy wanted to crush us[pg 176] completely, by means of the heavy artillery, against which we were, of course, powerless. the noise was beyond all description. in less than twenty minutes, i counted three men killed and about ten wounded. my trench seemed likely to be entirely destroyed and, at all costs, it was necessary to repair it. at my request, several volunteers came forward and, in spite of the bombardment, worked energetically. the losses were great, but not a man dreamed of budging from his post. the order had come to resist to the uttermost, to hold out in spite of everything, and we intended to obey. we were resolved to die at our posts if necessary. the shells continued all the time to rain down on us. in the village of wavre-st. catherine, the ravages were terrible. the whole locality trembled under a continuous roar like thunder. it was in this hell that the soldiers entrusted with the defence had to hold out. sub-lieutenant blanckaert and his gunners were stationed near the church. they took shelter as best they could, and one of the most imposing sights was their coolness under the infernal bombardment. the enemy artillery, with its usual sacrilegious rage, aimed at the church, which was still standing. the steeple was just hit and some houses near fell in ruins. from time to time, a more formidable explosion was heard, and someone would remark simply: "that's another 42." it was very evident that the enemy was endeavouring to render our positions impossible by the intensity of the bombarding, hoping thus to demoralise us. in our poor trench, which shook and rocked in a way calculated to give us all sea-sickness, the sight was terrifying. each time that a shell of big calibre struck it, whole positions gave way, burying together[pg 177] the dead, the wounded, and the living. two, three, and four huge shells a minute fell on it.
the captain of the 6th line regiment, m. bisschop,[7] fell at my side, with his shoulder shattered. in the trenches, the men held out, in spite of the horrible nervous tension, of thirst, of the sight of their comrades cut up, and of the plaintive moans of the wounded. sergeant-major demarche was also wounded. our batteries were firing at full speed, but they too suffered, as they were sighted by the accursed captive balloons. shrapnels and mine-shells burst over our cannons, which were destroyed, one after the other. our brave gunners lay there at the side of them. it was horrible! the situation grew more and more critical. in the absence of the captain of the 6th line regiment, who had been evacuated, i had to take command of the trench. at exactly 2.30 in the afternoon, we suddenly saw two men in the wire network, two hundred yards in front of the fort. they were certainly boches, but what were they doing there, as their own shells were falling near them? three volleys were fired from the trench of captain commander a.e.m. havenith. one of the boches fell and got up again. he fell a second time, and the other one made off. a quarter of an hour later he returned, accompanied by two comrades, wearing an armlet and waving a red cross flag. not a shot was fired, and the wounded man was taken to the german lines. the bombardment continued and was only less intense towards nightfall. the commander of the fort, who had evacuated his stronghold, took advantage of the lull to go back to it, but it was partly destroyed. the heavy shield of a cu[pg 178]pola of fifteen centimetres had completely disappeared, and its ruins were also on fire. i had the dead buried, and the wounded taken away. towards five o'clock, i received an order from the commander of the interval to occupy the fighting trench with the two companies. an attack was expected during the night. when once my observation sentinels were at their posts, we awaited the arrival of the germans. we took advantage of a moment's lull to eat something. the men had nothing left but their last reserve rations. we did not know what we should do for eatables the following day. the men were very thirsty, their throats were parched, and there was no water. some of them found some behind the trench. it was rather muddy, but that did not matter, as it refreshed them. guessing that i, too, was thirsty, one of the brave fellows offered me his flask.
"thanks," i replied, "keep it for to-morrow. i am not thirsty."
"but, lieutenant, there is sugar with it!!!" he insisted.
i was just on my way to visit my posts, and had scarcely gone twenty steps when a corporal arrived.
"lieutenant," he said, "the boches are there, near the wire."
i listened and sure enough the bells fastened to the wire were tinkling. there was no doubt about it. they were there. i gave the command, "fire!" and my men opened a vigorous firing on the wire network. it was a hellish firing. the bullets cut the wire and thousands of sparks were soon flying. the redoubt, that everyone believed destroyed, was soon aglow like a furnace and sent showers of shot on the enemy. my men shouted "victory!" and were[pg 179] delighted to open fire, but furious at not seeing any boches. the night was as black as ink and we could not see two yards in front of us.
the germans, surprised in their attack, replied energetically, but they fired over us. three quarters of an hour later, all was calm once more. from time to time, a few enemy balls fell behind us, as though they were aimed at a wall which did not exist. we all had the same impression. they were explosive bullets. several patrols were sent to search in the neighbourhood. i let half of the men rest. as i had scarcely any ammunition left, i sent sergeant-major cromphout to ask captain commander havenith to let me have some cartridges without fail. i learnt afterwards that the sergeant-major never arrived. what happened to him? was he killed, or had he only disappeared? the night passed by without any other event.
october 2nd. at daybreak, the enemy's heavy artillery recommenced its destructive firing. the duffel bridge was attacked by shells of 13 centimetres. more than 250 shells fell on the station in less than two hours and a half. the wavre-st. catherine fort and the dorpveld redoubt were covered afresh with projectiles. these were the preliminaries of an infantry attack. towards 6.45, over two hundred men appeared, marching in close ranks, on the malines road and, crossing the fields, went at full speed in the direction of the redoubt. i at once commanded quick firing. my men aimed well and, at two hundred yards' distance, whole ranks were mown down. these were quickly replaced by others, which, in their turn fell under the firing of our mausers. suddenly, the whole band stopped[pg 180] short and a few men began waving belgian flags and white flags. we could now distinguish their uniforms better and we saw that these belonged to our line regiments.
