the body of his junior
over his body. In this position he lay firing, whenever possible, from
o'clock in the morning until 4 in the afternoon.

FIERCE FIGHT TO CROSS NETHE

The crossing of the River Nethe was attended by great loss to the
Germans. They hurled their infantry recklessly against the Belgian
trenches, and while they lost enormous numbers, eventually succeeded in
crossing the river. One of the unsuccessful attempts was described by an
independent observer as follows:

"The Germans succeeded in getting a pontoon completed and they came
down to the river bank in solid masses to cross it. As they came every
Belgian gun that could be turned on the spot was concentrated on them
and they were blown away, blocks of them at a time, and still the masses
came on.

"The Belgian officers spoke with enthusiasm of the steadiness and
gallantry with which, as each German company was swept away, another
pushed into its place. But it was a dreadful sight, nevertheless.

"At last the bridge went, shattered and blown to bits. The Belgian guns
continued for a while to search the opposite river bank, but the Germans
fell back and no more masses of men came down to where the pontoon had
been. Allowing for all exaggerations, there can be no doubt that the
German loss must have been extremely heavy."

Near Termonde, on Wednesday, the 7th, the fighting was just as fierce.
The Belgians had four batteries of field guns there which succeeded in
destroying the locks of the river (the Scheldt), thus flooding a part
of the river and blocking the Germans. Later they engaged in a hot duel
with the German artillery. Two of the Belgian batteries were completely
destroyed early in the action and all of the men serving them were
killed. Not until the last of the remaining guns were put out of action
did the Belgians withdraw.

Of the casualties in and around Antwerp during the siege it is possible
only to make an estimate. It was said after the Germans entered the city
that their total loss in killed, wounded and missing was near forty-five
thousand men. German officers were credited before the attack with
saying that they would sacrifice 100,000 men, if necessary, to take
Antwerp. It is probable that the German casualties numbered at least
twenty-five thousand, while the Belgian losses in actual killed and
wounded were probably five thousand The latter fought from entrenched
positions, while the heavy German losses were sustained in the