A Woman's Experiences in the Great War

In Short

This memoir captures Louise Mack’s real-time experiences as the first female war correspondent in Belgium during the autumn of 1914. Traversing shelling, chaos, and German occupation from Antwerp to Brussels, Mack details the rapid collapse of daily life alongside the quiet resilience of ordinary civilians. She records the burning of historic towns, the bravery of Belgian leadership, and the harrowing human cost of the invasion. It endures as an unvarnished, high-stakes eyewitness narrative that balances urgent journalistic drive with raw human empathy.

The Story

The narrative begins in August 1914 as Louise Mack crosses a dark, mine-threatened English Channel to Ostend, stepping directly into the unfolding crisis of the Great War. Determined to witness the conflict firsthand, she travels through a disoriented Belgium where train schedules evaporate and rumor reigns. Arriving in Antwerp under the blackness of night, she wakes to the sudden, deafening roar of distant artillery and musketry, feeling a strange mixture of awe and detachment as the war draws near.

Mack travels across the country via unheated trains and makeshift transports, encountering the immediate aftermath of violence. In ruined towns and ransacked churches, she observes the desecration left by German troops: shattered altars, defaced sacred art, and abandoned military gear. Accompanying refugees, soldiers, and fellow travelers like the resourceful Belgian lawyer Jean, she learns to navigate checkpoints and circumvent strict military authorities.

In occupied Brussels, Mack seeks out Burgomaster Adolphe Max, the charismatic city leader whose defiance against German demands provides a moral anchor for the Belgian populace. She meets him briefly just before his arrest by German forces, capturing his vital, humorous, and resolute spirit. Back in Antwerp as the German siege tightens, the mood grows increasingly bleak. While diplomats, foreign correspondents, and citizens flee the impending bombardment, Mack makes the deliberate choice to remain in the city.

She endures five sleepless days and nights under relentless shelling, taking shelter in hotels alongside remaining staff and frightened refugees. When Antwerp surrenders, Mack watches from the streets as grey-uniformed German troops march in to occupy the silent city. Hiding in plain sight, she wrestles with fear, isolation, and suspicion, wondering if the acquaintances she relies on for food and shelter might be informers.

Eventually escaping across the border into neutral Holland among a flood of a million destitute Belgian refugees, she observes the immense humanitarian response of the Dutch people. She then pushes back into Flanders toward Dunkirk and the front lines, witnessing aerial battles between German Taubes and Allied planes. In the final stretch, Mack dines near the front with military officials and journeys back to London beside wounded British soldiers who trade stories of trench life, bringing her intense, unpredictable odyssey to a close at Victoria Station.

How It Unfolds

The voyage begins Crossing the Channel in pitch darkness, Mack arrives in Belgium amid constant fears of naval mines. She navigates disrupted railway lines to Antwerp while the rumble of distant artillery echoes across the landscape.

Through the ruined towns Mack journeys into desolate Belgian districts, witnessing stabled horses in cathedrals, defaced religious icons, and abandoned streets. She relies on local companions like Jean to secure permits and board slow-moving supply trains.

Encountering Burgomaster Max In Brussels, Mack briefly meets the city's heroic leader, M. Max, moments before his historic arrest. She observes the heavy gloom settling over the capital under initial German control.

Under siege in Antwerp As shells rain down upon Antwerp, Mack refuses to join the evacuation with other journalists. She remains trapped in her hotel room through five days of continuous bombardment.

The city falls German forces enter Antwerp, and Mack watches the occupation begin from street level. She takes refuge in a hidden house, grappling with intense paranoia and the constant threat of discovery.

Flight and the front Escaping through neutral Holland alongside a mass influx of refugees, Mack travels to Dunkirk near the Western Front. She observes air fights and meets frontline soldiers before returning home to London.

The People

• Louise Mack: The author and narrator, an intrepid Australian writer driven by an irresistible urge to document the reality of the conflict. She displays striking composure under fire, evolving from an adventurous observer into a deeply empathetic witness to national tragedy.
• Jean: A young Belgian lawyer who becomes Mack's primary companion during her travels through the occupied zones. Resourceful, quick-thinking, and constantly smiling when plotting to bypass military authorities, he ensures the group's survival through endless negotiations at checkpoints.
• Burgomaster Adolphe Max: The energetic, sharp-eyed leader of Brussels who becomes an icon of civilian resistance. Though physically unimposing, his brilliant mind, daring personality, and calm common sense reassure the terrified city until his eventual arrest by German forces.
• The Old Professor from Liège: A fragile, childlike academic traveling through the chaos. Terrified of the German military presence and physically burdened by the narrow escapes he must make, he constantly fears being detained or trapped.

In Its Own Voice

"Vaguely I listened. And vaguely I tried to imagine how the Germans could have got inside Antwerp so quickly." Mack reflects in the pitch-black darkness of her hotel room as the sudden, deafening roar of night artillery awakens her.

"Unbearable is the glitter of this sunlight shining over the agony of a nation!" Walking into the bright morning streets of Antwerp, Mack reacts to the city's imminent surrender to the advancing enemy forces.

"'The Turks are wearing fez, breaches of neutrality!'" A wounded British soldier on the train back to London recounts a miscommunicated military dispatch, bringing sudden laughter to the journey.

What It's Really About

The narrative explores the sudden destruction of civilian security and the psychological weight of living under military occupation. Beyond the tactical movements of armies, it examines how ordinary people adapt to terror through small acts of humor, solidarity, and quiet endurance. Mack highlights the clash between civilized society and the brutal realities of modern warfare, contrasting the dignity of Belgian resistance with the wanton destruction left in the wake of the invasion. Ultimately, the book considers the role of the eyewitness: why one chooses to stay, observe, and record the suffering of others when self-preservation demands flight.

Why Read It Today

This account offers an immediate, unvarnished perspective on the opening months of World War I, free from the retrospective smoothing of later histories. Readers who enjoy immersive historical memoirs, frontline journalism, or personal narratives of resilience will find Mack's voice captivating. The writing moves with swift, diary-like urgency, placing the reader directly alongside her on darkened train tracks and in shelled hotels.

While the prose is accessible and vivid, readers should anticipate early 20th-century wartime perspectives, including intense anti-German sentiments, graphic descriptions of destroyed communities, and occasional period terminology. What remains long after reading is the author's remarkable composure and her deep compassion for the displaced millions, making it a compelling study in personal courage under extreme conditions.