"stop firing they are our men!" called out the soldiers. instead of this, i gave orders to continue firing. the germans had once more violated the laws of warfare, by clothing their troops in our uniforms, stolen from our dép?ts. the firing began again more violently now than before and, of all these troops, only about thirty men reached the redoubt and at once hid in the ditches. one of them, who was carrying posters, put these up at the top of the redoubt, the inside towards the enemy. i could not read signals of this kind. the firing ceased and, ten minutes later, one of the posters fell and about twenty germans then made off in the direction of their lines. a few seconds later, we heard the mac-mac of their machine-guns placed above the redoubt. they were turned in our direction and their balls pierced our loopholes. sergeant chaignot, a volunteer, who had his gun pointed at one of the machine-guns, fell down dead, hit in the forehead. this brave boy, who was only just seventeen, was the only son of a widow. a short lull enabled me to have our wounded men evacuated.
the enemy now only bombarded our positions in the rear. just when the german artillery began to lengthen its firing range, the enemy infantry suddenly emerged from somewhere, yelling! "hoch!" they rushed towards the wavre-st. catherine fort. i had orders to hold out to the uttermost, but, as i was turned on my right and had scarcely any cartridges left, it was evident that i should be surrounded. to[pg 181] the right, captain-commander havenith, who was outflanked, was falling back in good order. there was no safety for me, therefore, on that side. i saw that i should be compelled to beat a retreat in the direction of the chapel, some five hundred yards behind our line. corporal deron and about ten men remained behind to continue firing until the last soldier had left the trench.
i have to deplore the loss of many victims. the accursed machine-guns of the redoubt mowed down about twenty of my men. many of them were wounded and, as we could not take them away, they remained, unfortunately, in the hands of the germans. when we had reached the post at the chapel, which was our second line, i gave orders to occupy the new trench. we had not time to do this, as about fifty teutons, whom i had not seen, fired, from their ambush, at our flank and several of my men fell. we were compelled to retreat again, leaving our wounded behind. we were pursued as far as poupelaerstraat, where, worn out and exhausted, my company halted for a short rest.
we were all thankful to have escaped the enemy. if we had stayed five minutes longer in the trenches, we should all have been prisoners. i next went in the direction of elzemtraat, to our concentration spot, the duffel bridge. on entering the village, i met captain-commander havenith. he was glad to see me again after these terrible days. he congratulated me on having held out valiantly with my men during the five days of furious bombardment, and on having fallen back in good order. during the rest that i gave to my men, i found that seventy-five soldiers were missing at the general roll-call. they had been killed[pg 182] or wounded, or had disappeared. two officers only remained, first sergeant coppens and i. we thought we had earned a few days' rest in the rear, but, as soon as we had been supplied again with cartridges and provisions, we received orders to take up our position once more between wavre-st. catherine and duffel.
we were greeted there by a fresh bombardment. outflanked on our right, in the direction of waelhem, we were obliged to fall back on duffel. it took us some time to pass through this village, as it was being bombarded by shells of big calibre. we soon received orders to fall back at any cost. we went along quickly, crossed the duffel bridge, which was being shelled with absolute frenzy. we rushed along like a hurricane and drew up beyond the village, without having lost a single man. we were then ordered to fall back on linth, where we arrived in the evening. commander havenith had received the same order. the rest of the regiment was there. i was present when the chief of the corps congratulated sergeant delobbel on his fine conduct under fire, and his bravery during the bombardment. at the risk of his own life, he had saved his commander (commander van der minnen), who had been buried in the trench. another feat of this sub-officer deserves to be recorded. his company was just between the koningshoyckt fort and the borsbeek redoubt. the gunners of a 75 battery, which supported the trench on the left, had left their cannons behind. these cannons would be extremely useful against the german cannons and the boche infantry, which was installed only eight hundred yards away from the position.
[pg 183]
without any hesitation, carried away by his patriotism, delobbel, who knew how to handle a cannon, offered himself for putting the battery into action again. with three men, one of whom was a wounded gunner, he went to the battery. all the defences were shattered and there was no longer any earthwork to count on. under the direct fire of the infantry and the big cannons, sergeant delobbel wanted to begin firing at six hundred yards, but unfortunately the gunners had unfastened the breeches and other parts before leaving. with the straps of their knapsacks, the brave fellows improvised what was necessary and very soon their cannons opened an infernal fire. unfortunately, exposed to the firing of the infantry, two of the improvised gunners were disabled and a fragment of shrapnel killed the third. two cannons were thus useless, but our sub-officer continued alone, and the shells fell fast on the boches. very soon, though, completely exhausted, fired at fiercely from ambush and his last cannon destroyed, he was obliged to burrow, and it was impossible for him to return to the trench until the evening. needless to describe the welcome he received there!
footnotes:
[7] in spite of several operations the captain is still crippled.
