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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..74337d3 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #50716 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/50716) diff --git a/old/50716-0.txt b/old/50716-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index bcfd2f2..0000000 --- a/old/50716-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,4736 +0,0 @@ -Project Gutenberg's The German Terror in Belgium, by Arnold J. Toynbee - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: The German Terror in Belgium - An Historical Record - -Author: Arnold J. Toynbee - -Release Date: December 18, 2015 [EBook #50716] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GERMAN TERROR IN BELGIUM *** - - - - -Produced by Brian Coe, Craig Kirkwood, and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This -file was produced from images generously made available -by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) - - - - - - -Transcriber’s Notes: - -Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_). - -Additional Transcriber’s Notes are at the end. - - * * * * * - -[Illustration: THE INVADED COUNTRY] - - * * * * * - - - - -THE GERMAN TERROR IN BELGIUM - - - _An Historical Record_ - - BY - ARNOLD J. TOYNBEE - LATE FELLOW OF BALLIOL COLLEGE, - OXFORD - - NEW YORK - GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY - MCMXVII - - * * * * * - - COPYRIGHT, 1917, - BY GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY - - PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA - - - - -PREFACE - - -The subject of this book is the treatment of the civil population in -the countries overrun by the German Armies during the first three -months of the European War. The form of it is a connected narrative, -based on the published documents[1] and reproducing them by direct -quotation or (for the sake of brevity) by reference. - -With the documents now published on both sides it is at last -possible to present a clear narrative of what actually happened. The -co-ordination of this mass of evidence, which has gradually accumulated -since the first days of invasion, is the principal purpose for which -the book has been written. The evidence consists of first-hand -statements--some delivered on oath before a court, others taken down -from the witnesses without oath by competent legal examiners, others -written and published on the witnesses’ own initiative as books or -pamphlets. Most of them originally appeared in print in a controversial -setting, as proofs or disproofs of disputed fact, or as justifications -or condemnations of fact that was admitted. In the present work, -however, this argumentative aspect of them has been avoided as far -as possible. For it has either been treated exhaustively in official -publications--the case of Louvain, for instance, in the German White -Book and the Belgian Reply to it--or will not be capable of such -treatment till after the conclusion of the War. The ultimate inquiry -and verdict, if it is to have finality, must proceed either from a -mixed commission of representatives of all the States concerned, -or from a neutral commission like that appointed by the Carnegie -Foundation to inquire into the atrocities committed during the Balkan -War. But the German Government has repeatedly refused proposals, -made both unofficially and officially, that it should allow such -an investigation to be conducted in the territory at present under -German military occupation,[2] and the final critical assessment will -therefore necessarily be postponed till the German Armies have retired -again within their own frontiers. - -Meanwhile, an ordered and documented narrative of the attested facts -seems the best preparation for that judicial appraisement for which -the time is not yet ripe. The facts have been drawn from statements -made by witnesses on opposite sides with different intentions and -beliefs, but as far as possible they have been disengaged from this -subjective setting and have been set out, without comment, to speak -for themselves. It has been impossible, however, to confine the -exposition to pure narration at every point, for in the original -evidence the facts observed and the inferred explanation of them -are seldom distinguished, and when the same observed fact is made a -ground for diametrically opposite inferences by different witnesses, -the difficulty becomes acute. A German soldier, say, in Louvain on -the night of August 25th, 1914, hears the sound of machine-gun firing -apparently coming from a certain spot in the town, and infers that at -this spot Belgian civilians are using a machine gun against German -troops; a Belgian inhabitant hears the same sound, and infers that -German troops are firing on civilians. In such cases the narrative -must be interpreted by a judgment as to which of the inferences is -the truth, and this judgment involves discussion. What is remarkable, -however, is the rarity of these contradictions. Usually the different -testimonies fit together into a presentation of fact which is not open -to argument. - -The narrative has been arranged so as to follow separately the tracks -of the different German Armies or groups of Armies which traversed -different sectors of French and Belgian territory. Within each sector -the chronological order has been followed, which is generally identical -with the geographical order in which the places affected lie along the -route of march. The present volume describes the invasion of Belgium up -to the sack of Louvain. - - ARNOLD J. TOYNBEE. - - _March, 1917._ - -FOOTNOTES: - -[1] A schedule of the more important documents will be found in the -“List of Abbreviations” pp. xi-xiii. - -[2] Belgian Reply pp. vii. and 97-8. - - - - -CONTENTS - - - FRONTISPIECE _The Invaded Country (Map)_ - - PAGE - - PREFACE v - - TABLE OF CONTENTS ix - - LIST OF MAPS ix - - LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS x - - LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS xi - - CHAPTER I.: THE TRACK OF THE ARMIES 15 - - CHAPTER II.: FROM THE FRONTIER TO LIÉGE 23 - - (i) ON THE VISÉ ROAD 23 - - (ii) ON THE BARCHON ROAD 27 - - (iii) ON THE FLÉRON ROAD 31 - - (iv) ON THE VERVIERS ROAD 37 - - (v) ON THE MALMÉDY ROAD 38 - - (vi) BETWEEN THE VESDRE AND THE OURTHE 42 - - (vii) ACROSS THE MEUSE 44 - - (viii) THE CITY OF LIÉGE 46 - - CHAPTER III.: FROM LIÉGE TO MALINES 52 - - (i) THROUGH LIMBURG TO AERSCHOT 52 - - (ii) AERSCHOT 57 - - (iii) THE AERSCHOT DISTRICT 74 - - (iv) THE RETREAT FROM MALINES 77 - - (v) LOUVAIN 89 - - - - -MAPS - - - THE INVADED COUNTRY _Frontispiece_ - - THE TRACK OF THE ARMIES: FROM THE - FRONTIER TO MALINES[3] _End of Volume_ - - LOUVAIN, FROM THE GERMAN WHITE BOOK _End of Volume_ - -FOOTNOTE: - -[3] _This map shows practically all the roads and places referred to in -the text._ - - - - -ILLUSTRATIONS - - - PAGE - - 1. MOULAND _To face page_ 16 - - 2. BATTICE 17 - - 3. LIÉGE FORTS: A DESTROYED CUPOLA 32 - - 4. ANS: AN INTERIOR 33 - - 5. ANS: THE CHURCH 48 - - 6. LIÉGE: A FARM HOUSE 49 - - 7. LIÉGE UNDER GERMAN OCCUPATION 52 - - 8. LIÉGE UNDER THE GERMANS: RUINS AND PLACARDS 53 - - 9. LIÉGE IN RUINS 60 - - 10. “WE LIVE LIKE GOD IN BELGIUM” 61 - - 11. HAELEN 64 - - 12. AERSCHOT 65 - - 13. BRUSSELS: A BOOKING-OFFICE 80 - - 14. MALINES AFTER BOMBARDMENT 81 - - 15. MALINES: RUINS 84 - - 16. MALINES: RUINS 85 - - 17. MALINES: CARDINAL MERCIER’S STATE-ROOM AS A RED - CROSS HOSPITAL 92 - - 18. MALINES: THE CARDINAL’S THRONE-ROOM 93 - - 19. CAPELLE-AU-BOIS 96 - - 20. CAPELLE-AU-BOIS 97 - - 21. CAPELLE-AU-BOIS: THE CHURCH 112 - - 22. LOUVAIN: NEAR THE CHURCH OF ST. PIERRE 113 - - 23. LOUVAIN: THE CHURCH OF ST. PIERRE 116 - - 24. LOUVAIN: THE CHURCH OF ST. PIERRE ACROSS THE RUINS 117 - - 25. LOUVAIN: THE CHURCH OF ST. PIERRE--INTERIOR 124 - - 26. LOUVAIN: STATION SQUARE 125 - - - - -ABBREVIATIONS - - - ALPHABET, LETTERS OF THE:-- - - CAPITALS Appendices to the German White Book entitled: “_The - Violation of International Law in the Conduct of the Belgian - People’s-War_” (dated Berlin, 10th May, 1915); Arabic numerals - after the capital letter refer to the depositions contained in - each Appendix. - - LOWER CASE Sections of the “_Appendix to the Report of the - Committee on Alleged German Outrages, Appointed by His Britannic - Majesty’s Government and Presided Over by the Right Hon. Viscount - Bryce, O.M._” (Cd. 7895); Arabic numerals after the lower case - letter refer to the depositions contained in each Section. - - ANN(EX) Annexes (numbered 1 to 9) to the _Reports of the Belgian - Commission (vide infra)_. - - BELG. _Reports (numbered i to xxii) of the Official Commission of the - Belgian Government on the Violation of the Rights of Nations and - of the Laws and Customs of War._ (English translation, published, - on behalf of the Belgian Legation, by H.M. Stationery Office, two - volumes.) - - BLAND “_Germany’s Violations of the Laws of War, 1914-5_”; compiled - under the Auspices of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and - translated into English with an Introduction by J. O. P. Bland. - (London: Heinemann. 1915.) - - BRYCE _Appendix to the Report of the Committee on Alleged German - Outrages appointed by His Britannic Majesty’s Government._ - - CHAMBRY “_The Truth about Louvain_,” by Réné Chambry. (Hodder and - Stoughton. 1915.) - - DAVIGNON “_Belgium and Germany_,” Texts and Documents, preceded by a - Foreword by Henri Davignon. (Thomas Nelson and Sons.) - - “EYE-WITNESS” “_An Eye-Witness at Louvain_” (London: Eyre and - Spottiswoode. 1914.) - - “GERMANS” “_The Germans at Louvain_,” by a volunteer worker in the - _Hôpital St.-Thomas_. (Hodder and Stoughton. 1916.) - - GRONDIJS “_The Germans in Belgium: Experiences of a Neutral_,” by L. - H. Grondijs, Ph.D., formerly Professor of Physics at the Technical - Institute of Dordrecht. (London: Heinemann. 1915.) - - HÖCKER “_An der Spitze Meiner Kompagnie, Three Months of - Campaigning_,” by Paul Oskar Höcker. (Ullstein and Co., Berlin and - Vienna. 1914.) - - “HORRORS” “_The Horrors of Louvain_,” by an Eye-witness, with an - Introduction by Lord Halifax. (Published by the London _Sunday - Times_.) - - MASSART “_Belgians under the German Eagle_,” by Jean Massart, - Vice-Director of the Class of Sciences in the Royal Academy of - Belgium. (English translation by Bernard Miall. London: Fisher - Unwin. 1916.) - - MERCIER _Pastoral Letter_, dated Xmas, 1914, of His Eminence Cardinal - Mercier, Archbishop of Malines. - - MORGAN “_German Atrocities: An Official Investigation_,” by J. H. - Morgan, M.A., Professor of Constitutional Law in the University of - London. (London: Fisher Unwin. 1916.) - - NUMERALS, ROMAN LOWER CASE _Reports (numbered i to xxii) of the - Belgian Commission (vide supra)._ - - R(EPLY) “_Reply to the German White Book of May 10, 1915._” - (Published, for the Belgian Ministry of Justice and Ministry of - Foreign Affairs, by Berger-Levrault, Paris, 1916.) - - Arabic numerals after the R refer to the depositions contained - in the particular section of the _Reply_ that is being cited - at the moment: _e.g._, R15 denotes the fifteenth deposition - in the section on Louvain in the _Reply_ when cited in the - section on Louvain in the present work; but it denotes the - fifteenth deposition in the section on Aerschot when cited in the - corresponding section here. - - The _Reply_ is also referred to by pages, and in these cases the - Arabic numeral denotes the page and is preceded by “p.” - - S(OMVILLE) “_The Road to Liége_,” by Gustave Somville. (English - translation by Bernard Miall. Hodder and Stoughton. 1916.) - - STRUYKEN “_The German White Book on the War in Belgium: A - Commentary_,” by Professor A. A. H. Struyken. (English Translation - of Articles in the Journal _Van Onzen Tijd_, of Amsterdam, July - 31st, August 7th, 14th, 21st, 1915. Thomas Nelson and Sons.) - -N.B.--Statistics, where no reference is given, are taken from the first -and second Annexes to the Reports of the Belgian Commission. They are -based on official investigations. - - * * * * * - -THE GERMAN TERROR IN BELGIUM - - - - -I. THE TRACK OF THE ARMIES. - - -When Germany declared war upon Russia, Belgium, and France in the -first days of August, 1914, German armies immediately invaded Russian, -Belgian, and French territory, and as soon as the frontiers were -crossed, these armies began to wage war, not merely against the troops -and fortifications of the invaded states, but against the lives and -property of the civil population. - -Outrages of this kind were committed during the whole advance and -retreat of the Germans through Belgium and France, and only abated when -open manœuvring gave place to trench warfare along all the line from -Switzerland to the sea. Similar outrages accompanied the simultaneous -advance into the western salient of Russian Poland, and the autumn -incursion of the Austro-Hungarians into Serbia, which was turned back -at Valievo. There was a remarkable uniformity in the crimes committed -in these widely separated theatres of war, and an equally remarkable -limit to the dates within which they fell. They all occurred during -the first three months of the war, while, since that period, though -outrages have continued, they have not been of the same character or on -the same scale. This has not been due to the immobility of the fronts, -for although it is certainly true that the Germans have been unable to -overrun fresh territories on the west, they have carried out greater -invasions than ever in Russia and the Balkans, which have not been -marked by outrages of the same specific kind. This seems to show that -the systematic warfare against the civil population in the campaigns -of 1914 was the result of policy, deliberately tried and afterwards -deliberately given up. The hypothesis would account for the peculiar -features in the German Army’s conduct, but before we can understand -these features we must survey the sum of what the Germans did. The -catalogue of crimes against civilians extends through every phase and -theatre of the military operations in the first three months of the -war, and an outline of these is a necessary introduction to it. - -In August, 1914, the Central Empires threw their main strength against -Belgium and France, and penetrated far further on this front than on -the east and south-east. The line on which they advanced extended from -the northern end of the Vosges to the Dutch frontier on the Meuse, and -here again their strength was unevenly distributed. The chief striking -force was concentrated in the extreme north, and advanced in an -immense arc across the Meuse, the Scheldt, the Somme, and the Oise to -the outskirts of Paris. As this right wing pressed forward, one army -after another took up the movement toward the left or south-eastern -flank, but each made less progress than its right-hand neighbour. While -the first three armies from the right all crossed the Marne before -they were compelled to retreat, the fourth (the Crown Prince’s) never -reached it, and the army of Lorraine was stopped a few miles within -French territory, before ever it crossed the Meuse. We shall set down -very briefly the broad movements of these armies and the dates on which -they took place. - -[Illustration: 1. MOULAND] - -[Illustration: 2. BATTICE] - -Germany sent her ultimatum to Belgium on the evening of Aug. 2nd. It -announced that Germany would violate Belgian neutrality within twelve -hours, unless Belgium betrayed it herself, and it was rejected by -Belgium the following morning. That day Germany declared war on France, -and the next day, Aug. 4th, the advance guard of the German right wing -crossed the Belgian frontier and attacked the _forts of Liége_. On Aug. -7th the town of _Liége_ was entered, and the crossings of the Meuse, -from Liége to the Dutch frontier, were in German hands. - -Beyond Liége the invading forces spread out like a fan. On the extreme -right a force advanced north-west to outflank the Belgian army covering -Brussels and to mask the fortress of Antwerp, and this right wing, -again, was the first to move. Its van was defeated by the Belgians at -_Haelen_ on Aug. 12th, but the main column entered _Hasselt_ on the -same day, and took _Aerschot_ and _Louvain_ on Aug. 19th. During the -next few days it pushed on to _Malines_, was driven out again by a -Belgian sortie from Antwerp on Aug. 25th, but retook Malines before the -end of the month, and contained the Antwerp garrison along the line of -the Dyle and the Démer. - -This was all that the German right flank column was intended to do, -for it was only a subsidiary part of the two armies concentrated at -Liége. As soon as Antwerp was covered, the mass of these armies was -launched westward from Liége into the gap between the fortresses of -Antwerp and Namur--von Kluck’s army on the right and von Bülow’s on -the left. By Aug. 21st von Bülow was west of Namur, and attacking the -French on the _Sambre_. On Aug. 20th an army corps of von Kluck’s had -paraded through _Brussels_, and on the 23rd his main body, wheeling -south-west, attacked the British at _Mons_. On the 24th von Kluck’s -extreme right reached the Scheldt at _Tournai_ and, under this threat -to their left flank, the British and French abandoned their positions -on the Mons-Charleroi line and retreated to the south. Von Kluck and -von Bülow hastened in pursuit. They passed _Cambrai_ on Aug. 26th and -_St. Quentin_ on the 29th; on the 31st von Kluck was crossing the -Oise at _Compiègne_, and on the 6th Sept. he reached his furthest -point at _Courchamp_, south-east of Paris and nearly thirty miles -beyond the _Marne_. His repulse, like his advance, was brought about -by an outflanking manœuvre, only this time the Anglo-French had the -initiative, and it was von Kluck who was outflanked. His retirement -compelled von Bülow to fall back on his left, after a bloody defeat in -the marshes of _St. Gond_, and the retreat was taken up, successively, -by the other armies which had come into line on the left of von Bülow. - -These armies had all crossed the Meuse south of the fortress of Namur, -and, to retain connexion with them, von Bülow had had to detach a force -on his left to seize the line of the Meuse from Liége to Namur and to -capture Namur itself. The best German heavy artillery was assigned to -this force for the purpose, and _Namur_ fell, after an unexpectedly -short bombardment, on Aug. 23rd, while von Bülow’s main army at -Charleroi was still engaged in its struggle with the French. - -The fall of Namur opened the way for German armies to cross the Meuse -along the whole line from Namur to Verdun. The first crossing was made -at _Dinant_ on Aug. 23rd, the very day on which Namur fell, by a Saxon -army, which marched thither by cross routes through Luxembourg; the -second by the Duke of Würtemberg’s army between _Mezières_ and _Sedan_; -and the third by the Crown Prince of Prussia’s army immediately -north of _Verdun_. West of the Meuse the Saxons and Würtembergers -amalgamated, and got into touch with von Bülow on their right. -Advancing parallel with him, they reached _Charleville_ on Aug. 25th, -crossed the Aisne at _Rethel_ on the 30th and the Marne at _Châlons_ on -the 4th, and were stopped on the 7th at _Vitry en Perthois_. The Crown -Prince, on their left, did not penetrate so far. Instead of the plains -of Champagne he had to traverse the hill country of the _Argonne_. He -turned back at _Sermaize_, which he had reached on Sept. 6th, and never -saw the Marne. - -On the left of the Crown Prince a Bavarian army crossed the frontier -between Metz and the Vosges. Its task was to join hands with the -Crown Prince round the southern flank of Verdun, as the Duke of -Würtemberg had joined hands with von Bülow round the flank of Namur. -But Verdun never fell, and the Bavarian advance was the weakest of any. -_Lunéville_ fell on Aug. 22nd, and _Baccarat_ was entered on the 24th; -but _Nancy_ was never reached, and on Sept. 12th the general German -retreat extended to this south-easternmost sector, and the Bavarians -fell back. - -Thus the German invading armies were everywhere checked and driven back -between the 6th and the 12th September, 1914. The operations which came -to this issue bear the general name of the _Battle of the Marne_. The -_Marne_ was followed immediately by the _Aisne_, and the issue of the -Aisne was a change from open to trench warfare along a line extending -from the Vosges to the Oise. This change was complete before September -closed, and the line formed then has remained practically unaltered to -the present time. But there was another month of open fighting between -the Oise and the sea. - -When the Germans’ strategy was defeated at the Marne, they transferred -their efforts to the north-west, and took the initiative there. On -Sept. 9th the Belgian Army had made a second sortie from Antwerp, to -coincide with the counter-offensive of Joffre, and this time they -had even reoccupied _Aerschot_. The Germans retaliated by taking -the offensive on the Scheldt. The retaining army before Antwerp was -strongly reinforced. Its left flank was secured, in the latter half -of September, by the occupation of _Termonde_ and _Alost_. The attack -on _Antwerp_ itself began on Sept. 27th. On the 2nd the outer ring -of forts was forced, and on the 9th the Germans entered the city. -The towns of Flanders fell in rapid succession--_Ghent_ on the 12th, -_Bruges_ on the 14th, _Ostend_ on the 15th--and the Germans hoped to -break through to the Channel ports on the front between Ostend and the -Oise. Meanwhile, each side had been feverishly extending its lines from -the Oise towards the north and pushing forward cavalry to turn the -exposed flank of the opponent. These two simultaneous movements--the -extension of the trench lines from the Oise to the sea, and the German -thrust across Flanders to the Channel--intersected one another at -_Ypres_, and the _Battle of Ypres and the Yser_, in the latter part of -October, was the crisis of this north-western struggle. On Oct. 31st -the German effort to break through reached, and passed, its climax, and -trench warfare established itself as decisively from the Oise to the -sea as it had done a month earlier between the Vosges and the Oise. - -Thus, three months after the German armies crossed the frontier, the -German invasion of Belgium and France gave place to a permanent German -occupation of French and Belgian territories behind a practically -stationary front, and with this change of character in the fighting a -change came over the outrages upon the civil population which remained -in Germany’s power. The crimes of the invasion and the crimes of the -occupation are of a different order from one another, and must be dealt -with apart. - - - - -II. FROM THE FRONTIER TO LIÉGE. - - -(i) _On the Visé Road._ - -The Germans invaded Belgium on Aug. 4th, 1914. Their immediate -objective was the fortress of Liége and the passage of the Meuse, -but first they had to cross a zone of Belgian territory from twenty -to twenty-five miles wide. They came over the frontier along four -principal roads, which led through this territory to the fortress and -the river, and this is what they did in the towns and villages they -passed. - -The first road led from Aix-la-Chapelle, in Germany, to the bridge -over the Meuse at Visé, skirting the Dutch frontier, and _Warsage_[4] -was the first Belgian village on this road to which the Germans came. -Their advance-guards distributed a proclamation by General von Emmich: -“_I give formal pledges to the Belgian population that they will not -have to suffer from the horrors of war.... If you wish to avoid the -horrors of war, you must act wisely and with a true appreciation of -your duty to your country._” This was on the morning of Aug. 4th, and -the Mayor of Warsage, M. Fléchet, had already posted a notice on the -town-hall warning the inhabitants to keep calm. All that day and -the next the Germans passed through; on the afternoon of the 6th the -village was clear of them, when suddenly they swarmed back, shooting in -at the windows and setting houses on fire. Several people were killed; -one old man was burnt alive. Then the Mayor was ordered to assemble -the population in the square. A German officer had been shot on the -road. No inquiry was held; no post-mortem examination made (the German -soldiers were nervous and marched with finger on trigger); the village -was condemned. The houses were systematically plundered, and then -systematically burnt. A dozen inhabitants, including the Burgomaster, -were carried off as hostages to the German camp at Mouland. Three were -shot at once; the rest were kept all night in the open; one of them was -tied to a cart-wheel and beaten with rifle-butts; in the morning six -were hanged, the rest set free. Eighteen people in all were killed at -Warsage and 25 houses destroyed. - -At _Fouron-St. Martin_[5] five people were killed and 20 houses burnt. -Nineteen houses were burnt at _Fouron-le-Compte_.[5] At _Berneau_,[6] -a few miles further down the road, 67 houses (out of 116) were burnt -on Aug. 5th, and 7 people killed. “The people of Berneau,” writes a -German in his diary on Aug. 5th, “have fired on those who went to get -water. The village has been partly destroyed.” On the day of this entry -the Germans had commandeered wine at Berneau, and were drunk when they -took reprisals for shots their victims were never proved to have fired. -Among these victims was the Burgomaster, M. Bruyère, a man of 83. He -was taken, like the Burgomaster of Warsage, to the camp at Mouland, and -was never seen again after the night of the 6th. At _Mouland_[7] itself -4 people were killed and 73 houses destroyed (out of 132). - -The road from Aix-la-Chapelle reaches the Meuse at _Visé_.[8] It was -a town of 900 houses and 4,000 souls, and, as a German describes it, -“It vanished from the map.”[9] The inhabitants were killed, scattered -or deported, the houses levelled to the ground, and this was done -systematically, stage by stage. - -The Germans who marched through Warsage reached Visé on the afternoon -of Aug. 4th. The Belgians had blown up the bridges at Visé and -Argenteau, and were waiting for the Germans on the opposite bank. As -they entered Visé, the Germans came for the first time under fire, -and they wreaked their vengeance on the town. “The first house they -came to as they entered Visé they burned” (a 16), and they began to -fire at random in the streets. At least eight civilians were shot in -this way before night, and when night fell the population was driven -out of the houses and compelled to bivouac in the square. More houses -were burnt on the 6th; on the 10th they burned the church; on the 11th -they seized the Dean, the Burgomaster, and the Mother Superior of the -Convent as hostages; on the 15th a regiment of East Prussians arrived -and was billeted in the town, and that night Visé was destroyed. “I saw -commissioned officers directing and supervising the burning,” says an -inhabitant (a 16). “It was done systematically with the use of benzine, -spread on the floors and then lighted. In my own and another house I -saw officers come in before the burning with revolvers in their hands, -and have china, valuable antique furniture, and other such things -removed. This being done, the houses were, by their orders, set on -fire....” - -The East Prussians were drunk, there was firing in the streets, and, -once more, people were killed. Next morning the population was rounded -up in the station square and sorted out--men this side, women that. The -women might go to Holland, the men, in two gangs of about 300 each, -were deported to Germany as franc-tireurs. “During the night of Aug. -15-16,” as another German diarist[10] describes the scene, “Pioneer -Grimbow gave the alarm in the town of Visé. Everyone was shot or taken -prisoner, and the houses were burnt. The prisoners were made to march -and keep up with the troops.” About 30 people in all were killed -at Visé, and 575 out of 876 houses destroyed. On the final day of -destruction the Germans had been in peaceable occupation of the place -for ten days, and the Belgian troops had retired about forty miles out -of range. - -That is what the Germans did on the road from Aix-la-Chapelle; but, -before reaching Warsage, the road sends out a branch through Aubel -to the left, which passes under the guns of _Fort Barchon_ and leads -straight to Liége. The Germans took this road also, and Barchon was the -first of the Liége forts to fall. The civil population was not spared. - - -(ii) _On the Barchon Road._ - -At _St. André_[11] 4 civilians were killed and 14 houses burnt. -_Julémont_,[12] the next village, was completely plundered and burnt. -Only 2 houses remained standing, and 12 people were killed. Advancing -along this road, the Germans arrived at _Blégny_[13] on Aug. 5th. -Several inhabitants of Blégny were murdered that afternoon, among -them M. Smets, a professor of gunsmithry (the villagers worked for -the small-arms manufacturers of Liége). M. Smets was killed in his -house, where his wife was in child-bed. The corpse was thrown into -the street, the mother and new-born baby were dragged out after it. -That night the population of Blégny was herded together in the village -institute; their houses were set on fire. Next morning--the 6th--the -women were released and the men driven forward by the German infantry -towards Barchon fort. The Curé of Blégny, the Abbé Labeye, was among -the number, and there were 296 of them in all. In front of Barchon -they were placed in rows of four, but the fort would not fire upon -this living screen, and they were marched away across country towards -Battice, where five were shot before the eyes of the rest, and the curé -kicked, spat upon, and pricked with bayonets. They were again driven -forward as a screen against a Belgian patrol, and were kept in the open -all night. Next morning 4 more were shot--two who had been wounded by -the Belgian fire, and one who had heart disease and was too feeble to -go on. The fourth was an old man of 78. The Germans tortured these -victims by placing lighted cigarettes in their nostrils and ears. After -this second execution on the 7th, the remainder were set free.... - -On the 10th Aug. the curé writes in his diary: - - “There are now 38 houses burnt, and 23 damaged. - - “Thursday the 13th: a few houses pillaged, two young men taken away. - - “Friday, the 14th: a few houses pillaged. - - “Friday night: the village of Barchon is burnt and the curé taken - prisoner....” - -The curé’s last notes for a sermon have survived: “My brothers, perhaps -we shall again see happy days....” But on the 16th, before the sermon -was delivered, the curé was shot. He was shot against the church -wall, with M. Ruwet, the Burgomaster, and two brothers, one of them -a revolver manufacturer who had handed over his stock to the German -authorities (from whom he received two passes) and had been working -for the Red Cross. After the execution the church was burnt down. The -nuns of Blégny were shot at by Germans in a motor-car when they came -out that day to bury the bodies. From the 5th to the 16th Aug., about -30 people were killed in the commune of Blégny-Trembleur, and 45 houses -burnt in all. - -The village of _Barchon_,[14] as the curé of Blégny records, was -destroyed on the 14th--in cold blood, five days after the surrender -of the fort. There was a battue by two German regiments through the -village. The houses were plundered and burnt (110 burnt in all out -of 146); the inhabitants were rounded up. Twenty-two were shot in -one batch, including two little girls of two and an old woman of -ninety-four. Thirty-two perished altogether, and a dozen hostages were -carried off, some of whom were tied to field guns and compelled to keep -up with the horses. On the 16th the Germans evicted the inhabitants of -_Chefneux_,[15] and shot 4 men. On the 17th they burned all the 22 -houses in the hamlet. At _Saives_[16] they burned 12 houses, and shot a -man and a girl. - -We have the diary of a German soldier who marched down this branch -road from Aubel when all the villages had been destroyed except -_Wandre_,[17] which stood where the road debouched upon the Meuse. - -“15th Aug.