Chapter 3

Signed:Lüdke, Major and Commander, 2nd Train Section,X. Army Corps.

App. 45.

Military Court Examinationof 1st Lieutenant Müller, Lieutenant Schröder, and Gunner Huismann, all of the 5th Artillery Munitions Column, X. Army Corps.

Present:LieutenantMaack, Officer of the Court.Non-commissioned Officer,Schütte, Secretary.

Avaux,November 20th, 1914.

With respect to the incidents which occurred during the surprise attack at Acoz, the under-mentioned witnesses, after the importance and sanctity of the oath had been pointed out, were examined as follows:

1. 1st Lieutenant Müller.

As to Person: My name is Richard Müller. I am 36 years of age; Protestant; brewery director in Hanover; 1st Lieutenant and Leader of the 5th Artillery Munitions Column, X. Army Corps.

As to Case: Towards 10 p.m. on August 24th, 1914, I was marching with my column through the village of Acoz. I allowed my men to dismount here, because in front of me the 3rd Foot Artillery Munitions Column, X. Army Corps, were watering their horses. At the moment when I gave my men the order to mount again, the column was assailed by a vigorous fire from the houses of the village. In my opinion some 30 to 40 shots were fired at once. They were firing from shot-guns, for I could hear from the sound of these shots that they were using small shot. As a number of horses fell headlong, and various men were also wounded, I endeavoured for the moment to get the column again on the march. Meanwhile, with a detachment of about twenty men, who had come to help from the neighbourhood of the wireless station, I had the village searched.

During the search of the village three persons were seized who had been found in the priest's house, two of them indeed hidden in the loft. In examining these persons I found on one of them called Boucher, or some name like this, four discharged cartridges. According to the reports of the soldiers, the priest, who was found amongst the captured men, strenuously denied that any people were with him in the house; he had also by gestures offered the search-party money and drink to keep them back from searching his house. He had also for the moment refused them entrance into his house by pointing to a red cross which he carried on his arm. None of these three persons denied their participation in the attack. Some hours later there was found on the priest an invoice for the receipt of an English revolver. These men were subsequently shot.

It is altogether out of the question that the surprise attack could have been brought about by uniformed troops. The Belgian-French army had already retired a long way, and the village of Acoz had already been for several days in German occupation.

Read over, approved, signed.

Signed:Müller.

The witness was sworn.

2. Lieutenant Schröder.

As to Person: My name is Georg Schröder. I am 34 years old; Protestant; Lieutenant of Reserve, 5th Artillery Munitions Column, X. Army Corps; farmer in Nordermon, Administrative District of Elsfleth.

As to Case: On August 24th I followed with the supplementary platoon of the 5th Artillery Munitions Column about an hour's distance on the road to Serpinnes. The moment I arrived before the village of Acoz my platoon was fired upon from the houses and from the high ground. At Acoz, which meanwhile had been set on fire, I got into contact with the column. I learnt that they had been fired at, and that the village had been set on fire after the perpetrators of the attack were found to be civilians. Three persons were arrested—the parish priest and two others called Bastin and Boucher. Since the leader of the column, 1st Lieutenant Müller, had been wounded through a fall, I did not know whether he had examined these persons, and so examined them myself for our better security. The three prisoners gave only unintelligible replies to my questions. I accordingly examined the soldiers who had taken part in the affair. I ascertained that Bastin and Boucher had been found hidden in the loft, where weapons and discharged cartridges had also been discovered. As regards the priest, it was reported to me that he had offered wine and money to the soldiers as they were forcing their way in, to deter them from searching his house. On the following morning there was found on the priest a receipt with reference to a revolver and 50 cartridges which had been assigned to agarde champêtre, or, through his agency, to someone else. I had ordered a soldier to search all three men, and personally discovered the paper in question in the purse which was taken from the priest.

Read over, approved, signed.

Signed:Georg Schröder.

The witness was sworn.

Concluded.

Signed:Maack, Lieutenant.Signed:Schütte, Non-commissioned Officer.

App. 46.

Military Court Examinationof Captain von Guaita, Uhlan Westphal, and Sergeant Hammermeister, all of Reserve Uhlan Regiment No. 2.

Bazancourt,November 22nd, 1914.

Court of the 2nd Guard Reserve Division.

Present:President of the Court, Dr.Bernhold.Secretary,Guntowsky.

There appeared before the Court the under-mentioned witnesses, who, after the importance and sanctity of the oath had been pointed out to them, made the following statement:

1. Captain von Guaita, Reserve Uhlan Regiment No. 2.

As to Person: My name is Leon. I am 36 years old; Protestant.

As to Case: On August 22nd, 1914, I rode in company with Lieutenant Feierabend, Dragoon Regiment No. 1, at the head of a troop of cavalry consisting of some twenty-five Uhlans. Our orders were to reconnoitre the bridge at Monceau sur Sambre. In the middle of the town of Monceau sur Sambre, while we were both halted in the Rue Neuve, we were suddenly assailed by a hot fire. Shots were fired at us from all the windows of the houses and from cellar gratings. As our men were falling around me I rode forward and reached a side street. One man had been killed, four wounded, and six horses were dead; Lieutenant Feierabend received a shot through the leg. I was unwounded, but my map, which I held in my left hand, was pierced by two pellets. This is a convincing proof of the fact that a sporting-gun was used to fire at me. I am convinced that fire was opened upon us at a prearranged signal.

Read over, approved, signed.

Signed:von Guaita.

The witness was sworn.

2. Sergeant Hammermeister, Reserve Uhlan Regiment No. 2.

As to Person: My name is Hermann. I am 23 years old; Protestant.

As to Case: On August 22nd of this year I was one of the patrol led by 1st Lieutenant von Guaita. Our orders were to reconnoitre the bridge over the Sambre. When we were in the middle of a street in Monceau sur Sambre we were fired at on our front. My impression was that two volleys were fired from the quarter in front of us. This was clearly the signal for the fire now directed upon us from the houses. Shots came from doors, windows, and cellar openings. I saw a civilian standing in a doorway and firing at us with a revolver. I saw no soldiers.

Read over, approved, signed.

