Germans occupy Ghent

On 12 October 1914 German troops entered Ghent, one of the largest cities in Belgium and the capital of East Flanders. The previous evening the city had been abandoned by the Belgian, French and British troops which for three days had covered the retreat of the Belgian army from Antwerp here.

Covering the retreat

When on the night of 6–7 October the Belgian field army began to leave Antwerp, its lines of retreat westwards ran through the area around Ghent. They were threatened from the south by German units which had crossed the Scheldt at Schoonaarde on 7 October and were approaching from the direction of Aalst and Lokeren. In front of the city, therefore, took up position the Belgian units of General Clooten, the French brigade of naval fusiliers under Rear Admiral Pierre Ronarc’h, some 6,500 sailors, most of them very young, and part of the British 7th Division, whose battalions had been arriving in Ghent by rail since 9 October.

On the morning of 9 October the fusiliers marched out of Ghent towards Melle, on the south-eastern outskirts of the city. That same day, at Melle and nearby Kwatrecht, they ran into German Landwehr advancing from the direction of Aalst. The heaviest fighting took place on 9 and 10 October. The French and Belgians repulsed successive attacks, including night assaults on 9–10 October, losing relatively few men. It was the first battle of the naval fusiliers, who a few days later won fame for their defence of Diksmuide.

The Allies leave

The covering force accomplished its task. The columns of the Belgian army passed westwards, towards the coast and the river Yser. Meanwhile ever larger German forces were approaching from the east and south, including units of the corps that had taken Antwerp. On the afternoon of 11 October the Allies began to leave their positions around Ghent. The Belgians went first, the French in the evening, and the British last. All headed west.

The next day, 12 October, German cavalry rode into the abandoned city, followed by infantry. The German commander met Burgomaster Emile Braun, and the German flag was raised over the town hall. According to some sources this happened only on 13 October. Ghent put up no resistance and escaped destruction.

A city under occupation

Braun already had experience of dealing with the Germans. At the beginning of September 1914, when German units first approached the city, he had met a German general at nearby Oordegem. In return for supplies of oats, bicycles and even beer and cigars he obtained a promise that the Germans would spare the city and not occupy it permanently. In October no such arrangement was possible any more.

Ghent lay in the German rear zone, behind the front on the Yser and at Ypres, and remained under occupation until November 1918. Braun held the office of burgomaster for most of the war, trying to protect the inhabitants from the occupier’s demands, until in April 1918 the Germans deported him to a camp in Germany.