Signed:Wilke, Captain and Company Leader,6th Company, Infantry RegimentNo. 178.
Quarters of Infantry Regiment No. 178,March 3rd, 1915.
Present:President of the Court,Schweinitz.Secretary,Lips.
At the inquiry concerning the events in Dinant, the witness named below appeared and stated:
As to Person: My name is Manfred Horst Wilke. I am 30 years old; Protestant; Captain and Company Leader, Infantry Regiment No. 178.
As to Case: On the reading of his report:
This report is in full conformity with the truth. In addition to those statements which, as may be recognised from the report, are based on the statements of others, I mention that I pointed out to the individuals whom I questioned to tell me the whole truth, so that their statements could also be maintained on oath.
Read over, approved, signed.
Signed:Wilke.
The witness was thereupon sworn.
Signed:Schweinitz. Signed:Lips.
C. App. 27.
Sender: 7th Company, Infantry Regiment No. 178.
Date:February 15th, 1915.Time:11 a.m.
To the 2nd Battalion.
On August 23rd, 1914, towards 9.45 a.m., the 7th Company—placed at the disposal of the 3rd Battalion, which was fighting in Leffe—marched into this place. While I rode on to report the arrival of my company to the Commander of the 3rd Battalion, 178th Regiment, the company halted on the lower road leading to the Meuse, under cover from the opposite heights of the Meuse, which were occupied by the enemy.
During this brief halt the company was assailed by a murderous rifle-fire which came from a house with closed windows and bolted door. One man (Private Uhlemann) was badly wounded in the right instep, another (Private Neumann) was slightly wounded by three shots in the arm and hand; all the wounds came from small shot; the firing could only have been done by civilians.
The company then occupied the heights south of Leffe on the east bank of the Meuse. From here could be plainly seen how, from the windows of various houses, and stealing about round the houses and in the gardens and yards, civilians quickly popped up and fired on the German soldiers. The company had lain on the heights by the Meuse about 4 hours, and had made these observations chiefly during the first 1½ hours (10.30 to 12 midday). The last facts I can bear witness to myself.
Signed:John, Captain and Chief Company.
1st Battalion, Infantry Regiment No. 178.
February 19th, 1915.
Deposition.
Captain John, questioned, made the following statements, additional to his preceding report:
Before the 7th Company was placed at the disposal of the 3rd Battalion in Leffe on the morning of August 23rd, the company received the order from the Battalion Commander, Major Koch, to send out, from the halting-place of the battalion, about 500 metres east of Leffe, a detachment to La Papeterie, in order to clear this group of houses of armed civilians who had fired on marching troops and mounted officers (Captain Wilke), and to shoot the guilty civilians. For this purpose the detachment of Lieutenant of Reserve Wendt (who fell later) was detailed to me. When the detachment rejoined the company later on the heights south of Leffe, Lieutenant of Reserve Wendt reported to me that, in accordance with the order received, he had had some men shot whom he had caught in the act; they were armed with Browning pistols.
I was wounded myself on August 23rd towards 2.30 by a French rifle bullet which came from the west bank of the Meuse.
I did not observe any shooting or ill-treatment of women and children.
Read over, approved, signed.
Signed:Johannes John.Signed:Kaiser, Lieutenant and Legal Officer.
Deposition.
Present:LieutenantThomas, as Officer of the Court.Acting-Sergeant-MajorLange, as Clerk of the Court.
There appeared as witness Captain John, who, being advised of his previous statement, deposed:
As to Person: My name is Wilhelm Johannes John. I am 36 years old; Protestant; Captain and Company Chief, 7th Company, Infantry Regiment No. 178.
As to Case: I maintain my statements.
The witness was thereupon sworn.
Read over, approved, signed.
Signed:Johannes John.Signed:Thomas. Signed:Lange.
C. App. 28.
7th Company, Infantry Regiment No. 178.
February 15th, 1915.
Report.
1. On the events in Dinant I am able, as leader at that time of the first platoon of the 5th Company, Infantry Regiment No. 178, to make from personal observation the following statements:
The 5th Company, in conjunction with the 2nd Battalion, had halted in the morning hours of August 23rd in a valley before Leffe. During this halt I heard shots from sporting-rifles and revolvers (pistols) on the wooded heights which stretch on both sides towards Leffe, without being able to discern any of our assailants. No one in the company was hit. This firing, intermingled with infantry fire, was audible during the whole course of the day. Towards 8 o'clock the company marched into Leffe, where, in consequence of the incessant firing, a frightful tumult prevailed. Only a few civilians were to be seen in the streets. These all showed signs of their peaceable intention by holding up their hands. Almost all the windows of the houses were closed with blinds, shutters, etc.; and the majority of these, as well as the doors, walls, and roofs, were marked with apertures like loopholes.
Shortly after our entry Major Frenzel brought to the Company Chief the order of the Brigade Commander to shoot all the men found with arms. He pointed out a long row of houses which were to be searched for men, and added in explanation that the inhabitants had shot at our firing-line from the rear. Captain Gause gave me the order to take over the searching of the houses with my detachment. I did this with one party. We found the houses all shut up. Since our summons to open was regularly ignored, we were everywhere obliged to gain entry by force. Three men were shot; their wives and children I had taken to the convent, which had previously been pointed out to me as intended for that purpose. I also noticed during the course of the day that women and children were taken there by our men quietly, some by persuasion. In searching the houses it was seen that the apertures, everywhere visible from the outside, were doubtless intended for firearms. According to my observations, no women or children were fired upon anywhere by us. That some incidentally came to grief in the mêlée was not to be avoided. I saw one woman who had received a glancing bullet in the foot. According to the statement of the men, she had been wounded in a house which had been fired into because it would not open voluntarily.
2. Further observations have been made by men of the 5th Company and by the 7th Company, at that time led by myself, which seem to be absolutely authentic. The men in question, previous to their interrogation, had all been warned of the probability of having to swear to their statement.