Signed:Hammermeister.

The witness was sworn.

3. Uhlan Westphal, Reserve Uhlan Regiment No. 2.

As to Person: My name is Wilhelm Westphal. I am 26 years old; Protestant.

As to Case: When the Reserve Uhlan Regiment No. 2 passed through Monceau sur Sambre I was acting as cyclist in front of it. In the main street I immediately came under fire from a house at the moment when I wanted to ride back in order to report to the regiment that the patrol under 1st Lieutenant von Guaita had been assailed by a hot fire. With some men of the Reserve Infantry Regiment No. 15 I forced a way into the house from which the shots had come, and there saw on the stairs a civilian with a gun in his hand. We at once shot this man.

Read over, approved, signed.

Signed:Wilh. Westphal.

The witness was sworn.

The above is a true account of the proceedings.

Signed: Dr.Bernhold.Signed:Guntowsky.

App. 47.

Military Court Examinationof Captain Caspari, Infantry Regiment No. 75.

Present:President of the Court, LieutenantStürenberg-Jung.Secretary, Acting-Sergeant-MajorBannehr.

There appeared as witness Captain Caspari, who was examined as follows:

When the head of the 3rd Company, Infantry Regiment No. 75, to which I belonged, approached Hougaerde, it was met by a person from the small town in priest's clothing. He greeted me and declared that there were no more Belgian troops in the place, and that the feelings of the inhabitants were quite friendly towards us; further, that we had no reason to fear any surprise attack from them. My request that he should act as our guide through Hougaerde was obviously distasteful to this person; nevertheless, he undertook to lead us.

During our march into the village the street was quite empty, the window-shutters and doors closed, and the window-apertures of a new house on the right were covered with sacking. Just before we reached a bend in the street, some 100 to 200 metres behind the railway crossing, the priest sprang into a doorway. A man at the head of the company, Musketeer Ernst Block, just managed to seize him by his coat-tails and dragged him back. At the bend we saw ourselves confronted by a street barricade at a distance of some 30 to 40 metres, and were at once met by simultaneous volleys of fire from the houses on all sides, and even from the rear. The priest was one of the first who was mortally wounded by shots from the houses. As I subsequently ascertained, the village had been systematically arranged for defence. Houses and walls were furnished with concealed and barely visible loopholes, prepared beforehand by the population for a surprise attack by fire at a fixed spot. That civilians took part in this fighting I can personally guarantee, for I saw such persons escaping through the gardens with weapons in their hands. Moreover, several men were wounded by small shot.

Read over, approved, signed.

Signed:Caspari.

The witness was sworn.

Signed:Stürenberg-Jung.Signed:Bannehr, Lieutenant and President of the Court, Secretary.

App. 48.

Reportof Captain Strauss, Grenadier Regiment No. 12 (3rd Infantry Division).

Condé,September 25th, 1914.

On August 18th, after the retirement of the enemy, I rode through the village of Capellen with my company and heard shots being fired at my riflemen from a house behind me—from the house itself and from the garden. While the garden was being searched, the firing was renewed, and was replied to by my men. A woman, whose dead body was subsequently found in the garden, was a victim of this firing. The firing from the house continued, though from what part I could not determine. We found two men and some nine women and children, all unarmed. There were no soldiers in the house. I had the house set on fire, and, during the conflagration, cartridges exploded four or five times in the burning house.

After the decision of the regiment had been secured next morning the inhabitants in question were set at liberty, because they had not been found with weapons in their hands, nor had any such persons been discovered in searching the house.

The firing from the house and garden undoubtedly occurred.

Signed:Strauss, Captain and Company Leader.

App. 49.

Military Court Examinationof Musketeer Peter Behle, Infantry Regiment No. 16, Non-commissioned Officer Otto Biernirth, Reserve Infantry Regiment No. 213, War Volunteer Willi Kandt, Reserve Infantry Regiment No. 201, War Volunteer Fritz Blum, Reserve Infantry Regiment No. 233, and War Volunteer Franz Breidbach, Reserve Infantry Regiment No. 235.

Lennep,November 17th, 1914.

Königliches Amtsgericht.

Present:AmtsgerichtsratLandsberg, Judge.ReferendarWeltman, Secretary.

At the Red Cross hospital at Lennep the under-mentioned witnesses were met, who, after the importance of the oath had been pointed out to them, were examined as follows:

1. Peter Behle, 20 years of age, Catholic, foreman builder from Lennep, musketeer of the 6th Company, Infantry Regiment No. 16, after taking the oath, made the following statement:

In the middle of August, in a Belgian village called, I think, Tirlemont, a controlled fire was opened upon us in the dark by the civil population. No Belgian troops had been there for a long time. Shots were fired from, amongst other places, a fruit garden. My comrade, Franz Gockel from Wiesdorf, was fatally shot through the back of his head. The order was then given to collect the weapons in the houses, to secure the men, and bring the women and children into the church. In doing this we discovered unfinished revolvers, the wooden handles of which were still lacking. The houses, from which shots had come, were set on fire.

Read over, approved, signed.

Signed:Peter Behle.

2. Otto Biernirth, 34 years of age, Protestant, certificated business instructor of Bremenhaven, non-commissioned officer, Reserve Infantry Regiment No. 213, after taking the oath, made the following statement:

On October 20th we were in front of the village of Staden (Flanders). The whole night through we were fighting exclusively with francs-tireurs, who fired from the houses. In the morning we had to capture the town. However, some 400 to 500 metres from the town, a flanking fire came from a single house on the left, whereby our comrade Fröse was struck by a ricochet bullet. From this house, which was seized, four francs-tireurs emerged.

Read over, approved, signed.

Signed:Otto Biernirth.

3. Willi Kandt, 31 years of age, Evangelical, merchant from Berlin, war volunteer, 2nd Company Reserve Infantry Regiment No. 201, after taking the oath, made the following statement:

On the march to Lessen we came under fire from two farms lying opposite. A reconnoitring company ascertained that the shots came from a barn. This was set on fire, and one could hear the continuous explosion of the cartridges stored up in the barn.