--11.50 a.m. Crossed the Belgian frontier and kept steadily -along the high road until we got into Belgium. We were hardly into it -before we met a horrible sight. Houses were burnt down, the inhabitants -driven out and some of them shot. Of the hundreds of houses not a -single one had been spared--every one was plundered and burnt down. -Hardly were we through this big village when the next was already set -on fire, and so it went on.... - -“16th Aug. The big village of Barchon set on fire. The same day, about -11.50 a.m., we came to the town of Wandre. Here the houses were spared -but all searched. At last we had got out of the town when once more -everything was sent to ruins. In one house a whole arsenal had been -discovered. The inhabitants were one and all dragged out and shot, but -this shooting was absolutely heart-rending, for they all knelt and -prayed. But this got them no mercy. A few shots rang out, and they -fell backwards into the green grass and went to their eternal sleep. - -“And still the brigands would not leave off shooting us from -behind--that, and never from in front--but now we could stand it no -longer, and raging and roaring we went on and on, and everything that -got in our way was smashed or burnt or shot. At last we had to go -into bivouac. Half tired out and done up we laid ourselves down, and -we didn’t wait long before quenching some of our thirst. But we only -drank wine; the water has been half poisoned and half left alone by the -beasts. Well, we have much too much here to eat and drink. When a pig -shows itself anywhere or a hen or a duck or pigeons, they are all shot -down and slaughtered, so that at any rate we have something to eat. It -is a real adventure....” - -This was the temper of the Germans who destroyed Wandre. They burned 33 -houses altogether and shot 32 people--16 of them in one batch. - - -(iii) _On the Fléron Road._ - -There is another road from Aix-la-Chapelle to Liége, which passes -through Battice and is commanded by _Fort Fléron_ (Fort Fléron offered -the most determined resistance of all the forts of Liége, and cost -the Germans the greatest loss). The Germans marched through _Battice_ -on August 4th, and came under fire of the fort that afternoon. In the -evening they arrested three men in the streets of Battice, and shot -them without charge or investigation. - -The check to their arms was avenged on the civil population. “On the -arrival of the German troops in the village of _Micheroux_,” states a -Belgian witness (a 12), “during the time when Fort Fléron was holding -out, they came to a block of four cottages, and having turned out the -inhabitants, set the cottages on fire and burned them. From one of the -cottages a woman (mentioned by name) came out with a baby in her arms, -and a German soldier snatched it from her and dashed it to the ground, -killing it then and there.”[18] - -“The position was dangerous,” writes a German in his diary[19] on -August 5th, from a picket in front of Fort Fléron. “As suspicious -civilians were hovering round, houses 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 were cleared, the -owners arrested (and shot the next day).... I shoot a civilian with my -rifle, at 400 metres, slap through the head....” - -[Illustration: 3. LIÉGE FORTS: A DESTROYED CUPOLA] - -[Illustration: 4. ANS: AN INTERIOR] - -That day the curé of Battice[20]: (who had been kept under arrest in -the open since the evening of the 4th) was driven, with the Mayor and -one of the communal councillors, under the Belgian fire. On the 6th the -German troops again retired on Battice in confusion, and the village -was destroyed that afternoon. Shots were fired indiscriminately and -the houses set on fire. The first victim was a young man sitting in a -café with his _fiancée_--he fell dead by her side. Three people were -taken to the field to which the men of Blégny had been brought, and -were shot with the five victims there. On the 7th they shot a workman -who had been given a safe-conduct by a German officer to buy bread in a -neighbouring village, and was on his way home with his wife. On the 8th -they set the fire going again, to burn what still remained. They burned -146 houses and killed 36 people in Battice from first to last. - -The town of _Herve_[21] lies a mile or so beyond Battice on the Fléron -road, and was also traversed by the Germans on August 4th. The first -to pass were officers in a motor car, and as they crossed the bridge -they shot down two young men standing by the roadside--one was badly -wounded, the other killed outright. In the evening they sent for the -Mayor, accused the inhabitants of having fired on German troops, and -threatened to shoot the inhabitants and burn the town to the ground. -The Mayor and the curé spent the night going from house to house and -warning the people to avoid all grounds of offence--before they had -finished there were more shots fired indiscriminately (by the Germans), -and more (civilian) wounded and dead. The Mayor and curé were then -retained as hostages for the civilians’ good behaviour. On the 6th the -first house was burnt; on the 7th five men were shot in cold blood; -on the 8th a fresh column of troops arrived from Aix-la-Chapelle, and -these were the destroyers of Herve. “They fired indiscriminately in -all quarters of the town,” says an eye-witness (a 2), “and in the Rue -de la Station they shot Madame Hendrickx, hitting her at close range, -although she had a crucifix in her hand--begging for mercy.” All -through the 8th the shooting and burning went on, and on the 9th the -fires were kindled again. “The Germans gave themselves up to pillage -and loaded motor cars with everything of value they could find.” They -burned and pillaged consecutively for ten days, and on the 19th and -20th fresh regiments arrived and carried on the work. Two hundred -and seventy-nine houses were destroyed at Herve altogether, and 44 -people killed. “On the road to Herve everything is burnt,” writes a -German soldier (Reply p. 127) who passed when all was over. “At Herve, -the same. Everything is burnt except a convent--everywhere corpses -carbonised into an indistinguishable mass. (There are about a hundred, -all civilians, and children among the number.) I only saw three people -alive in the village--an old man, a sister of charity, and a girl.” -The Belgian witness quoted above (a 2) records that “the German staff -officers staying in his hotel told his wife that the reason why they -had so treated Herve was because the inhabitants of the town would not -petition for a passage for the Germans at Fléron.” - -In the villages between Herve and Fort Fléron the slaughter and -devastation were, if possible, more complete. At _la Bouxhe-Melen_[22] -there were two massacres--one on Aug. 5th and another on the 8th. In -the second the people were shot down in a field _en masse_, and 129 -were murdered altogether, as well as about 40 people herded in from the -farms and hamlets of the neighbourhood. Sixty houses in la Bouxhe-Melen -were destroyed. In the commune of _Soumagne_,[23] on a branch road to -the south, the Germans killed 165 civilians and burned 104 houses down. -When they entered Soumagne on Aug. 5th, they killed indiscriminately -in the streets. “They broke the windows and broke the door,” writes a -witness (a 5) who had taken refuge in a cellar. “My mother went out of -the cellar door.... Then I heard a shot and my mother fell back into -the cellar. She was killed.” This indiscriminate killing was followed -up the same afternoon by the massacre of 69 civilians in a field called -the Fonds Leroy. “The soldiers fired a volley and killed many, and -then fired twice more. Then they went through the ranks and bayonetted -everyone still living. I saw many bayonetted in this way” (a 4). One -boy was shot and bayonetted in four places, and lay several days among -the dead, keeping himself alive on weeds and grass. This boy survived. -In another field 18 were massacred in one batch, in another 19. “I saw -about 20 dead bodies lying here and there along the road,” writes one -of the witnesses (a 4). “One of them was that of a little girl aged 13. -The rest were men, and most of them had had their heads bashed in.”--“I -saw 56 corpses of civilians in a meadow,” deposes another. “Some had -been killed by bayonet thrusts and others by rifle shots. In the heaps -of corpses above mentioned was that of the son of the Burgomaster. His -throat had been cut from ear to ear and his tongue had been pulled out -and cut off.” - -In the hamlet of _Fécher_ the whole population--about 1,000 women, -children and men--was penned into the church on Aug. 5th, and next -morning the men (412 of them) were herded off as a living screen for -the German troops advancing between the forts (the first man to come -out of the church being wantonly shot down as an example to the rest). -The 411 were driven by bye-roads to the Chartreuse Monastery, above -the Meuse, overlooking the bridge into the city of Liége, and on the -7th they were planted as hostages on the bridge while the Germans -marched across. They were held there without food or shelter or relief -for a hundred hours. At _Micheroux_[24] 9 people were killed and 17 -houses destroyed. These villages were all outside the eastern line of -forts, but the places inside the line, between the forts and Liége, -were devastated to an equal degree. At Fléron[25] 15 civilians were -killed and 152 houses destroyed.[26] At _Retinnes_[27] 41 civilians -were killed and 118 houses destroyed.[26] At _Queue du Bois_[28] -11 civilians were killed and 35 houses destroyed. At _Evegnée_ 2 -civilians were killed and 5 houses destroyed. At _Cerexhe_[29] 4 women -and children were burnt alive in a house, and 2 houses destroyed. -At _Bellaire_[30] 4 people were killed and 15 houses destroyed. At -_Jupille_[31] 8 people were killed and 1 house destroyed. These -villages were saved none of the horrors of war by the surrender of the -forts. - - -(iv) _On the Verviers Road._ - -The Germans converged on the forts by more southerly roads as well. -At _Dolhain_,[32] on the road from Eupen to Verviers, 28 houses were -burnt on Aug. 8th and several civilians killed. At _Metten_,[33] near -Verviers, a German soldier confesses that he and his comrades “were -ordered to search a house from which shots had been fired, but found -nothing in the house but two women and a child.... I did not see the -women fire. The women were told that nothing would be done to them, -because they were crying so bitterly. We brought the women out and took -them to the major, and then we were ordered to shoot the women.... When -the mother was dead, the major gave the order to shoot the child, so -that the child should not be left alone in the world. The child’s eyes -were bandaged. I took part in this because we were ordered to do it by -Major Kastendick and Captain Dultingen....” - -But Verviers and the Verviers road remained comparatively unscathed. -Far worse was done by the Germans who descended on the Vesdre from -Malmédy, south-eastward, over the hills. - - -(v) _On the Malmédy Road._ - -_Francorchamps_,[34] the first Belgian village on the Malmédy road, was -sacked on Aug. 8th, four days after the first German troops had passed -through it unopposed, and again on Aug. 14th by later detachments. At -_Hockay_,[35] near Francorchamps, the curé was shot. In Hockay and -Francorchamps 13 people were killed altogether, and 25 houses burnt. -“M. Darchambeau, who was wounded (in the cellar of a burning house), -asked a young officer for mercy. This young officer of barely 22, in -front of the women and children, aimed his revolver at M. Darchambeau’s -head and killed him.” - -The fate of _Pepinster_[36] is recorded in a German diary: “Aug. -12th, Pepinster, Burgomaster, priest, and schoolmaster shot; houses -reduced to ashes. March on.” As a matter of fact, the three hostages -were not shot, but reprieved. The Burgomaster of _Cornesse_[37] was -shot in their stead (a 33, 34)--“an old man and quite deaf. (He was -only hit in the leg, and a German officer came up and shot him through -the heart with his revolver.)” Five houses in Cornesse were burnt. -At _Soiron_,[38] on Aug. 4th, the Germans bivouacking there fired on -one another, and eight German soldiers were wounded or killed. “But -the officers,” deposes a German private[39] who was present at the -scene, “in their anxiety to prevent the fact of this blunder from -being reported, hastened to pretend that it was really the civilians -who had fired, and gave orders for a general massacre. This order was -carried out, and there was terrible butchery. I must mention that we -only killed the males, but we burned all the houses.” At _Olnes_[40] -the curé and the communal secretary were shot on Aug. 5th, and the -schoolmaster the same evening, in front of his burning house, with -his daughter and his two sons. Only two members of the schoolmaster’s -family were spared. In the hamlet of _St. Hadelin_,[41] which came -within the radius of Fort Fléron’s guns, there was a wholesale massacre -on the same date. Early in the day the Germans “requisitioned” 300 -bottles of wine; later they drove a crowd of people from St. Hadelin, -_Riessonsart_, and _Ayeneux_, to a place called the Faveu, and shot -down 33. The remainder were forced to haul German artillery towards the -forts, but these were partly released next day, and partly massacred -at the Heids d’Olne. Twenty inhabitants of Ayeneux were massacred in a -batch elsewhere. Sixty-two civilians were murdered altogether in the -commune of Olne, and 78 houses destroyed--40 in St. Hadelin and 38 in -Olne itself. - -At _Forêt_[42] the Germans burned a farm and killed two of the farmer’s -sons on Aug. 5th as they entered the place. They drove the farmer and -his two surviving sons in front of them as a screen. The schoolmaster -and two others were shot outside the village. “At Forêt,” states the -German soldier quoted above,[43] “we found prisoners--a priest and -five civilians, including a boy of 17. Pillage began ... but we were -shelled ... and moved off to the next village. The house doors were at -once broken in with the butt-ends of muskets. We pillaged everything. -We made piles of the curtains and everything inflammable, and set -them alight. All the houses were burnt. It was in the middle of this -that the civilian prisoners of whom I have spoken were shot, with the -exception of the curé.” (The curé, too, was shot that night.)[44] “A -little further on, under the pretext that civilians had fired from a -house (though for my own part I cannot say whether they were soldiers -or civilians who fired), orders were given to burn the house. A woman -asleep there was dragged from her bed, thrown into the flames, and -burnt alive....” - -Thirteen people in all were killed at Forêt, and 6 houses destroyed. -At _Magnée_[45] 18 houses were destroyed and 21 people killed. The -German troops in Magnée were caught by the fire from the Fléron and -Chaudfontaine forts, and they revenged themselves, as elsewhere, on -the civilians, shooting people in batches and burning houses and -farms. This was on Aug. 6th, and at _Romsée_,[46] on the same day, -34 houses were burnt and 31 civilians murdered--some of them being -driven as a screen in front of the German troops under the fire of Fort -Chaudfontaine. - - -(vi) _Between the Vesdre and the Ourthe._ - -The same outrages were committed between the Vesdre and the Ourthe. At -_Louveigné_,[47] on Aug. 7th, the Germans, retreating from their attack -on the southern forts, looted the drink-shops, fired in the streets, -and accused the civilians of having shot. A dozen men (two of them over -70 years old) were imprisoned as hostages in a forge, and were shot -down, when released, like game in the open. That evening Louveigné was -systematically set on fire with the same incendiary apparatus that was -used at Visé, and the curé was dragged round on the foot-board of a -military motor-car to watch the work. There were more murders next day. -The total number of civilians murdered at Louveigné was 29, and there -were 77 houses burnt. The devastation impressed the German soldiers who -passed through Louveigné on the following days. “Louveigné has been -completely burnt out. All the inhabitants are dead,” writes a German -diarist on Aug. 9th. “March to Louveigné,” another records on Aug. -16th. “Several citizens and the curé shot according to martial law, -some not yet buried--still lying where they were executed, for everyone -to see. Stench of corpses everywhere. Curé said to have incited the -inhabitants to ambush and kill the Germans.”--“Bivouac! Rain! Burnt -villages! Louveigné!” another exclaims on Aug. 17th. “We marched and -bivouacked in the rain, in an orchard with a high hedge round it, full -of fruit-trees. There was an abandoned house in front of it. The door, -which was locked, was broken in with an axe. The traces of war--burnt -houses, weeping women and children, executions of franc-tireurs--showed -us the ruthlessness of the times. We could not have done otherwise.... -But how many have to suffer with others, how many innocent people are -shot by martial law, because there is no detailed enquiry first....” - -At _Lincé_,[48] in the commune of Sprimont, a German officer was -wounded when the troops returned in confusion from before the southern -forts of Liége. The Germans forbade an autopsy to discover by what -bullet the wound had been caused, and condemned two civilians with a -proven alibi to be shot. All the next morning the destruction went -on. Houses were burnt, the curé was mishandled, a farmer and his son -were shot down at their farm gate, a girl of twelve received four -bullets in her body. The execution of the hostages took place in the -afternoon. Sixteen men were shot, of whom 7 were more than 60 years -old. At _Chanxhe_,[49] on Aug. 6th, hostages from _Poulseur_ were -bound in ranks to the parapet of the bridge over the Ourthe, and kept -there several days while the Germans filed across. “We were tortured -by hunger and thirst,” writes one of them. “We shivered at night. And -then, of necessity, there was the filth.... At the end of the bridge -the women were pleading with the Germans in vain, and the children were -crying.” On the 5th two civilian captives were shot on the bridge, and -their bodies thrown into the river, and two more (one aged 70) were -shot on the 7th. In the commune of Poulseur, from which these hostages -came, 7 civilians were killed and 25 houses destroyed. In the commune -of Sprimont 67 houses were destroyed and 48 civilians killed. At -_Esneux_ 26 houses were destroyed and 7 civilians killed. - - -(vii) _Across the Meuse._ - -Meanwhile, the Germans had crossed the Meuse at Visé, and were -descending on Liége from the north. At _Hallembaye_, in the commune -of _Haccourt_,[50] 18 people were killed. There were women, children -and old men among them, and also the curé,[51] who was bayonetted on -his church threshold as he was removing the sacrament. In the commune -of Haccourt 80 houses were destroyed, and 112 hostages were carried -away into Germany. _Hermalle-sous-Argenteau_[52] was plundered on Aug. -15th, and 9 houses destroyed. There was a mock execution of hostages -in the presence of women and children, and 368 men of the place were -imprisoned in the church for 17 days. At _Vivegnis_[53] 6 civilians -were shot on Aug. 13th, and 45 houses destroyed the day after. The -Germans fired on the inhabitants through the windows and doors, and two -men were thus killed in a single household. At _Heure-le-Romain_[54] -the population was confined in the church on Aug. 16th (it was Sunday) -and compelled to stand there, hands raised, under the muzzle of a -machine-gun. Seven civilians were shot at Heure-le-Romain that day, -including the Burgomaster’s brother and the curé,[55] who were roped -together and shot against the church wall. All through the 16th and -17th the sack continued; on the 18th fresh troops arrived and completed -the work by systematic arson and the slaughter of 19 people more. -Twenty-seven civilians were killed at Heure-le-Romain altogether and -84 houses destroyed. At _Hermée_,[56] on Aug. 6th, the Germans, caught -by the fire of _Fort Pontisse_, revenged themselves by shooting 11 -civilians, including old men of 76 and 82 years. On the 14th, the day -after the surrender of the fort, the inhabitants of Hermée were driven -from their homes and the village systematically burnt, 146 houses -out of 308 being destroyed. In the village itself, as apart from -the outlying hamlets of the commune, only two or three houses were -left standing. At _Fexhe-Slins_, near Hermée, 3 people were killed. -Twenty-three were killed, and 13 houses destroyed, in the hamlet of -_Rhées_ in the commune of _Herstal_.[57] - -Thus the Germans plundered private property, burned down houses, and -shot civilians of both sexes and all ages, on every road by which they -marched upon Liége--from the north-east, the south-east, and the north. -One thousand and thirty-two civilians[58] were shot by the Germans in -the whole _Province of Liége_, and 3,173 houses were destroyed in two -arrondissements (those of Liége and Verviers) alone out of the four of -which the Province is made up. - - -(viii) _The City of Liége._ - -Twenty-nine of these civilians were killed and 55[59] of the houses -destroyed in the _city of Liége_ itself--on August 20th, a fortnight -after it had fallen into the German Army’s possession. The Germans -entered Liége on August 7th. Their entry was not opposed by Belgian -troops, and arms in private hands had already been called in by -the Belgian police.[60] The Germans found themselves in peaceful -occupation of a great industrial city, caught in the full tide of -its normal life. There was nothing to suggest outrage, still less to -excuse it, in their surroundings there; their conduct on August 20th -was deliberate and cold-blooded. The Higher Command was faced with the -problem of holding a conquered country, and wanted an example. The -troops in garrison were demoralised by the sudden change to idleness -from fatigue and danger, and were ready for excitement and pillage. - -“Aug. 16th, Liége,” writes a German soldier in his diary.[61] “The -villages we passed through had been destroyed. - -“Aug. 19th. Quartered in University. Gone on the loose and boozed -through the streets of Liége. Lie on straw; enough booze; too little to -eat, or we must steal. - -“Aug. 20th. In the night the inhabitants of Liége became mutinous. -Forty persons were shot and 15 houses demolished. Ten soldiers were -shot. The sights here make you cry.” - -There are proofs of German premeditation--warnings from German soldiers -to civilians on whom they were billeted,[62] and an ammunition waggon -which drew up at 8.0 a.m. in the Rue des Pitteurs, and twelve hours -later disgorged the benzine with which the houses in that street were -drenched before being burnt.[63] - -“The city was perfectly quiet,” declares a Belgian witness,[64] -“until about 8.0 p.m. At about 9.15 p.m. I was in bed reading when I -heard the sound of rifle-fire.... The noise of the firing came nearer -and nearer.” The first shot was fired from a window of “Emulation -Building,” looking out on the Place de l’Université, in the heart of -the town.[65] The Place was immediately crowded with armed German -soldiers, firing in the air, breaking into houses, and dragging out -any civilians they could find. First nine men (5 of them Spanish -subjects) were shot in a batch, then 7 more.[66] “About 10.0 p.m. they -were shooting everywhere. About 10.30 p.m. several machine guns were -firing and artillery as well.” (The artillery was firing on private -houses from the opposite side of the Meuse.[67]) “About 11.0 p.m. I saw -between 45 and 50 houses burning. There were two seats of the fire--the -first at the Place de l’Université (8 houses--I was close by at the -time), the second across the Meuse on the Quai des Pecheurs, where -there were about 35 houses burning. I heard a whole series of orders -given in German, and also bugle calls, followed by the cries of the -victims, and I saw women with children running about in the street, -pursued by soldiers....” (a 28). - -[Illustration: 5. ANS: THE CHURCH] - -[Illustration: 6. LIÉGE: A FARM HOUSE] - -The arson was elaborate. In the Rue des Pitteurs the waggon loaded with -benzine moved from door to door.[68] “About 20 men were going up to -each of the houses. One of them had a sort of syringe, with which he -squirted into the house, and another would throw a bucket of water in. -A handful of stuff was first put into the bucket, and when this was -thrown into the house there was an immediate explosion” (a 31). At the -Place de l’Université, when the Belgian fire-brigade arrived, they were -forbidden to extinguish the fire, and made to stand, hands up, against -a wall (a 28, 29). Later they were assigned another task. “About -midnight,” states a witness (a 30), “a whole heap of civilian corpses -were brought to the Hôtel de Ville on a fire-brigade cart. There were -17 of them. Bits were blown out of their heads....” - -As the houses caught fire the inmates tried to escape. The few who -reached the street were shot down (a 24, 26). Most were driven back -into the flames. “At about 30 of the houses,” a witness states (a 31), -“I actually saw faces at the windows before the Germans entered, and -then saw the same faces at the cellar windows after the Germans had -driven the people into the cellars.” In this way a number of men and -women were burnt alive.[69] In some cases the Germans would not wait -for the fire to do their work for them, but bayonetted the people -themselves. In one house, near the Episcopal Palace,[70] two boys were -bayonetted before their mother’s eyes, and then the man--their father -and her husband. Another man in the house was wounded almost to death, -and the Germans were with difficulty prevented from “finishing him -off,” next morning, on the way to the hospital. An orphan girl, who -lodged in the same house, was violated. - -Next morning, August 21st, the district round the University Buildings -on either side of the Meuse was cleared of its inhabitants--such -inhabitants as survived and such streets as still stood. The people -were evicted at a few hours’ notice, and not allowed to return for -a month.[71] The same day a proclamation was posted by the German -authorities: “Civilians have fired on the German soldiers. Repression -is the result.”[72] The indictment was not convincing, for “Emulation -Building,” from which the first shot was fired on the night of the -20th, had been cleared of its Belgian occupants some days before -and filled entirely with German soldiers. Later the German Governor -of Liége shifted his ground, and laid the blame on Russian students -“who had been a burden on the population of the city.”[73] A clearer -light is thrown on the outbreak of August 20th by what occurred on the -night of August 21st-22nd. “Aug. 22nd, 3 a.m., Liége,” writes a German -in his diary. “Two infantry regiments shot at each other. Nine dead -and 50 wounded--fault not yet ascertained.” But in the other diary, -quoted before, the incident is thus recorded under the same date: -“August 21st. In the night the soldiers were again fired on. We then -destroyed several houses more.” The soldiers fire, the civilians suffer -reprisals, but the Germans’ object is gained. The conquered population -is terrorised, the invaders feel secure. “On August 23rd everything -quiet,” the latter diarist continues. “The inhabitants have so far -given in. - -“August 24th. Our occupation is bathing, and eating and drinking for -the rest of the day. We live like God in Belgium.” - -FOOTNOTES: - -[4] Belgian Report xvi (statements by the Mayor and another -inhabitant); Somville pp. 134-143. - -[5] Belg. xvii. - -[6] Somville pp. 143-6. - -[7] Somville pp. 146-7. - -[8] Belg. xvii; Somville pp. 177-184; Bland pp. 164-5; a 16. - -[9] Höcker p. 46. - -[10] Bland p. 165. - -[11] Somville p. 148. - -[12] Somville pp. 147-8. - -[13] Somville pp. 157-168; a 7, 20. - -[14] Somville pp. 152-7; xvii. - -[15] Somville p. 156. - -[16] S. p. 148; xvii. - -[17] Bryce pp. 161-2; S. pp. 168-177. - -[18] Same incident recorded in xvii, p. 50. - -[19] Bryce pp. 168-9. - -[20] S. pp. 46-55; xvii; Reply pp. 110-116 (Report of L’Abbé Voisin, -Curé of Battice, to the Belgian Government). - -[21] S. pp. 55-72; xvii; Reply pp. 123-7; a 2. - -[22] S. pp. 73-9; xvii. - -[23] S. pp. 113-126; xvii; a 4, 5, 9. - -[24] S. pp. 110-2; xvii; a 12. - -[25] S. pp. 126-130. - -[26] Partly by bombardment during the attack on the fort. - -[27] S. pp. 105-110; Reply pp. 133-4. - -[28] S. pp. 151-2. - -[29] S. p. 148. - -[30] S. p. 152. - -[31] S. p. 149. - -[32] xvii. p. 57. - -[33] Bland pp. 105-9. - -[34] S. pp. 16-18; xvii. p. 56. - -[35] S. p. 18; Mercier. - -[36] Bland p. 185. - -[37] xvii; a 33, 34. - -[38] xvii; Reply p. 126. - -[39] Reply p. 126. - -[40] xvii; Mercier; S. pp. 79-82. - -[41] S. pp. 82-92. - -[42] xvii; S. pp. 92-4. - -[43] Reply p. 126. - -[44] Mercier. - -[45] S. pp. 94-100. - -[46] S. pp. 100-5. - -[47] S. pp. 40-5: Belg. Ann. 5, pp. 167-8; Morgan p. 100; Bryce p. 172. - -[48] S. pp. 30-8. - -[49] S. pp. 20-30. - -[50] S. pp. 191-3; xvii. - -[51] Mercier. - -[52] S. pp. 190-1, a 15. - -[53] S. pp. 187-8. - -[54] S. pp. 200-5; xvii; a 17. - -[55] Mercier. - -[56] S. pp. 194-200; xvii; a 35. - -[57] S. pp. 185-7; a 6, 10, 11, 13. - -[58] Known by name. See Reply, p. 142. - -[59] There were also thirty-seven houses destroyed in the suburb of -Grivegnée. - -[60] a 24. - -[61] Bryce pp. 172-3. - -[62] a 28. - -[63] a 24. - -[64] a 28. - -[65] S. p. 209. - -[66] Names given by S. pp. 211-2; cp. a 27. - -[67] S. p. 212. - -[68] a 24, 27, 31. - -[69] a 31; S. p. 213. - -[70] S. pp. 219-224. - -[71] S. pp. 217-8, 225. - -[72] S. p. 218. - -[73] S. p. 234; a 24. - - - - -III. FROM LIÉGE TO MALINES. - - -(i) _Through Limburg to Aerschot._ - -The first German force to push forward from Liége was the column -commissioned to mask the Belgian fortress of Antwerp on the extreme -right flank of the German advance. From the bridges of the Meuse this -column marched north-west across the _Province of Limburg_. Belgian -patrols met the advance-guard already at _Lanaeken_ on August 6th, -driving civilians in front of it as a screen.