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298 WITH THE GERMAN ARMIES IN THE WEST
numerous traverses, intended for protection against enfilading
or slanting fire, and generally consisting of sandbags in
timber-lined trenches. The gabions, I thought, looked like
defensive works similar to those used in the seventeenth
century. But they were as useful now as then.
We did not stop at the Boersbaek fortification, but went
straight on to Fort Koningshoyckt, which had received some
nasty hits and where a number of captured 12-cm. guns, all
without their breech-blocks, had been ranged up in a row.
Fort Talaert tempted me to take one or two photos, which
need no comment. In one of them the reader will observe a
huge gaping hole in the concrete. Another will give him an
idea of what disarranged wire entanglements look like.
Fort Lierre, in Dutch Lier, is the largest of all the fortifi-
cations in the outer girdle of Antwerp. Here several 42-cm.
shells had wrought terrible havoc. One had struck through
the lower part of the concrete bed of a turret and penetrated
into the interior regions, smashing all that was in its path.
In the interior of the fort we found extensive quartering
accommodation for the garrison. Belgian uniforms left
behind were still lying about. Generally speaking the Germans
found the barrack-rooms in the fort in great disorder. All
scraps and lumber had now been removed and formed regular
rubbish heaps outside.
The small town of Lierre has fared terribly ill, but the
church stands almost untouched among the ruins. The
village of Duffel has also suffered considerably. In its labyrinth
of narrow lanes people were busy removing the rubbish.
On our way back we found the market-place of Malines
crowded with carts and carriages full of visitors who had come
from Brussels to see the scenes of destruction. On the road
to the capital, too, we passed quite a procession of sorrowful
pUgiims.
At night I saw the Field-marshal for a minute. He said he
should be unable to travel the next day, as the King of Saxony
was then expected in Antwerp. Remembering that a bird in
the hand was worth two in the bush, I thereupon decided to
go on to Bapaume. A car was to be placed at my disposal
whenever I wanted it.
I accordingly proceeded on the morning of October 29th
to the office of the Governor-General, where I was informed
that the Field-marshal had instructed von Siemens to take
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