Thus, eight men of the 5th Company were witnesses to the fact that six civilians, among them one of very youthful age, had fired on the company. These were all shot. Reservist Kluge, with some other comrades, in searching a house, found on the floor a German soldier who had been shot, and close by him a civilian busy with his rifle and ammunition, whom they shot. The observations of the non-commissioned officers and men of the 7th Company are of a similar character to those made by me. Here Privates Uhlmann and Neumann were wounded by small shot fired from the houses. Acting-Sergeant-Major Schaefer and several men noticed that civilians (men) had fired on German soldiers. German cartridges were also found here on the civilians.
Signed:Kipping, Lieutenant and Company Leader.
Deposition.
Present:LieutenantThomas, Officer of the Court.Acting-Sergeant-MajorLange, Clerk of the Court.
There appeared as witness Lieutenant Kipping, who, after the reading of his report of February 15th, 1915, stated:
As to Person: My name is Martin Friedrich Franz Kipping. I am 29 years old; Protestant; Lieutenant of Reserve.
As to Case: I maintain my statements.
Witness was thereupon sworn.
Read over, approved, signed.
Signed:Martin Kipping.Signed:Thomas. Signed:Lange.
C. App. 29.
8th Company, Infantry Regiment No. 178.
February 14th, 1915.
Report.
With reference to the fighting round Dinant on August 21st and 23rd, Non-commissioned Officer Macher, 8th Company, Infantry Regiment No. 178, states:
Towards 7 a.m. on the 23rd August 1914 the order came for the attack on Leffe, a suburb of Dinant. The 6th and 7th Companies, Infantry Regiment No. 178, occupied a height in front of the place. The 3rd Battalion of the regiment had already advanced; the 5th and 8th Companies followed in the valley in the second line.
When we came near the place we heard in front a muffled sound of firing.
The 3rd Detachment of the 8th Company of the regiment was sent in advance to take cartridges to the 3rd Battalion. The battalion, lying on the height, was engaged with the enemy's infantry on the opposite bank of the Meuse. To get there we were obliged to pass through Dinant. At the entry to the town there already lay dead civilians, and some soldiers warned us against passing through the place in close order as there was firing from the houses. After this, we went through the street on the right and left along by the houses, rifle in hand, ready to fire. The houses were shut up, the cellar windows barricaded and provided with loopholes. On the march back to the Company I saw that the 5th Company of the regiment and the Marburg Jägers were searching the houses; there were also lying in the street some dead civilians and a wounded German. Some men and a number of women were handed over to the platoon by a strange officer to be taken to the mill. Several civilians had already been assembled there; some dead also lay there.
After we had again reached the company we heard, coming from a farm on the right, firing which was apparently meant for us. Riflemen of the Guards fetched the people out of the farm; they were only civilians, about six men and a number of women and children.
When the company had been advanced to the open space near the convent, firing came from a house standing opposite. From this quarter also men were brought out. In the searching of the house, under the leadership of Sergeant Schuster of the 8th Company, a cellar which was occupied by civilians was not opened. Sergeant Schuster therefore fired through the door, and thereby wounded in the chest a woman who was in the cellar. As Private Jentsch also deposes, after the opening of the cellar, he immediately provided for the transport of the wounded woman to the hospital in the convent by men of the Medical Corps. According to the statement of Private Jentsch, the woman died and lay for two days on a bier in the convent.
Finally the company arranged the frontage of the houses along the Meuse for defence, and other companies undertook to clear the inhabitants out of the houses. The women and children were principally taken to the convent. Towards 10 p.m., when the baggage entered the place, the firing from the houses began again. We were given the alarm. The buildings behind us on the slopes afforded a special difficulty on account of the numerous exits. We here came in contact with a company of Infantry Regiment No. 177. The leader of the company ordered the houses to be set alight because there was still firing from other windows. He himself smashed a lamp and fired the first house. We then marched off and returned to the company. The nocturnal firing, in my opinion, was done by civilians, for our troops had already occupied the opposite bank. In one house a dead soldier was lying on the floor, as was reported to me by men of the company.
In one street the company was fired on from the rear; many of the men said at once that the assailant was a woman; this, however, could not be established with certainty. Among the men seized I saw one of youthful age; all the rest were older; grey-haired men were also among them.
Signed:Lucius, 1st Lieutenant and Company Leader.
Deposition.
Present:LieutenantThomas, as Officer of the Court.Acting-Sergeant-MajorLange, as Clerk of the Court.
There appeared as witness Non-commissioned Officer Macher, who, having been advised of the statement read, deposed as follows:
As to Person: My name is Paul Otto Macher. I am 23 years old; Protestant; non-commissioned officer, Infantry Regiment No. 178.
As to Case: I maintain my statement.
Signed:Macher, Non-commissioned Officer.Signed:Thomas. Signed:Lange.
C. App. 30.
Having been apprised of the significance of the oath, and advised as to the object of the examination, Major Fränzel made the following statement:
As to Person: My name is Georg Friedrich Artur Fränzel. I am 45 years old; Protestant; Major and Battalion Commander, Infantry Regiment No. 178.
As to Case: On August 23rd the 2nd Battalion, as 1st, received the order to place itself in possession of Leffe. The whole of the Regimental Staff rode with the leading company. At the beginning of the valley, which stretches away to Leffe, there stood a factory; the battalion was fired at from here and from the heights behind. The factory was at once stormed; only a few civilians were found in it, but no French or Belgian soldiers; any escape of the people who had fired from the factory was impossible as we had surrounded the place. The guilty civilians, provided they were men, were shot by order of the Commander of the regiment, Colonel von Reyter, while some women arrested in the factory were handed over later to the abbot of the monastery.
On a further advance the battalion, in order to get into the gardens on this side of the Meuse which were under the fire of the enemy's infantry, was obliged to open forcibly several locked-up houses. The inhabitants seemed to have only been waiting for this, as we were now fired on from the houses all round, especially from the cellars, apparently with revolvers and pistols, for we found these later in clearing the houses, some still loaded. One of the first who was wounded by a shot from a cellar was Captain Franz, who stood quite close to me. In all, my battalion had at that time in the place itself—not by the Meuse—six killed; the number of wounded I am not able to state. The battalion was forced by the treacherous attack to proceed against the population; all the houses, from which there had been firing, were cleared by our troops. How many of the inhabitants were shot on this day, I am unable to state definitely; at any rate, all the women and children were led off to the monastery in Leffe and given over to the abbot. I have further to remark that again late in the afternoon, as our artillery was entering Leffe, the artillery-men were fired on by inhabitants of the market-place, although several francs-tireurs who had been shot were lying there. The battalion was unable to finish the clearing of the place alone, and was obliged to ask for support from the regiment, which was granted in the shape of the 6th and 7th Companies. In searching the houses, not one enemy soldier was found. Consequently, the shots could only have been discharged at us by civilians.
