Sir John French to the Admiralty on the naval brigades assisting the defence at Antwerp, declares that they were handled by General Paris with great skill and boldness. Sir John French says that, although the fortress was not saved, the marines certainly delayed the enemy for a considerable time, enabled the Belgian army to withdraw and destroyed war material and ammunition which would have been of great value to the enemy.
The Belgian troops afterwards proved a valuable asset to the Allies in the fighting on the Ysor and, also, the moral effect on the Belgian Army by this, necessarily, desperate attempt to succour them was of Breat value to their use and efficiency.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.