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OCR
No. 15
On October 7,
the combat on the right of the German army.
between Lens and La Bassee, in France.
continued with unabated fury.
The front was stretched northward by large
bodies of cavalry which carried the battle
almost to Armentieres. France withdrew
nearly all its troops from the Italian frontier.
French attacks in the Argonne and on the
northeast front of Verdun were repulsed.
The Iron Cross of the Second and First Class
was conferred upon the Grand Duke of
Baden.
‘l’
Between the inner and outer forts
of Antwerp, four heavy batteries,
52 field-pieces, and a number of
machine guns, some of them Eng-
lish, fell into the hands of German
troops. Fort Broechem was taken.
South of Antwerp, between Schoon-
aerde and Egenem, German engi-
neers threw a pontoon bridge
across the Scheldt during the night,
and in the morning at six o’clock
the first infantry detachment
crossed the river. The Germans
broke the opposing lines at Dender-
monde, Grembergen, and Uitber-
gen, in the face of a furious de-
fence, and drove the Belgians out
of their strongest position at Baes-
rode. After they had brought fur-
ther reinforcements and a battery
across the river under a withering
fire, they forced the enemy to with-
draw.--The English, who had ar-
rived in Antwerp by way of Ost-
end during the night, blew up Fort
St. Anne, close to the left bank of
the Scheldt, opposite the city.
In the afternoon the Belgian Government
left Antwerp for Ostend. The King re-
mained in the fortress. In conformity with
59
October 7. l 91 4
the Hague Agreement, General von Beseler.
commanding the forces before Antwerp,
notified the city authorities, through the re-
presentative of a neutral country. that a bom-
bardment was imminent. The commander
of the garrison replied that he was willing
to assume the responsibility therefore. and at
midnight the bombardment began. Simul-
taneously. the attack on the inner forts was
resumed. The people. who up to that time
had been ltept in ignorance of the true state
of affairs. fled to Holland and England.
-i
The "Norddeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung"
published the answer of the President of the
United States to the Imperial telegram of
September 7:
"I have received Your Imperial Majesty’:
important communication of September 7.
and noted the contents thereof with the
greatest interest and sympathy. As the re-
presentative of a nation truly neutral in the
present war. and one that harbors the ‘earnest
wish to learn and give consideration to the
truth, I feel honored that you have referred
to me for an impartial opinion. I am sure
you will not expect me to say more. I pray
God that this war may very soon end. The
day of reckoning will then come, when I am
sure the nations of Europe will unite for the
purpose of bringing their quarrels to an end.
Where injustice has been committed, the con-
sequences will not fail to be felt. and the
responsibility will be placed at the door of
the guilty. The peoples of the earth have
happily united upon a plan by which such
a reckoning may take place. In whatever
that plan is not suflicient, the opinion of
mankind. the last appeal in such matters. will
determine. It would be unwise. it would be
premature for a single government. even one
that is happily outside of the present struggle
-it would be even inconsistent with the
neutral position of a nation. which like this
is taking no part in the fight-to form for
itself a final judgment. or to give expression
to such.
"I express myself thus freely, because I know
that you expect and wish me to speak as a
friend to a friend. and because I am sure
that reservation of judgment until the end of
the war, when all the events and circum-
stances can be reviewed in their entirety and