Read over, approved, signed.
Signed:Fränzel.
The witness was sworn.
Signed:Starke, Magistrate.
C. App. 31.
Court of the (Deputy) 64th Infantry Brigade.
Present:Military Magistrate Dr.Uhlig.Non-commissioned Officer of ReserveGörner, as Military Clerk of the Court.
There appeared as witness Acting-Sergeant-Major Stiebing, 3rd Reserve Company, Infantry Regiment No. 178, who, having been made acquainted with the object of the inquiry, and advised as to the significance of the oath, declared:
As to Person: My name is Friedrich Franz Paul Stiebing. I am 34 years old; Protestant; Acting-Sergeant-Major, Infantry Regiment No. 178.
As to Case: On August 23rd, 1914, Infantry Regiment No. 177 and my regiment took part in the fighting on the heights on the right bank of the Meuse. The 2nd Battalion, Infantry Regiment No. 178, remained in reserve behind the left wing, just at the entry into Leffe. The battalion had halted for a rest, and arms were piled. The men lay and sat in the ditches of the road; otherwise the order of march was kept, the 8th Company leading just at the entrance into Leffe. The 6th Company, to which I belonged, followed. It was about 9 o'clock in the morning when the battalion was suddenly overwhelmed by a heavy fire. The shots came from the thickets which covered the hills quite close to Leffe. The district is such that Leffe stretches along the road in a side-valley of the Meuse and at right angles to the latter. No uniforms were to be seen on the heights; the firing came first from one thicket and then from another. In the meantime a Captain of the battalion had advanced into the village to reconnoitre, and came galloping back shouting that he had been fired on in the place by francs-tireurs. Thereupon two detachments of the leading company sallied out from the village to the left and right, in order to capture the sharpshooters on the hills. They succeeded after a considerable time in capturing a number of civilians (peasants), part of them in their shirt-sleeves. These had fired on us with sporting-rifles and were caught with the weapons in their hands. The range, from which they shot at us, amounted to about 100 metres. They fired down from the heights into the hollow in which we lay.
In the meantime the last detachment of the foremost company had pushed forward into the village itself. The men proceeded in quite detached formation. They were at once received by francs-tireurs firing from the various visible houses on both sides of the street. The detachment was obliged first to clear each individual house of francs-tireurs before they could again advance a little. The street door had to be smashed in and each separate room had to be captured from the francs-tireurs. About 10 a.m. two platoons of our company, one of them the 2nd Platoon under Lieutenant Schreyer, to which I belonged, came to the help of our comrades. We were obliged to fight for each individual house, to kill the male population in them who, as far as I saw, carried rifles and fired, and to shut up the women and children in order in this way to advance gradually. Only some quite old men were found without arms. They were not killed, but locked up with the women. In the afternoon, towards 3 o'clock, the house-fighting still fluctuated, and we had not yet penetrated as far as the village square when I received the order to go back with about half a platoon and occupy the heights of the Meuse from which francs-tireurs were still firing. In executing this order, I passed a wood-sawing factory before which lay about thirty francs-tireurs who had been shot. This house had been stormed by men of my 1st Platoon. They told me in the evening that each separate room in the house had been occupied by civilians engaged in firing. The francs-tireurs had been shot according to the usages of war.
Up on the heights I did not succeed in catching a franc-tireur. Up there they were by this time very much scattered. Right under the heights lay the village. I could look straight down from above into the village street. The street-fighting was still in progress, but became less since the village in the meantime had begun to burn. On the opposite heights I saw German Jägers—I believe Marburgers—subduing armed civilians. These francs-tireurs had previously also fired on my platoon. When I returned, towards 7 o'clock in the evening, from the heights, the whole place, as far as the village square which lies on the Meuse, was in the hands of the Germans. About the whole village, also on the village square, there lay corpses of francs-tireurs. I took part in the storming of eight or ten houses. They all afforded the same picture: shots from the windows, street doors barred so that they had to be forced open, all male persons, without any military badge or uniform, armed with sporting-guns. As soon as we got into the room they dropped their weapons and held up their hands. During the street-fighting and on the heights where the civilians were firing I did not see any uniform. The civilians did not give me the impression of being soldiers in civilian clothes. They were mostly older people, 40 years old and upwards, or young fellows of 17 to 18 years; persons of 20 to 30 years I practically did not see at all.
Read over, approved, signed.
Signed:Stiebing, Acting-Sergeant-Major.
The witness was sworn.
Signed: Dr.Uhlig. Signed:Görner.
C. App. 32.
Present:LieutenantFrancke, Officer of the Court.Acting-Sergeant-MajorLange, Military Clerk of the Court.
Acting-Sergeant-Major (Deputy Officer) Bauer states:
My name is Kurt Bauer. I am 24 years old; Protestant; now Acting-Sergeant-Major of Reserve, attached to 6th Company, Infantry Regiment No. 178; in civil life Cand. Arch.
As my company leader had been fired at from a factory in Leffe my platoon received the order to clear the factory and the houses standing in the rear. I advanced with my detachment and plainly saw that we were heavily fired on from roof windows and skylights in the roofs of the factory and the houses, as well as from bushes on the heights, by civilians armed with pistols. We stormed the houses and set them on fire. I was also witness to the fact that we were even fired on from the monastery, although the Geneva flag was hoisted above it.
Read over, approved, signed.
Signed:Kurt Bauer.
The witness was sworn.
Signed:Francke. Signed:Lange.
C. App. 33.
Extractfrom the Report of Operations, Infantry Regiment No. 103.
Extractfrom the Report of Operations, Infantry Regiment No. 103.
August 23rd, 1914.