On Tuesday, October 20th, 1914, we caught a civilian, who was shot because he had cartridges in his pocket.

Towards the evening of this day the first four companies of Reserve Infantry Regiment No. 201 were to go forward on outpost duty, followed by the remaining companies. When the last companies had passed through the town of Lessen and the baggage had already arrived on the scene, it was fired upon on all sides from the houses and the church tower. Four of our men were wounded. When our artillery received the order to bombard the church tower, the church was set on fire, and in this way, probably, a non-commissioned officer and eight men who had been sent to search the tower were burnt to death. The enemy troops had already left the place; the only persons still there were civilians.

On the following day we were fired at from a farm, but could find nobody in the house. After the house had been burnt down, we found inside the body of a franc-tireur.

Read over, approved, signed.

Signed:Willi Kandt.

Continued in the Königliches Amtsgericht at Lennep on November 20th, 1914.

4. Fritz Blum, 17 years of age, Evangelical, a compositor from Meiningen, war volunteer, 4th Company, Reserve Infantry Regiment No. 233, after taking the oath, made the following declaration:

On October 18th we occupied quarters at Westroosebeek (between Thielt and Roulers). We there ascertained that both the millers had set the wings of their windmills in a particular direction, and so furnished a signal which betrayed our entry. Both the millers were seized, but in the course of a subsequent fight we lost sight of them.

On October 19th we took Roulers by storm. When we marched in we came under a hot fire from the houses. In searching the houses I found on the roof of a house a civilian who had fired with a shot-gun. He was just trying to escape through the skylight. So, as he paid no attention to my call, I shot him. He wore wooden shoes, and was otherwise dressed altogether as a townsman, and differed in no respects from a civilian. On the stairs we found bullets; they were partly of French origin, partly "dum-dum" leaden bullets, apparently made at home. The gun that was found was an old sporting-gun.

Read over, approved, signed.

Signed:Fritz Bluhm.

5. Franz Breidbach, 19 years of age, Catholic, Abiturient from Luttinghausen, war volunteer, 6th Company, Reserve Infantry Regiment No. 235, after taking the oath, made the following statement:

On October 19th we marched through Roulers, which had previously been captured by Infantry Regiment No. 233. Our company formed the head of the column; the entire town was badly injured by artillery fire, and there was only one street which was fairly intact. From the houses of this street shots were fired at us, coming more especially from the cellar windows. My comrade, Kremst of Coblenz, fell in front of me, and two other comrades were slightly wounded. When we searched the houses we found six to eight francs-tireurs and a number of revolvers. A large quantity of ammunition was indubitably stored in the houses, for when the houses were set on fire a continuous series of explosions occurred.

On October 22nd I arrived at a field hospital in Roulers. There I heard four or five shots strike the hospital; a wounded Jäger, who was lying on a stretcher in front of the hospital, was shot dead by francs-tireurs.

Read over, approved, signed.

Signed:Franz Breidbach.Signed:Landsberg. Signed:Veltman.

App. 50.

Military Court Examinationof Ersatzreservist Gottfried Hilberath, Reserve Infantry Regiment No. 236.

Proceedings at Werne in the hospital, October 31st, 1914.

Königliches Amtsgericht, Langendreer.

Present:MagistrateHidding, as Judge.District Court Assistant,Harries, Secretary.

On the suggestion of the authorities of the hospital at Werne, the above-mentioned Court Commission visited the hospital in order to examine a sick soldier.

There was brought before them Gottfried Hilberath, of 60 Moselstrasse, Cologne, who, after being warned against the giving of a false oath, was examined as follows:

As to Person: My name is Gottfried Hilberath; hotel waiter; born at Neuenahr, August 12th, 1893; Catholic; Ersatzreservist, Reserve Infantry Regiment No. 236, 3rd Battalion, 12th Company.

As to Case: Our regiment marched off on September 13th, 1914. We were conveyed by rail from our manœuvre ground. In the middle of October 1914 our detachment lay in the neighbourhood of the Belgian village of Deynze, near which we had to throw up trenches. During the night we occupied quarters in the town. At dawn we again entered the trenches. On the evening of October 25th we brought the wounded into the field hospital established in a village. At Deynze, with ten to fifteen comrades, we entered a house which was lighted, and found a number of our men already there, sitting in the room and drinking coffee. The housewife made coffee for the party of soldiers, as well as for ourselves, who came in afterwards. The husband was busily occupied with his grocery shop. All the soldiers spent the night in the house. That same evening about eight of our men filled their field flasks with coffee made by the woman. In the evening some bought themselves sugar in the shop for 10 centimes. I did this myself, and put it into my field flask, like the others. The sugar was ready for use in little packets. It struck me that a sticky mass adhered to the paper, which looked like gum-arabic. The sugar was made up in twisted pieces of paper, which were not stuck together and were apparently filled by the shopkeeper.

On the following day, some ten minutes after partaking of the coffee in the trenches, I became unconscious, and must have remained in this condition about five hours. Two cyclists brought me through the village of Deynze to the field hospital at West-Roosebeck. Here I heard that the other comrades too had been poisoned, and also that some of them were already dead. What happened to the grocer and his wife in consequence of this, I do not know.

Read over, approved, signed.

Signed:Gottfried Hilberath.

The examined witness, after once more being warned against the giving of false evidence, thereupon took the oath.

Proceedings concluded.

Signed:Hidding. Signed:Harries.

App. 51.

Court of the Belgian Government-General.

Brussels,December 14th, 1915.

Present:President of the Court,Säger.Military Court Assistant,Dunve, as Secretary.InterpreterFullesof the Military Court of the Province of Brabant, once for all put on oath.

There appeared as witness the merchant, Heinrich Bloch, of 35 Rue du Marché, Brussels, who made the following statements:

As to Person: My name is as given above. I am 68 years old, of the Jewish faith; a citizen of Baden.

As to Case: Up to 6 a.m. on August 20th, 1914, I was in Brussels. In the Brussels newspaper there was published a demand that weapons should be given up. On August 19th, 1914, I sent my man-servant to the Commissariat, Rue Croisate, with a revolver which he was to hand in. After a brief interval he returned and used these exact words, "One must not believe everything one reads in the newspapers" ("Il ne faut pas croire tout qu'on lit dans les journeaux").

