Early on 7 October, two battalions of Regiment 37 were able to cross the Scheldt at Schoonaerde by boat, during a thick fog. The Belgian 6th Division made several counter-attacks which were repulsed and a bridge was built by the evening over which the rest of the Landwehr crossed. The width of the escape route from Antwerp had been reduced to fewer than , which led to the Belgian commanders ordering the field army to retreat behind the Terneuzen Canal, which ran from Ghent northwards to the Dutch border. The 1st and 5th divisions, which had lost most casualties and a brigade each of the 3rd and 6th divisions moved first and the remaining troops less the 2nd Division in Antwerp, formed a flank guard on the Scheldt and the Durme. The Belgian army headquarters moved to Zelzate further west. A Belgian improvised brigade was at Ghent and British troops in the area were requested to move to Ghent, after a German cavalry division was reported to be near Kruishoutem to the south-west. Later in the day German troops entered fort Broechem and the Massenhoven redoubt to the north unopposed, which widened the gap in the Antwerp defence perimeter to and began to move German super-heavy artillery over the Nete, which took until 8 October. At on 7 October German howitzers began to bombard the city.