At 4.30 in the afternoon the regiment received the order from the 32nd Infantry Brigade to move off to Leffe. The regiment halted in the ravine east of Leffe behind the pontoon column of the division. As the firing from the slopes of the ravine down into the valley was continuous, the 9th Company received the order to clear the southern slopes. One man of the regiment was severely wounded by a shot fired from a house by an inhabitant; the house was set on fire; the men, who were inside with weapons in their hands were shot; in other ways, too, the place was cleared of francs-tireurs.
C. App. 34.
Present:Lieutenant of ReserveKleberger, as Officer of the Court.SergeantRichter, as Military Clerk of the Court.
Orainville,March 17th, 1915.
Summoned as witness, there appeared Major Langheld, who, after being advised as to the significance of the oath, made the following statement:
As to Person: My name is Karl Anton Emil Langheld. I am 43 years old; Protestant; Major, Infantry Regiment No. 143.
As to Case: On the afternoon of August 23rd I marched with my battalion at the head of the regiment from Lisogue to Leffe. The march from the beginning of the Leffe Valley was somewhat interrupted. During the advance the report came from the rear that a man of the 1st Company had been shot at from a house. By command of Captain Wuttig the house was set on fire by soldiers of the 1st Company, and the men who were seized in it, with weapons in their hands, were shot. During the whole of the afternoon one heard continual firing among the houses in Leffe and on the heights encircling the right and left of the Leffe Valley. A company of the Jäger Battalion, No. 11, was engaged in clearing the slopes on which there were armed inhabitants. The 9th Company of my regiment received a similar commission on the southern slope. I myself marched on with the 10th and 11th Companies to the bank of the Meuse in order to cross over there. Here I saw several times that guilty male inhabitants were shot.
On the night of the 24th, from time to time, fugitives turned up at our outposts—principally women and children—amongst them a number of nuns led by a priest. I sheltered them in a farm near which the 11th Company was in bivouac. Our men gave some of their provisions to the people, although they had only a little themselves. I pacified the fugitives myself, and as I was obliged that same night to march farther, I handed over to the priest a note to say that these people had incurred no blame. I was unable to take further trouble about them. However, I asked the Catholic Divisional Chaplain Kaiser, whom I met next morning, to see that the people got away safely.
Read over, approved.
Witness was sworn according to regulations.
Signed:Kleberger, Lieutenant of Reserve and Officer of the Court.Signed:Richter, Sergeant, as Clerk to the Military Court.
C. App. 35.
Present:Lieutenant of ReserveKleberger, as Officer of the Court.SergeantRichter, as Clerk of the Military Court.
Orainville,March 17th, 1915.
Summoned as witness, there appeared Lieutenant Richter, who, being advised as to the significance of the oath, made the following statement:
As to Person: My name is Martin Richter. I am 31 years old; Protestant; Lieutenant of 1st Company, Infantry Regiment No. 103.
As to Case: On the advance of the 1st Battalion of 4th Infantry Regiment No. 103 on the 23rd August 1914 to the crossing-place over the Meuse at Leffe, there came a single shot from a farm. A soldier of the 1st Company of the regiment was wounded.
By order of Captain Wuttig the farm was searched. About fourteen male civilians were arrested who had with them weapons and ammunition for sporting-rifles, pistols, etc.
A thirteen to fifteen year-old lad was released on account of his age; the other thirteen persons were shot.
Read over, approved.
Witness was sworn as usual.
Signed:Kleberger, Lieutenant of Reserve and Officer of the Court.Signed:Richter, Sergeant, as Clerk of the Military Court.
C. App. 36.
Present:Lieutenant of ReserveKleberger, as Officer of the Court.SergeantRichter, as Clerk of the Military Court.
Orainville,March 17th, 1915.
On summons there appeared as witness Lieutenant of Reserve Martin, who, being instructed as to the significance of the oath, made the following statement:
As to Person: My name is Kurt Martin. I am 24 years old; Protestant; Lieutenant of Reserve, 2nd Company, Infantry Regiment No. 103.
As to Case: I have seen how a German soldier was wounded by small shot, and know that he died of the effect of the injury in the castle before Leffe. The doctor who treated him was Dr. Schneider, now in Infantry Regiment No. 102.
The inhabitants of Leffe arrested in a house near the factory were well treated. After their provisions were exhausted, they were provided for from the field kitchen of the 5th Company, Infantry Regiment No. 103. They were later on released by a general order. At one time I was detailed as guard of the hospital which was located in the Château de Chession, near Leffe. The proprietress, a Madame Chiehe, and her people we also provided with food; she expressed her warm appreciation of the kind treatment.
Read over, approved.
The witness was duly sworn.
Signed:Kleberger, Lieutenant of Reserve and Officer of the Court.Signed:Richter, Sergeant, as Clerk of the Military Court.
C. App. 37.
Reportof the 8th Company, Infantry Regiment No. 178. on the fighting round Dinant on August 21st and 23rd, 1914.
Reportof the 8th Company, Infantry Regiment No. 178. on the fighting round Dinant on August 21st and 23rd, 1914.
February 14th, 1915.
Private Jentsch states in general the same as the witness, Non-commissioned Officer Macher,[2]except that he actually only saw a great pool of blood on a floor; the dead German soldier, of whom he had heard, had already been concealed. He does not now know to which company he belonged. On the same day, according to his statement, a further batch of four civilians were shot because they had attacked a sentry of Infantry Regiment No. 182. These people were fetched out of an underground passage. The order was given by Lieutenant Tränker.
[2]See App. 29.
[2]See App. 29.
In the military school about 400 men in civilian clothes were guarded. These were well looked after, and were also later on allowed to receive their relations. On the fourth day we were relieved by Reserve Infantry Regiment No. 106.
Signed:Lucius, 1st Lieutenant and Company Leader.
Deposition.
Present:LieutenantThomas, as Officer of the Court.Acting-Sergeant-MajorLange, as Clerk of the Military Court.
There appeared as witness Private Jentsch, who, after the reading over of the preceding report, made the following statement:
As to Person: My name is Karl Albin Richard Jentsch. I am 22 years old; Protestant; private, 8th Company, Infantry Regiment No. 178.
As to Case: I maintain the correctness of my statements.
The witness was thereupon sworn.