The proclamations were officially issued by the Burgomeister. That the Commissaire took us to be Belgians, I have no reason to believe. The Commissaire who had refrained from taking the revolver from my man-servant fell in Belgium, when and where I cannot say.

Read over, approved, signed.

Signed:H. Bloch.

There appeared further as witness, the man-servant Jules Brontine, 38 years of age, Catholic, a Belgian citizen, who made the following statement:

I can only state what Herr Bloch has already made known. He sent me on August 19th to the police station, in order to surrender his revolver. The Commissaire of Police, to whom I handed the weapon, sent me off with the words, "One must not believe everything one reads in the newspapers." Thereupon, I returned home again with the revolver. I said that the weapon belonged to Herr Bloch, who, as a German, was personally known to the Commissaire of Police. I assumed that the demand in the newspapers only referred to guns and swords.

Read over in French, approved, signed.

Signed:J. Brontine.

The witnesses Brontine and Bloch were sworn according to regulations.

Proceedings concluded.

Signed:Säger. Signed:Dunve.

App. 52.

Reportof Lieutenant von Manstein, commanding 1st Squadron, Dragoon Regiment No. 4.

August 27th, 1914.

On August 9th the patrol, while evading two French squadrons in the direction of Behême, was fired upon by inhabitants of this village.

A communication dated August 8th was seized, in which the Chief of the Gardes Forestiers writes to the Burgomeister that Gendarmes and Verderers were instructed to organise the inhabitants for armed resistance. An inhabitant of Chiny informed me on August 10th, in answer to my questions—he took me for a Frenchman or an Englishman—that on the previous day the Garde Civile had been in the village and carefully instructed the inhabitants in the handling of weapons and the defence of the village.

On August 24th the inhabitants of Peissant had placed strong barricades across all the entrances to the village, shut the doors and window-shutters of every house, and furnished them with loopholes. They refused to open me a passage through, because they knew I wanted to avoid a company of English infantry, which was quite close to the village, and had with me only a single dispatch rider. During the night they then divulged to the English artillery the names of the farms occupied by the 1st Squadron, Uhlan Regiment No. 1, and the 1st Squadron, Dragoon Regiment No. 4, and also the houses in which our valuable goods had been stored, so that the next morning the English artillery brought these farms and houses under shell-fire.

Signed:von Manstein, Lieutenant, Uhlan Regiment No. 10,commanding 1st Squadron,Dragoon Regiment No. 4.

App. 53.

Military Court Examinationof Lieutenant of Reserve Bohme, Infantry Regiment No. 165.

Court of the 7th Infantry Division, Cherisy.

Present:President of the Court, Dr.Welt.Secretary,Lorenz, as Recorder of the Court.

November 25th, 1914.

There appeared as witness Lieutenant of Reserve Bohme, Infantry Regiment No. 165, who, after the importance of the oath had been pointed out to him, was examined as follows:

When I was quartered at Retinne, an officer of the Rhine Regiment came to me, and showed to myself and other officers a Bond, which, according to his account, had been found in the Burgomeister's office, in a neighbouring village. The Bond was typewritten, and contained the demand issued by the Belgian Government to the populace, that they should carry on armed resistance for payment. A fixed sum of money was mentioned in the Bond. The Bond was stamped with an official seal. The Bond was seen at the time by my comrades Pusch and Kurt Wagner, as well as by Lieutenant of Research Bloch, Infantry Regiment No. 27, and Lieutenant Brohm, Jäger Battalion No. 4.

Read over, approved, signed.

Signed:Bohme.

Proceedings concluded.

Signed: Dr.Welt. Signed:Lorenz.

App. 54.

Military Court Examinationof Reservist Richard Weise, Fusilier Regiment No. 36.

Blankenburg(Harz),November 13th, 1914.

Herzogliches Amtsgericht.

Present:Oberamtsrichter Dr.Schilling, Judge.GerichtsobersecretärHornig, Secretary.

There appeared as witness the reservist Richard Weise, 6th Company, Fusilier Regiment No. 36, born March 29th, 1890, at Hohenmölsen, District of Weissenfels, at present in the hospital of this place.

There were read over to him the following statements made by 1st Lieutenant Reyner on October 31st, 1914:

"In the early days of August, it may have been the middle of the month, I was on officer-patrol duty near the Belgian frontier, with orders to occupy a bridge. A brief engagement took place, and after an hour and a half the patrol retired. I, with some fusiliers, received some special orders, and for that reason left the patrol.

"During our retirement over a meadow we noticed in a street-trench, near a group of houses, several civilians who remained there. When we approached nearer, we saw lying in the trench a German soldier whose eyes had both been cut out. Thereupon we attacked the civilians, who ran off into the adjacent houses, and from these opened fire upon us. What became of the cruelly treated soldier I cannot say."

The witness thereupon declared: This statement is correct. I adopt it also as my own statement to-day, and make the following addition to it. I did not see the three or four civilians (who, in fear of us, ran away from the wounded German soldier into the adjacent houses) put out the eyes of the soldier. That these men, however, were guilty is clear from the fact that our wounded German comrade implored us, "Take me with you; they have just put out my eyes."

The attention of the witness was then called to the importance of the oath, and he accordingly gave his sworn testimony.

Read over, approved, signed.

Signed:Richard Weise.Signed: Dr.Schilling. Signed:R. Hornig.

App. 55.

Military Court Examinationof the Reservists, Gustav Voigt, Fritz Marks, and Heinrich Hartmann, Infantry Regiment No. 165.

Proceedings at Quedlinburg, in the Reserve Hospital.

Present:President of the Court,Keil.Secretary,Fahlberg.

Schilling,November 11th, 1914.

In the Reserve Hospital at Schilling, to which the above-mentioned Court officials had proceeded, the following examinations took place after the witnesses had been individually warned as to the importance of the oath:

1. Reservist Gustav Voigt.

As to Person: My name is Gustav Voigt. I am 24 years old; Protestant; Reservist of the 6th Company, Infantry Regiment No. 165.