[74] The invaders were -obsessed with the terror of franc-tireurs. At _Hasselt_,[75] on August -17th, they made the Burgomaster post a proclamation advising his -fellow-citizens “to abstain from any kind of provocative demonstration -and from all acts of hostility, which might bring terrible reprisals -upon our town. - -“Above all you must abstain from acts of violence against the German -troops, and especially from firing on them. - -“In case the inhabitants fire upon the soldiers of the German Army, a -third of the male population will be shot.” - -[Illustration: 7. LIÉGE UNDER GERMAN OCCUPATION] - -[Illustration: 8. LIÉGE UNDER THE GERMANS: RUINS AND PLACARDS] - -At _Tongres_,[76] on August 18th, the Germans carried threats into -action. The population was driven out bodily from the town, and the -town systematically plundered. At least 17 civilians were killed -(including a boy of 12), and a number of houses were burnt. “On August -18th,” writes a German in his diary, “we reach Tongres. Here, too, it -is a complete picture of destruction--something unique of its kind -for our profession.”[77]--“Tongres,” writes another on the 19th, “A -quantity of houses plundered by our cavalry.” A captured letter from -the hand of a German army-doctor reveals the pretext on which this was -done. “The Belgians have only themselves to thank that their country -has been devastated in this way. I have seen all the great towns -attacked and the villages besieged and set on fire. At Tongres we -were attacked by the population in the evening _when it was dark_. An -immense number of shots were exchanged, for we were exposed to fire on -four sides. _Happily we had only one man hit_--he died the following -day. We killed two women, and the men were shot the day after.” There -is no disproof here of the Belgian affirmation that the shots were -fired by the Germans themselves. - -This outbreak at Tongres on August 18th was not an isolated occurrence. -On the same day the Germans shot down the Burgomaster’s wife and a -lawyer at _Cannes_,[78] and two men and a boy at _Lixht_,[79] a few -miles north-west of the Visé bridge. But Limburg suffered little -compared to Brabant, into which the Germans next advanced. - -Haelen, where their advance-guard was severely handled by the Belgian -Army on August 12th, lies close to the boundary between the two -provinces, and they took vengeance on the civil population of _Brabant_ -for this military reverse. - -“The Germans came to _Schaffen_,”[80] the curé reports, “at 9.0 o’clock -on August 18th. They set fire to 170 houses. A thousand inhabitants -are homeless. The communal building and my own residence are among -the houses burnt. Twenty-two people at least were killed without -motive. Two men (mentioned by name) were buried alive head downwards, -in the presence of their wives. The Germans seized me in my garden, -and mishandled me in every kind of way.... The blacksmith, who was a -prisoner with me, had his arm broken and was then killed.... It went on -all day long. Towards evening they made me look at the church, saying -it was the last time I should see it. About 6.45 they let me go. I was -bleeding and unconscious. An officer made me get up and bade me be -off. At several metres distance they fired on me. I fell down and was -left for dead. It was my salvation.... - -“All the houses were drenched, before burning, with naphtha and petrol, -which the Germans carry with them....” - -On the German side, there is the ordinary excuse. “Fifty civilians,” -writes a diarist, “had hidden in the church tower and had fired on our -men with a machine-gun.[81] All the civilians were shot.” - -The curé mentions that the Germans found the church door locked, broke -it in, and then found no one there. - -At _Molenstede_, another village in the _Canton of Diest_, 32 houses -were burnt and 11 civilians killed. In the whole Canton 226 houses were -burnt, and 47 people killed in all. - -The Germans were also advancing by a more southerly road from Tongres -through St. Trond. At _St. Trond_,[82] the first Uhlans killed 2 -civilians in the street and wounded others. At _Budirgen_ they killed -2 civilians and burned 58 houses, at _Neerlinter_ one and 73. In the -_Canton of Léau_ they killed 19 civilians altogether, and 174 houses -were destroyed. - -At _Haekendover_, in the Canton of Tirlemont, they killed one -civilian, burned 32 houses and pillaged 150 (out of 220 in all). At -_Tirlemont_ itself, they killed three civilians and burned 60 houses. -At _Hougaerde_,[83] when they entered the village, they drove the -curé of Autgaerde before them as a screen, and he was killed by the -first bullet from the Belgian troops, who were defending the road from -behind a barricade. Four civilians were killed at Hougaerde, 100 houses -pillaged, and 50 destroyed. In the whole _Canton of Tirlemont_ the -Germans killed 18 civilians, and burned 212 houses down. - -At _Bunsbeek_ they killed 4 people and burned 20 houses, at _Roosbeek_ -3 and 42. “After Roosbeek,” a German diarist notes,[84] “we began to -have an idea of the war; houses burnt, walls pierced by bullets, the -face of the tower carried away by shells, and so on. A few isolated -crosses marked the graves of the victims.” At _Kieseghem_[85] the -Germans used civilians as a screen again, and killed two more when they -entered the village. At _Attenrode_ they killed 6 civilians and burned -17 houses, at _Lubbeck_ 15 and 46. In the _Canton of Glabbeek_ 35 -civilians were killed from first to last, and 140 houses destroyed. - - -(ii) _Aerschot._ - -The Germans marched into _Aerschot_[86] on the morning of Aug. 19th, -driving before them two girls and four women with babies in their -arms as a screen.[87] One of the women was wounded by the fire of the -Belgian troops, who had posted machine guns to dispute the Germans’ -entry, but now withheld their fire and retired from the town. The -Germans encountered no further resistance, but they began to kill -civilians and break into houses immediately they came in. They -bayonetted two women on their doorstep (c 27). They shot a deaf boy (c -1) who did not understand the order to raise his hands. They shot 5 men -they had requisitioned as guides (R. No. 3). They fired at the church -(c 18). They fired at people looking out of the windows of their houses -(R. No. 5). The Burgomaster’s son, a boy of fifteen, was standing at a -window with his mother and was wounded by a bullet in the leg (R. No. -11). They killed people in their houses. Six men, for instance, were -bayonetted in one house (R. No. 15). They dragged a railway employé -from his home and shot him in a field (R. No. 2). “I went back home,” -states a woman who had been seized by the Germans and had escaped (c -18), “and found my husband lying dead outside it. He had been shot -through the head from behind. His pockets had been rifled.” - -Other civilians (the civil population was already accused of having -fired) were collected as hostages,[88] and driven, with their hands -raised above their heads, to an open space on the banks of the River -Démer. “There were about 200 prisoners, some of them invalids taken -from their beds” (c 1). There was a professor from the College among -them (R. No. 9), and an old man of 75 (c 15). After these hostages had -been searched, and had been kept standing by the river, with their arms -up, for two hours, the Burgomaster was brought to them under guard,[89] -and compelled to read out a proclamation, ordering all arms to be given -up, and warning that if a shot were fired by a civilian, the man who -fired it, and four others with him, would be put to death. It was a -gratuitous proceeding, for, several days before the Germans arrived, -the Burgomaster (like most of his colleagues throughout Belgium) had -sent the town crier round, calling on the population to deposit all -arms at the Hôtel-de-Ville, and he had posted placards on the walls to -the same effect (c 4, 7). A priest drew a German officer’s attention to -these placards (c 20), and the Burgomaster himself had already given a -translation of their contents to the German commandant (R. No. 11). -That officer[90] disingenuously represents this act of good faith -as a suspicious circumstance. “To my special surprise,” he states, -“thirty-six more rifles, professedly intended for public processions -and for the Garde Civique, were produced” (from the Hôtel-de-Ville). -“The constituents of ammunition for these rifles were also found packed -in a case.” But the only weapon still found in private hands on the -morning of Aug. 19th was a shot gun used for pigeon shooting (c 1), and -when the owner had fetched it from his home the hostages were released. -Yet at this point 4 more civilians were shot down, two of them father -and son--the son feeble-minded (c 15). - -The Germans quartered in Aerschot were already getting out of hand. -“I saw the dead body of another man in the street,” continues the -witness (c 15) quoted above. “When I got to my house, I found that all -the furniture had been broken, and that the place had been thoroughly -ransacked, and everything of value stolen. When I came out into the -street again I saw the dead body of a man at the door of the next house -to mine. He was my neighbour, and wore a Red Cross brassard on his -arm....” - -The Germans gave themselves up to drink and plunder. “They set about -breaking in the cellar doors, and soon most of them were drunk” (R. -No. 15).--“An officer came to me,” states another witness (c 7), -“and demanded a packet of coffee. He did not pay for it. He gave no -receipt.”--“They broke my shop window,” deposes another. “The shop -front was pillaged in a moment. Then they gutted the shop itself. They -fought each other for the bottles of cognac and rum. In the middle of -this an officer entered. He did not seem at all surprised, and demanded -three bottles of cognac and three of wine for himself. The soldiers, -N.C.O.’s and officers, went down to the cellar and emptied it....” Not -even the Red Cross was spared. The monastery of St. Damien, which had -been turned into an ambulance, was broken into by German soldiers, -who accused the monks of firing and tore the bandages off the wounded -Belgian soldiers to make sure that the wounds were real (R. No. 16). -“Whenever we referred to our membership of the Red Cross,” declares -one of the monks, “our words were received with scornful smiles and -comments, indicating clearly that they made no account of that.” - -[Illustration: 9. LIÉGE IN RUINS] - -[Illustration: 10. “WE LIVE LIKE GOD IN BELGIUM”] - -About 5.0 p.m. Colonel Stenger, the commander of the 8th German -Infantry Brigade, arrived in Aerschot with his staff. They were -quartered in the Burgomaster’s house, in rooms overlooking the square. -Captain Karge, the commander of the divisional military police, was -billeted on the Burgomaster’s brother, also in the square but on -the opposite side. About 8.0 p.m. (German time) Colonel Stenger was -standing on the Burgomaster’s balcony; the Burgomaster, who had just -been allowed to return home, was at his front door, offering the German -sentries cigars, and his wife was close by him; the square was full of -troops, and a supply column was just filing through, when suddenly a -single loud shot was fired, followed immediately by a heavy fusillade. -“I very distinctly saw two columns of smoke,” writes the Burgomaster’s -wife (R. No. 11), “followed by a multitude of discharges.”--“I could -perceive a light cloud of smoke and dust,” states Captain Karge,[91] -who was at his window across the square, “coming from the eaves of -a red corner house.” In a moment the soldiers massed in the square -were in an uproar. “My yard,” continues the Burgomaster’s wife, “was -immediately invaded by horses and by soldiers firing in the air like -madmen.”--“The drivers and transport men,” observes Captain Karge, “had -left their horses and waggons and taken cover from the shots in the -entrances of the houses. Some of the waggons had interlocked, because -the horses, becoming restless, had taken their own course without -the drivers to guide them.” Another German officer[92] thought the -firing came from the north-west outskirts of the town, and was told by -fugitive German soldiers that there were Belgian troops advancing to -the attack. A machine-gun company went out to meet them, and marched -three kilometres before it discovered that there was no enemy, and -turned back. “About 350 yards from the square,” states the commander of -this unit,[93] “I met cavalry dashing backwards and transport waggons -trying to turn round.... I saw shots coming from the houses, whereupon -I ordered the machine guns to be unlimbered and the house fronts on the -left to be fired upon.” - -Who fired the first shot? Who fired the answering volley? There is -abundant evidence, both Belgian and German, of German soldiers firing -in the square and the neighbouring streets; no single instance is -proved, or even alleged, in the German White Book, of a Belgian caught -in the act of firing. “The situation developed,” deposes Captain -Folz,[94] “into our men pressing their backs against the houses, and -firing on any marksman in the opposite house, as soon as he showed -himself.” But were they Belgians at the windows, or Germans taking -cover from the undoubted fire of their comrades, and replying from -these vantage points upon an imaginary foe? “Near the Hôtel-de-Ville,” -continues Captain Folz, “there stood an officer who had the signal -‘Cease Fire’ blown continuously.[95] Clearly this officer desired in -the first place to stop the shooting of our men, in order to set a -systematic action on foot.” - -The German soldiers’ minds had been filled with lying rumours. “I -heard,” declares Captain Karge, “that the King of the Belgians had -decreed that every male Belgian was under obligation to do the German -Army as much harm as possible.... - -“An officer told me he had read on a church door that the Belgians were -forbidden to hold captured German officers on parole, but had to shoot -them.... - -“A seminary teacher assured me” (it was under the threat of death) -“definitely, as I now think that I can distinctly remember, that the -Garde Civique had been ordered to injure the German Army in every -possible way....” - -Thus, when he heard the shots, Captain Karge leapt to his conclusions. -“The regularity of the volleys gave me the impression that the -affair was well organised and possibly under military command.” It -never occurred to him that they might be German volleys commanded by -German officers as apprehensive as himself. “Everywhere, apparently,” -he proceeds, “the firing came, _not from the windows_, but from -roof-openings or prepared loopholes in the attics of the houses.” But -if not from the windows, why not from the square, which was crowded -with German soldiers, when a moment afterwards (admittedly) these very -soldiers were firing furiously? “This” (assumed direction from which -the firing came) “is the explanation of the smallness of the damage -done by the shots to men and animals,” and, in fact, the only victim -the Germans claim is Colonel Stenger, the Brigadier. After the worst -firing was over and the troops were getting under control, Colonel -Stenger was found by his aide-de-camp (A 2), who had come up to his -room to make a report, lying wounded on the floor and on the point of -death. Captain Folz (A 5) records that “the Regimental Surgeon of the -Infantry Regiment No. 140, who made a post-mortem examination of the -body in his presence on the following day, found in the aperture of -the breast wound a deformed leaden bullet, which had been shattered by -contact with a hard object.” It remains to prove that the bullet was -not German. The German White Book does not include any report from the -examining surgeon himself. - -Meanwhile, the town and people of Aerschot were given over to -destruction. “I now took some soldiers,” proceeds Captain Karge, “and -went with them towards the house from which the shooting”--in Captain -Karge’s belief--“had first come.... I ordered the doors and windows -of the ground floor, which were securely locked, to be broken in. -Thereupon I pushed into the house with the others, and using a fairly -large quantity of turpentine, which was found in a can of about 20 -litres capacity, and which I had poured out partly on the first storey -and then down the stairs and on the ground floor, succeeded in setting -the house on fire in a very short time. Further, I had ordered the -men not taking part in this to guard the entrances of the house and -arrest all male persons escaping from it. When I left the burning house -several civilians, including a young priest, had been arrested from the -_adjoining_ houses. I had these brought to the square, where in the -meantime my company of military police had collected. - -“I then ... took command of all prisoners, among whom I set free the -women, boys and girls. I was ordered by a staff officer to shoot the -prisoners. Then I ordered my police ... to escort the prisoners and -take them out of the town. Here, at the exit, a house was burning, -and by the light of it I had the culprits--88 in number, after I had -separated out three cripples--shot....” - -[Illustration: 11. HAELEN] - -[Illustration: 12. AERSCHOT] - -These 88 victims were only a preliminary batch. The whole population of -Aerschot was being hunted out of the houses by the German troops and -driven together into the square. They were driven along with brutal -violence. “One of the Germans thrust at me with his bayonet,” states -one woman (c 9), “which passed through my skirt and behind my knees. -I was too frightened to notice much.”--“When we got into the street,” -states another (c 10), “other German soldiers fired at us. I was -carrying a child in my arms, and a bullet passed through my left hand -and my child’s left arm. The child was also hit on the fundament.... In -the hospital, on Aug. 22nd, I saw three women die of wounds.”--“In the -ambulance at the Institut Damien,” reports the monk quoted above, “we -nursed four women, several civilians and some children. A one-year-old -child had received a bayonet wound in its thigh while its mother was -carrying it in her arms. Several civilians had burns on their bodies -and bullet wounds as well. They told us how the soldiers set fire to -the houses and fired on the suffocating inhabitants when they tried to -escape.” - -As elsewhere, the incendiarism was systematic. “They used a special -apparatus, something like a big rifle, for throwing naphtha or some -similar inflammable substance” (c 19).--“I was taken to the officer in -command,” states a professor (c 14). “I found him personally assisting -in setting fire to a house. He and his men were lighting matches and -setting them to the curtains.”--“We saw a whole street burning, in -which I possessed two houses,” deposes a native of Aerschot, who was -being driven towards the square. “We heard children and beasts crying -in the flames” (c 2). A civilian went out into the street to see if -his mother was in a burning house. He was shot down by Germans at -a distance of 18 yards (c 5). Another householder (R. No. 5) threw -his child out of the first-floor window of his burning house, jumped -out himself, and broke both his legs. His wife was burnt alive. “The -Germans with their rifles prevented anyone going to help this man, and -he had to drag himself along with his legs broken as best he could” (c -19).--“The whole upper part of my house caught fire,” declares another -(R. No. 13), “when there were a dozen people in it. The Germans had -blocked the street door to prevent them coming out. They tried in vain -to reach the neighbouring roofs.... The Germans were firing on everyone -in the streets....” - -By this time the Germans were mostly drunk (c9) and lost to all reason -or shame. Two men and a boy stepped out of the door of a public-house -in which they had taken refuge with others. “As soon as we got outside -we saw the flash of rifles and heard the report.... We came in as -quickly as we could and shut the door. The German soldiers entered. The -first man who entered said, ‘You have been shooting,’ and the others -kept repeating the same words. They pointed their revolvers at us, and -threatened to shoot us if we moved” (c 4). - -In another building about 22 captured Belgian soldiers (some of them -wounded) and six civilian hostages were under guard. They were dragged -out to the banks of the Démer and shot down by two companies of German -troops. “I was hit,” explains one of the two survivors (a soldier -already wounded before being taken prisoner), “but an officer saw that -I was still breathing, and when a soldier wanted to shoot me again, he -ordered him to throw me into the Démer. I clung to a branch and set my -feet against the stones on the river-bottom. I stayed there till the -following morning, with only my head above water....” (R. No. 8). - -The Burgomaster’s house was the first to be cleared. Colonel Stenger’s -aide-de-camp dragged the Burgomaster out of the cellar where he and his -family had taken refuge, and carried him off under guard. Half-an-hour -later the aide-de-camp returned for the Burgomaster’s wife and his -fifteen-year-old son. “My poor child,” writes the Burgomaster’s wife, -“could scarcely walk because of his wound. The aide-de-camp kicked him -along. I shut my eyes to see no more....” (R. No. 11). - -“When we reached the square,” the same witness continues, “we found -there all our neighbours. A girl near me was fainting with grief. Her -father and two brothers had been shot, and they had torn her from her -dying mother’s bedside. (They found her, nine hours later, dead). All -the houses on the right side of the square were ablaze. One could -detect the perfect order and method with which they were proceeding. -There was none of the feverishness of men left to pillage by -themselves. I am positive they were acting with orderliness and under -orders.... From time to time, soldiers emerged from our house, with -their arms full of bottles of wine. They were opening our windows, and -all the interiors were stripped bare....”--“The square was one blaze of -fire,” states a blacksmith (c 1), “and the civilians were obliged to -stand there close to the flames from the burning houses.”--“They put -the women and children on one side,” adds a woman (c 7). “I was among -them, and my 5 children--one boy of fifteen and 4 girls. I saw that -many of the men had their hands tied. They took the men away along the -road to Louvain....” - -The men were being led out of the town, as Captain Karge’s prisoners -had been led out a few hours before, to be shot. The Burgomaster, his -brother, and his son were in this second convoy. “Under the glare of -the conflagration,” writes the Burgomaster’s wife, “my eyes fell upon -my husband, my son and my brother-in-law, who were being led, with -other men, to execution. For fear of breaking down his courage, I -could not even cry out to my husband: ‘I am here.’” There were 50 or -60 prisoners altogether, and another batch of 30 followed behind.[96] -“They made us walk in the same position, hands up, for 20 minutes,” -one survivor states (c 4). “When we got tired we put our hands on our -heads.”--“One of the prisoners,” states a second member of the convoy -(c 8), “was struck on the back with a rifle-butt by a German soldier. -The young man said: ‘O my father.’ His father said: ‘Keep quiet, my -boy.’ Another soldier thrust his bayonet into the thigh of another -prisoner, and afterwards compelled him to walk on with the rest.”--“Our -hands,” states a third (R. No. 7), “were bound behind our backs with -copper wire--so tightly that our wrists were cut and bled. We were -compelled to lie down, still bound, on our backs, with our heads -touching the ground. About six in the morning, they decided to begin -the executions.” - -An officer read out a document to the prisoners.--One out of three was -to be shot. “It was read out like an article of the law. He read in -German, but we understood it.... They took all the young men....” (c 4). - -The Burgomaster’s chief political opponent was among the prisoners. He -offered his life for the Burgomaster’s--“The Burgomaster’s life was -essential to the welfare of the town.” The Burgomaster pleaded for his -fellow citizens, and then for his son. The officer answered that he -must have them all--the Burgomaster, his son and his brother. “The boy -got up and stood between his father and uncle.... The shots rang out, -and the three bodies fell heavily one upon another....” (R. No. 7). - -“The rest were drawn up in ranks of three. They numbered them--one, -two, three. Each number three had to step out of his rank and fall in -behind the corpses; they were going to be shot, the Germans said. My -brother and I were next to each other--I number two, he three. I asked -the officer if I might take my brother’s place: ‘My mother is a widow. -My brother has finished his education, and is more useful than I!’ The -officer was again implacable. ‘Step out, number three.’ We embraced, -and my brother joined the rest. There were about 30 of them lined up. -Then the German soldiers moved slowly along the line, killing three at -every discharge--each time at the officer’s word of command” (R. No. 7). - -The last man in the line was spared as a medical student and member -of the Red Cross (R. No. 5). The survivors were set free. On their -way back they passed another batch going to their death (R. No. 7). -They passed the corpse of a woman on the road, and another in the -cattle-market (c 17). Other inhabitants of Aerschot were forced to bury -all the corpses on the Louvain road in the course of the same day. They -brought back to the women of Aerschot the sure knowledge that their -husbands, sons and brothers were dead.[97] - -The rest of what happened at Aerschot is quickly told. When the Germans -had marched the second convoy of men out of the town and dismissed -the women from the square, they evacuated the town themselves[98] and -bombarded it from outside with artillery;[99] but in the daylight of -Aug. 20th they came back again, and burned and pillaged continuously -for three days--taking not only food and clothing but valuables -of every kind, and loading them methodically on waggons and motor -cars.[100] On the evening of the 20th, the Institut Damien, hospital -though it was, was compelled to provide quarters for 1,100 men. “We -spent all night giving food and drink to this mob, of whom many were -drunk. We collected 800 empty bottles next morning.”[101] - -On Aug. 26th and 27th the remnant of the population--about 600 men, -women, and children, who had not perished or fled--were herded into the -church.[102] They were given little food, and no means of sanitation. -On the evening of the 27th a squad of German soldiers amused themselves -by firing through the church door over the heads of the hostages, -against the opposite wall. On the 28th the monks of St. Damien were -brought there also. (Their hospital was closed, and the patients turned -out of their beds.) The rest of the hostages were marched that day to -Louvain. There were little children among them, and women with child, -and men too old to walk. At Louvain, in the Place de la Station, they -were fired upon, and a number were wounded and killed. The survivors -were released on the 29th, but when they returned to Aerschot they -were arrested and imprisoned again--the men in the church, the women -in a chateau. The women and children were released the day following -(that day the active troops at Aerschot were replaced by a landsturm -garrison, who began to pillage the town once more).[103] The men were -kept prisoners till Sept. 6th, when those not of military age were -released and the remainder (about 70) deported by train to Germany. All -the monks were deported, whatever their age.[104] - -“On Aug. 31st,” writes a German landsturmer in his diary,[105] “we -entered Aerschot to guard the station. On Sept. 2nd I had a little time -off duty, which I spent in visiting the town. No one, without seeing -it, could form any idea of the condition it is in.... In all my life I -shall never drink more wine than I drank here.” - -Three hundred and eighty-six houses were burnt at Aerschot, 1,000 -plundered, 150 inhabitants killed, and after this destruction the -Germans admitted the innocence of their victims. “It was a beastly -mess,” a German non-commissioned officer confessed to one of the monks -in the church of Aerschot on Aug. 29th.[106] “It was our soldiers who -fired, but they have been punished.” - - -(iii) _The Aerschot District._ - -The smaller places round Aerschot suffered in their degree. At -_Nieuw-Rhode_ 200 houses (out of 321) were plundered, one civilian -killed, and 27 deported to Germany. At _Gelrode_,[107] on August 19th, -the Germans seized 21 civilians as hostages, imprisoned them in the -church, and then shot one in every three against a wall--the rest -were marched to Louvain and imprisoned in the church there. None of -them were discovered with arms, for the Burgomaster of Gelrode had -collected all arms in private hands before the Germans arrived. The -priest of Gelrode[108] was dragged away to Aerschot on August 27th by -German soldiers. “When they got to the churchyard the priest was struck -several times by each soldier on the head. Then they pushed him against -the wall of the church” (c24).--“His hands were raised above his head. -Five or six soldiers stood immediately in front of him.... When he let -his hands drop a little, soldiers brought down their rifle butts on his -feet” (c25). Finally they led him away to be shot, and his corpse was -thrown into the Démer. - -Eighteen civilians altogether were shot in the commune of Gelrode, -and 99 deported to Germany. Twenty-three houses were burnt, and 131 -plundered, out of 201 in the village. - -At _Tremeloo_[109] 214 houses were burnt and 3 civilians killed (one -of them an old man of 72). A number of women were raped at Tremeloo. - -At _Rotselaer_[110] 67 houses were burnt, 38 civilians killed, and -120 deported to Germany. A girl who was raped by five Germans went -out of her mind (c52). The priest of Rotselaer was deported with his -parishioners. The men of the village had been confined in the church -on the night of August 22nd, again on the night of the 23rd, and then -consecutively till the morning of the 27th. The priest of Herent (who -was more than 70 years old)[111] and other men from Herent, Wackerzeel, -and Thildonck, were imprisoned with them, till there were a thousand -people in the church altogether. The women brought them what food could -be found, but for five days they could neither wash nor sleep. On the -27th they were marched to Louvain with a batch of prisoners taken from -Louvain itself, and were sent on the terrible journey in cattle-trucks -to Aix-la-Chapelle. - -At _Wespelaer_[112] the destruction was complete. Out of 297 houses 47 -were burnt and 250 gutted. Twenty-one inhabitants were killed. “The -Germans shot the owner of the first house burnt on his doorstep, and -his twenty-years-old daughter inside.... I only saw one man shot with -my own eyes--a man who had an old carbine in his house. It had not been -used; he was not carrying it.... In another house a married couple, 80 -years old, were burnt alive” (c60). - -At _Campenhout_[113] the Germans burned 85 houses and killed 14 -civilians. In a rich man’s house, where officers were quartered, they -rifled the wine cellar and shot the mistress of the house in cold blood -as she entered the room where they were drinking. “The other officers -continued to drink and sing, and did not pay great attention to the -killing of my mistress,” states a servant who was present. As they -continued their advance, the Germans collected about 400 men, women and -children (some of the women with babies in their arms) from Campenhout, -Elewyt and Malines, and drove them forward as a screen, with the priest -of Campenhout at their head, against the Belgian forces holding the -outer ring of the Antwerp lines.