Read over, approved, signed.
Signed:Jentsch.Signed:Thomas. Signed:Lange.
C. App. 38.
Present:Military Magistrate,Hunersdorf.Military Court Secretary,Müller, Clerk of the Military Court.
Corbeny,December 12th, 1914.
In the investigation concerning the violations of International Law committed against German troops, there appeared as witness Captain Nitze, who, after reference to the significance of the oath, was examined as follows:
As to Person: My name is Otto Hermann Oswald Nitze. I am 34 years old; Protestant; Company Leader, Machine-Gun Company, Infantry Regiment No. 177.
As to Case: On August 23rd, 1914, as we were marching into Leffe, I found myself several hundred metres in front of the company, and was all at once fired at from the surrounding houses.
I first rode back to the company and confirmed the order already given to bring the houses under fire. I then rode to the Detachment Leader, Lieutenant-Colonel von Zeschau, reported the attack, and received the order to have the houses searched and, in case any male persons were found in them with arms, to set the houses on fire.
In the search there were discovered by Lieutenant-Colonel Reichel in my presence two persons of forty years of age who had hidden themselves in a room and were armed with a Belgian pistol and a rifle of an ancient pattern.
As I heard, a third man had also been found in the house. The first two men were immediately shot. While Lieutenant-Colonel Reichel went on farther to search other houses I saw how at least eight rifles were discharging on the search-parties a brisk fire from the first floors of at least two houses. The marksmen stood behind windows barricaded with mattresses. I saw the flash of the shots and heard the bullets whistle; as far as I could judge from the reports, they were using partly bullets, partly small shot. Only the horse of Assistant Doctor Sippel was wounded.
Read over, approved, signed.
Signed:Nitze.
The witness was sworn.
Signed:Hunersdorf. Signed:Müller.
C. App. 39.
Extractfrom the Report of the 3rd Field Pioneer Company.
Extractfrom the Report of the 3rd Field Pioneer Company.
August 23rd, 1914.
The patrols were heavily fired on from the houses and from the other bank.
The company advanced with the pontoon waggons on the steep, narrow road into Dinant behind Rifle (Fusilier) Regiment No. 108 and Infantry Regiment No. 182.
There was firing from the houses, although one could see little of the enemy. The company took part in searching the houses for civilians; some were arrested with arms in their hands and subsequently shot. The infantry had considerable losses here.
The order came to evacuate the town as it was to be first bombarded by our artillery.
The company, with Grenadier Regiment No. 101, reached the Meuse at Les Rivages. The village appeared to be quite peaceful; nevertheless, a number of inhabitants were arrested by the Grenadiers for security. The rifle-fire of the enemy on the left bank was only very weak. The houses over there burst into flames, one after another, as a result of our artillery fire. The crossing began at once with a half-column corps, Pontoon train, Train Battalion No. 12, which had been assigned to the company; the building of the bridge was at once begun, and at first proceeded rapidly.
Suddenly we received heavy rifle-fire from the houses on the right bank. The firing was briskly answered by the Grenadiers who were waiting in dense masses to cross. The houses were set on fire. On the afternoon of August 24th the bridge was finished. In the meantime, it frequently happened that firing came from the heights, and even from the cellar of a burnt-out house. In such cases, civilians caught with arms in their hands were shot.
C. App. 40.
Present:President of the Court,Schweinitz.Secretary,Lips.
Invincourt,March 1st, 1915.
In the matter for inquiry concerning the events in Dinant there appeared as witness Major von Zeschau, who stated:
As to Person: My name is Arnd Maximilian Ernst von Zeschau. I am 41 years old; Protestant; Major and Battalion Commander, Grenadier Regiment No. 101.
As to Case: On August 23rd, 1914, towards 6 o'clock in the afternoon, I, with my 11th Company, reached the Meuse at Les Rivages, and was at once taken across. I had the order to gain the heights on the other bank, to the right of the 2nd Company, which had already been put across. Opposite Les Rivages were connected rows of houses. We first went downstream as far as the church, and then turned off to the right. I passed with a detachment through a very narrow lane; the shop windows and house doors were closed. Suddenly four to five shots came from behind me. My men at once broke open the house from which the shots were fired. The house was empty; at the back was a small yard with a washhouse. In the yard lay a discharged sporting-gun.
Going farther, we came to a railway embankment through which ran a culvert. Before it lay a dead civilian with a weapon like a carbine. On the other side of the embankment was Lieutenant von Oer, who shouted to me that he had been fired at from the culvert. In the culvert I noticed some people; a few paces in front of the culvert crouched some of my men with rifles at the ready, and, on my question, reported that there had been firing from the culvert. I shouted into the culvert, "Sortez, on ne vous fera rien." As the people did not come out, I caused about five to six men to fire some shots, ten to twelve in all, into the culvert. As there arose a great outcry in the culvert, I left a non-commissioned officer behind to clear it. This officer reported to me next morning that he had fetched out about thirty-five to forty civilians, men, half-grown lads, women, and children, and with them a number of weapons—he told me there were about eight to ten carbine-shaped weapons. The captured civilians were handed over at the bridge-head. About 200 metres behind the railway embankment I came into fighting contact with the French infantry.
Read over, approved, signed.
Signed:von Zeschau.
The witness was thereupon sworn.
Signed:Schweinitz. Signed:Lips.
C. App. 41.
Present:President of the Court,Oertel.Secretary, Acting-Sergeant-MajorSommerburg.
Proviseux,March 2nd, 1915.
There appeared as witness for examination Non-commissioned Officer Faber, who, after reference to the significance and sanctity of the oath, was examined as follows:
As to Person: My name is Kurt Friedrich Faber, non-commissioned officer, 10th Company, Grenadier Regiment No. 101. I am 22 years old; Protestant.
As to Case: According to my war-diary, I crossed the Meuse at Dinant on Sunday, August 23rd, 1914, at 6.5 p.m. in company with Major von Zeschau and about three detachments of Grenadiers. We were bound for the ridge of hills lying opposite, as these were said to be occupied by the enemy. On my way thither I noticed in a side-street that a woman discharged shots at us from a revolver from a half-opened door. I thereupon fired at the woman, who quickly banged the door to. I do not know whether I hit her.
