Time was taken, however, to put out of commission
some thirty steamships lying at their docks and to set afire all the
large oil tanks on the west side of the river Scheldt. The streets
in Antwerp presented scenes of almost indescribable confusion.
Even before the bombardment had been long in operation almost the
entire civil population became panic-stricken. Hither and thither,
wherever the crowd drifted, explosions obstructed their paths;
fronts of buildings bent over and fell into the streets, in many
cases crushing their occupants. Although the burgomaster had issued
a proclamation advising the people to remain calm--indoors, if
possible--nothing could stop the stampede.
The defending troops withdrawing through the city from the firing
line destroyed everything that might possibly be of use to the
enemy. The suburbs of Antwerp seemed to be ablaze in every direction;
the village of Waerloos had been burning for some days; Contich,
Duffel, and Lierre also, and Have, Linth, and Vieux Dieu had been
destroyed by shell fire. Mortsel was practically obliterated by
the Belgians clearing the range for the guns of the inner forts.
In the preparation for defense the Belgians destroyed upward of
ten thousand buildings within a radius of twenty miles.
The exodus of the civil population began in earnest on October
8, 1914. Some of the streets in the heart of the city were choked
with people, while other streets in the same vicinity were dead
and deserted.
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