[114] - -The devastation of this district is described by a witness who walked -through it, from Brussels to Aerschot, after the Germans had passed (c -25). “We traversed the village of Werchter, where there had been no -battle, but it had been in the occupation of the Germans, and on all -sides of this village we saw burnt-down houses and traces of plunder -and havoc. In Wespelaer and Rotselaer and Wesemael we saw the same. -We did not pass through the village of Gelrode, but close to it, and -we saw that houses had been burnt down there. In Aerschot the Malines -Street, Hamer Street, Théophile Becker Street and other streets were -completely burnt. Half the Grand Place had been burnt down....” - - -(iv) _The Retreat from Malines._ - -Yet the devastation done by the Germans in their advance was light -compared with the outrages they committed when the Belgian sortie of -August 25th drove them back from Malines towards the Aerschot-Louvain -line. - -In _Malines_ itself[115] they destroyed 1,500 houses from first to -last, and revenged themselves atrociously on the civil population. A -Belgian soldier saw them bayonet an old woman in the back, and cut off -a young woman’s breasts (d 1). Another saw them bayonet a woman and -her son (d 2). They shot a police inspector in the stomach as he came -out of his door, and blew off the head of an old woman at a window (d -3). A child of two came out into the street as eight drunken soldiers -were marching by. “A man in the second file stepped aside and drove his -bayonet with both hands into the child’s stomach. He lifted the child -into the air on his bayonet and carried it away, he and his comrades -still singing. The child screamed when the soldier struck it with -his bayonet, but not afterwards.” This incident is reported by two -witnesses (d 4-5). Another woman was found dead with twelve bayonet -wounds between her shoulders and her waist (d 7). Another--between 16 -and 20 years old--who had been killed by a bayonet, “was kneeling, and -her hands were clasped, and the bayonet had pierced both hands. I also -saw a boy of about 16,” continues the witness, “who had been killed by -a bayonet thrust through his mouth.” In the same house there was an old -woman lying dead (d 9). - -The next place from which the Germans were driven was _Hofstade_,[116] -and here, too, they revenged themselves before they went. They left -the corpses of women lying in the streets. There was an old woman -mutilated with the bayonet.[117] There was a young pregnant woman who -had been ripped open.[118] In the lodge of a chateau the porter’s body -was found lying on a heap of straw.[119] He had been bayonetted in the -stomach--evidently while in bed, for the empty bed was soaked with -blood. The blacksmith of Hofstade--also bayonetted in the stomach--was -lying on his doorstep.[120] Adjoining the blacksmith’s house there was -a café, and here a middle-aged woman lay dead, and a boy of about 16. -The boy was found kneeling in an attitude of supplication. Both his -hands had been cut off. “One was on the ground, the other hanging by a -bit of skin” (d 25). His face was smeared with blood. He was seen in -this condition by twenty-five separate witnesses, whose testimony is -recorded in the Bryce Report.[121] Several saw him before he was quite -dead. - -In one house at Hofstade[122] the Belgian troops found the dead bodies -of two women and a man. One of the women, who was middle-aged, had been -bayonetted in the stomach; the other, who was about 20 years old, had -been bayonetted in the head, and her legs had been almost severed from -her body. The man had been bayonetted through the head. In another room -the body of a ten-year-old boy was suspended from a hanging lamp. He -had been killed first by a bayonet wound in the stomach. - -“I went with an artilleryman,” states another Belgian soldier,[123] “to -find his parents who lived in Hofstade. All the houses were burning -except the one where this man’s parents lived. On forcing the door, we -saw lying on the floor of the room on which it opened the dead bodies -of a man, a woman, a girl, and a boy, who, the artilleryman told us, -were his father and mother and brother and sister. Each of them had -both feet cut off just above the ankle, and both hands just above the -wrist. The poor boy rushed straight off, took one of the horses from -his gun, and rode in the direction of the German lines. We never saw -him again....” - -Retreating from Hofstade, the Germans drove about 200 of the -inhabitants with them as a screen, to cover their flank against the -Belgian attack.[124] At _Muysen_ they killed 6 civilians and burned 450 -houses. “There were broken wine bottles lying about everywhere” (d 88). - -At _Sempst_,[125] as they evacuated the village, they dragged the -inhabitants out of their houses. One old man who expostulated was -shot by an officer with a revolver,[126] and his son was shot when he -attempted to escape. They fired down into the cellars and up through -the ceilings to drive the people out (d 68). The hostages were taken to -the bridge. “One young man was carrying in his arms his little brother, -10 or 11 years old, who had been run over before the war and could not -walk. The soldiers told the man to hold up his arms. He said he could -not, as he must hold his brother, who could not walk. Then a German -soldier hit him on the head with a revolver, and he let the child -fall....” - -[Illustration: 13. BRUSSELS: A BOOKING-OFFICE] - -[Illustration: 14. MALINES AFTER BOMBARDMENT] - -In one house they bound a bed-ridden man to his bed, and shot another -man in the presence of 13 children who were in the house (d 29). In -another house they burned a woman and two children (d 71); they burned -the owner of a bicycle shop in his shop;[127] these four bodies were -found, carbonised, by the Belgian troops. The Belgians also found a -woman dead in the street, with four bayonet wounds in her body (d 36), -and saw an Uhlan overtake a woman driving in a cart, thrust his lance -through her body, and then shoot her in the chest with his carbine (d -80). In a farmhouse the farmer was found with his head cut off. His two -sons, killed by bullet wounds, were lying beside him. His wife, whose -left breast had been cut off, was still alive, and told how, when her -eight-year-old son had gone up a ladder into the loft, the Germans had -pulled away the ladder and set the building on fire.[128] Twenty-seven -houses were burnt at Sempst, 200 sacked, 18 inhabitants killed, and 34 -deported to Germany. - -At _Weerde_ 34 houses were burnt. As the Germans retreated they -bayonetted two little girls standing in the road and tossed them into -the flames of a burning house--their mother was standing by (d 85). -At _Eppeghem_[129] 176 houses were burnt, 8 civilians killed, and -125 deported. The killing was done with the bayonet. A woman with -child, whose stomach had been slashed open, died in the hospital at -Malines. When the Germans returned to Eppeghem again, they used the -remaining civilians as a screen. On August 28th they did the same at -_Elewyt_,[130] not even exempting old men or women with child. We -have the testimony of a Belgian priest who was driven in the screen, -and of a Belgian soldier in the trenches against which the screen was -driven. A hundred and thirty-three houses were burnt at Elewyt, and -10 civilians killed. The Belgian troops found the body of a man tied -naked to a ring in a wall. His head was riddled with bullets, there was -a bayonet wound in his chest, and he had been mutilated obscenely. A -woman, also mutilated obscenely after violation, was lying dead on the -ground. In another house a man and a woman were found, with bayonet -wounds all over their bodies, on the floor. At _Perck_ 180 houses (out -of 243) were sacked and 5 civilians killed. At _Bueken_ 50 houses were -burnt, 30 sacked (out of 84), and 8 civilians killed. The victims were -killed in a meadow in the sight of the women and children.[131] Among -them was the parish priest.[132] “He was a man 75 or 80 years old. -He could not walk fast enough. He was driven along with blows from -rifle-butts and knocked down. He cried out: ‘I can go no further,’ and -a soldier thrust a bayonet into his neck at the back--the blood flowed -out in quantities. The old man begged to be shot, but the officer said: -‘That is too good for you.’ He was taken off behind a house and we -heard shots. He did not return....” (d 97, cp. 98). At _Vilvorde_[133] -33 houses were burnt and 6 civilians killed. In the whole _Canton of -Vilvorde_, in which all these places, except Malines, lay, 611 houses -were burnt, 1,665 plundered, 90 civilians killed, and 177 deported to -Germany. - -The devastation spread through the whole zone of the German retreat. -At _Capelle-au-Bois_[134] the Belgian troops found two girls hanging -naked from a tree with their breasts cut off, and two women bayonetted -in a house, caught as they were making preparations to flee. A woman -told them how German soldiers had held her down by force, while other -soldiers had violated her daughter successively in an adjoining room. -Four civilians were killed at Capelle-au-Bois and 235 houses burnt. -At _Londerzeel_[135] 18 houses were burnt and one civilian killed. He -was a man who had tried to prevent the Germans from violating his -two daughters. When the Germans re-entered Londerzeel they used the -civilian population as a screen. At _Ramsdonck_, near Londerzeel, a -woman and two children were shot by the Germans as they were flying for -protection towards the Belgian lines.[136] At _Wolverthem_ 10 houses -were burnt and 5 people killed. At _Meysse_ 3 houses were burnt and 350 -sacked, 2 civilians killed and 29 deported. At _Beyghem_ 32 houses were -burnt. At _Pont-Brûlé_,[137] on Aug. 25th, the priest was imprisoned -with 28 other civilian hostages in a room. The German soldiers -compelled him to hold up his hands for hours, and struck him when he -lowered them from fatigue. They compelled his fellow-prisoners to spit -on him. They tore up his breviary and threw the fragments in his face. -When he fainted they threw pails of water on him to revive him. As he -was reviving he was shot. Fifty-eight houses were burnt in the commune -of Pont-Brûlé-Grimbergen, 5 civilians shot, and 65 deported. These -places lay in the _Canton of Wolverthem_, west of the river Senne, -between Termonde, Malines, and Brussels. In the whole canton 426 houses -were burnt, 1,292 plundered, 29 civilians killed, and 182 deported to -Germany. - -[Illustration: 15. MALINES: RUINS] - -[Illustration: 16. MALINES: RUINS] - -In the district between Malines and Aerschot it was the same, and -places which had suffered already on Aug. 19th were devastated again -on Aug. 25th and the following days. At _Hever_[138] in the Canton of -Haecht, a baby was found hanged by the neck to the handle of a door. -Thirty-five houses were burnt. At _Boortmeerbeek_[139] 103 houses were -burnt and 300 sacked (out of 437); 5 civilians were killed--one of -them a little girl who was bayonetted in the road. At _Haecht_[140] -5 men were seized as hostages and then shot in cold blood. One of -them survived, though he was bayonetted twice after the shooting to -“finish him off.” Seven others were stripped naked and threatened with -bayonets, but instead of being killed they were used as a screen. The -Belgian troops found the body of a woman on the road, stripped to -the waist and with the breasts cut off. There was another woman with -her head cut off and her body mutilated. There was a child with its -stomach slashed open with a bayonet, and another--two or three years -old--nailed to a door by its hands and feet. At Haecht 40 houses were -burnt. - -At _Thildonck_ 31 houses were burnt and 10 civilians killed. Seven of -those killed in the commune of Thildonck belonged to the family of the -two Valckenaers brothers, whose farms (situated close to one another) -were occupied by the Belgian troops early on the morning of August -26th. As the Germans counter-attacked, the Belgian soldiers opened -fire on them from the farm buildings and then retired. A platoon of -Germans, with an officer at their head, entered Isodore Valckenaers’ -farm (where the whole family was gathered) about 8.0 a.m. Isodore and -two of his nephews--barely more than boys--were shot at once. His -daughter, who clung to him and begged for his life, was torn away. The -two young men were killed instantaneously. The elder, though horribly -wounded by the bullet, survived, and was rescued next day. The rest of -the family--a group of eleven women and children, for François-Edouard -Valckenaers, the other brother, was away--were shot down half-an-hour -later. They were herded together in the garden and fired on from all -sides. Madame Isodore Valckenaers was holding her youngest baby in her -arms. The bullet broke the child’s arm and mangled its face, and then -tore the mother’s lip and destroyed one of her eyes. (The baby died, -but the mother survived.) Madame F.-E. Valckenaers also survived--her -dress was spattered with the brains of her fourteen-year-old son, -whom she was holding by the hand. Five died altogether out of this -group of eleven--some instantaneously, some after hours of agony. The -eldest of them was only eighteen, the youngest was two-and-a-half. -Thus seven of the Valckenaers’ family were killed in all out of the -fourteen present, and three were severely wounded. Only four were left -unscathed.[141] - -At _Werchter_[142] 267 houses were burnt and 162 sacked (out of 496), -15 civilians were killed, and 32 deported. The priests of _Wygmael_ -and _Wesemael_ were dragged away as hostages, and driven, with a crowd -of civilians from Herent, as a screen in front of the German troops -on Aug. 29th. At Wesemael 46 houses were burnt, 13 civilians killed -and 324 deported. At _Holsbeek_ one civilian was killed and 35 houses -burnt. In the whole _Canton of Haecht_ 899 houses were burnt, 1,772 -plundered, 116 civilians killed, and 647 deported. - -As the Germans fell back south-eastward, the devastation spread -into the Canton of Louvain. “When the Germans first arrived at -_Herent_,”[143] states a witness (d 97), “they did nothing, but when -they were repulsed from Malines they began to ill-treat the civilians.” -They shot a man at his door, and threw another man’s body into a -burning house. At _Aanbosch_, a hamlet of Herent, they dragged 4 men -and 9 women out of their houses and bayonetted them. In the commune -of Herent they killed 22 civilians (the priest was among the later -victims)[144] and deported 104 altogether, burned 312 houses and sacked -200. At _Velthem_ they killed 14 civilians and burned 44 houses. At -_Winxele_ they burned 57 houses and killed 5 civilians--the soldier -who had shot and bayonetted one of them thrust his bayonet into the -faces of the hostages: “Smell, smell! It is the blood of a Belgian -pig” (d 97-8). At _Corbeek-Loo_ 20 civilians were killed, 62 deported, -and 129 houses burnt. At _Wilsele_ 36 houses were burnt and 7 people -killed. One of them was an epileptic who had a seizure while he was -being carried away as a hostage. Since he could go no further, he was -shot through the head (d 129). At _Kessel-Loo_ 59 people were killed -and 461 houses burnt; at _Linden_ 6 and 103; at _Heverlé_ 6 and 95. In -the whole _Canton of Louvain_ 2,441 houses were burnt, 2,722 plundered, -251 civilians killed, and 831 deported. About 40 per cent. of this -destruction was done in the City of Louvain itself, on the night of -August 25th and on the following nights and days. The destruction of -Louvain was the greatest organised outrage which the Germans committed -in the course of their invasion of Belgium and France, and as such it -stands by itself. But it was also the inevitable climax of the outrages -to which they had abandoned themselves in their retreat upon Louvain -from Malines. The Germans burned and massacred invariably, wherever -they passed, but there was a bloodthirstiness and obscenity in their -conduct on this retreat which is hardly paralleled in their other -exploits, and which put them in the temper for the supreme crime which -followed. - - -(v) _Louvain._ - -The Germans entered _Louvain_ on August 19th. The Belgian troops did -not attempt to hold the town, and the civil authorities had prepared -for the Germans’ arrival. They had called in all arms in private -possession and deposited them in the Hôtel-de-Ville. This had been -done a fortnight before the German occupation,[145] and was repeated, -for security, on the morning of the 19th itself.[146] The municipal -commissary of police remarked the exaggerated conscientiousness with -which the order was obeyed. “Antiquarian pieces, flint-locks and -even razors were handed in.”[147] The people of Louvain were indeed -terrified. They had heard what had happened in the villages round -Liége, at Tongres and at St. Trond, and on the evening (August 18th) -before the Germans arrived the refugees from Tirlemont had come pouring -through the town.[148] The Burgomaster, like his colleagues in other -Belgian towns, had posted placards on August 18th, enjoining confidence -and calm. - -The German entry on the 19th took place without disturbance. Large -requisitions were at once made on the town by the German Command. -The troops were billeted on the inhabitants. In one house an officer -demanded quarters for 50 men. “Revolver in hand, he inspected every -bedroom minutely. ‘If anything goes wrong, you are all _kaput_.’ -That was how he finished the business.”[149] It was vacation time, -and the lodgings of the University students were empty. Many houses -were shut up altogether, and these were broken into and pillaged by -the German soldiers.[150] They pillaged enormous quantities of wine, -without interference on the part of their officers. “The soldiers did -not scruple to drain in the street the contents of stolen bottles, -and drunken soldiers were common objects.”[151] There was also a -great deal of wanton destruction--“furniture destroyed, mirrors and -picture-frames smashed, carpets spoilt and so on.”[152] The house of -Professor van Gehuchten, a scientist of international eminence, was -treated with especial malice. This is testified by a number of people, -including the Professor’s son. “They destroyed, tore up and threw -into the street my father’s manuscripts and books (which were very -numerous), and completely wrecked his library and its contents. They -also destroyed the manuscript of an important work of my late father’s -which was in the hands of the printer.”[153]--“This misdemeanour made -a scandal,” states another witness. “It was brought to the knowledge -of the German general, who seemed much put out, but took no measures -of protection.”[154] The pillage was even systematic. A servant, left -by an absent professor in charge of his house, found on August 20th -that the Germans “had five motor-vans outside the premises. I saw -them removing from my master’s house wine, blankets, books, etc., and -placing them in the vans. They stripped the whole place of everything -of value, including the furniture.... I saw them smashing glass and -crockery and the windows.”[155] On August 20th there were already -acts of violence in the outskirts of the town. At Corbeek-Loo a girl -of sixteen was violated by six soldiers and bayonetted in five places -for offering resistance. Her parents were kept off with rifles.[156] -By noon on August 20th the town itself “was like a stable. Streets, -pavements, public squares and trampled flower beds had disappeared -under a layer of manure.”[157] - -On August 20th the German military authorities covered the walls -with proclamations: “Atrocities have been committed by (Belgian) -franc-tireurs.”[158]--“If anything happens to the German troops, -_le total sera responsable_”[159] (an attempt to render in French -the Prussian doctrine of collective responsibility). Doors must be -left open at night. Windows fronting the street must be lighted up. -Inhabitants must be within doors between 8.0 p.m. and 7.0 a.m. Most of -these placards were ready-made in German, French and Russian. There -were no placards in Flemish till after the events of August 25th. Yet -Flemish was the only language spoken and understood by at least half -the population of Louvain. - -[Illustration: 17. MALINES: CARDINAL MERCIER’S STATE-ROOM AS A RED -CROSS HOSPITAL] - -[Illustration: 18. MALINES: THE CARDINAL’S THRONE-ROOM] - -Hostages were also taken by the German authorities.[160] The -Burgomaster, a City Councillor and a Senator were confined under guard -in the Hôtel-de-Ville on the first day of occupation. From August 21st -onwards they were replaced successively by other notables, including -the Rector and Vice-Rector of the University. On August 21st there was -another German proclamation, in which the inhabitants were called upon -(for the third time) to deliver up their arms.[161] Requisitions and -acts of pillage by individual officers and soldiers continued, and on -the evening of August 24th the Burgomaster was dragged to the Railway -Station and threatened with a revolver by a German officer, who had -arrived with 250 men by train and demanded a hot meal and mattresses -for them at once. Major von Manteuffel, the Etappen-Kommandant in the -city, was called in and the Burgomaster was released, but without -reparation.[162] On that day, too, the German wounded were removed -from Louvain[163]--an ominous precaution--and in the course of the -following day there were spoken warnings.[164] On the morning of this -day, Tuesday, August 25th, Madame Roomans, a notary’s wife, is said to -have been warned by the German officers billeted on her to leave the -town. In the afternoon, about 5.0 o’clock, another lady reported how -an officer, billeted on her and taking his leave, had added: “I hope -you will be spared, for now it is going to begin.” At supper time, when -the first shots were fired and the alarm was sounded, officers billeted -on various households are said to have exclaimed “Poor people!”--or to -have wept. - -On the morning of August 25th there were few German troops in Louvain. -The greater part of those that had entered the town since the 19th -had passed on to the front in the direction of Malines, and were -now engaged in resisting the Belgian sortie from Antwerp, which was -made this day. As the Belgian offensive made progress, the sound of -the cannon became louder and louder in Louvain,[165] and the German -garrison grew increasingly uneasy. Despatch riders from the front kept -arriving at the Kommandantur;[166] at 4.0 o’clock a general alarm was -sounded;[167] the troops in the town assembled and marched out towards -the north-western suburbs;[168] military waggons drove in from the -north-west in disorder, “their drivers grasping revolvers and looking -very much excited.”[169] At the same time, reinforcements[170] began -to detrain at the _Station_, which stands at the eastern extremity of -the town, and is connected with the central _Grand’ Place_ and with -the University buildings by the broad, straight line of the _Rue de la -Station_, flanked with the private houses of the wealthier inhabitants. -These fresh troops were billeted hastily by their officers in the -quarters nearest the _Station_.[171] The cavalry were concentrated -in the _Place du Peuple_, a large square lying a short distance to -the left of the _Rue de la Station_, about half-way towards the -_Grand’ Place_.[172] The square was already crowded with the transport -that had been sent back during the day from the front.[173] As the -reinforcements kept on detraining, and the quarters near the _Station_ -filled up, the later arrivals went on to the _Grand’ Place_ and the -_Hôtel-de-Ville_,[174] which was the seat of the Kommandantur. - -During all this time the agitation increased. About 7.0 o’clock a -company of Landsturm which had marched out in the afternoon to the -north-western outskirts of the town, were ordered back by their -battalion commander to the _Place de la Station_--the extensive square -in front of the _station buildings_, out of which the _Rue de la -Station_ leads into the middle of the city.[175] The military police -pickets[176] in the centre of the city were on the alert. Between -7.0 and 7.30 the alarm was sounded again,[177] and the troops who -had arrived that afternoon assembled from their billets and stood to -arms.[178] The tension among them was extreme. They had been travelling -hard all day; they had entered the town at dusk; it was now dark, and -they did not know their way about the streets, nor from what quarter -to expect the enemy forces, which were supposed to be on the point of -making their appearance. It was in these circumstances that, a few -minutes past eight o’clock, the shooting in Louvain broke out. - -All parties agree that it broke out in answer to signals. A Belgian -witness,[179] living near the _Tirlemont Gate_, saw a German -military motor-car dash up from the _Boulevard de Tirlemont_, make -luminous signals at the Gate, and then dash off again. A fusillade -immediately followed. The German troops bivouacked in the _Place de -la Station_ saw two rockets, the first green and the second red, rise -in quick succession from the centre of the town.[180] They found -themselves under fire immediately afterwards. A similar rocket was seen -later in the night to rise above the conflagration.[181] It is natural -to suppose that the rockets, as well as the lights on the car, were -German military signals of the kind commonly used in European armies -for signalling in the dark. There had been two false alarms already -that afternoon and evening; there is nothing incredible in a third. The -German troops in the _Place de la Station_ assumed that the signals -were of Belgian origin (and therefore of civilian origin, as the -Belgian troops did not after all reach the town), because these signals -were followed by firing directed against themselves. They could not -believe that the shots were fired in error by their own comrades, yet -there is convincing evidence that this was the case. - -It is certain that German troops fired on each other in at least two -places--in the _Rue de la Station_ and in the _Rue de Bruxelles_, which -leads into the _Grand’ Place_ from the opposite direction. - -“We were at supper,” states a Belgian witness,[182] whose house was in -the _Rue de la Station_, “when about 8.15, shots were suddenly fired in -the street by German cavalry coming from the _Station_. The troops who -were bivouacked in the square replied, and an automobile on its way to -the _Station_ had to stop abruptly opposite my house and reverse, while -its occupants fired. Within a few seconds the din of revolver and rifle -shots had become terrific. The fusillade was sustained, and spread -(north-eastward) towards the _Boulevard de Diest_. It became so furious -that there was even gun-fire. The encounter between the German troops -continued as far as the _Grand’ Place_, where on at least two occasions -there was machine-gun fire. The fight lasted for from fifteen to twenty -minutes with desperation; it persisted an hour longer after that, but -with less violence.” - -[Illustration: 19. CAPELLE-AU-BOIS] - -[Illustration: 20. CAPELLE-AU-BOIS] - -“At the stroke of eight,” states another witness,[183] “shots were -heard by us, coming from the direction of the _Place du Peuple_, where -the German cavalry was concentrated. Part of the baggage-train, which -was stationed in the _Rue Léopold_, turned right about and went off -at a gallop towards the _Station_. I was at my front door and heard -the bullets whistling as they came from the _Place du Peuple_. At this -moment a sustained fusillade broke out, and there was a succession of -cavalry-charges in the direction of the _Station_.” - -The stampede in the _Place du Peuple_ is described by a German -officer[184] who was present. “I heard the clock strike in a tower.... -Complete darkness already prevailed. At the same moment I saw a green -rocket go up above the houses south-west of the square.... Firing was -directed on the German troops in the square.... Whilst riding round -the square, I was shot from my horse on the north-eastern side. I -distinctly heard the rattling of machine-guns, and the bullets flew in -great numbers round about me.... After I had fallen from my horse, I -was run over by an artillery transport waggon, the horses of which had -been frightened by the firing and stampeded....” - -The shots by which this officer was wounded evidently came from German -troops in the _Rue Léopold_, where they were attacking the house of -Professor Verhelst. The Landsturm Company bivouacked in the _Station -Square_ was already replying vigorously to what it imagined to be the -Belgian fire, coming from the _Rue Léopold_ and the _Rue de la Station_. - -“I stood with my Company,” states the Company Commander,[185] “at -about ten minutes to eight in the _Station Square_. I had stood -about five minutes, when suddenly, quite unexpectedly, shots were -fired at my Company from the surrounding houses, from the windows, -and from the attics. Simultaneously I heard lively firing from the -_Rue de la Station_, as well as from all the neighbouring streets.” -(Precisely the district in which the newly-arrived troops had taken -up their quarters.) “Shots were also fired from the windows of my -hotel--straight from my room” (which had doubtless been occupied by -some newly-arrived soldier during the afternoon, while the witness was -on duty at the Malines Gate).... - -“We now knelt down and fired at the opposite houses.... I sought cover -with my Company in the entrances of some houses. During the assault -five men of my Company were wounded. The fact that so few were wounded -is due to the fact that the inhabitants were shooting too high.... - -“About an hour later I was summoned to His Excellency General von -Boehn, who was standing near by. His Excellency asked for an exact -report, and, after I had made it, he said to me: ‘Can you take an oath -concerning what you have just reported to me--in particular, that the -first shots were fired by the inhabitants from the houses?’ I then -answered: ‘Yes, I can swear to that fact.’” - -But what evidence had the Lieutenant for the “fact” to which he swore? -There was no doubt about the shots, but he gives no proof of the -identity of those who fired them, and another witness,[186] who lived -in a house looking on to the _Station Square_, is equally positive that -the assailants, too, were German soldiers. - -“Just before eight,” he states, “we heard one shot from a rifle, -followed immediately after by two others, and then a general fusillade -began. I went at once to my garden; the bullets were passing quite -close to me; I went back to the house and on to the balcony, and there -I saw the Germans, not fighting Belgians, but fighting each other at a -distance of 200 or 300 yards. At 8.0 o’clock it begins to be dark, but -I am perfectly certain it was Germans fighting Germans. The firing on -both sides passed right in front of my house, and from the other side -of the railway. I was low down on the balcony, quite flat, and watched -it all. They fought hard for about an hour. The officers whistled -and shouted out orders; there was terrible confusion until each side -found out they were fighting each other, and then the firing ceased. -About half an hour after, on the other side of the railway, I heard -a machine-gun--I was told afterwards that the Germans were killing -civilians with it. It went on certainly for at least five or six -minutes, stopping now and then for a few seconds....” - -This fighting near the _Station_ seems to have been the first and -fiercest of all, but the panic spread like wildfire through the city. -It was spread by the horses that stampeded in the _Place du Peuple_ -and elsewhere, and galloped riderless in all directions--across the -_Station Square_,[187] through the suburb of _Corbeek-Loo_,[188] down -the _Rue de la Station_,[189] and up the _Rue de Tirlemont_,[190] the -_Rue de Bruxelles_,[191] and the _Rue de Malines_.[192] The troops -infected by the panic either ran amok or took to flight. - -“About 8.0 o’clock,” states a witness,[193] “the _Rue de la Station_ -was the scene of a stampede of horses and baggage waggons, some of -which were overturned. A smart burst of rifle-fire occurred at this -moment. This came from the German police-guard in the _Rue de la -Station_, who, seeing troops arrive in disorder, thought that it was -the enemy. Another proof of their mistake is that later during the same -night a group of German soldiers, under the command of an officer, got -into a shop belonging to the F.’s and in charge of their nephew B., and -told him, pointing their revolvers at him, to hide them in the cellar. -A few hours afterwards, hearing troops passing, they compelled him to -go and see if it was the French or the Germans, and when they learnt -that it was the Germans, they called out: ‘Then we are safe,’ and -rejoined their compatriots.” - -These new troops hurrying into the town in the midst of the uproar -were infected by the panic in their turn and flung themselves into -the fighting. “On August 25th,” states one of them in his diary,[194] -“we hold ourselves on the alert at _Grimde_ (a sugar refinery); here, -too, everything is burnt and destroyed. From _Grimde_ we continue our -march upon Louvain; here it is a picture of horror all round; corpses -of our men and horses; motor-cars blazing; the water poisoned; we have -scarcely reached the outskirts of the town when the fusillade begins -again more merrily than ever; naturally we wheel about and sweep the -street; then the town is peppered by us thoroughly.” - -In the _Rue Léopold_, leading from the _Rue de la Station_ into the -_Place du Peuple_, “at 8.0 o’clock exactly a violent fusillade broke -out.” The newly-arrived troops, who had been under arms since the alarm -at 7.0 o’clock, “took to flight as fast as their legs could carry them. -From our cellar,” states one of the householders on whom they had been -billeted,[195] “we saw them running until they must have been out of -breath.” - -There was a single shot, followed by a fusillade and machine-gun fire, -in the _Rue des Joyeuses Entrées_.[196] Waggons and motor-cars were -flying out of the town down the _Rue de Parc_, and soldiers on foot -down the _Rue de Tirlemont_.[197] In the _Rue des Flamands_, which -runs at right-angles between these two latter roads, “at ten minutes -past eight, a shot was fired quite close to the _Institut Supérieur -de Philosophie_” (now converted into the _Hôpital St. Thomas_). -“We had scarcely taken note of it,” states one of the workers in -the hospital,[198] “when other reports followed. In less than a -minute rifle-shots and machine-gun fire mingled in a terrific din. -Accompanying the crack of the firearms, we heard the dull thud of -galloping hoofs in the _Rue de Tirlemont_.” - -Mgr. Deploige, President of the Institute and Director of the Hospital, -reports[199] that “a lively fusillade broke out suddenly at 8.0 o’clock -(Belgian time), at different points simultaneously--at the _Brussels -Gate_, at the _Tirlemont Gate_, in the _Rue de la Station_, _Rue -Léopold_, _Rue Marie-Thérèse_, _Rue des Joyeuses Entrées_, _Rue de -Tirlemont_, etc.[200] It was the German troops firing with rifles and -machine-guns. Some houses were literally riddled with bullets, and a -number of civilians were killed in their homes.” - -Higher up the _Rue de Tirlemont_, in the direction of the _Grand’ -Place_, there was a Belgian Infantry Barracks, which had been -turned into a hospital for slightly incapacitated German soldiers. -The patients were in a state of nervous excitement already. “Every -man,” states one of them,[201] “had his rifle by his side, also -ball-cartridge.”--“About 9.0 o’clock,” states another,[202] “we heard -shots.... We had to fall in in the yard. A sergeant-major distributed -cartridges among us, whereupon I marched out with about 20 men. In the -_Rue de Tirlemont_ a lively fire was directed against us from guns of -small bore.... We pushed our way into a restaurant from which shots -had come, and found in the proprietor’s possession about 100 Browning -cartridges. He was arrested and shot.”--“We now,” continues the former, -“stormed all the houses out of which shots were being fired.... Those -who were found with weapons were immediately shot or bayonetted.... I -myself, together with a comrade, bayonetted one inhabitant who went for -me with his knife....” - -But who would not defend himself with a knife when attacked by an -armed man breaking into his house? The witness admits that only five -civilians were armed out of the twenty-five dragged out. Were these -“armed” with knives? Or if revolver bullets were found in their houses, -was it proved that they had not delivered up their revolvers at the -time when they had been ordered to do so by the municipal authorities -and the German Command? The witness does not claim to have found the -revolvers themselves as well as the ammunition, though even if he -had that was no proof that his victims had been firing with them, or -even that they were theirs. The German Army uses “Brownings” too, -and at this stage of the panic many German soldiers had broken into -private houses and were firing from the windows as points of vantage. -Two German soldiers broke into the house of Professor Verhelst (_Rue -Léopold_, _16_), and fired into the street out of the second storey -window. Other Germans passing shouted: “They have been shooting here,” -and returned the fire.[203] Mgr. Ladeuze, Rector of Louvain University, -was looking from the window of his house adjoining the garden of -the _Chemical Institute, Rue de Namur_, and saw two German soldiers -hidden among the trees and firing over the wall into the street.[204] -Moreover, there is definite evidence of Germans firing on one another -by mistake in other quarters beside the neighbourhood of the _Station_. - -“I myself know,” declares a Belgian witness,[205] “that the Germans -fired on one another on August 25th. On that day, at about 8.0 p.m., -I was in the _Rue de Bruxelles_ at Louvain. I was hidden in a house. -There was one party of German soldiers at one end of the street firing -on another party at the other end. I could see that this happened -myself. On the next day I spoke to a German soldier called Hermann -Otto--he was a private in a Bavarian regiment. He told me that he -himself was in the _Rue de Bruxelles_ the evening before, and that the -two parties firing on one another were Bavarians and Poles, he being -among the Bavarians....” - -The Poles openly blamed the Bavarians for the error. A wounded Polish -Catholic, who was brought in during the night to the Dominican -Monastery in the _Rue Juste-Lipse_, told the monks that “he had been -wounded by a German bullet in an exchange of shots between two groups -of German soldiers.”[206] On the Thursday following, a wounded Polish -soldier was lying in the hospital of the Sisters of Mary at Wesemael, -and, seeing German troops patrolling the road between Wesemael and -Louvain, exclaimed to one of the nuns: “These drunken pigs fired on -us.”[207] - -The casualties inflicted by the Germans on each other do not, however, -appear to have been heavy. One German witness[208] saw “two dead -transport horses and several dead soldiers” lying in the _Place du -Peuple_. Another[209] saw a soldier lying near the _Juste-Lipse -Monument_ who had been killed by a shot through the mouth. But most -express astonishment at the lightness of the losses caused by so heavy -a fire. “It is really a miracle,” said a German military doctor to -a Belgian Professor in the course of the night,[210] “that not one -soldier has been wounded by this violent fusillade.”--“A murderous -fire,” states the surgeon of the Second Neuss Landsturm Battalion,[211] -“was directed against us from _Rue de la Station_, _No. 120_. The fact -that we or some of us were not killed I can merely explain by the fact -that we were going along the same side of the street from which the -shots were fired, and that it was night.”--“A tremendous fire,” states -Major von Manteuffel, the Etappen-Kommandant,[212] “was opened from -the houses surrounding the _Grand’ Place_, which was now filled with -artillery (one battery), and with transport columns, motor-lorries and -tanks of benzine.... I believe there were three men wounded, chiefly -in the legs.” General von Boehn, commanding the Ninth Reserve Army -Corps, estimates[213] that the total loss, in killed, wounded, and -missing, of his General Command Staff, which was stationed in the -_Place du Peuple_, “amounts to 5 officers, 2 officials, 23 men, and 95 -horses.”--“I note that the inhabitants fired far too high,” states a -N.C.O. of the Landsturm Company drawn up in the _Station Square_.[214] -“That was our good luck, because otherwise, considering the fearful -fire which was directed against us from all the houses in the _Station -Square_, most German officers and soldiers would have been killed or -seriously wounded.” - -Thus the German troops in Louvain seem not merely to have fired on one -another, but to have exaggerated hysterically the amount of danger each -incurred from the other’s mistake. And the legend grew with time. The -deposition last quoted was taken down on September 17th, 1914, less -than a month after the event. But when examined again, on November -19th, the same witness deposed that “Many of us were wounded, and some -of us even received mortal wounds.... I fully maintain my evidence of -September 17th,” he naïvely adds in conclusion. - -On the night of August 25th these German soldiers were distraught -beyond all restraints of reason and justice. They blindly assumed that -it was the civilians, and not their comrades, who had fired, and when -they discovered their error they accused the civilians, deliberately, -to save their own reputation. - -The Director and the Chief Surgeon of the _Hôpital St.-Thomas_ went -out into the street after the first fusillade was over. Three soldiers -with fixed bayonets rushed at them shouting: “You fired! Die!”--and -it was only with difficulty that they persuaded them to spare their -lives. When the firing began again a sergeant broke into the hospital -shouting: “Who fired here?”--and placed the hospital staff under -guard.[215] This was the effect of panic, but there were cases in which -the firing was imputed to civilians, and punishment meted out for -it, by means of criminal trickery. It was realised that the material -evidence would be damning to the German Army. The empty cartridge cases -were all German which were picked up in the streets,[216] and it is -stated that every bullet extracted from the bodies of wounded German -soldiers was found to be of German origin.[217] The Germans, convicted -by these proofs, shrank from no fraud which might enable them to -transfer the guilt on to the heads of Belgian victims. - -“The Germans took the horses out of a Belgian Red Cross car,” states a -Belgian witness[218] living in the _Station Square_, “frightened them -so that they ran down the street, and then shot three of them. Two fell -quite close to my house. They then took a Belgian artillery helmet and -put it on the ground, so as to prepare a _mise-en-scène_ to pretend -that the Belgians had been fighting in the street.” - -At a late hour of the night a detachment of German soldiers was -passing one of the professors’ houses, when a shot rang out, followed -by a volley from the soldiers through the windows of the house. The -soldiers then broke in and accused the inmates of having fired the -first shot. They were mad with fury, and the professor and his family -barely escaped with their lives. A sergeant pointed to his boot, with -the implication that the shot had struck him there; but a witness -in another house actually saw this sergeant fire the original shot -himself, and make the same gesture after it to incite his comrades.[219] - -A staff-surgeon billeted on a curé in the suburb of _Blauwput_ -pretended he had been wounded by civilians when he had really fallen -from a wall. On the morning of the 26th the officer in local command -arrested fifty-seven men at _Blauwput_, this curé included, in order -to decimate them in reprisal for wounds which the surgeon and two -other soldiers had received. The curé was exempted by the lot, when -the surgeon came up with a handful of revolver-cartridges which he -professed to have discovered in the curé’s house. The officer answered: -“Go away. I have searched this house myself,” and the surgeon slunk -off. The curé was not added to the victims, but every tenth man was -shot all the same.[220] - -That “the civilians had fired” was already an official dogma -with the German military authorities in Louvain. Mgr. Coenraets, -Vice-Rector of the University, was serving that day as a hostage at -the _Hôtel-de-Ville_. A Dominican monk, Father Parijs, was there at -the moment the firing broke out, in quest of a pass for remaining -out-of-doors at night on ambulance service. He was now retained as -well, and Alderman Schmit was fetched from his house. Von Boehn, the -General Commanding the Ninth Reserve Corps, harangued these hostages -on his arrival from the Malines front, and von Manteuffel, the -Etappen-Kommandant, then conducted them, with a guard of soldiers, -round the town. Baron Orban de Xivry was dragged out of his house -to join them on the way. The procession halted at intervals in the -streets, and the four hostages were compelled to proclaim to their -fellow-citizens, in Flemish and in French, that, unless the firing -ceased, the hostages themselves would be shot, the town would have to -pay an indemnity of 20,000,000 francs, the houses from which shots were -fired would be burnt, and artillery-fire would be directed upon Louvain -as a whole.[221] - -But “reprisals” against the civil population had already begun. The -firing from German soldiers in the houses upon German soldiers in -the street was answered by a general assault of the latter upon all -houses within their reach. “They broke the house-doors,” states a -Belgian woman,[222] “with the butt-ends of their rifles.... They shot -through the gratings of the cellars.”--“In the _Hôtel-de-Ville_,” -states von Manteuffel,[223] “I saw the Company stationed there on the -ground floor, standing at the windows and answering the fire of the -inhabitants. In front of the _Hôtel-de-Ville_, on the entrance steps, -I also saw soldiers firing in reply to the inhabitants’ fire in the -direction of their houses.”--“Personally I was under the distinct -impression,” states a staff officer,[224] “that we were fired at from -the Hôtel Maria Theresa with machine-guns.” (This is quite probable, -and merely proves that those who fired were German soldiers.) “The fire -from machine-guns lasted from four to five minutes, and was immediately -answered by our troops, who finally stormed the house and set it on -fire.”--“The order was passed up from the rear that we should fire -into the houses,” states an infantryman who had just detrained and was -marching with his unit into the town.[225] “Thereupon we shot into -the house-fronts on either side of us. To what extent the fire was -answered I cannot say, the noise and confusion were too great.”--“We -now dispersed towards both sides,” states a lance-corporal in the -same battalion,[226] “and fired into the upper windows.... How long -the firing lasted I cannot say.... We now began shooting into the -ground-floor windows too, as well as tearing down a certain number of -the shutters. I made my way into the house from which the shot had -come, with a few others who had forced open the door. We could find no -one in the house. In the room from which the shot had come there was, -however, a petroleum lamp, lying overturned on the table and still -smouldering....” - -[Illustration: 21. CAPELLE-AU-BOIS: THE CHURCH] - -[Illustration: 22. LOUVAIN: NEAR THE CHURCH OF ST. PIERRE] - -These assaults on houses passed over inevitably into wholesale -incendiarism. “The German troops,” as the Editors of the German White -Book remark in their summarising report on the events at Louvain, -“had to resort to energetic counter-measures. In accordance with the -threats, the inhabitants who had taken part in the attack were shot, -and the houses from which shots had been fired were set on fire. The -spreading of the fire to other houses also and the destruction of some -streets could not be avoided. In this way the Cathedral” (_i. e._, the -Collegiate Church of St. Pierre) “also caught fire....” - -There is a map in the German White Book which shows the quarters burnt -down. The incendiarism started in the _Station Square_, and spread -along the _Boulevard de Tirlemont_ as far as the _Tirlemont Gate_. -It was renewed across the railway and devastated the suburbs to the -east. Then it was extended up the _Rue de la Station_ into the heart of -the town, and here the _Church of St. Pierre_ was destroyed, and the -_University Halles_ with the priceless _University Library_--not by -mischance, as the German Report alleges, but by the deliberate work of -German troops, employing the same incendiary apparatus as had been used -already at Visé, Liége and elsewhere.[227] - -The burning was directed by a German officer from the _Vieux Marché_, a -large open space near the centre of the town, and by another group of -officers stationed in the _Place du Peuple_.[228] The burning here is -described by a German officer[229] (whose evidence on other points has -been quoted above). “The Company,” he states, “continued to fire into -the houses. The fire of the inhabitants (_sic_) gradually died down. -Thereupon the German soldiers broke in the doors of the houses and set -the houses on fire, flinging burning petroleum lamps into the houses or -striking off the gas-taps, setting light to the gas which rushed out -and throwing table-cloths and curtains into the flames. Here and there -benzine was also employed as a means of ignition. The order to set fire -to the houses was given out by Colonel von Stubenrauch, whose voice I -distinguished....” - -In the _Rue de la Station_ the Germans set the houses on fire with -incendiary bombs. This was seen by a Belgian witness,[230] and is -confirmed by the German officer just cited, who, in the _Place du -Peuple_, “heard repeatedly the detonation of what appeared to be heavy -guns” round about him. “I supposed,” he proceeds, “that artillery was -firing; but since there was none present, there is only one explanation -for this--that the inhabitants (_sic_) also threw hand-grenades.” - -In the _Rue de Manège_[231] another Belgian witness saw a soldier -pouring inflammable liquid over a house from a bucket, and this though -a German military surgeon, present on the spot, admitted that in -that house there had been nobody firing. Soldiers are also stated to -have been seen[232] with a complete incendiary equipment (syringe, -hatchet, etc.), and with “Gott mit Uns” and “Company of Incendiaries” -blazoned on their belts. The Germans deny that the _Church of St. -Pierre_ was deliberately burnt, and allege that the fire spread to -it from private houses;[233] but a Dutch witness[234] saw it burning -while the adjoining houses were still intact. There is less evidence -for the deliberate burning of the _University Halles_, containing -the _Library_, but it is significant that the building was completely -consumed in one night (a result hardly possible without artificial -means), and at 11.0 p.m., in the middle of the burning, an officer -answered a Belgian monk, who protested, that it was “By Order.”[235] -The manuscripts and early printed books in the _Library_ were one of -the treasures of Europe. The whole collection of 250,000 volumes was -the intellectual capital of the University, without which it could -not carry on its work. Every volume and manuscript was destroyed. The -Germans pride themselves on saving the _Hôtel-de-Ville_, but they -saved it because it was the seat of the German Kommandantur, and this -only suggests that, had they desired, they could have prevented the -destruction of the other buildings as well. - -As the houses took fire the inhabitants met their fate. Some were -asphyxiated in the cellars where they had taken refuge from the -shooting, or were burnt alive as they attempted to escape from their -homes.[236] Others were shot down by the German troops as they ran out -into the street,[237] or while they were fighting the flames.[238] “The -franc-tireurs,” as they are called by the German officer in the _Place -du Peuple_,[239] “were without exception evil-looking figures, such -as I have never seen elsewhere in all my life. They were shot down by -the German posts stationed below....” - -[Illustration: 23. LOUVAIN: THE CHURCH OF ST. PIERRE] - -[Illustration: 24. LOUVAIN: THE CHURCH OF ST. PIERRE ACROSS THE RUINS] - -Others, again, tried to save themselves by climbing garden walls.[240] -“I, my mother and my servants,” states one of these,[241] “took refuge -at A.’s, whose cellars are vaulted and therefore afforded us a better -protection than mine. A little later we withdrew to A.’s stables, where -about 30 people, who had got there by climbing the garden walls, were -to be found. Some of these poor wretches had had to climb 20 walls. -A ring came at the bell. We opened the door. Several civilians flung -themselves under the porch. The Germans were firing upon them from the -street.” - -“When we were crossing a particularly high wall,” states another -victim,[242] “my wife was on the top of the wall and I was helping -her to get down, when a party of 15 Germans came up with rifles and -revolvers. They told us to come down. My wife did not follow as quickly -as they wished. One of them made a lunge at her with his bayonet. I -seized the blade of the bayonet and stopped the lunge. The German -soldier then tried to stab me in the face with his bayonet.... - -“They kept hitting us with the butt-ends of their rifles--the women and -children as well as the men. They struck us on the elbows because they -said our arms were not raised high enough.... - -“We were driven in this way through a burning house to the _Place de -la Station_. There were a number of prisoners already there. In front -of the station entrance there were the corpses of three civilians -killed by rifle fire. The women and the children were separated. The -women were put on one side and the men on the other. One of the German -soldiers pushed my wife with the butt-end of his rifle, so that she was -compelled to walk on the three corpses. Her shoes were full of blood.... - -“Other prisoners were being continually brought in. I saw one -prisoner with a bayonet-wound behind his ear. A boy of fifteen had a -bayonet-wound in his throat in front.... The priests were treated more -brutally than the rest. I saw one belaboured with the butt-ends of -rifles. Some German soldiers came up to me sniggering, and said that -all the women were going to be raped.... They explained themselves by -gestures.... The streets were full of empty wine bottles.... - -“An officer told me that he was merely executing orders, and that he -himself would be shot if he did not execute them....” - -The battue of civilians through the streets was the final horror of -that night. The massacre began with the murder of M. David-Fischbach. -He was a man of property, a benefactor of the University and the town. -Since the outbreak of war he had given 10,000 francs to the Red Cross. -Since the German occupation he had entertained German officers in his -house, which stood in the _Rue de la Station_ opposite the _Statue of -Juste-Lipse_, and about 9.0 o’clock that evening he had gone to bed. - -“Close to the _Monument Square_,” states Dr. Berghausen, the German -military surgeon who was responsible for M. David-Fischbach’s -death,[243] “I saw a German soldier lying dead on the ground.... His -comrades told me that the shot had been fired from the corner house -belonging to David-Fischbach. Thereupon I myself, with my servant, -broke in the door of the house and met first the owner of the house, -old David-Fischbach. I challenged him concerning the soldier who had -been murdered.... Old David-Fischbach declared he knew nothing about -it. Thereupon his son, young Fischbach, came downstairs from the -first floor, and from the porter’s lodge appeared an old servant. I -immediately took father, son, and servant with me into the street. At -that moment a tumult arose in the street, because a fearful fusillade -had opened from a few houses on the same side of the street against the -soldiers standing by the Monument and against myself. In the darkness I -then lost sight of David-Fischbach, with his son and servant....” - -The soldiers set the old man with his back against the statue. Standing -with his arms raised, he had to watch his house set on fire. Then -he was bayonetted and finally shot to death. His son was shot, too. -His house was burnt to the ground, and a servant asphyxiated in the -cellar.[244] - -“Later,” adds Dr. Berghausen, “I met Major von Manteuffel with the -hostages, and all four or five of us saw the dead soldier lying in -front of the monument and, a few steps further on, old David-Fischbach. -I assumed that the comrades of the soldier who had been killed ... had -at once inflicted punishment on the owner of the house....” - -The corpse was also seen by a professor’s wife who made her way to -the _Hôpital St.-Thomas_--the old man’s white beard was stained with -blood.[245] - -The massacre spread. Six workmen returning from their work were -shot down from behind.[246] A woman was shot as she was beating for -admittance on a door.[247] A man had his hands tied behind his back, -and was shot as he ran down the street.[248] Another witness saw 20 -men shot.[249] One saw 19 corpses,[250] and corpses were also seen -with their hands tied behind their backs, like the victim mentioned -above.[251] There was the body of a woman cut in two, with a child -still alive beside her.[252] Other children had been murdered, and -were lying dead.[253] There was the body of another murdered woman, -and a girl of fourteen who had been wounded and was being carried to -hospital. A German soldier beckoned a Dutch witness into a shop,[254] -and showed him the shop-keeper’s body in the back-room, in a -night-shirt, with a bullet-wound through the head. - -These were the “evil-looking franc-tireurs” whom the German soldiers -shot down at sight. Inhabitants of Louvain dragged as prisoners through -the streets[255] recognised the corpses of people they knew. Here a -bootmaker lay,[256] here a hairdresser,[256] here a professor. The -corpse of Professor Lenertz was lying in front of his house in the -_Boulevard de Tirlemont_. It was recognised by Dr. Noyons, one of his -colleagues (though a Dutchman by nationality), who was serving in the -_Hôpital St.-Thomas_, and so escaped himself.[257] “On the 27th,” -states a Belgian lady,[258] “M. Lenertz’ body was still lying on the -Boulevard. When his wife and children were evicted by the Germans and -came out of their house, members of the family had to stand in front of -the body to hide it from Madame Lenertz’ sight.” - -The dead were lying in every quarter of the town. In the _Boulevard -de Tirlemont_ there were six or seven more.[259] There was one at the -end of the _Rue du Manège_.[260] But the greatest number were in the -_Station Square_, where they were seen by all the civilian prisoners -herded thither this night and the following day.[261] Their murder -is described by a German sergeant-major[262] who was fighting in the -neighbourhood of the _Station_. “Various civilians,” he remarks, “were -led off by my men, and after judgment had been given against them -by the Commandant, they were shot in the _Square_ in front of the -_Station_. In accordance with orders, I myself helped to set fire to -various houses, after having in every case previously convinced myself -that no one was left in them. Towards midnight the work was done, and -the Company returned to the station buildings, before which were lying -shot about 15 inhabitants of the town.” - -The slaughter itself increased the thirst for blood. A Dutch -witness[263] met a German column marching in from _Aerschot_. “The -soldiers were beside themselves with rage at the sight of the corpses, -and cried: ‘Schweinhunde! Schweinhunde!’ They regarded me with -threatening eyes. I passed on my way....” - -The soldiers in their frenzy respected no one. The Hostel for Spanish -students in the _Rue de la Station_ was burnt down, though it was -protected by the Spanish flag. Father Catala, the Superior of the -Hostel and formerly Vice-Consul of Spain, barely escaped with his life. -There was no mercy either for the old or the sick. A retired barrister, -bedridden with paralysis, had his house burnt over his head, and was -brought to the _Hôpital St.-Thomas_ to die. Another old man, more than -eighty years old and in his last illness, was cast out by the soldiers -into the street, and died in the _Hôpital St.-Thomas_ next day.[264] An -aged concierge was cast alive into the blazing ruins of the house it -was his duty to guard.[265] So it went on till dawn, when the havoc was -completed by salvoes of artillery. “At four o’clock in the morning,” -states an officer of the Ninth German Reserve Corps Staff,[266] “the -Army Corps moved out to battle. We did not enter the main streets, -but advanced along an avenue.... As the road carrying our lines of -communication was continuously fired on, the order was given to clear -the town by force. Two guns were sent with 150 shells. The two guns, -firing from the _Railway Station_, swept the streets with shells. Thus -at least the quarter surrounding the _Railway Station_ was secured, -and this made it possible to conduct the supply-columns through the -town....” - -It was now the morning of August 26th. At dawn Mgr. Coenraets and -Father Parijs, the hostages of the preceding night, were placed under -escort and marched round the City once more. If the firing continued -the hostages were to be shot. They had to proclaim this themselves to -the inhabitants from point to point of the town, and they were kept at -this task till far on in the day.