Read over, approved, signed.
Signed:Kurt Friedrich Faber.
The witness was thereupon sworn.
Signed:Oertel, Lieutenant and Officer of the Court.Signed:Sommerburg, Acting-Sergeant-Major and Clerk of the Court.
C. App. 42.
Present:President of the Court, Lieutenant of LandwehrOertel.Secretary, Acting-Sergeant-MajorSommerburg.
Proviseux,March 2nd, 1915.
There appeared as witness for examination Grenadier Schlosser, who, after reference to the significance and sanctity of the oath, was examined as follows:
As to Person: My name is Franz Otto Schlosser, Grenadier, 10th Company, Grenadier Regiment No. 101; 22 years old; Protestant.
As to Case: On the afternoon of August 23rd, 1914, I crossed the Meuse at Dinant in a boat with Captain Graisewsky, Lieutenant von der Decken, and men of the 10th Company, Grenadier Regiment No. 101. When we were about the middle of the river, there began a heavy fire on us from various directions. On the other bank we occupied, by order of the Captain, a trench, and there received a heavy fire from the houses which were on the right and left of us. I saw with my own eyes that several women stood at the window of a house and discharged shots at us. We then received the order from the Captain to fetch the occupants from the houses, and brought about twenty persons out, I believe, only women and children. These were brought down as prisoners to the Meuse. We then set fire to the houses.
Read over, approved, signed.
Signed:Franz Otto Schlosser.
The witness was thereupon sworn.
Signed:Oertel, Lieutenant and Officer of the Court.Signed:Sommerburg, Acting-Sergeant-Majorand Clerk of the Military Court.
C. App. 43.
Extractfrom the Report of Grenadier Regiment No. 101, 22nd to the 30th August 1914.
Extractfrom the Report of Grenadier Regiment No. 101, 22nd to the 30th August 1914.
August 23rd, 1914.
The Mayor of Les Rivages appears and protests that none of the inhabitants are in possession of weapons, and that no attack would take place on the troops.
After the Divisional Bridge (Pontoon) Train had arrived, the Pioneers begin the construction of a bridge over the Meuse, but a heavy enemy fire, partly from infantry, partly from the inhabitants on the opposite bank, perforates the pontoons and makes any further construction impossible.
At first the 11th Company is put across the Meuse and proceeds on a broad front through Leffe, where they are fired on from the houses and from the railway embankment. Several civilians, who fired on the company from places of concealment, are shot; the houses are set on fire.
Following the 2nd Company the remaining companies of the 1st Battalion have also reached Les Rivages. Whilst the battalion is standing by the Meuse to cross over, it is attacked from the houses by the inhabitants of the place. From all the windows, from the hedges of the gardens, from the slopes of the hills, bullets and shot from the rifles of the inhabitants rattle down on the companies.
The battalion at once received the order to take up the fight against the fanatical inhabitants of the place. With fixed bayonets, the Grenadiers rush through the narrow streets; with pickaxes and axes the closed doors and windows are burst open. In groups the Grenadiers force their way into the houses in order to seize the occupants who are still firing on us. Not only men and youths take part in the fighting, but also old men, women, and children.
The francs-tireurs have well chosen their hiding-places. Already twilight is falling, but still the fire of the enemy does not abate.
Our object is to reach the other bank of the Meuse, but, on the other hand, the troops and columns which follow us must be able to pass through the place without being attacked anew. Thus there only remains one remedy, to set the place on fire, and soon it is a sea of flames.
C. App. 44.
Reporton the Street-fighting in Les Rivages (Dinant) on August 23rd, 1914.
Reporton the Street-fighting in Les Rivages (Dinant) on August 23rd, 1914.
The companies of the 1st Battalion of Grenadier Regiment No. 101 had reached Les Rivages in the afternoon of August 23rd, 1914, but had to be retired for about 600 to 800 metres on the road from Pont de Pierre on account of our own artillery having opened a heavy fire on this locality. The Mayor of the place, who was fetched up by me, protested that there were no weapons at hand, and that the inhabitants entertained no plot against our troops. He was commissioned to have ready, within a fixed time, bread and butter for the companies at the outlet of the place, where later the bridge was thrown over the Meuse. The companies did not get there to enjoy these, since, in the meantime, the 2nd Company had crossed over and the remaining companies were involved in the street-fighting.
When the companies, after the cessation of our artillery fire, had again been led out to Les Rivages and had been divided into commandos to receive the victuals asked for, the inhabitants began a murderous fire on the companies from all the houses and gardens and also from the hill-slopes. Inside and outside the houses, men of all ages were firing, also innumerable women and even girls of ten years of age. Here a woman was severely wounded in the breast by the inhabitants, and was bandaged by us.
The battalion received the order to take up the fight against the inhabitants of the place, who were firing as if demented; for this purpose the 3rd and 4th Companies pushed forward to the street-and house-fighting, whilst portions of the 1st Company remained on the river-bank. A part of the inhabitants who were acting in a particularly mean fashion and were firing madly with all kinds of firearms, without let or hindrance, upon our troops, were shot down to the number of about twenty; amongst these were some women who, with special cunning, fired again and again into the companies from the rear. This shooting was done to defend ourselves and to scare the inhabitants from any further atrocities. About 100 to 150 men and women, also children, were seized and taken over the Meuse to the opposite bank by the first rope-ferries, partly to prevent further outrages, partly to remove them, as far as they appeared innocent, from the terrible fighting.
The fighting of the 3rd and 4th Companies in the streets lasted until far into the darkness, until finally the burning of the whole place put a stop to the general activity of the population.
The order to take up the street-fighting by direction of the regiment came through me and was detailed by me to the 3rd and 4th Companies. I, for my part, can only protest that the inhabitants of the place—men of every age women and girls—fired madly on us at a given signal, and that the remedy taken only constituted an act of self-defence. The situation in which the troops found themselves, especially at the spot where the bridge was later thrown across, deserves, in every true sense, the name of a witches' cauldron, for a worse situation, brought about by a raging force of men and women, cannot be imagined. Despite all the dreadful impressions of such fighting, I have since always admired the calmness our men maintained in the presence of such brutes, far removed from any thought of cruelty, even though they themselves were exposed to the worst.
