20 August 2014Policemen and gendarmes during the siege of Antwerp

One hundred years ago, on 20 August 1914, King Albert I ordered the Belgian Army to retreat to Antwerp and its double fort line before the advance of the German Army. The purpose was to hold the port, a vital supply point for the country. And so began the siege of Antwerp by the Germans; yet it only reached its climax at the end of September and beginning of October 1914.

During the night of 24 to 25 August, a German Zeppelin bombed the city, killing several people, including a local police officer. This tragedy deeply marked the population.

During this period, the local police force (police communale) and the gendarmerie of Antwerp were called upon to perform various tasks until the retreat of the Belgian Army on 10 October… This is the subject of a new Polnews report on the commemoration of the centenary of the First World War.

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