[267] The inhabitants, meanwhile, were -paying the penalty for the shots which not they but the Germans had -already fired. - -In one street after another the people were dragged from their houses, -and those not slaughtered out of hand were driven by the soldiers to -the _Station Square_. “I only had slippers on,” states one victim,[268] -“and no hat or waistcoat. On the way to the _Station Square_, soldiers -kicked me and hit me with the butt-ends of their rifles, and shouted: -‘Oh, you swine! Another who shot at us! You swine!’ My hands were tied -behind my back with a cord, and when I cried: ‘Oh, God, you are hurting -me,’ a soldier spat on me.”--“We had to go in front of the soldiers,” -adds this witness’s wife,[269] “holding our hands above our heads. -All the ladies who lived in the Boulevard--invalids or not--were taken -prisoners. One of them, an old lady of 85, who could scarcely walk, was -dragged from her cellar with her maid.” - -[Illustration: 25. LOUVAIN: THE CHURCH OF ST. PIERRE--INTERIOR] - -[Illustration: 26. LOUVAIN: STATION SQUARE] - -When they reached the _Station Square_ the men were herded to one side, -the women and children to the other. It was done by an officer with a -loaded revolver.[270] “We were separated from our families,” states one -of the men;[271] “we were knocked about and blows were rained on us -from rifle butts; the women and children and the men were isolated from -one another....” - -The men’s pockets were rifled. Purses, keys, penknives and so on -were taken from them.[272] One gentleman’s servant had 7,805 francs -taken from his bag, and was given a receipt for 7,000 francs in -exchange.[273] This was the preliminary to a “trial,” conducted by -Captain Albrecht,[274] a staff officer of the Ninth Reserve Corps. -“The soldiers,” states a German tradesman who acted as Captain -Albrecht’s interpreter,[275] “brought forward the civilians whom they -had seized.... In all about 600 persons may have been brought in, the -lives of at least 500 of whom were spared, because no clear proof of -their guilt seemed to be established at the trial. These persons were -set on one side.... Captain Albrecht followed the course--I imagine, -by the command of his superiors--of ordering that those among the men -brought forward upon whom either a weapon or an identification mark -was discovered, or in whose case it was established by at least two -witnesses that they had fired upon the German troops, should be shot. -It is an utter impossibility, according to my firm conviction, that any -innocent man should have lost his life....” - -But was there really “clear proof of guilt” in any of these cases? Not -one of these “identification marks” (assumed to establish that the -bearer was a member of the Belgian Army) has been brought forward as -material evidence by the German Government. And was the other material -evidence so clear? One man, for instance,[276] had a German bullet in -his pocket which he had picked up in the street. “He was shot down, -and two of his comrades had to make a pit and bury him in the place -where he was shot.”[277] One priest was shot “because he had purposely -enticed the soldiers, according to their testimony, under the fire of -the franc-tireurs.”[278] Two other priests were shot “for distributing -ammunition to civilians,”[279] but this was only a story heard from -General Headquarters at second-hand. The witness who tells it was sent -with a squad “to set on fire two hotels in the _Station Square_ and -drive out their inmates. The chief culprits found, apparently, a way -of escape in good time over the roofs, since only the proprietor of -one of the hotels presented himself at 5.0 o’clock in the morning, and -very shortly afterwards received the reward he deserved.” But what was -the proof that he deserved it? Not any material evidence on his person, -or the testimony of two witnesses who had seen him fire, but simply -the fact that he was the only Belgian found in a certain building the -inmates of which had been condemned, _a priori_, as franc-tireurs. The -logic of this proceeding is defended by the tradesman interpreter, who -submits[280] that “apart from all evidence, the persons brought to -trial must have acted somehow in a suspicious manner--otherwise they -would never have been brought to trial at all.” - -“It is untrue,” nevertheless he states expressly, “that an arbitrary -selection among the persons brought forward was made when the order for -execution was issued.” But one of the Belgian women[281] held prisoner -in the _Station Square_ describes how “the men were placed in rows of -five, and the fifth in each row was taken and shot,” as she affirms, -“in my presence. If the fifth man happened to be old, his place was -taken by the sixth man if he happened to be younger. This was also -witnessed by my grandmother, my uncle and his wife, my cousin and our -servant....” - -“The whole day long,” states another Belgian woman,[282] “I saw -civilians being shot--twenty to twenty-five of them, including -some monks or priests--in the _Station Square_ and the _Boulevard -de Tirlemont_, opposite the warehouse. The victims were bound four -together and placed on the pavement in front of the Maison Hamaide. The -soldiers who shot them were on the other side of the Boulevard, on the -warehouse roof. For that matter, the soldiers were firing everywhere in -all directions.” - -The executions were also witnessed by the German troops. “On the -morning of August 26th,” states a soldier,[283] “I saw many civilians, -more than a hundred, among them five priests, shot at the _Station -Square_ in Louvain because they had fired on German troops or because -weapons were found on their persons.” - -This went on all day, and all day the women were compelled to watch it, -while the surviving men were marched away in batches, and the houses -on either side of the railway continued to burn. When night came the -women were confined in the _Station_. “My aunt,” continues the witness -quoted above,[284] “was taken to the _Station_ with her baby and kept -there till the morning. It rained all the night, and she wrapped the -baby in her skirt. The baby cried for food, and a German soldier -gave the child a little water, and took my aunt and the child to an -empty railway-carriage. Some other women got into the carriage with -her, but during the whole night the Germans fired at the carriage for -amusement....” - -The firing by German soldiers had never ceased since the first outbreak -at 8.0 o’clock the evening before. An eye-witness records two bursts of -it on the 26th--one at 5.0 p.m., and a more serious one at 8.45.[285] -This firing was due in part to panic, but was in part of a more -deliberate character. “The whole day,” states a Belgian witness,[286] -“the soldiers went and came through the streets, saying: ‘Man hat -geschossen,’ but it seems that the shots came from the soldiers -themselves. I myself saw a soldier going through the streets shooting -peacefully in the air.” There was also killing in cold blood. A café -proprietor and his daughter were shot by two German soldiers waiting to -be served. The other daughter crept under a table and escaped.[287] - -The women held prisoner at the _Station_ were only released at 8.0 -o’clock on the morning of the 27th,[288] but they had suffered less -during these hours than the men. “Of the men,” as a German witness puts -it,[289] “some were shot according to Martial Law. In the case of a -large number of others it was, however, impossible to determine whether -they had taken part in the shooting. These persons were placed for the -moment in the _Station_; some of them were conveyed elsewhere.” - -The first batch[290] of those “not found guilty” was “conveyed” by the -_Boulevard de Diest_ round the outskirts of the town, and out along -the _Malines Road_, about 11.0 o’clock in the morning. It consisted of -from 70 to 80 men, one of whom at least was 75 years old, while five -were neutrals--a Paraguayan priest, Father Gamarra,[291] the Superior -of the Spanish Hostel, Father Catala, and three of Father Catala’s -students. There were doctors, lawyers, and retired officers among the -Belgian victims. One prisoner was driven on ahead to warn the country -people that all the hostages would be executed if a single shot were -fired;[292] the rest were searched, had their hands bound behind -their backs, and were marched in column under guard. On the way to -_Herent_ they were used as a screen.[293] The village of _Herent_ was -burning, and they had to run through the street to avoid being scorched -by the flames.[294] “Carbonised corpses were lying in front of the -houses.”--“At _Herent_” states the South American priest,[295] “I saw -lying in the nook of a wall the corpse of a girl twelve or thirteen -years old, who had been burnt alive.” On the road from _Herent_ to -_Bueken_ “everything was devastated.” Beyond _Bueken_ and _Campenhout_ -they were made to halt in a field, and were told that they were going -to be executed. Squads of soldiers advanced on them from the front -and rear, and they were kept many minutes in suspense. Then they were -marched on again towards _Campenhout_, surrounded by a company which, -they were given to understand, was the “execution company.” Crowds of -German troops, bivouacked by the roadside, shouted at them and spat on -them as they passed. They reached _Campenhout_ at dusk, and were locked -up for the night in the church with the inhabitants of the village. At -4.30 a.m. they were warned to confess, as their execution was imminent. -At 5.0 a.m. they were released from the church, and told they were -free. But at _Bueken_ they were arrested again with a large number of -country people, and were marched back towards _Campenhout_. One of -these countrywomen bore a baby on the road.[296] From the outskirts of -_Campenhout_ they were suddenly ordered to make their own way as best -they could to the Belgian lines. They arrived at _Malines_ about 11.30 -in the morning (of August 27th), about 200 strong. Within four hours of -their arrival the German bombardment[297] of _Malines_ began, and they -had to march on again to _Antwerp_. - -A second batch[298] was driven out along the _Brussels Road_ on August -26th between 1.0 and 2.0 o’clock in the afternoon. As they marched -through Louvain by the _Rue de Bruxelles_, the guard fired into the -windows of the houses and shot down one of the prisoners, who was -panic-stricken and tried to escape.[299] At _Herent_ they were yoked to -heavy carts and made to drag them along by-roads for three hours,[299] -and another civilian was shot on the way.[299] At 10.0 p.m. they were -made to lie down in an open field with their feet tied together, and -lay thus in pouring rain till 6.0 o’clock next morning. Then they -were marched through _Bueken_, _Thildonck_, _Wespelaer_--still in -pouring rain--with their hands bound by a single long cord. They -reached _Campenhout_ at noon, and were set to digging trenches. At -7.0 p.m. they were allowed to sit down and rest, but only just behind -the batteries bombarding the Antwerp forts,[300] which might have -opened retaliation fire on them at any moment. That night they passed -in Campenhout church, and at 9.0 o’clock next morning (August 28th) -they were marched back again to Louvain, about 1,000 in all--women and -children as well as men. “The houses along the road were burning. The -principal streets of Louvain itself were burnt out.”[300] That night -at Louvain they were crowded into the _Cavalry Riding School_ in the -_Rue du Manège_. Six or seven thousand people were imprisoned there -in all.[301] The press was terrible, and the heat from the burning -buildings round was so great that the glass of the roof cracked during -the night.[301] Two women went out of their minds and two babies -died.[302] Next morning a German officer read them a proclamation -to the effect that their liberty was given them because Germany had -already won the war,[303] and they were marched out again through the -streets. They passed corpses left unburied since the night of August -25th.[303] “The German soldiers giggled at the sight.”[304] Once more -they were driven round the countryside. At _Herent_ the women and -children, and the men over forty, were set free. At _Campenhout_ the -curé was added to the company, after being dragged round his parish at -the tail of a cart.[305] At _Boortmeerbeek_ the men between twenty and -forty were also released at last, and told to go forward to the Belgian -lines, under threat of being shot if they turned back. They arrived in -front of _Fort Waelhem_ in the dark, at 11.0 p.m. on the 29th, and were -fired on by the Belgian outposts; but they managed to make themselves -known and came through to safety. - -The third batch “conveyed elsewhere” from Louvain on August 26th -consisted of the Garde Civique.[306] All members of this body were -summoned by proclamation to present themselves at the _Hôtel-de-Ville_ -at 2.0 p.m.[307] The 95 men who reported themselves were informed that -they were prisoners, taken to the _Station_, and entrained in two -goods-vans. There were 250 other deportees on the train, including the -Gardes Civiques of _Beyghem_ and _Grimberghen_, and about a hundred -women and children. They did not reach the internment camp at _Münster_ -till the night of the 28th, and on the journey they were almost -starved. At _Cologne Station_ a German Red Cross worker refused one of -the women, who asked her in German for a little milk to feed her sick -baby fourteen months old.[308] In the camp at _Münster_ all the men -were crowded promiscuously into a single wooden shed. The floor was -strewn with straw (already old), which was never changed. The blankets -(also old, and too thin to keep out the cold) were never disinfected -or washed. There was no lighting or heating. The food was insufficient -and disgusting. The sanitary arrangements were indecent. And the -deportees had to live under these conditions for months, in the clothes -they stood in, though many had come in slippers and shirt-sleeves--the -proclamation having taken them completely by surprise. In neighbouring -huts there were the 400 Russian students from _Liége_, 600 or 700 -people from _Visé_, the Gardes Civiques of _Hasselt_ and _Tongres_, -people from _Haccourt_ and from several communes in the _Province of -Limburg_--about 1,700 prisoners in all. On October 4th an article in -the _Berliner Tageblatt_, signed by a German general, admitted that -“only two of the prisoners at _Münster_ were under suspicion of having -fired”; but none of the prisoners from Louvain were released till -October 30th, and then only cripples and men over seventy years of age. -The rest were retained, including a man with a wooden leg.... - -The fourth batch of prisoners on August 26th started about 3.0 o’clock -in the afternoon, also by way of the _Boulevard de Diest_ and the -_Malines Road_.[309] This group seems to have been treated even more -brutally than the rest. One man was so violently mishandled that he -fainted, and was carried in a waggon the first part of the way. He came -to himself in time to see his own house burning and his wife waving him -farewell. He was then thrown out of the waggon and made to go on foot. -His bonds cut so deeply into his flesh that his arms lost all sensation -for three days. The party was marched aimlessly about between _Herent_, -_Louvain_, _Bueken_, and _Herent_ again till 11.0 at night, when they -had to camp in the open in the rain. They were refused water to drink. -At 3.0 a.m. on August 27th they were driven on again, and marched till -3.0 p.m., when they arrived at _Rotselaer_. At _Rotselaer_ they were -shut up in the church--a company of 3,000 men and women, including all -the inhabitants of the village. This respite only lasted an hour, and -at 4.0 o’clock they started once more along the Louvain Road. They were -destined for a still worse torment, which will shortly be described. - -These preliminary expulsions on the 26th were followed up by more -comprehensive measures on the morning of the 27th. Between 8.0 and 9.0 -a.m. German soldiers went round the streets proclaiming from door to -door: “Louvain is to be bombarded at noon; everyone is to leave the -town immediately.”[310] The people had no time to set their affairs in -order or to prepare for the journey. They started out just as they -were, fearing that the bombardment would overtake them before they -could escape from the town. The exodus was complete. About 40,000 -people altogether were in flight,[311] and the majority of them -streamed towards the _Station Square_, where they had been ordered -to assemble, and then out by the _Boulevard de Tirlemont_, along the -_Tirlemont Road_. - -The Dominicans from the Monastery in the _Rue Juste-Lipse_ were -expelled with the rest. “At the moment when they were leaving the -Monastery an old man was brought in seriously wounded in the stomach; -it was evident that he had but a few hours to live. A German officer -proposed to ‘finish him off,’ but was deterred by the Prior. One of the -monks attempted to pick up a paralysed person who had fallen in the -street; the soldiers prevented him, striking him with the butt-ends of -their muskets. The weeping, terrified population was hurrying towards -the _Railway Station_....”[312] At the _Station_ the Dominicans were -stopped and sent to Germany by train; the rest of the crowd was driven -on. There were from 8,000 to 10,000 people in this first column.[313] -“Nothing but heads was to be seen--a sea of heads.... The wind was -blowing violently, and a remorseless rain scourged us.... The crowd -was pressing upon us, suffocating us, and sometimes literally lifting -us along like a wave, our feet not touching the ground. We progressed -with difficulty, and had to stop every ten metres. Sometimes a German -asked us if we had any arms....”[314] When they arrived at _Tirlemont_ -they were kept outside the town till nightfall.[315] The inhabitants -did their best for them, but _Tirlemont_, too, had been ravaged by -the invasion. The number of the refugees was overwhelming, and there -was a dearth of supplies. “My mother and I,” states a Professor of -Louvain University,[316] “had to walk about 20 miles on the 27th and -the following day before we could find a peasant cart. We had to carry -the few belongings we were able to take away, and to walk in the heavy -rain. We could find nothing to eat, but other people were yet more -unfortunate than we. I saw ladies walking in the same plight, without -hats and almost in their night-dresses. Sick persons, too, dragged -themselves along or were carried in wheel-barrows. Thousands of people -were obliged to sleep in _Tirlemont_ on the church pavements. We found -a little room to sleep in....” - -Ecclesiastics were singled out for special maltreatment. This -professor, and twelve other priests or monks with him, was stopped -by German troops encamped at _Lovenjoul_. They were informed that -they were going to be shot for “having incited the population.”--“A -soldier,” states the professor, “called me ‘Black Devil’ and pushed me -roughly into a dirty little stable.”--“I was thrust into a pig-stye,” -states one of his fellow-victims,[317] “from which a pig had just been -removed before my eyes.... There I was compelled to undress completely. -German soldiers searched my clothes and took all I had. Thereupon the -other ecclesiastics were brought to the stye; two of them were stripped -like me; all were searched and robbed of all they had. The soldiers -kept everything of value--watches, money and so on--and only returned -us trifles. Our breviaries were thrown into the manure. Some of the -ecclesiastics were robbed of large sums--one had 6,000 francs on him, -another more than 4,000. All were brutally handled and received blows.” -They were saved from death by the professor’s mother, who appealed to a -German officer with more sense of justice than his colleagues, and they -were thankful to rejoin the other refugees. - -A second stream of refugees was pouring out of Louvain by the -_Tervueren Road_,[318] towards the south-west. “On the road,” states a -professor,[319] “we had to raise our arms each time we met soldiers. -An officer in a motor-car levelled his revolver at us. He threatened -fiercely a young man walking by himself who only raised one arm--he was -carrying a portmanteau in the other hand, which he had to put down in -a hurry. At _Tervueren_ we were searched several times over, and then -took the electric tram for Brussels....” - -But here the ecclesiastics were singled out once more. One was searched -so roughly that his cassock was torn from top to bottom.[320] Another -was charged with carrying “cartridges,” which turned out to be a -packet of chocolates.[321] One soldier tried to slip a cartridge -into a Jesuit’s pocket, but the trick was fortunately seen by -another monk standing by.[322] Insults were hurled at them--“Swine”; -“Beastly Papists”; “You incite the people to fire on us”; “You will -be castrated, you swine!” Then they were driven into a field, and -surrounded by a guard with loaded rifles. About 140 ecclesiastics -were collected altogether,[323] including Mgr. Ladeuze, the Rector -of Louvain University; Canon Cauchie, the Professor of History; Mgr. -Becker, the Principal of the American Seminary; and Mgr. Willemsen, -formerly President of the American College. After they had waited an -hour, 26 of them were taken and lined up against a fence. Expecting -to be shot, they gave one another absolution, but after waiting -seven or eight minutes they were marched out of the field and lined -up once more with their backs to a wood. As they marched, a soldier -muttered that “one of them was going to be shot.” The two Americans -showed their passports to an officer, but were violently rebuffed. Then -Father Dupierreux, a Jesuit student 23 years old, was led before them -under guard, and one of their number was called forward to translate -aloud into German a paper that had been found on Father Dupierreux’s -person. The paper (it was a manuscript memorandum of half-a-dozen -lines) compared the conduct of the Germans at Louvain to the conduct -of Genseric and of the Saracens, and the burning of the Library to the -burning of the Library at Alexandria. The officer cut the recitation -short. Father Dupierreux received absolution, and was then ordered to -advance towards the wood. Four soldiers were lined up in front of him, -and the 26 prisoners were ordered to face about, in order to witness -the execution. Among their number was Father Robert Dupierreux, the -twin brother of the condemned.[324] “Father Dupierreux,” states Father -Schill,[325] the Jesuit who had been forced to translate the document, -“had listened to the reading with complete calm.... He kept his eyes -fixed on the crucifix.... The command rang out: ‘Aim! Fire!’ We only -heard one report. The Father fell on his back; a last shudder ran -through his limbs. Then the spectators were ordered to turn about -again, while the officer bent over the body and discharged his pistol -into the ear. The bullet came out through the eye.” - -The others were then placed in carts, and harangued:[326] “When we pass -through a village, if a single shot is fired from any house, the whole -village will be burnt. You will be shot and the inhabitants likewise.” -They were paraded in these carts through the streets of _Brussels_ and -liberated, at 7.0 o’clock in the evening, at eight kilometres’ distance -beyond the city. - -Meanwhile, the proclamation of the morning had had its effect. Louvain -was cleared of its inhabitants, but the bombardment did not follow. -Between 11.0 and 12.0 o’clock a few cannon shots were heard in the -distance, but that was all.[327] “At _Rotselaer_,” states an inhabitant -of Louvain who was in the party conveyed there on the 27th,[328] “I -understood from the prisoners in the church that all the people of -_Rotselaer_ were made to leave their houses on the pretext that they -were in danger of bombardment, and the Germans stated that they were -being placed in the church for security. While all these people were in -the church the Germans robbed the houses and then burned the village.” -At Louvain the German strategy was the same. The bombardment was only -a pretext for the wholesale expulsion of the inhabitants, which was -followed by systematic pillage and incendiarism as soon as the ground -was clear. The conflagration of two nights before, which had never -burnt itself out, was extended deliberately and revived where it was -dying out; the plundering, which had been desultory since the Germans -first occupied the town, was now conducted under the supervision of -officers from house to house.[329] - -On the morning of August 27th, even before the exodus began, a Dutch -witness[330] waiting at the _Hôtel-de-Ville_ saw “soldiers streaming in -from all sides, laden with huge packages of stolen property--clothes, -boxes of cigars, bottles of wine, etc. Many of these men were -drunk.”--“I saw the German soldiers taking the wine away from my -house and from neighbours’ houses,” states a Belgian witness.[331] -“They got into the cellar with a ladder, and brought out the wine -and placed it on their waggons.”--“The streets were full of empty -wine bottles,” states another.[332] “My factory has been completely -plundered,” states a cigar-manufacturer.[333] “Seven million cigars -have disappeared.” The factory itself was set on fire on the 26th, -and was only saved by the Germans for fear the flames might spread to -the prison. They saved it by an extinguishing apparatus which was as -instantaneous in its effect as the apparatus they used for setting -houses alight. “The soldiers, led by a non-commissioned officer, went -from house to house and broke in the shop fronts and house doors with -their rifle butts. A cart or waggon waited for them in the street to -carry away the loot.”[334] Carts were also employed in the suburb of -_Blauwput_, on the other side of the railway. “I saw German soldiers -break into the houses,” states a witness from _Blauwput_.[335] “One -party consisting of six soldiers had a little cart with them. I saw -these break into a store where there were many bottles of champagne and -a stock of cigars, etc. They drank a good deal of wine, smoked cigars, -and carried off a supply in the cart. I saw many Germans engaged in -looting.” This employment of carts became an anxiety to the Higher -Command. A type-written order, addressed to the Officers of the 53rd -Landwehr Infantry, lays down that “For the future it is forbidden to -use army carts for the transport of things which have nothing whatever -to do with the service of the Army. At some period these carts, which -travel empty with our Army, will be required for the transport of war -material. They are now actually loaded with all sorts of things, none -of which have anything to do with military supplies or equipment.”[336] - -This systematic pillage went on day after day. “The _Station Square_,” -states a refugee from Louvain[337] who traversed the city again on -August 29th, “was transformed into a vast goods-depôt, where bottles -of wine were the most prominent feature. Officers and men were -eating and drinking in the middle of the ruins, without appearing to -be in the least incommoded by the appalling stench of the corpses -which still lay in the _Boulevard_. Along the _Boulevard de Diest_ I -saw Landsturm soldiers taking from the houses anything that suited -their fancy, and then setting the house alight, and this under their -officers’ eyes.” On September 2nd there was a fresh outbreak of plunder -and arson in the _Rue Léopold_ and the _Rue Marie-Thérèse_.[338] As -late as September 5th--ten days after the original catastrophe--the -Germans were pillaging houses in the _Rue de la Station_ and loading -the loot on carts.[339] Householders who returned when all was over -found the destruction complete. “I found my parents’ house sacked,” -states one.[340] “A great deal of the furniture was smashed, the -contents of cupboards and drawers were scattered about the rooms.... -In my sister’s house the looking-glasses on the ground floor were -broken. On the bedding of the glass the imprint of the rifle-butts -was clearly visible.”--“Inside our house,” states another,[341] -“everything is upside down.... The floors are strewn with flowers and -with silver plate not belonging to our house, the writing room is -filled with buckets and basins, in which they had cooled the bottles -of champagne.... There was straw everywhere--in short, the place was -like a barn. To crown everything, my father was not allowed to sleep in -his own house.... When the Germans at last quitted our residence, it -was necessary to cleanse and disinfect everything. The lowest stable -was cleaner than our bedrooms, where scraps from the gourmandising and -pieces of meat lay rotting in every corner amid half-smoked cigars, -candle ends, broken plates, and hay brought from I don’t know where.” - -But these two houses were, at any rate, not burnt down, and more -frequently, when they had finished with a house, the Germans set it -on fire. They had begun on the night of August 25th; on August 26th -they were proceeding systematically,[342] and the work continued on -the 27th and the following days. All varieties of incendiary apparatus -were employed--a white powder,[343] an inflammable stick,[344] a -projectile fired from a rifle.[345] They introduced these into the -house to be burnt by staving in a panel of the front door[346] or -breaking a window,[347] and the conflagration was immediate when once -the apparatus was inside. This scientific incendiarism was the regular -sequel to the organised pillage. The firing by German soldiers also -went on. “On August 27th,” states one German witness,[348] “I was -fired at from a garden from behind the hedge, without being hit. It -was in the afternoon; I could not see the person who had shot.” The -identification can be inferred from the experience of the Rector of -Louvain University, Mgr. Ladeuze, on the night of August 25th, when -he detected two German soldiers firing over the garden wall of the -_Chemical Institute_ into the _Rue de Namur_.