Signed:Schlick, Major and Commander, 1st Battalion,Grenadier Regiment No. 101.
C. App. 45.
Present:President of the Court,Schweinitz.Secretary,Lips.
Neufchâtel,March 2nd, 1915.
In the inquiry concerning the events in Dinant there appeared as witness Major von Zeschau, who stated:
As to Person: My name is Karl Adolf Heinrich von Zeschau. I am 46 years old; Protestant; Major and Adjutant, General Command, XII. Army Corps.
As to Case: On the 23rd of August 1914 I arrived at the Meuse in Les Rivages at 6 p.m. All the houses were closed; none of the inhabitants were to be seen. The Grenadiers stood in column of route on the by-road which enters Les Rivages, the head of the column at the valley road. I inquired whether the houses had been searched. Thereupon a patrol was dispatched to search the houses, and an acting-sergeant-major reported to me that the houses were empty. I stayed there about a quarter of an hour and watched the effect of our artillery on the houses on the left bank of the Meuse. At this time there came along by the valley road from Dinant a number of inhabitants—men, women, and children—who were held up by the Grenadiers.
As the bridge was half finished and some pontoons with Grenadiers were at the opposite bank, my task was finished and I returned to the Commanding General. When I again returned to the bridge-head at Les Rivages there lay there a heap of corpses. I learned that shortly after my departure there had been firing from the seemingly empty houses. In the night several hundred inhabitants who had come from Dinant arrived at the crossing-place. These were well treated; many women and children were also provided with provisions by the soldiers.
Read over, approved, signed.
Signed:von Zeschau.
The witness was thereupon sworn.
Signed:Schweinitz. Signed:Lips.
C. App. 46.
Present:President of the Court,Schweinitz.Secretary,Lips.
Neufchâtel,February 19th, 1915.
In the matter for inquiry concerning the events in Dinant there appeared as witness Captain Reserve Ermisch, who stated:
As to Person: My name is Karl Traugott Hubert Ludwig Ermisch. I am 37 years old; Protestant; engineer (with diploma), director of mines, now Captain of Reserve, 1st Field Pioneer Company.
As to Case: On August 23rd, 1914, I was with the 3rd Company of the Pioneer Battalion No. 12, and present when the pontoons of the Corps Bridging Train, at first brought down to Dinant, were obliged to turn back. We then made a detour into the valley road which leads to Les Rivages; from there I was sent out to reconnoitre the place for the bridge. In Les Rivages all was peaceful. Neither French nor German soldiers were to be seen. When I had been there about one hour, my company arrived with the bridging waggons and other German soldiers. These rounded up the civilian population standing near as hostages. In the meantime, I commenced with the construction of the bridge. Somewhere about 4 or 5 o'clock we suddenly received a tolerably heavy fire, which was directed straight towards us at the bridge-head. We were forced to conceal ourselves under the cover of the bridge. I noticed plainly that the firing came from the slopes to the right and left of the flanking valley, and particularly from a red house not far from the Bayard Rock, which stands near the north of Les Rivages. In consequence, the hostages were shot by direction of a senior Grenadier officer.
Read over, approved, signed.
Signed:Ermisch.
The witness was thereupon sworn.
Signed:Schweinitz. Signed:Lips.
C. App. 47.
Present:President of the Court,Schweinitz.Secretary,Lips.
Neufchâtel,March 2nd, 1915.
In the inquiry concerning the events in Dinant there appeared as witness, 1st Lieutenant of Reserve Freiherr von Rochow, who stated:
As to Person: My name is Heinrich Bernhard Wichart Freiherr von Rochow. I am 30 years old; Protestant; 1st Lieutenant of Reserve Uhlan Regiment No. 17, now Commander of the Cavalry Staff Escort of the General Command, XII. Army Corps.
As to Case: On August 23rd, 1914, I reached Les Rivages at nightfall, and saw at the crossing-place a great heap of corpses. In the course of the evening, when the crossing was in progress and things had become quieter, we saw that some wounded were among them. These were brought away. I myself saw a girl of about eight years with an injured face, and an older woman with a shot in the upper part of the thigh taken to the women prisoners and handed over to the doctor. I remained until the bridge was finished the next day. Up till then shots were being fired again and again, obviously by the inhabitants. The houses were searched by field-police. The people who were in them were examined, and in the course of this I also acted as interpreter. Two men, from whose house there had been firing, and in whose pockets ammunition was found, were shot. A woman was not shot, although a loaded revolver was found on her, because her guilt was not fully established.
The guilt of every single person was dispassionately considered by the officers present.
Read over, approved, signed.
Signed: Freiherrvon Rochow.
The witness was thereupon sworn.
Signed:Schweinitz. Signed:Lips.
C. App. 48.
Present:President of the Court,Schweinitz.Secretary,Lips.
Neufchâtel,March 2nd, 1915.
In the inquiry concerning the events in Dinant there appeared as witness Major Steinhoff, who stated:
As to Person: My name is Fritz Eugen Steinhoff. I am 48 years old; Protestant; Major and Commander of Pioneers, XII. Army Corps.
As to Case: On August 23rd, 1914, about 5 o'clock in the afternoon, I came to the crossing-place at Les Rivages, where there was no one except an officer's patrol of the Pioneers. I went as far as the bank, and then on about 100 metres towards Anseremme. Various soldiers pointed out to me that there was firing from the bridge, and from the houses near the bridge. Wounded soldiers lay in the street. I was also fired at, and other soldiers warned me against proceeding farther.
I went back to the crossing-place, and there met Colonel Meister, to whom I reported my observations. He had the district cleared by a detachment, which brought in a large number of men and women. Of these, the men were placed by a wall at the crossing-place, the women and children somewhat farther downstream. The crossing and building of the bridge was now in progress. When the bridge had been pushed out about 40 metres, a heavy rifle-fire was delivered from the houses of Les Rivages and from the rocks above on the waiting Grenadiers and the Pioneers at work. I myself heard the whistle, on a rough estimate, of 100 bullets. A great confusion ensued. Everybody sought cover, and work was interrupted. Even the Grenadiers, who stood there in a mass, were in great agitation. I went again through a garden-plot to the Meuse in order to look after the Pioneers. At this moment the fire of the enemy flared up, and simultaneously I heard a couple of rapid volleys in the immediate vicinity.