As to Case: On the morning of August 6th found myself with seven comrades separated from my detachment. In order to get cover we had to creep through the gardens of a village lying just beyond Herve in Belgium. We suddenly saw five Belgian soldiers, who held up their arms and offered to surrender. They called to us, and when we reached them we noticed that they had with them two German soldiers of the 10th Hussars in handcuffs. One of them brought to our notice that a third hussar was hanging dead in the tree. We observed that the ears and nose of the corpse had been cut off. The two hussars told us also that the five Belgians, who were there, had hung and mutilated their comrade. The Belgians were just on the point of slaughtering or mutilating these two also, had we not arrived on the scene. We disarmed the Belgians, took them prisoners, and handed them over to a party of five Uhlans, who were already taking several Belgian prisoners away with them. We, too, then joined the Uhlans in order to regain our company, and, while passing through the village, were fired at from the cellars and windows. The name of the village I do not know, but it lies between Herve and a large coalpit shaft in the direction of Liège. I myself was wounded in the street-fighting at Liège. On the day before this occurrence our company had an outpost fight to the right of Herve, in the course of which an Einjähriger of the 5th Company, Infantry Regiment No. 165, was wounded and left behind. When we passed this spot again on the following morning we found the body of the Einjähriger lying under a garden fence; both his eyes had been gouged out. We were all convinced that this had been done by villagers.

On about August 7th, as we were advancing towards Liège, we saw a German infantry-man; I believe he belonged to Infantry Regiment No. 27. He showed no marks of any shot wound, but was dead, and all his private parts had been cut away.

Read over, approved, signed.

Signed:Gustav Voigt.

2. Reservist Fritz Marks.

As to Person: My name is Fritz Marks. I am 23 years old; Protestant; by calling a factory worker; Reservist of the 2nd Company, Infantry Regiment No. 165.

As to Case: On August 5th our battalion marched through a village near Herve in Belgium. A man of the 5th Company came to meet us with the words, "What brutality! Now they have gouged out the eyes of one of our Einjähriger." He pointed to the place where the Einjähriger lay. We all had to go to the place, and saw the Einjähriger lying dead by a garden fence, with his eyes put out. We were convinced that this was the work of the villagers. Next day, when we again passed through the village, we were fired at from cellar gratings and windows, so that orders were received to disarm the villagers and make them prisoners. We forced our way into the houses and carried out the order. As, in spite of this, the firing did not cease, six guilty Belgian peasants were shot by order of an officer.

Read over, approved, signed.

Signed:Fritz Marks.

3. Reservist Heinrich Hartmann.

As to Person: My name is Heinrich Hartmann. I am 24 years old; Protestant; Reservist in the 2nd Company, Infantry Regiment No. 165.

As to Case: I saw lying on the ground the Einjähriger of the 5th Company, with his eyes gouged out. Our company leader, Hauptmann Burkholz, ordered us to search the houses in the place. Inside the house, by the garden fence of which the Einjähriger was found, we came across a big strong man of middle age, who was lying on his bed and pretending to be asleep. We brought him before the officer, who cross-examined him. The man was then shot by a musketeer of the 4th Company.

On the advance towards Liège we came across a German infantry-man who had been thrust into a swampy pool with his head and half his body under water; the man was dead.

Read over, approved, signed.

Signed:Heinrich Hartmann.

The witnesses were thereupon sworn.

Proceedings end.

Signed:Keil. Signed:Fahlberg.

App. 56.

Military Court Examinationof Musketeer Paul Blankenburg, Infantry Regiment No. 165.

Blankenburg(Hartz),November 14th, 1914.

Herzogliches Amtsgericht.

Present:Oberamtsgerichter Dr.Schilling, Judge.GerichtsobersecretärHornig, Secretary.

There appears as witness Musketeer Paul Blankenburg, 7th Company, Infantry Regiment No. 165, at the present time in the Reserve Hospital of this place. The witness, after the importance of the oath had been pointed out to him, was examined as follows:

As to Person: My name is Paul Blankenburg. I was born in Magdeburg, September 4th, 1893; Protestant.

As to Case: The following statement, which he had made on October 31st of this year before 1st Lieutenant Reyner in this place, was read over to the witness:

"We were on the march in close column, and in the course of it passed through a Belgian village, lying west of Herve. In the village German wounded were lying, and indeed I recognised some Jäger troops from Jäger Battalion No. 4. The column in marching through suddenly came under fire from the houses, and the order was therefore given to remove all the civilians from the houses, and to get them together into one place. While this was going on I noticed that some girls of eight or ten years of age, armed with sharp instruments, were busying themselves with the German wounded. I subsequently ascertained that, from the most severely wounded, the lobes and the upper parts of their ears had been cut off. On continuing our march, an ambulance soldier, belonging, as far as I remember, to the 27th Regiment, was shot dead from a house by Belgian civilians while he was occupied in a school-yard in rendering assistance to a wounded man."

The witness therefore declared: "The statement just read over to me corresponds to the truth. I again emphasise the fact that I myself saw girls of some eight or ten years of age busying themselves with severely wounded men in the Belgian village. The girls had steel instruments in their hands—but they were not knives or scissors—and with these instruments, which were sharp on one side, they busied themselves among the wounded. We took the instruments from them. The wounded had fresh wounds on their ears, from which the lobes and upper portions had evidently been just cut off. One of the wounded told me in reply to a question that he had been mutilated by the girls in the way here described."

Read over, approved, signed.

Signed:Paul Blankenburg.

The witness was thereupon sworn.

Signed: Dr.Schilling. Signed:Hornig.

App. 57.

StatementandMilitary Court Examinationof Dragoon Funke, 2nd Hanoverian Dragoon Regiment No. 16.

Caisnes,November 7th, 1914.

Dragoon Funke states: At Herve men of the Magdeburg Field Artillery Regiment, which was marching through the place, drew my attention to the fact that a dead hussar was lying near a straw stack. I went towards the body and saw that the ears and nose of the hussar had been cut off, and also that the whole of his face had been mangled.

Signed:Heinichen, Lieutenant.

