Information Board Shelling Old Station Moerbeke-Waas

The invasion of German troops in August 1914 caused a mass exodus of civilian refugees.
The railway was an option to escape the impending encirclement of the Germans.
On October 9, 1914, Moerbeke station was shelled from Eksaarde, causing an arriving train carrying refugees and soldiers to derail.
During negotiations with the German commander, shots were fired from the train.
Ten German soldiers died, the Germans responded with cannons.
That night, a thousand British and three hundred Belgian soldiers were captured.
There were also eight hundred civilian refugees on the train.
Despite the consultation, there were still many casualties: twelve German, ten British, and five Belgian soldiers and five civilian victims.

The library is currently located in the old station.
The tracks in front of the old station building were used until 2007 for the transport of sugar beets to the Sugar Factory. A small part has been preserved.
There is a diesel locomotive from 1954, a gift from the sugar factory Iscal Sugar to the municipality of Moerbeke. The Deutz 55815 was used to pull the wagons within the factory. It is one of the last remnants of the rail connection to the sugar factory.

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Source

• Text: TracesOfWar
• Photos: Marie-Christine Vinck