[349] Another German -witness, a military surgeon in the Neuss Landsturm,[350] who arrived -at Louvain in the afternoon of August 27th, testifies that “in the -course of the afternoon I heard the noise of firing in the _Rue de la -Station_.... I had the impression that we were being shot at from a -house there, in spite of my conspicuous armlet with the Red Cross. -We approached the house. A German soldier of another battalion leapt -out from the first floor, and in so doing broke the upper part of his -thigh. He told me that he had just been pursued and shot at by six -civilians in the house.” The surgeon, a young man of twenty-five, a -new-comer to Louvain, and unused to the notion of German soldiers -firing on one another, repeats this story without seeing that it fails -to explain the shots fired _from_ the house and directed against -himself, and he takes the presence of the “six civilians” on faith. -Was the soldier who escaped punishment by this lie firing into the -street from panic? This may have been so, for the German troops were -in a state of nervous degeneration, but there is another possible -explanation. Two days later, on August 29th, when Mr. Gibson, Secretary -of the American Legation at Brussels, visited Louvain to enquire -into the catastrophe, his motor-car was fired at in the _Rue de la -Station_ from a house, and five or six armed men in civilian costume -were dragged out of it by his escort and marched off for execution. -But they were not executed, for they were German soldiers disguised to -give Mr. Gibson an ocular demonstration that “the civilians had fired.” -The German Higher Command had already adopted this as their official -thesis, and they were determined to impose it on the world.[351] - -After the exodus on the morning of the 27th, Louvain lay empty of -inhabitants all day, while the burning and plundering went on. But at -dusk a procession of civilians, driven by soldiers, streamed in from -the north. They were the fourth batch of prisoners who had been marched -out of Louvain on the previous day. They had spent the night in the -open, and had been locked up that afternoon in _Rotselaer_ church. But -after only an hour’s respite they had been driven forth again, and the -whole population of _Rotselaer_ with them, along the road leading back -to the city. - -“On the way,” states one of the victims,[352] “we rested a moment. The -curé of _Rotselaer_, a man 86 years of age, spoke to the officer in -command: ‘Herr Offizier, what you are doing now is a cowardly act. My -people did no harm, and, if you want a victim, kill me....’ The German -soldiers then seized the curé by the neck and took him away. Some -Germans picked up mud from the ground and threw it in his face....” - -“We entered Louvain,” states the curé himself,[353] “by the _Canal_ -and the _Rue du Canal_. No ruins. We reached the _Grand’ Place_--what -a spectacle! The _Church of Saint-Pierre_! Rest in front of the -_Hôtel-de-Ville_. Fatigue compelled me to stretch myself on the -pavement, while the houses blazed all the time. - -“Other prisoners from Louvain and the neighbourhood kept arriving. Soon -I saw fresh prisoners arrive from _Rotselaer_--women, children and old -men, among others a blind old man of eighty years, and the wife of the -doctor at _Rotselaer_, dragged from her sick-bed. (She died during the -journey to Germany.)...” - -“In the _Grand’ Place_,” states the former witness,[354] “the heat from -the burning houses was so great that the prisoners huddled together to -get away from it....” - -“After we had remained standing there about an hour,” states a -third,[355] “we had to proceed towards the _Station_ along the _Rue de -la Station_. In this same road we saw the German soldiers plundering -the houses. They took pleasure in letting us see them doing it. In the -city and at _Kessel-Loo_ the conflagration redoubled in intensity.” - -“The houses were all burning in the _Rue de la Station_,” states the -first,[356] “and there were even flames in the street which we had to -jump across. We were closely guarded by German soldiers, who threatened -to kill us if we looked from side to side.” - -Yet these victims in their misery were accused of shooting by their -tormentors. “On August 27th,” states an officer concerned,[357] “the -Third Battalion of the Landwehr Infantry Regiment No. 53 had to take -with it on its march from _Rotselaer_ to Louvain a convoy of about -1,000 civilian prisoners.... Among the prisoners were a number of -Belgian priests, one of whom,[358] especially caught my attention -because at every halt he went from one to another of the prisoners and -addressed words to them in an excited manner, so that I had to keep him -under special observation. In Louvain we made over the prisoners at the -_Station_.... On the following morning it was reported to me ... that -the above-mentioned priest had shot at one of the men of the guard, but -had failed to hit him, and in consequence had himself been shot in the -_Station Square_.” - -Such were the rumours that passed current in the German Army; but there -is no reference in this officer’s deposition to what really happened -at the _Station_ on the night of the 27th-28th. The prisoners arrived -there about 7.0 p.m., and were immediately put on board a train. -Their numbers had risen by now to between 2,000 and 3,000,[359] and -the overcrowding was appalling. The curé of _Rotselaer_ was placed -in a truck which had carried troops and was furnished with benches; -but even this truck was made to hold 50 people,[360] while the -majority were forced into cattle trucks--from 70 to 100 men, women, -and children in each,[361] which had never been cleaned, and were -knee-deep in dung.[362] They stood in these trucks all night, while -the train remained standing in the _Station_. On August 28th, about -6.0 in the morning, they started for _Cologne_, but the stoppages and -shuntings were interminable, and _Cologne_ was not reached till the -afternoon of August 31st. During these four days--from the evening of -August 27th to the afternoon of August 31st--the prisoners were given -nothing to eat,[363] and were not allowed to get out of the train to -relieve themselves when it stopped.[364] “We had nothing to eat,” -states one of them,[365] “not even the child one month old.”--“My -wife was suckling her child,” states another,[366] “but her milk -came to an end. My wife was crying nearly all the time. The baby was -dreadfully ill, and nearly died.”--“We had been without food for two -days and nights, and had nothing to drink till we got to _Cologne_, -except that one of my fellow-prisoners had a bottle of water, from -which we just wetted our lips.”[367]--“I asked for some water for my -child at _Aix-la-Chapelle_, and it was refused. It was the soldiers -that I asked, and they spat at me when they refused the water. The -soldiers also took all the money that I had upon me.”[368]--“We had not -been allowed to leave the train to obey the calls of nature, till at -_Cologne_ we went on our knees and begged the soldiers to allow us to -get down.”[369] - -The brutality of the soldiers did not stop short of murder. “At -_Henne_,” where the train stopped at 3.30 a.m. on August 29th, “a man -got out to satisfy nature. He belonged to the village of _Wygmael_. -He was going towards the side of the line when three German soldiers -approached him. One of them caught hold of him and threw him on the -ground, and he was bayonetted by one or other of them in his left side. -The man cried out; then the German soldier withdrew his bayonet and -showed his comrades how far it had gone in. He then wiped the blood -off his bayonet by drawing it through his hand.... After the soldier -had wiped his bayonet, he and his comrades turned the man over on his -face.... A few minutes after he had wiped his bayonet, he put his hand -in his pocket and took out some bread, which he ate....”[370] - -Between Louvain and the frontier two men in a passenger-carriage “tried -to escape and broke the windows. The German sentinels bayonetted these -two men and killed them.”[371] - -Two people on the train went mad,[372] and two committed suicide.[373] -When the train started again after its halt at _Liége_, a man from -_Thildonck_ was run over, and it was supposed that he had thrown -himself under the wheels to put himself out of his misery.[374] When -the train was emptied at _Cologne_, three of the prisoners were taken -out dead.[375] - -The trucks were chalked with the inscription: “Civilians who shot at -the soldiers at Louvain,”[376] and at every place in Germany where -the train stopped the prisoners were persecuted by the crowd.[377] -“At _Aix-la-Chapelle_,” states the curé of _Rotselaer_, “an officer -came up to spit on me.”[378] At _Aix_, too, those destined for the -internment camp at _Münster_ had to change trains and were marched -through the streets. “As we went,” states one of them,[379] “the German -women and children spat at us.”--“We arrived at _Aix-la-Chapelle_,” -states another witness.[380] “There the German people shouted at us. At -_Dürren_, between _Aix-la-Chapelle_ and _Cologne_, 4,000 German people -crowded round. I turned round to the old woman with eight children, and -said: ‘Do these people think we are prisoners? Show them one of your -little children, at the window.’ This child was a month old, and naked. -When the child was shown at the window a hush came over the crowd.” - -“When we reached _Cologne_ a crowd came round the trucks, jeering at -us, and as we marched out they prodded us with their umbrellas and -pelted us and shouted: ‘Shoot them dead! Shoot them dead!’--and drew -their fingers across their throats.”[381] - -“At _Cologne_,” states the curé of _Rotselaer_,[382] “we had to -leave the train and parade--men, women and children--through the -streets under the surveillance of the police.”--“On the way,” adds -another,[383] “the children in the streets threw stones at us.” - -They were herded for the night into an exhibition-ground called the -“Luna Park,” and here their first food was served out to them--for -every ten persons one loaf of mouldy bread.[384] A certain number found -shelter in a “joy-wheel”; the rest spent the night in the open, in the -rain. The guards amused themselves by making individuals kneel down in -turn and threatening them with execution.[385] Next morning they were -marched back to the station, once more under the insults of the crowd, -and started to retrace their journey, but not all of them were allowed -to return. A batch of 300 men were kept at _Cologne_ for a week, during -which time 60 of their number were shot before the eyes of the rest, -while the survivors were paraded through the town again and subjected -more than once to a sham execution.[386] Others[387] were sent direct -from _Aix-la-Chapelle_ to the internment camp at _Münster_, where the -Garde Civique of Louvain had been sent before. In this camp the men -were separated completely from the women and children--one of them was -the man[388] whose baby had nearly died on the way, and for six weeks -he was kept in ignorance of what was happening to the baby and to his -wife. For the first six weeks they were given no water to wash in, and -no soap during the whole period of their imprisonment. They were not -allowed to smoke or read or sing. This particular prisoner was allowed -by special grace to return to Louvain with his family on December 6th, -but the others still remained. - -Meanwhile, the main body of the prisoners was being transported back -to Belgium. This return journey was almost as painful as the journey -out; they were almost as badly crowded and starved;[389] but the -delays were less, and they reached _Brussels_ on September 2nd. While -they were halted at _Brussels_, Burgomaster Max managed to serve out -to each of them a ration of white bread.[390] They were carried on to -_Schaerbeek_, detrained, and marched in column to _Vilvorde_. “I was in -the last file,” states one of them.[391] “We were made to run quickly, -and the soldiers struck us on the back with their rifles and on the -arms with their bayonets.”--“On the way to _Vilvorde_ one man sprang -into the water, a canal--he was mad by then. The German soldiers threw -empty bottles at this man in the water; they were bottles they got from -the houses as they passed, and were drinking from on the way.”[392] -At _Vilvorde_ they were informed that they were free.[393] They -dragged themselves forward towards the Belgian lines, but at _Sempst_ -another party of Germans took them prisoner again.[393] “The Germans -thrust their bayonets quite close to our chests,” states one of the -prisoners;[394] “then four of them prepared to shoot us, but they did -not shoot. One of the prisoners went mad; I was made to hold him, and -he hurt me very much.” Finally the officer commanding the picket let -them go once more. They asked if they might return to Louvain. “If you -go back that way we will kill you,” the officer said; “you have to go -that way,” and he pointed towards _Malines_.[395] It was now midnight, -and pouring with rain. The prisoners stumbled on again, and made their -way, in scattered parties, to the Belgian outposts.[396] - -This horrible railway journey to _Cologne_ was the last stroke in the -campaign of terrorisation carried out against Louvain after the night -of August 25th by the deliberate policy of the German Army Command. A -refugee who had returned to the city on August 28th, and had been kept -prisoner during the night, was released with her fellow prisoners on -the 29th. “We will not hurt you any more,” said the officer in command; -“stay in Louvain. All is finished.”[397] - -On August 30th the staff of the _Hôpital St.-Thomas_, who had defied -the proclamation of the 27th and remained continuously at their posts, -took the task of reconstruction in hand.[398] A committee of notables -was formed, and overtures were made to Major von Manteuffel, the German -Etappen-Kommandant in the town. On September 1st a proclamation, signed -by the provisional municipal government, was posted up, with von -Manteuffel’s sanction, in the streets.[399] It communicated a promise -from the German Military Authorities that pillage and arson should -thenceforth cease, and it invited the inhabitants to come back to -Louvain and take up again their normal life. The most pressing task was -to clear the ruins, and to find and bury the dead. In Louvain alone, -not including the suburban communes, 1,120 houses had been destroyed -and 100 civilians had been killed during this week of terror. - -“We arrived at Louvain,” writes a German soldier in his diary on August -29th.[400] “The whole place was swarming with troops. Landsturmers of -the Halle Battalion came along, dragging things with them--chiefly -bottles of wine--and many of them were drunk. A tour round the town -with ten bicyclists in search of billets revealed a picture of -devastation as bad as any imaginable. Burning and falling houses -bordered the streets; only a house here and there remained standing. -Our tour led us over broken glass, burning wood-work and rubble. Tram -and telephone wires trailed in the streets. Such barracks as were still -standing were full up. Back to the _Station_, where nobody knew what -to do next. Detached parties were to enter the streets, but actually -the Battalion marched in close order into the town, to break into the -first houses and loot--no, of course, only to ‘requisition’--for wine -and other things. Like a wild pack they broke loose, each on their own; -officers set a good example by going on ahead. A night in a barracks -with many drunk was the end of this day, which aroused in me a contempt -I cannot describe.” - - * * * * * - -[Illustration: THE TRACK OF THE ARMIES: FROM THE FRONTIER TO MALINES.] - - * * * * * - -[Illustration: LOUVAIN - -SKETCH TAKEN FROM MAP ATTACHED TO THE GERMAN WHITE BOOK. - -The cross hatching denotes the quarters burnt down, and is reproduced -exactly from the German original.] - - * * * * * - -FOOTNOTES: - -[74] xv p. 20. - -[75] Bryce pp. 183-4. - -[76] xvii p. 66; xxi p. 129; Morgan p. 101; Bland p. 121; Davignon p. -107. - -[77] The man was a glass-maker. - -[78] xvii p. 66. - -[79] xvii p. 63. - -[80] Reply pp. 140-1; k4; Bédier pp. 10-1; i pp. 3-4. - -[81] There had been Belgian _soldiers_ with a machine-gun in the -village. - -[82] k18. - -[83] Reply p. 128. - -[84] Davignon p. 97. - -[85] xv p. 20. - -[86] c1-38; Belg. xxi pp. 111-4; Anns. 1, 7; Reply pp. 147-178; German -White Book, A; Struyken; Davignon p. 97. - -[87] Reply No. 1; g2. - -[88] c1, 6, 9, 15; R. No. 9. - -[89] c1, 15; R. Nos. 4, 9, 11. - -[90] German White Book, A 2. - -[91] White Book A 3, Appendix. - -[92] White Book A 5. - -[93] A 4. - -[94] White Book A 5. - -[95] cp. A 3, Appendix. - -[96] c 4, 8. - -[97] R. No. 3; c 12. - -[98] White Book A 2 and 3 (Appendix). - -[99] c 1, 4, 5; R. No. 11. - -[100] R. Nos. 9, 10, 15. - -[101] R. No. 16. - -[102] c 7, 13, 20, 23-5; R. Nos. 12, 13, 15, 16. - -[103] R. No. 9. - -[104] cp. the treatment of the monks at Louvain, p. 137 below. - -[105] Davignon, p. 97. - -[106] R. p. 171. - -[107] c39-45. - -[108] c3, 23-5, 40; R. No. 10 (Aerschot). - -[109] c54-6. - -[110] c48-9, 52; R. pp. 351-3. - -[111] For his death see footnote on p. 151 below. - -[112] c60-63. - -[113] c 46-47. - -[114] g 16-18. - -[115] d 1-9. - -[116] d 10-65; vii p. 54. - -[117] d 18, 20, 21, 34, 52, 62. - -[118] d 11, 18, 20, 21, 37, 39, 41, 44. - -[119] d 36, 38, 40. - -[120] d 32-4, 38-9. - -[121] d 12, 13, 16, 17, 20, 21, 25, 27, 29-31, 33, 35, 38, 43, 46, 52, -54-7, 62-5. - -[122] d 10, 13, 15, 26, 47. - -[123] d 36, cp. 37. - -[124] vii p. 54. - -[125] d 66-83. - -[126] d 67-9, 72, 75. - -[127] d 66, 69-72, 77-9. - -[128] d 74, cp. 81. - -[129] d 87-9; g 20. - -[130] xv p. 22; g 18; d 90-1, 26. - -[131] x pp. 78-9. - -[132] Mercier. - -[133] d 92-3. - -[134] d 112-4; cp. Massart, pp. 338-9. - -[135] g 22. - -[136] k 21. - -[137] Reply p. 431; Mercier. - -[138] d 125. - -[139] 94. - -[140] d 100-8. - -[141] R. pp. 378-380. - -[142] d 110-1. - -[143] d 95-9. - -[144] Mercier. - -[145] “Germans,” p. 26. - -[146] e23. - -[147] R29; cp. “Germans,” p. 9; Chambry, p. 14; e5; R24. - -[148] “Germans,” p. 15; R24. - -[149] Chambry, p. 16. - -[150] e2; R7, 10. - -[151] R24; Chambry, p. 17. - -[152] “Horrors,” p. 31. - -[153] e25. - -[154] R24; cp. R11; e2; “Germans,” p. 25. - -[155] e23. - -[156] e2; R18. - -[157] “Germans,” p. 25. - -[158] “Germans,” p. 26; R24. - -[159] “Horrors,” p. 31. - -[160] R7, 24. - -[161] R10. - -[162] R1, 24; “Germans,” pp. 28-9. - -[163] R29. - -[164] R2, 24, 29. - -[165] “Germans,” p. 31; Grondijs, p. 34; e 1; R1, 8, 11, 17. - -[166] “Germans,” pp. 31-2. - -[167] e 1. - -[168] e 1; “Germans,” p. 32; D7, 8. - -[169] “Germans,” p. 32. - -[170] “Germans,” p. 32; Davignon, p. 97; R17. - -[171] Chambry, p. 21; e3; R17. - -[172] R7; D46. - -[173] D46. - -[174] D46. - -[175] D7, 8. - -[176] e1; R8. - -[177] R7, 17. - -[178] Chambry, pp. 22-3. - -[179] R6. - -[180] D7, 10, 12, 13, 14-18, 22; cp. D46. - -[181] R6. - -[182] R4. - -[183] R7. - -[184] D46. - -[185] D8. - -[186] e8. - -[187] D8, 22. - -[188] R20. - -[189] R3. - -[190] “Germans,” p. 33. - -[191] R3. - -[192] R13. - -[193] e 1; cp. R8. - -[194] Morgan, p. 102. - -[195] Chambry, p. 23. - -[196] R2. - -[197] “Horrors,” p. 38. - -[198] “Germans,” p. 33. - -[199] R27. - -[200] Also in the _Rue Vital Decoster_, north of the _Rue de la -Station_ (R13). - -[201] D29; cp. R2. - -[202] D20; cp. D25, 27. - -[203] “Germans,” pp. 41, 107; e24; R29. - -[204] “Germans,” p. 107; Grondijs p. 58. - -[205] e5; cp. e13; R10. - -[206] xxi p. 115. - -[207] R5. - -[208] D20. - -[209] D9. - -[210] R13. - -[211] D9. - -[212] D3. - -[213] D1. - -[214] D10. - -[215] “Germans” pp. 33-5. - -[216] R25. - -[217] R29 (Statement by the Abbé van den Bergh, accredited by His -Eminence Cardinal Piffl, Prince-Bishop of Vienna, to conduct inquiries -on behalf of the Wiener Priester-Verein); cp. R25. - -[218] e8. - -[219] R3; cp. e24. - -[220] R29; cp. e26. - -[221] D1 (von Boehn), 2, 3 (von Manteuffel), 9, 49 (2). - -[222] e13; cp. R17, 24. - -[223] D3. - -[224] D2; cp. D11. - -[225] D36 (1). - -[226] D36 (2). - -[227] _Area of incendiarism_: “Eye-witness” p. 1; “Horrors” pp. 39, 43; -“Germans” pp. 35-8, 92; Chambry pp. 25, 92; _Apparatus_: e2, 13; R8, -13; cp. also D31, 37 (2) - -[228] R24. - -[229] D46. - -[230] R8; e23; cp. “Germans” p. 46. - -[231] R13; cp. e14, 28. - -[232] e13; cp. e24. - -[233] D4. - -[234] R14 (Grondijs); cp. R19, 29. - -[235] R29; cp. “Eye-witness” p. 3; “Germans” p. 37; R25. - -[236] e2, 23; R10, 11, 18, 24. - -[237] e1; R8. - -[238] R10. - -[239] D46. - -[240] R8, 26; e14. - -[241] e1. - -[242] e8; cp. “Horrors” p. 39; e17; R8, 15, 17. - -[243] D9; cp. R24; e14 (M. David-Fischbach’s servant). - -[244] Chambry pp. 26-7. - -[245] “Germans” p. 42. - -[246] e16. - -[247] e1. - -[248] e15. - -[249] e17. - -[250] e15. - -[251] e19. - -[252] e17. - -[253] e13. - -[254] Grondijs p. 39. - -[255] “Germans” pp. 46-7. - -[256] R19. - -[257] “Germans” p. 43. - -[258] R2. - -[259] R11, 17. - -[260] R13. - -[261] e1, 9, 13; R7, 8, 26. - -[262] D37 (2). - -[263] Grondijs p. 41. - -[264] “Germans” pp. 43-5; e2. - -[265] R24. - -[266] D2. - -[267] “Horrors” p. 40; “Germans” p. 47; xxi p. 115; R6, 10. - -[268] e3. - -[269] e4; cp. R7. - -[270] e1 = R8; cp. R1, 7. - -[271] R17. - -[272] e3. - -[273] e1 = R8. - -[274] Killed, October, 1914. - -[275] D38. - -[276] e4; cp. R20. - -[277] e4. - -[278] D38. - -[279] D48. - -[280] D38. - -[281] e13. - -[282] R9. - -[283] D19; cp. D37 (3), 41, 43. - -[284] e13; cp. Chambry pp. 38-9. - -[285] “Eye-witness” p. 4; cp. “Horrors” p. 39; Chambry pp. 33, 71-2; -D37 (2). - -[286] e2. - -[287] Grondijs pp. 50-1. - -[288] e4; R9. - -[289] D44. - -[290] R1, 7, 8 (= e1), 20, 26. - -[291] R26 (his deposition); cp. Grondijs, pp. 70-1. - -[292] R1, 8 (= e1). - -[293] R1, 7, 26. - -[294] R1, 8. - -[295] R26. - -[296] R7. - -[297] R8. - -[298] xxi p. 117; e18, 21; R22; “Germans” pp. 59-61. - -[299] e21. - -[300] e21. - -[301] e18. - -[302] R22; cp. e18, 21; “Germans” p. 60. - -[303] R22; e18. - -[304] xxi p. 117. - -[305] cp. p. 76 above. - -[306] R23. - -[307] Chambry p. 33; Grondijs p. 47. - -[308] A German soldier was so much shocked at this that he fetched the -milk himself. - -[309] e3 = R15; R17. - -[310] “Germans” pp. 52-4, 71; Chambry pp. 40-1, 73; “Horrors” pp. 40-1; -Grondijs p. 52; “Eye-witness” p. 5; e2; R11; D31. - -[311] “Germans” p. 54. - -[312] xxi p. 116. - -[313] R11. - -[314] Chambry pp. 53-4. - -[315] R11. - -[316] e2. - -[317] R12. - -[318] “Eye-witness” pp. 5-9; “Germans” p. 58; Grondijs pp. 61-71 -(= R14); Chambry p. 73; R4, 13, 21 (= xxi pp. 117-9; “Eye-witness” pp. -8-9). - -[319] R13. - -[320] R22. - -[321] “Eye-witness” p. 5. - -[322] R21. - -[323] “Eye-witness” p. 6. - -[324] R21; “Eye-witness” p. 7. - -[325] R21. - -[326] R21. - -[327] “Germans” p. 72; “Horrors” p. 42; cp. Chambry p. 56. - -[328] e3. - -[329] R24. - -[330] “Grondijs” p. 51. - -[331] e4. - -[332] e8. - -[333] R10. - -[334] R24. - -[335] e26. - -[336] Chambry p. 86; v. p. 29. - -[337] R11. - -[338] “Germans” pp. 73, 89. - -[339] R10. - -[340] R13. - -[341] Chambry pp. 74-7. - -[342] R19. - -[343] e16. - -[344] R19. - -[345] R24. - -[346] Chambry p. 52. - -[347] R19. - -[348] D19. - -[349] “Germans” p. 107; Grondijs p. 58; cp. p. 105 above. - -[350] D21. - -[351] R27 (Deposition of Mgr. Deploige, President of the _Institut -Supérieur de Philosophie_ and Director of the _Hôpital St.-Thomas_); -R29 (Report by Abbé Van den Bergh, accredited by His Eminence Cardinal -Piffl, Prince-Bishop of Vienna, to make enquiries on behalf of the -Vienna Priester-Verein). - -[352] e3. - -[353] R16. - -[354] e3. - -[355] R17. - -[356] e3. - -[357] D34. - -[358] This was the Priest of _Herent_, the Abbé van Bladel, whose body -was exhumed at _Louvain_ on Jan. 14th, 1915, in the _Station Square_ -(R30). - -[359] e5, 7, 17; R16. - -[360] R16; cp. e10. - -[361] e3, 7, 17; “Germans” p. 68 (Narrative of a Bulgarian student). - -[362] e3, 7, 10, 17; “Germans” p. 68. - -[363] e3, 5, 10; R17. - -[364] e3, 7, 17. - -[365] e3. - -[366] e5. - -[367] e10. - -[368] e5. - -[369] e17. - -[370] e10; confirmed by e11. - -[371] e5. - -[372] e3; cp. e7; R17. - -[373] e3. - -[374] e10, 11. - -[375] e16. - -[376] e16. - -[377] e10. - -[378] R16. - -[379] e5. - -[380] e3 = R15. - -[381] e7; cp. e10. - -[382] R16; cp. e10; R17; “Germans” p. 68. - -[383] e17. - -[384] e17; R16. - -[385] R15. - -[386] e16. - -[387] e5. - -[388] e5. - -[389] e3. - -[390] e7, 10, 17; R16, 17. - -[391] e17; cp. e3; R15, 16, 17. - -[392] e7; R16, 17. - -[393] e3, 17; R15. - -[394] e17. - -[395] e3; R15. - -[396] R16. - -[397] e13. - -[398] “Germans” p. 84 _seqq._; R27. - -[399] “Germans” p. 86; R27. - -[400] Ann. 8 (Extract from the Diary of Gaston Klein); cp. Bryce p. 80, -No. 32. - - * * * * * - -Transcriber’s Notes: - -Footnotes have been moved to the end of each chapter and relabeled -consecutively through the document. - -Illustrations have been moved to paragraph breaks near where they are -mentioned. - -Punctuation has been made consistent. - -Variations in spelling and hyphenation were retained as they appear in -the original publication, except that obvious typos have been corrected. - -Abbreviations for references have inconsistent spacing, such as c1 -versus c 1, and these have been left as they appear in the original -publication. - -Changes have been made as follows: - -Footnote 86: Struycken changed to Struyken (A; Struyken; Davignon) - -Footnote 139: Reference letter is missing and is probably d (d 94). - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's The German Terror in Belgium, by Arnold J. 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Toynbee - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: The German Terror in Belgium - An Historical Record - -Author: Arnold J. Toynbee - -Release Date: December 18, 2015 [EBook #50716] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GERMAN TERROR IN BELGIUM *** - - - - -Produced by Brian Coe, Craig Kirkwood, and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This -file was produced from images generously made available -by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) - - - - - - -</pre> - - -<div class="transnote"> -<h2 style="margin-top: 0em">Transcriber’s Notes:</h2> - -<p>Larger versions of the maps can -be viewed by clicking on each map in a web browser.</p> - -<p><a href="#TN_end">Additional Transcriber’s Notes</a> are at the -end.</p> -</div> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii" id="Page_ii">[ii]</a></span></p> - -<div id="Fig_FRONTISPIECE" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> -<a href="images/i_frontispiece.jpg"><img src="images/i_frontispiece_thumb.jpg" width="600" height="625" alt="" /></a> -<div class="caption"><p class="center">THE INVADED COUNTRY</p></div> -</div> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_iii" id="Page_iii">[iii]</a></span></p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 389px;"> -<img src="images/i_title_page.jpg" width="389" height="650" alt="Title Page" /> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> - -<h1>THE GERMAN TERROR<br />IN BELGIUM</h1> - - -<p class="center boldfont largefont"><em>An Historical Record</em></p> - -<p class="center" style="padding-top:2em"><span class="smallfont">BY</span><br /> -<span class="largefont">ARNOLD J. TOYNBEE</span></p> -<p class="smallfont center">LATE FELLOW OF BALLIOL COLLEGE,<br /> -OXFORD</p> - -<p class="center" style="padding-top:4em">NEW YORK<br /> -GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY<br /> -MCMXVII -</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_iv" id="Page_iv">[iv]</a></span></p> - -<p class="center smallfont">COPYRIGHT, 1917,<br /> -BY GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY</p> - -<p class="center smallfont" style="padding-top:3em">PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA -</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[v]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2>PREFACE</h2> - - -<p class="dropcap">The subject of this book is the treatment of the -civil population in the countries overrun by -the German Armies during the first three -months of the European War. The form of it is a -connected narrative, based on the published documents<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> -and reproducing them by direct quotation or (for the -sake of brevity) by reference.</p> - -<p>With the documents now published on both sides it -is at last possible to present a clear narrative of what -actually happened. The co-ordination of this mass -of evidence, which has gradually accumulated since -the first days of invasion, is the principal purpose -for which the book has been written. The evidence -consists of first-hand statements—some delivered on -oath before a court, others taken down from the witnesses -without oath by competent legal examiners, -others written and published on the witnesses’ own initiative -as books or pamphlets. Most of them originally -appeared in print in a controversial setting, as -proofs or disproofs of disputed fact, or as justifications -or condemnations of fact that was admitted. In the -present work, however, this argumentative aspect of -them has been avoided as far as possible. For it has -either been treated exhaustively in official publications—the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">[vi]</a></span> -case of Louvain, for instance, in the German -White Book and the Belgian Reply to it—or will not -be capable of such treatment till after the conclusion -of the War. The ultimate inquiry and verdict, if it is -to have finality, must proceed either from a mixed -commission of representatives of all the States concerned, -or from a neutral commission like that -appointed by the Carnegie Foundation to inquire into -the atrocities committed during the Balkan War. But -the German Government has repeatedly refused proposals, -made both unofficially and officially, that it -should allow such an investigation to be conducted in -the territory at present under German military occupation,<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> -and the final critical assessment will therefore -necessarily be postponed till the German Armies have -retired again within their own frontiers.</p> - -<p>Meanwhile, an ordered and documented narrative -of the attested facts seems the best preparation for -that judicial appraisement for which the time is not -yet ripe. The facts have been drawn from statements -made by witnesses on opposite sides with different -intentions and beliefs, but as far as possible they have -been disengaged from this subjective setting and have -been set out, without comment, to speak for themselves. -It has been impossible, however, to confine the exposition -to pure narration at every point, for in the original -evidence the facts observed and the inferred explanation -of them are seldom distinguished, and when the -same observed fact is made a ground for diametrically -opposite inferences by different witnesses, the difficulty -becomes acute. A German soldier, say, in Louvain on<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[vii]</a></span> -the night of August 25th, 1914, hears the sound of -machine-gun firing apparently coming from a certain -spot in the town, and infers that at this spot Belgian -civilians are using a machine gun against German -troops; a Belgian inhabitant hears the same sound, and -infers that German troops are firing on civilians. In -such cases the narrative must be interpreted by a judgment -as to which of the inferences is the truth, and -this judgment involves discussion. What is remarkable, -however, is the rarity of these contradictions. -Usually the different testimonies fit together into a -presentation of fact which is not open to argument.