Caisnes,November 7th, 1914.

Present:Deputy-President of the Court, Dr.Stahl(Gerichtsassessor).Secretary,Fredersdorf.

There appeared as witness Corporal Funke. The witness Funke made the same statement as that previously made by Lieutenant Heinichen. After this had been read over he declared, "This is so correct that I have nothing to add to it."

Read over, approved, signed.

Signed:Funke.

The witness Funke was thereupon sworn. Proceedings took place as above.

Signed:Stahl. Signed:Fredersdorf.

App. 58.

Military Court Examinationof Reservist Ernst Baldeweg, Infantry Regiment No. 35.

Magdeburg,November 1st, 1914.

Gericht der immobilen Etappen-Kommandantur No. 1.

Present:Military Assistant-Judge Dr.Pauls, Judge.Gladrow, Secretary.

At the request of the Deputy-General in Command of the IV. Army Corps, the Reservist Ernst Baldeweg, dairy assistant in Berlin, 37 Rathenower Street, 11th Company, Infantry Regiment 35, 28 years of age, Reformed Church of Germany, after the sanctity of the oath had been pointed out to him, was examined as follows:

About the 8th of August 1914, in a village close to Verriers, I saw with my own eyes that in one stable one horse, and in another stable four horses, had had their tongues cut off. In the first case I noticed that the tongue had not been completely severed, but hung from the mouth on the jaws by a small fragment of flesh. I am of opinion that Belgian civilians had mutilated the animals in order to prevent their being taken on farther by the Germans.

Either on Sunday, August 9th, 1914, or on Monday, August 10th, 1914, I saw at a village quite close to Herve in Belgium a German hussar bound to a tree by his hands and feet. Two large, long nails had been driven through his eyes and his head, so that he was fixed to the tree by the two nails. The hussar had ceased to live. In the same village there was lying by a wooden fence in front of a farm an infantry-man of the 52nd Infantry Regiment. His eyes had been put out, his ears, nose, and fingers cut off, and his stomach slashed about so that the intestines were visible. The breast of the dead soldier had also been so badly stabbed that it was completely mangled. For both these cases of gross cruelty the Belgian civilians alone can be held responsible.

I again assert that I have reported only what I personally observed, and have refrained from any exaggeration.

Read over, approved, and signed.

Signed:Ernst Baldeweg.

The witness was sworn.

Signed: Dr.Pauls. Signed:Glasdrow.

App. 59.

Military Court Examinationof Musketeer Lagershausen, Ersatz Regiment No. 230.

Hanover,November 21st, 1914.

President of the Court,Lindenburg.Secretary, Non-commissioned Officer of ReserveKoepf.

There appears as witness Musketeer Lagershausen, 1st Ersatz Company, Reserve Regiment No. 230, who, after the importance of the oath has been pointed out to him, made the following declaration:

As to Person: My name is Hugo Lagershausen. I am 19 years of age; Protestant.

As to Case: I was attached to the 8th Company, Infantry Regiment No. 73, which had pushed forward from Spa towards Liège. We,i.e.a corporal of Regiment No. 74, several musketeers of Regiments Nos. 82 and 83, and I myself, forthwith got the order to act as a reconnoitring patrol on the right. This was on the night of August 5th-6th. As the darkness had set in, and we had to proceed very quietly, I suddenly found myself separated from all the rest of the patrol. Towards midday on August 6th I reached a dressing-station which had been arranged in some farm buildings near the village of Chênée. I found in the house some fifteen severely wounded German soldiers, four or five of whom had been shockingly mutilated. Both eyes had been put out, and some of the victims had several finger joints cut off. Their wounds were still comparatively fresh, though the blood was already somewhat coagulated. These soldiers were still alive and groaning. It was impossible for me to give them any help. There was no doctor in the place, as I had already ascertained by questioning other wounded men lying in the house. At the same time I came across in the house six or seven Belgian civilians; four of these were women, who gave the wounded water. The men remained quite inactive. I saw no weapons in their possession; further, whether their hands were bloodstained I cannot say, because they kept them concealed in their pockets. As regards the point whether it was these persons who had perpetrated these cruelties on the wounded soldiers, I can make no definite pronouncement. I could take no action against these persons, because I was absolutely alone.

Read over, approved, signed.

Signed: MusketeerLagershausen.

The witness was sworn in accordance with regulations.

Signed:Lindenberg. Signed:Koepf.

App. 60.

Military Court Examinationof the soldier Koch, Infantry Regiment No. 25.

Staden,November 27th, 1914.

Divisional Headquarters.

Present:President of the Court,Jäger.Secretary,Brehmer.

There appeared as witness the soldier Koch, 4th Company, Infantry Regiment No. 25. After he had been made aware of the object of the inquiry, and the importance of the oath had been pointed out to him, he was examined as follows:

As to Person: My Christian name is Mathias. I am 32 years of age; Catholic; smelter by trade; living in Eschweiter-Röhe.

As to Case: Up to August 16th of this year I belonged to the 1st Company of the Ersatz Battalion, Infantry Regiment No. 25. We were assigned as escort to guard the motor ambulances. The motor ambulances had been provided by the Voluntary Aid Society, and ran between Liège and Aix-la-Chapelle. One day in the period from 10th-16th August I was ordered to accompany one of these motors. We drove towards the battlefield in the vicinity of the town of Visé. In front of us the men of the Voluntary Aid Society deployed, and we followed slowly after them. From some rising ground I could easily survey the land lying in front of me. At a distance of about 500 metres I saw near a wounded German soldier two women sitting in a crouching position. I at first assumed that the women were praying beside the soldier. Hard by, three or four men were standing. One of these suddenly fired at me. I replied to the shot, whereupon the men and both the women ran away. I then went up to the wounded soldier, who was bleeding from a wound in the chest. His trousers were open in front and partly drawn back. On nearer inspection I ascertained that the sexual organ of the soldier had been completely severed and placed in his mouth. The soldier showed no longer any signs of life, but his body was still warm. The sight appeared to me so terrible that tears came into my eyes. I removed what had been put in the mouth, and buried it in the ground. I left the soldier lying there, as he was unquestionably dead.

