ARTICLE: Misery in Antwerp, 1914

I have, on the cutting room floor, a mass of material for the opening weeks of WW1 that did not make it into Ring of Fire. I’ve never forgotten this very old book I found called. Antwerp Under Siege. I really wanted to use it, but one of the sad things about writing a book is admitting you can’t write about everything if you want your publisher to accept it. As we started writing, the narrative moved south into France towards the Marne and this meant that we did not get to remain in Belgium after the capitulation of Liége and Namur. But I can write what I want here, and today I wanted to share an account with you of what life was like in Antwerp in the opening weeks of the war. Whilst this was not the epicentre of unfolding events in the west, it was damn real for the inhabitants of the city…

Belgian Government documents piled up for removal from Antwerp.