I thereupon went back and saw at the spot, where previously the captured men had stood, a heap of corpses. From that moment onwards the francs-tireurs' firing ceased completely, and the bridging work proceeded undisturbed.
Read over, approved, signed.
Signed:Steinhoff.
The witness was thereupon sworn.
Signed:Schweinitz. Signed:Lips.
C. App. 49.
Present:President of the Court,Schweinitz.Secretary,Lips.
Neufchâtel,February 18th, 1915.
In the inquiry concerning the events in Dinant there appeared as witness the Divisional Chaplain, Dr. Kaiser, who stated:
As to Person: My name is Dr. Paul Kaiser. I am 52 years old; Roman Catholic Divisional Chaplain of the 32nd Infantry Division.
As to Case: I lay in Leffe from the evening of the 23rd until the morning of the 25th August. On the afternoon of the 24th August, a Captain of my acquaintance invited me to eat a plate of soup with him. This took place in a courtyard where, besides ourselves, were the Captain's servant, who was cooking the soup there, and two or three units who were pottering about round a freight-automobile. All at once some shots were heard and missiles flew quite close over us. Everyone was naturally excited. In the direction from which the shots presumably came, stood a fairly new brick-built house, distant about 100 metres. Between the first floor and the attic was a white ledge in which one could see several holes, and from which arose smoke, evidently from a shot which had just been discharged. As I learned, the house was then searched. Shortly afterwards, a whole procession of civilians, men and women, were led off by us; these persons, as I was told, had all been arrested in the house. They were then handed over to the Cadet School, which was used as a prison.
Read over, approved, signed.
Signed: Dr.Kaiser.
The witness was thereupon sworn.
Signed:Schweinitz. Signed:Lips.
C. App. 51.
Present:President of the Court,Schweinitz.Secretary,Lips.
Neufchâtel,February 18th, 1915.
In the matter for inquiry concerning the events in Dinant, there appeared as witness Staff-Surgeon Dr. Petrenz who, after the importance of the oath had been pointed out to him, was examined as follows:
My name is Max Georg Hand Petrenz. I am 36 years old; Roman Catholic; by profession Dr. med., Staff-Surgeon with the Commander of the Train, XIIth Army Corps.
Questioned on the subject of his examination, he stated the following:
On August 21st and 22nd, 1914, I was in Taviet; on August 23rd the mounted echelon of the General Command started off and reached the Meuse at Les Rivages towards 10 o'clock in the evening. As I learned, the village of Sorinnes had been cleared on August 22nd of all the men and suspicious characters by our troops. When I came to Sorinnes early on the 23rd August I saw a burning house surrounded by our troops. I learned that passing hussars had been fired on from the house, that the house had been searched for the marksmen without result, and that in order to smoke them out of their hiding-places the house had been set on fire. I related this when I had ridden back again to Taviet, to my billet-landlady, a woman of the middle class. She gave it as her opinion that they were certainly, some of them, once more from Dinant. She related further, that suspicious characters had been sent out from Dinant to the surrounding districts; if these did anything to the German troops, the blame was put upon the inhabitants. I gathered from her words that the resistance to the German troops was directly organised in Dinant.
Our mounted escort set out from Taviet at three in the afternoon, made a halt for some time to the south of the Sorinnes-Dinant road, and carried out the descent to the Meuse in the ravine which leads to Les Rivages. We reached this point when it was already dark. In the night there came here a large number of women and children who really wanted to go still farther south. As this was attended with great danger, because everything on the way was burning, we detained them there and sheltered them in a large empty house, just opposite the pontoon bridge, where they were safe from the danger of fire. Besides myself, a number of Grenadier officers of the (Guards) Grenadier Regiment No. 100 also looked after the sheltering of the women and children. The next morning, at my request, all the women and children were provided with warm coffee by Captain von Criegern.
On the bank of the Meuse, between the river and a garden wall, there lay close to the left of the pontoon bridge a heap of civilians who had been shot; how many I do not know—I estimate the number at from thirty to forty. I do not know who had shot them. I have heard that the Grenadier Regiment No. 101 had carried out an execution there. Among those who had been shot were also some women; by far the majority were young lads. Under the pile I discovered a girl of about five years old, alive and quite uninjured. I took her out and brought her to the house where the women were. She accepted some chocolate, was quite pleased and evidently quite unconscious of the gravity of the situation. I thereupon examined the pile of corpses to see if any more children were among them. I only found further a girl of about ten years with a wound in the leg. I had her bandaged and lodged her with the women also. The next morning she was almost without pain. It turned out that the mother of the girl was among the women who had come from Dinant. The mother and daughter were very grateful to me.
The pile of corpses was so situated that it could not be seen from the house in which the women and children were lodged. When I was getting ready at 9 o'clock the next morning for marching off, Pioneers were about to dig a common grave for the bodies behind the garden wall, before which they lay. It was in an orchard. I convinced myself personally and by daylight that only the dead lay there. Any mistake of burying alive is precluded.
Further, I will cite the following:
In the course of the night I was requested by a Grenadier officer to take a wounded civilian from a house in danger of fire into a safe place. The man had a bullet wound in the upper thigh; he belonged to the better class. He told the Grenadier officers that he had been shot by Belgian francs-tireurs because he would not grant them a hiding-place in his house. He had been bandaged by our people, and was now carried into the house to the women.
The next morning, after crossing the Meuse, we rode along the left bank in order to gain the road to Onhaye. The bank lying opposite, as well as the houses of Dinant, seemed deserted. Only in the doorway of some hotel stood a civilian who aimed a rifle at us and fired, without making a hit. When we replied with revolver shots he disappeared.
Read over, approved, signed.
Signed: Dr.Petrenz.
The witness was thereupon sworn.
Signed:Schweinitz. Signed:Lips.
C. App. 52.
Present:Lieutenant of ReserveKleberger, as Officer of the Court.SergeantRichter, as Clerk of the Military Court.