On the same day I also found the body of a German, whose ring finger had been cut off. When I told this to the men of the Voluntary Aid Society, they gave me to understand that this was no news to them, as they had often seen the same thing before.

Read over, approved, signed.

Signed:Mathias Koch.

The witness was sworn.

Proceedings end.

Signed:Jäger. Signed:Brehmer.

App. 61.

Reportof Medical Corps Company 2, VI. Army Corps.

Beine,October 15th, 1914.

On August 23rd I went to the French field hospital through Rossignol, where the company had established its chief dressing-station. On the way a musketeer reported to me that a dead German was lying in a house. I at once inspected the corpse and ascertained that, in addition to a wound, which was not mortal, the head of the soldier had been burnt. A few metres away stood a half-filled bottle of petroleum, and another half-filled with benzin. One could clearly see from this that the inhabitants had dragged the wounded soldier into the house, saturated his head with petroleum and benzin, and then set it alight.

On the night of 24th-25th of August I drove in an automobile from Rossignol to Florenville, where a number of inhabitants were standing by a house engaged in a lively conversation. When, about 100 metres farther on from this point, I stopped my automobile in order to ascertain the direction from a signpost, I was suddenly exposed to a vigorous fire from these people behind me, so that it was only by driving off very quickly that I was able to save my life.

Signed:Sternberg, Captain and Commander of Medical Corps Company 2,VI. Army Corps.

App. 62.

Statementof Senior Staff-Surgeon Dr. Kiefmann, Medical Corps, VIII. Army Corps.

Proceedings at Field Hospital No. 3, VIII. Army Corps.

St. Morel,October 15th, 1914.

There appears as witness Dr. Beyer, who states that Lieutenant Erich Koch, 8th Company, Infantry Regiment No. 160, who had received a severe wound in the perinæum, with laceration of the rectum, informed him after receiving his wound he had been stripped naked by the civilians, robbed, and thrown into a cesspool.

Lieutenant Koch was in fact naked, and only wrapped in a blanket when brought into the hospital.

Read over, approved, signed.

Signed: Dr.Beyer, Staff-Surgeon.

There appears as witness Acting-Sergeant-Major (Medical Service) Joseph Steffen, who states in reference to the case in hand:

I can only confirm the statement of Staff-Surgeon Beyer. Lieutenant Koch gave me the same information, and added the fact that the women also had taken part in this outrage. Koch was wounded near Porcheresse.

Read over, approved, signed.

Signed:Steffen, Acting-Sergeant-Major, Medical Service.

Proceedings took place as above.

Signed: Dr.Kiefmann, Senior Surgeon and Chief Staff-Surgeon.

App. 63.

Military Court Examinationof Landwehr soldier Alwin Chaton, Reserve Infantry Regiment No. 78.

Braunschweid,October 31st, 1914.(The Hospital "Konzerthaus.")

Gericht der stellvertretenden XL. Brigade.

Present:President of the Court, Dr.Behme.Secretary,de Boer.

There appeared to-day as witness the Landwehr soldier Alwin Chaton, 5th Company, Reserve Infantry Regiment No. 78, who made the following statement:

My name is Alwin Chaton. I am 32 years old; Protestant; book-keeper at Emmerstadt, near Helmstadt.

During the street-fighting in Charleroi, in the course of the fight we passed the main street and reached a side-street leading from the main street. When I had come to the street corner and fired down the side-street, I saw some 50 to 60 paces in front of me a German dragoon lying in the street. Three civilians were near him, one of whom was bending over the soldier, who was still kicking with his legs. I fired among them and hit the last of the three civilians; the others ran away. On coming nearer I saw that the civilian I had shot had a long bloodstained knife in his hand. The right eye of the German dragoon had been cut out, and the left one as well, though this was still hanging from the side of his head. From the nature of the wounds there could be no doubt that the eyes had been cut out, not in the fighting, but by sheer malice. A great deal of smoke came from the body of the dragoon. He had no doubt been soaked in inflammable liquid and set alight.

Later on I saw other bodies burning, though there was no sort of fire in the vicinity; these also must have been set alight.

Read over, approved, signed.

Signed:Alwin Chaton.

The witness was thereupon sworn.

Signed:Behme. Signed:de Boer.

App. 64.

Military Court Examinationof Acting-Sergeant-Major Weinreich, Infantry Regiment No. 20.

Court of the 6th Infantry Division.

Present:Deputy-President of the Court,Schmetzer.Secretary,Hänse.

Ursel,November 10th, 1914.

There appears as witness Acting-Sergeant-Major Weinreich, Machine-gun Company, Infantry Regiment No. 20, who, after the importance of the oath had been pointed out to him, made the following statement:

As to Person: My name is Adolf Weinreich. I am 32 years of age; Protestant.

As to Case: One day in the middle of August this year, I proceeded with the Company Transport, behind the company, which was taking part in the fight. At the entrance of Neer-Linter I saw a German hussar lying in the house covered with a sack. I dismounted from my horse, lifted the sack, and noticed that the hussar was dead. His face was covered all over with blood, the eye cavities were bored out, the eyeballs themselves had been completely cut away and had disappeared. The coat was torn open, the breast exposed, and showed marks of some twenty stabs. I covered the corpse again with the sack.

Read over, approved, signed.

Signed:Adolf Weinreich.

The witness was hereupon sworn.

Signed:Schmetzer. Signed:Hänse.

App. 65.

Herzogliches Amtsgericht.

Present:Oberamtsrichter Dr.Schilling, Judge.Hornig, Secretary.

Blankenburg(Hartz),November 14th, 1914.

There appeared as witness Fusilier Paul Rohr, 8th Company, Fusilier Regiment No. 36, at present in the Reserve Hospital at this place; he was examined as follows:

As to Person: My name is Paul Rohr; born on August 28th, 1892, at Galbitz, near Cönnern; Protestant.

As to Case: The following deposition, which he had made before Lieutenant Reyner on October 31st, 1914, was read over to witness:

"Whilst taking some straw for camp purposes from a barn near Brussels we found two otherwise unwounded German Uhlans hidden under the straw. Both had their eyes poked out. The case, as I know, has already been reported to my battalion commander, Kirchner."

He thereupon declared: I affirm this deposition to-day, and add the following detail: The occurrence took place in a village near Brussels at about the end of August this year. The two German Uhlans I found lying dead under the straw in the barn were absolutely unwounded, with the exception of their torn-out eyes, and there exists no doubt in my mind that the wounds inflicted, when their eyes were destroyed, were the sole cause of their death.

Read over, approved, signed.

Signed:Paul Rohr.

After the witness had been admonished as to the importance of the oath, he was duly sworn.

Signed: Dr.Schilling. Signed:Hornig.

App. 66.

Military Examinationof Captain Troeger, Reserve Infantry Regiment No. 204.

Ministry of War.

Military place of examination concerning violations of the Laws of War.

Present:Kriegsgerichtzrat, Dr.Linde, Judge.Pfitzner, Secretary.

Berlin,November 24th, 1914.

There appeared as witness Captain Troeger, Reserve Infantry Regiment No. 204, who stated:

As to Person: My name is Hans Troeger; 45 years old; Protestant.

As to Case: On the march from Ghent to Thourout, two volunteers of Reserve Infantry Regiment No. 203, who had collapsed from exhaustion, were mutilated by Belgian villagers, their ears and noses were cut off, their stomachs slit open, and one of them had his skull fractured by the heel of a boot. This fact was made known to us amongst others by the commanding officer of the company, Captain zur Nieden, to whose company the two volunteers belonged.

The following is another case, which took place at Cessen-Kappel:

Non-commissioned Officer Schnitzer, 5th Company, Reserve Regiment No. 204, reported to me on October 26th or 27th that he had found a mutilated Prussian dragoon at Cessen-Kappel whose ears and nose had been cut off, and his stomach slit open by villagers. The said non-commissioned officer thereupon searched the farms in question with a detachment of his men, and found a few armed inhabitants, who were shot at once.

On our march through Belgium from Ghent onwards we were constantly fired on by the inhabitants from houses and church towers.

Read over, approved, signed.

Signed:Troeger.

The witness was sworn.

Proceedings concluded.

Signed: Dr.Linde. Signed:Pfitzner.

APPENDIX A.—AERSCHOT

App. A.

War Office.

Military Court of Inquiry into the Violation of the Laws of War.

Belgian Civilian Uprising in Aerschot on August 19th and 20th, 1914.

Comprehensive Report.

The officially summoned Belgian Commission of Inquiry, together with the foreign Press, have included the case of Aerschot in their innumerable calumnies against the German method of waging war in Belgium. Neither could find enough to say in their descriptions of the "barbarous" attitude adopted by the German troops and their officers towards the "harmless" inhabitants, nor against the utter lack of ground for the Court of Punishment held in the "peaceful" town. The true facts of the matter, which have been established by a number of carefully sworn testimonies given by unprejudiced witnesses, reveal quite a different picture.

On August 19, 1914, German troops of the 8th Infantry Brigade were housed in Aerschot. The town quietly watched the Brigade Staff enter on the same day. Colonel Stenger, in command of the brigade, sent his adjutant, Captain Schwarz, in advance, in order to procure billets for the members of the staff. Captain Schwarz was received in a friendly manner by the Mayor and his wife. The Mayor suggested that his own house, situated in the market-place, would provide the best accommodation. The Colonel and his orderly officer, Lieutenant Beyersdorff (App. 1), went there in the afternoon between four and five. The relations between the officer staying in those quarters and his host were from the very first amiable and polite (App. 1).

Colonel Jenrich, officer commanding Infantry Regiment No. 140, attached to the Brigade, was made Governor of the town, and summoned the Mayor in order to ask him whether any dispersed Belgian soldiers were hidden in the place, or disguised as civilians in the houses. The Mayor replied to both questions in the negative. Colonel Jenrich warned him expressly against attacks by the civil population, for which the Mayor, on penalty of death, would be held responsible. Further, he desired him to see that the inhabitants delivered up all weapons. This demand Colonel Jenrich had to repeat twice, as it turned out that great quantities of weapons were kept back by the population (App. 2).

At 8 o'clock in the evening a particularly loud report was heard in the town, which proved to be the signal for a general firing on the German troops gathered together in the streets and the market-place. The fire—evidently at the given signal—opened from the roof windows of a corner house near the market-place, situated opposite that of the Mayor (App. 3). Three volleys were fired from this house, then the shooting ceased for a short time, after which brisk and rapid firing began again from many of the houses. The shots came chiefly from the roof window. All the doors and windows of the house from which the first shot had been fired were firmly locked, and had to be broken open by the soldiers. The house was set on fire. Several civilians, who attempted to flee, were seized, many with weapons in their hands (App. 5). Eighty-eight men amongst them were shot as francs-tireurs (App. 3).

Colonel Stenger had remained alone in his room in the Mayor's house. By a notice on the door the house was easily recognisable as being the quarters of the Brigade Staff. Colonel Stenger, trusting to the assumed friendliness of the inhabitants, had spent the afternoon on the balcony adjoining his room, where he was clearly visible to all. Towards the evening he retired to his brightly lit room, leaving the balcony doors wide open (App. 1). When Captain Schwarz and Lieutenant Beyersdorff went to call on him in the evening about 8 o'clock, in order to receive instructions with reference to the uprising, they found Colonel Stenger lying mortally wounded in the middle of the lighted room, with the balcony doors still wide open. The doctor, who was immediately summoned, could only testify to the death that had already overtaken him (App. 1). The shots fired at the Colonel occurred then at the same time as those of the first lively volleys fired from the house opposite his room. It was the case of a systematic attack upon the German troops, who, robbed of their leader, were to fall into disorder and confusion. Hence the cessation of the firing after the first volleys, when the criminals saw they had succeeded in murdering the Colonel, and its immediate hostile renewal against the apparently leaderless troops. The sequence of events is so obvious that it is only confirmed by the previous pretence of friendliness on the part of the inhabitants, and not weakened by this fact, as the Belgian representation of events would have it.

Back to Index Next