</p> - -<p>The narrative has been arranged so as to follow -separately the tracks of the different German Armies -or groups of Armies which traversed different sectors -of French and Belgian territory. Within each sector -the chronological order has been followed, which is -generally identical with the geographical order in -which the places affected lie along the route of march. -The present volume describes the invasion of Belgium -up to the sack of Louvain.</p> - -<p class="marginrightindent"> -<span class="smcap">Arnold J. Toynbee.</span></p> -<p> -<em>March, 1917.</em><br /> -</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix">[ix]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2>CONTENTS</h2> - - -<div class="center"> -<table class="toc" border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" summary="Contents"> -<tr><td class="toctitle" colspan="2">FRONTISPIECE</td><td class="tocpage"><a href="#Fig_FRONTISPIECE"><em>The Invaded<br />Country (Map)</em></a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="toctitle" colspan="2"></td><td class="tocpage">PAGE</td></tr> -<tr><td class="toctitle" colspan="2">PREFACE</td><td class="tocpage"><a href="#Page_v">v</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="toctitle" colspan="2">TABLE OF CONTENTS</td><td class="tocpage"><a href="#Page_ix">ix</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="toctitle" colspan="2">LIST OF MAPS</td><td class="tocpage"><a href="#Page_ix">ix</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="toctitle" colspan="2">LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</td><td class="tocpage"><a href="#Page_x">x</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="toctitle" colspan="2">LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS</td><td class="tocpage"><a href="#Page_xi">xi</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="toctitle" colspan="2">CHAPTER I.: THE TRACK OF THE ARMIES</td><td class="tocpage"><a href="#Page_15">15</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="toctitle" colspan="2">CHAPTER II.: FROM THE FRONTIER TO LIÉGE</td><td class="tocpage"><a href="#Page_23">23</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tocchapter1">(i)</td><td class="toctitle"><span class="smcap">On the Visé Road</span></td><td class="tocpage"><a href="#Sect_23">23</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tocchapter1">(ii)</td><td class="toctitle"><span class="smcap">On the Barchon Road</span></td><td class="tocpage"><a href="#Sect_27">27</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tocchapter1">(iii)</td><td class="toctitle"><span class="smcap">On the Fléron Road</span></td><td class="tocpage"><a href="#Sect_31">31</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tocchapter1">(iv)</td><td class="toctitle"><span class="smcap">On the Verviers Road</span></td><td class="tocpage"><a href="#Sect_37">37</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tocchapter1">(v)</td><td class="toctitle"><span class="smcap">On the Malmédy Road</span></td><td class="tocpage"><a href="#Sect_38">38</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tocchapter1">(vi)</td><td class="toctitle"><span class="smcap">Between the Vesdre and the Ourthe</span></td><td class="tocpage"><a href="#Sect_42">42</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tocchapter1">(vii)</td><td class="toctitle"><span class="smcap">Across the Meuse</span></td><td class="tocpage"><a href="#Sect_44">44</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tocchapter1">(viii)</td><td class="toctitle"><span class="smcap">The City of Liége</span></td><td class="tocpage"><a href="#Sect_46">46</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="toctitle" colspan="2">CHAPTER III.: FROM LIÉGE TO MALINES</td><td class="tocpage"><a href="#Page_52">52</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tocchapter1">(i)</td><td class="toctitle"><span class="smcap">Through Limburg to Aerschot</span></td><td class="tocpage"><a href="#Sect_52">52</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tocchapter1">(ii)</td><td class="toctitle"><span class="smcap">Aerschot</span></td><td class="tocpage"><a href="#Sect_57">57</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tocchapter1">(iii)</td><td class="toctitle"><span class="smcap">The Aerschot District</span></td><td class="tocpage"><a href="#Sect_74">74</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tocchapter1">(iv)</td><td class="toctitle"><span class="smcap">The Retreat from Malines</span></td><td class="tocpage"><a href="#Sect_77">77</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tocchapter1">(v)</td><td class="toctitle"><span class="smcap">Louvain</span></td><td class="tocpage"><a href="#Sect_89">89</a></td></tr> -</table></div> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> - -<h2>MAPS</h2> - - -<div class="center"> -<table class="toc" border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" summary="Maps"> -<tr><td class="toctitle">THE INVADED COUNTRY</td><td class="tocpage"><a href="#Fig_FRONTISPIECE"><em>Frontispiece</em></a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="toctitle">THE TRACK OF THE ARMIES: FROM THE FRONTIER TO MALINES<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></td><td class="tocpage"><a href="#Fig_EOV1"><em>End of Volume</em></a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="toctitle">LOUVAIN, FROM THE GERMAN WHITE BOOK</td><td class="tocpage"><a href="#Fig_EOV2"><em>End of Volume</em></a></td></tr> -</table></div> - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_x" id="Page_x">[x]</a></span></p> - - - -<h2>ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> - - -<div class="center"> -<table class="toc" border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" summary="ILLUSTRATIONS"> -<tr><td class="tocchapter"></td><td class="toctitle"></td><td class="tocpage">PAGE</td></tr> -<tr><td class="tocchapter">1.</td><td class="toctitle"><span class="smcap">Mouland</span></td><td class="tocpage"><a href="#Fig_16"><em>To face page</em> 16</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tocchapter">2.</td><td class="toctitle"><span class="smcap">Battice</span></td><td class="tocpage"><a href="#Fig_17">17</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tocchapter">3.</td><td class="toctitle"><span class="smcap">Liége Forts: A Destroyed Cupola</span></td><td class="tocpage"><a href="#Fig_32">32</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tocchapter">4.</td><td class="toctitle"><span class="smcap">Ans: An Interior</span></td><td class="tocpage"><a href="#Fig_33">33</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tocchapter">5.</td><td class="toctitle"><span class="smcap">Ans: The Church</span></td><td class="tocpage"><a href="#Fig_48">48</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tocchapter">6.</td><td class="toctitle"><span class="smcap">Liége: A Farm House</span></td><td class="tocpage"><a href="#Fig_49">49</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tocchapter">7.</td><td class="toctitle"><span class="smcap">Liége Under German Occupation</span></td><td class="tocpage"><a href="#Fig_52">52</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tocchapter">8.</td><td class="toctitle"><span class="smcap">Liége Under the Germans: Ruins and Placards</span></td><td class="tocpage"><a href="#Fig_53">53</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tocchapter">9.</td><td class="toctitle"><span class="smcap">Liége in Ruins</span></td><td class="tocpage"><a href="#Fig_60">60</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tocchapter">10.</td><td class="toctitle">“<span class="smcap">We Live Like God in Belgium</span>”</td><td class="tocpage"><a href="#Fig_61">61</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tocchapter">11.</td><td class="toctitle"><span class="smcap">Haelen</span></td><td class="tocpage"><a href="#Fig_64">64</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tocchapter">12.</td><td class="toctitle"><span class="smcap">Aerschot</span></td><td class="tocpage"><a href="#Fig_65">65</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tocchapter">13.</td><td class="toctitle"><span class="smcap">Brussels: A Booking-Office</span></td><td class="tocpage"><a href="#Fig_80">80</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tocchapter">14.</td><td class="toctitle"><span class="smcap">Malines After Bombardment</span></td><td class="tocpage"><a href="#Fig_81">81</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tocchapter">15.</td><td class="toctitle"><span class="smcap">Malines: Ruins</span></td><td class="tocpage"><a href="#Fig_84">84</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tocchapter">16.</td><td class="toctitle"><span class="smcap">Malines: Ruins</span></td><td class="tocpage"><a href="#Fig_85">85</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tocchapter">17.</td><td class="toctitle"><span class="smcap">Malines: Cardinal Mercier’s State-Room as a Red Cross Hospital</span></td><td class="tocpage"><a href="#Fig_92">92</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tocchapter">18.</td><td class="toctitle"><span class="smcap">Malines: The Cardinal’s Throne-Room</span></td><td class="tocpage"><a href="#Fig_93">93</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tocchapter">19.</td><td class="toctitle"><span class="smcap">Capelle-au-Bois</span></td><td class="tocpage"><a href="#Fig_96">96</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tocchapter">20.</td><td class="toctitle"><span class="smcap">Capelle-au-Bois</span></td><td class="tocpage"><a href="#Fig_97">97</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tocchapter">21.</td><td class="toctitle"><span class="smcap">Capelle-au-Bois: The Church</span></td><td class="tocpage"><a href="#Fig_112">112</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tocchapter">22.</td><td class="toctitle"><span class="smcap">Louvain: Near the Church of St. Pierre</span></td><td class="tocpage"><a href="#Fig_113">113</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tocchapter">23.</td><td class="toctitle"><span class="smcap">Louvain: The Church of St. Pierre</span></td><td class="tocpage"><a href="#Fig_116">116</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tocchapter">24.</td><td class="toctitle"><span class="smcap">Louvain: The Church of St. Pierre Across the Ruins</span></td><td class="tocpage"><a href="#Fig_117">117</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tocchapter">25.</td><td class="toctitle"><span class="smcap">Louvain: The Church of St. Pierre—Interior</span></td><td class="tocpage"><a href="#Fig_124">124</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tocchapter">26.</td><td class="toctitle"><span class="smcap">Louvain: Station Square</span></td><td class="tocpage"><a href="#Fig_125">125</a></td></tr> -</table></div> - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xi" id="Page_xi">[xi]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2>ABBREVIATIONS</h2> - - -<div class="center"> -<table class="abb" border="0" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" summary="Contents"> -<tr><td colspan="2" class="abbterm"><span class="smcap">Alphabet, Letters of the</span>:—</td></tr> -<tr><td class="abbterm1"><span class="smcap">Capitals</span></td> -<td class="abbdef">Appendices to the German White Book entitled: -“<cite>The Violation of International Law in the Conduct of the Belgian People’s-War</cite>” -(dated Berlin, 10th May, 1915); Arabic numerals after the capital letter refer to the -depositions contained in each Appendix.</td></tr> -<tr><td class="abbterm1"><span class="smcap">Lower Case</span></td> -<td class="abbdef">Sections of the “<cite>Appendix to the Report of -the Committee on Alleged German Outrages, Appointed by His Britannic -Majesty’s Government and Presided Over by the Right Hon. Viscount Bryce, O.M.</cite>” -(Cd. 7895); Arabic numerals after the lower case letter refer to the depositions -contained in each Section.</td></tr> -<tr><td class="abbterm"><span class="smcap">Ann(ex)</span></td> -<td class="abbdef">Annexes (numbered 1 to 9) to the <cite>Reports of the -Belgian Commission (vide infra)</cite>.</td></tr> -<tr><td class="abbterm"><span class="smcap">Belg.</span></td> -<td class="abbdef"><cite>Reports (numbered i to xxii) of the Official Commission -of the Belgian Government on the Violation of the Rights of Nations and of the Laws -and Customs of War.</cite> (English translation, published, on behalf of the Belgian -Legation, by H.M. Stationery Office, two volumes.)</td></tr> -<tr><td class="abbterm"><span class="smcap">Bland</span></td> -<td class="abbdef">“<cite>Germany’s Violations of the Laws of War, 1914-5</cite>”; -compiled under the Auspices of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and translated -into English with an Introduction by J. O. P. Bland. (London: Heinemann. 1915.)</td></tr> -<tr><td class="abbterm"><span class="smcap">Bryce</span></td> -<td class="abbdef"><cite>Appendix to the Report of the Committee on Alleged German Outrages -appointed by His Britannic Majesty’s Government.</cite></td></tr> -<tr><td class="abbterm"><span class="smcap">Chambry</span></td> -<td class="abbdef">“<cite>The Truth about Louvain</cite>,” -by Réné Chambry. (Hodder and Stoughton. 1915.)<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xii" id="Page_xii">[xii]</a></span></td></tr> -<tr><td class="abbterm"><span class="smcap">Davignon</span></td> -<td class="abbdef">“<cite>Belgium and Germany</cite>,” Texts and Documents, -preceded by a Foreword by Henri Davignon. (Thomas Nelson and Sons.)</td></tr> -<tr><td class="abbterm"><div style="width:6.5em">“<span class="smcap">Eye-Witness</span>”</div></td> -<td class="abbdef">“<cite>An Eye-Witness at Louvain</cite>” (London: Eyre and Spottiswoode. 1914.)</td></tr> -<tr><td class="abbterm">“<span class="smcap">Germans</span>”</td> -<td class="abbdef">“<cite>The Germans at Louvain</cite>,” by a volunteer -worker in the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Hôpital St.-Thomas</i>. (Hodder and Stoughton. 1916.)</td></tr> -<tr><td class="abbterm"><span class="smcap">Grondijs</span></td> -<td class="abbdef">“<cite>The Germans in Belgium: Experiences of a Neutral</cite>,” -by L. H. Grondijs, Ph.D., formerly Professor of Physics at the Technical -Institute of Dordrecht. (London: Heinemann. 1915.)</td></tr> -<tr><td class="abbterm"><span class="smcap">Höcker</span></td> -<td class="abbdef">“<cite>An der Spitze Meiner Kompagnie, Three Months of Campaigning</cite>,” -by Paul Oskar Höcker. (Ullstein and Co., Berlin and Vienna. 1914.)</td></tr> -<tr><td class="abbterm">“<span class="smcap">Horrors</span>”</td> -<td class="abbdef">“<cite>The Horrors of Louvain</cite>,” by an Eye-witness, -with an Introduction by Lord Halifax. (Published by the London <cite>Sunday Times</cite>.)</td></tr> -<tr><td class="abbterm"><span class="smcap">Massart</span></td> -<td class="abbdef">“<cite>Belgians under the German Eagle</cite>,” -by Jean Massart, Vice-Director of the Class of Sciences in the Royal -Academy of Belgium. (English translation by Bernard Miall. London: Fisher Unwin. 1916.)</td></tr> -<tr><td class="abbterm"><span class="smcap">Mercier</span></td> -<td class="abbdef"><cite>Pastoral Letter</cite>, dated Xmas, 1914, -of His Eminence Cardinal Mercier, Archbishop of Malines.</td></tr> -<tr><td class="abbterm"><span class="smcap">Morgan</span></td> -<td class="abbdef">“<cite>German Atrocities: An Official Investigation</cite>,” -by J. H. Morgan, M.A., Professor of Constitutional Law in the University of London. -(London: Fisher Unwin. 1916.)</td></tr> -<tr><td class="abbterm"><span class="smcap">Numerals, Roman lower case</span></td> -<td class="abbdef"><cite>Reports (numbered i to xxii) of the Belgian Commission -(vide supra).</cite></td></tr> -<tr><td class="abbterm"><span class="smcap">R(eply)</span></td> -<td class="abbdef">“<cite>Reply to the German White Book of May 10, 1915.</cite>” -(Published, for the Belgian Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Foreign Affairs, -by Berger-Levrault, Paris, 1916.) -<p>Arabic numerals after the R refer to the depositions contained in the -particular section of the <cite>Reply</cite> that is being cited at the moment: -<i lang="la" xml:lang="la">e.g.</i>, R15 denotes the fifteenth deposition in -the section<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xiii" id="Page_xiii">[xiii]</a></span> on -Louvain in the <cite>Reply</cite> when cited in the section on Louvain -in the present work; but it denotes the fifteenth deposition in the section -on Aerschot when cited in the corresponding section here.</p> -<p>The <cite>Reply</cite> is also referred to by pages, and in these cases -the Arabic numeral denotes the page and is preceded by “p.”</p></td></tr> -<tr><td class="abbterm"><span class="smcap">S(omville)</span></td> -<td class="abbdef">“<cite>The Road to Liége</cite>,” by Gustave Somville. -(English translation by Bernard Miall. Hodder and Stoughton. 1916.)</td></tr> -<tr><td class="abbterm"><span class="smcap">Struyken</span></td> -<td class="abbdef">“<cite>The German White Book on the War in Belgium: -A Commentary</cite>,” by Professor A. A. H. Struyken. (English Translation -of Articles in the Journal <cite>Van Onzen Tijd</cite>, of Amsterdam, -July 31st, August 7th, 14th, 21st, 1915. Thomas Nelson and Sons.)</td></tr> -</table></div> - -<p>N.B.—Statistics, where no reference is given, are taken from the -first and second Annexes to the Reports of the Belgian Commission. -They are based on official investigations.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span></p> - -<p class=" center xxlargefont boldfont">THE GERMAN TERROR IN BELGIUM</p> - -<h2 class="no-break">I. THE TRACK OF THE ARMIES.</h2> - - -<p class="dropcap">When Germany declared war upon Russia, -Belgium, and France in the first days of -August, 1914, German armies immediately -invaded Russian, Belgian, and French territory, and as -soon as the frontiers were crossed, these armies began -to wage war, not merely against the troops and fortifications -of the invaded states, but against the lives and -property of the civil population.</p> - -<p>Outrages of this kind were committed during the -whole advance and retreat of the Germans through -Belgium and France, and only abated when open -manœuvring gave place to trench warfare along all the -line from Switzerland to the sea. Similar outrages accompanied -the simultaneous advance into the western -salient of Russian Poland, and the autumn incursion -of the Austro-Hungarians into Serbia, which was turned -back at Valievo. There was a remarkable uniformity -in the crimes committed in these widely separated -theatres of war, and an equally remarkable limit to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span> -the dates within which they fell. They all occurred -during the first three months of the war, while, since -that period, though outrages have continued, they have -not been of the same character or on the same scale. -This has not been due to the immobility of the fronts, -for although it is certainly true that the Germans have -been unable to overrun fresh territories on the west, -they have carried out greater invasions than ever in -Russia and the Balkans, which have not been marked -by outrages of the same specific kind. This seems to -show that the systematic warfare against the civil population -in the campaigns of 1914 was the result of policy, -deliberately tried and afterwards deliberately -given up. The hypothesis would account for the peculiar -features in the German Army’s conduct, but before -we can understand these features we must survey -the sum of what the Germans did. The catalogue of -crimes against civilians extends through every phase -and theatre of the military operations in the first three -months of the war, and an outline of these is a necessary -introduction to it.</p> - -<p>In August, 1914, the Central Empires threw their -main strength against Belgium and France, and penetrated -far further on this front than on the east and -south-east. The line on which they advanced extended -from the northern end of the Vosges to the Dutch -frontier on the Meuse, and here again their strength -was unevenly distributed. The chief striking force was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span> -concentrated in the extreme north, and advanced in an -immense arc across the Meuse, the Scheldt, the Somme, -and the Oise to the outskirts of Paris. As this right -wing pressed forward, one army after another took up -the movement toward the left or south-eastern flank, -but each made less progress than its right-hand neighbour. -While the first three armies from the right all -crossed the Marne before they were compelled to retreat, -the fourth (the Crown Prince’s) never reached -it, and the army of Lorraine was stopped a few miles -within French territory, before ever it crossed the -Meuse. We shall set down very briefly the broad -movements of these armies and the dates on which -they took place.</p> - -<div id="Fig_16" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> -<img src="images/i_b_016fp.jpg" width="600" height="342" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p class="center">1. <span class="smcap">Mouland</span></p></div> -</div> - -<div id="Fig_17" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> -<img src="images/i_b_017fp.jpg" width="600" height="348" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p class="center">2. <span class="smcap">Battice</span></p></div> -</div> - -<p>Germany sent her ultimatum to Belgium on the -evening of Aug. 2nd. It announced that Germany -would violate Belgian neutrality within twelve hours, -unless Belgium betrayed it herself, and it was rejected -by Belgium the following morning. That day Germany -declared war on France, and the next day, Aug. -4th, the advance guard of the German right wing -crossed the Belgian frontier and attacked the <em>forts of -Liége</em>. On Aug. 7th the town of <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Liége</i> was entered, -and the crossings of the Meuse, from Liége to the Dutch -frontier, were in German hands.</p> - -<p>Beyond Liége the invading forces spread out like a -fan. On the extreme right a force advanced north-west -to outflank the Belgian army covering Brussels<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span> -and to mask the fortress of Antwerp, and this right -wing, again, was the first to move. Its van was defeated -by the Belgians at <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Haelen</i> on Aug. 12th, but -the main column entered <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Hasselt</i> on the same day, and -took <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Aerschot</i> and <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Louvain</i> on Aug. 19th. During the -next few days it pushed on to <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Malines</i>, was driven out -again by a Belgian sortie from Antwerp on Aug. 25th, -but retook Malines before the end of the month, and -contained the Antwerp garrison along the line of the -Dyle and the Démer.</p> - -<p>This was all that the German right flank column -was intended to do, for it was only a subsidiary part -of the two armies concentrated at Liége. As soon as -Antwerp was covered, the mass of these armies was -launched westward from Liége into the gap between -the fortresses of Antwerp and Namur—von Kluck’s -army on the right and von Bülow’s on the left. By -Aug. 21st von Bülow was west of Namur, and attacking -the French on the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Sambre</i>. On Aug. 20th an -army corps of von Kluck’s had paraded through <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Brussels</i>, -and on the 23rd his main body, wheeling south-west, -attacked the British at <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Mons</i>. On the 24th von -Kluck’s extreme right reached the Scheldt at <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Tournai</i> -and, under this threat to their left flank, the British and -French abandoned their positions on the Mons-Charleroi -line and retreated to the south. Von Kluck and -von Bülow hastened in pursuit. They passed <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Cambrai</i> -on Aug. 26th and <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">St. Quentin</i> on the 29th; on the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span> -31st von Kluck was crossing the Oise at <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Compiègne</i>, -and on the 6th Sept. he reached his furthest point at -<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Courchamp</i>, south-east of Paris and nearly thirty miles -beyond the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Marne</i>. His repulse, like his advance, was -brought about by an outflanking manœuvre, only this -time the Anglo-French had the initiative, and it was -von Kluck who was outflanked. His retirement compelled -von Bülow to fall back on his left, after a bloody -defeat in the marshes of <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">St. Gond</i>, and the retreat was -taken up, successively, by the other armies which had -come into line on the left of von Bülow.</p> - -<p>These armies had all crossed the Meuse south of the -fortress of Namur, and, to retain connexion with them, -von Bülow had had to detach a force on his left to -seize the line of the Meuse from Liége to Namur and -to capture Namur itself. The best German heavy artillery -was assigned to this force for the purpose, and -<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Namur</i> fell, after an unexpectedly short bombardment, -on Aug. 23rd, while von Bülow’s main army at Charleroi -was still engaged in its struggle with the French.</p> - -<p>The fall of Namur opened the way for German -armies to cross the Meuse along the whole line from -Namur to Verdun. The first crossing was made at -<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Dinant</i> on Aug. 23rd, the very day on which Namur -fell, by a Saxon army, which marched thither by cross -routes through Luxembourg; the second by the Duke -of Würtemberg’s army between <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Mezières</i> and <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Sedan</i>; -and the third by the Crown Prince of Prussia’s army<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span> -immediately north of <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Verdun</i>. West of the Meuse the -Saxons and Würtembergers amalgamated, and got into -touch with von Bülow on their right. Advancing parallel -with him, they reached <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Charleville</i> on Aug. 25th, -crossed the Aisne at <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Rethel</i> on the 30th and the Marne -at <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Châlons</i> on the 4th, and were stopped on the 7th at -<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Vitry en Perthois</i>. The Crown Prince, on their left, -did not penetrate so far. Instead of the plains of -Champagne he had to traverse the hill country of the -<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Argonne</i>. He turned back at <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Sermaize</i>, which he had -reached on Sept. 6th, and never saw the Marne.</p> - -<p>On the left of the Crown Prince a Bavarian army -crossed the frontier between Metz and the Vosges. Its -task was to join hands with the Crown Prince round -the southern flank of Verdun, as the Duke of Würtemberg -had joined hands with von Bülow round the flank -of Namur. But Verdun never fell, and the Bavarian -advance was the weakest of any. <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Lunéville</i> fell on -Aug. 22nd, and <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Baccarat</i> was entered on the 24th; but -<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Nancy</i> was never reached, and on Sept. 12th the general -German retreat extended to this south-easternmost -sector, and the Bavarians fell back.</p> - -<p>Thus the German invading armies were everywhere -checked and driven back between the 6th and the 12th -September, 1914. The operations which came to this -issue bear the general name of the <em>Battle of the Marne</em>. -The <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Marne</i> was followed immediately by the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Aisne</i>, -and the issue of the Aisne was a change from open to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span> -trench warfare along a line extending from the Vosges -to the Oise. This change was complete before September -closed, and the line formed then has remained practically -unaltered to the present time. But there was -another month of open fighting between the Oise and -the sea.</p> - -<p>When the Germans’ strategy was defeated at the -Marne, they transferred their efforts to the north-west, -and took the initiative there. On Sept. 9th the Belgian -Army had made a second sortie from Antwerp, to coincide -with the counter-offensive of Joffre, and this time -they had even reoccupied <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Aerschot</i>. The Germans retaliated -by taking the offensive on the Scheldt. The -retaining army before Antwerp was strongly reinforced. -Its left flank was secured, in the latter half of September, -by the occupation of <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Termonde</i> and <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Alost</i>. The -attack on <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Antwerp</i> itself began on Sept. 27th. On the -2nd the outer ring of forts was forced, and on the 9th -the Germans entered the city. The towns of Flanders -fell in rapid succession—<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Ghent</i> on the 12th, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Bruges</i> on -the 14th, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Ostend</i> on the 15th—and the Germans hoped -to break through to the Channel ports on the front between -Ostend and the Oise. Meanwhile, each side had -been feverishly extending its lines from the Oise towards -the north and pushing forward cavalry to turn -the exposed flank of the opponent. These two simultaneous -movements—the extension of the trench lines -from the Oise to the sea, and the German thrust across<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span> -Flanders to the Channel—intersected one another at -<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Ypres</i>, and the <em>Battle of Ypres and the Yser</em>, in the -latter part of October, was the crisis of this north-western -struggle. On Oct. 31st the German effort to -break through reached, and passed, its climax, and -trench warfare established itself as decisively from the -Oise to the sea as it had done a month earlier between -the Vosges and the Oise.</p> - -<p>Thus, three months after the German armies crossed -the frontier, the German invasion of Belgium and -France gave place to a permanent German occupation -of French and Belgian territories behind a practically -stationary front, and with this change of character in -the fighting a change came over the outrages upon the -civil population which remained in Germany’s power. -The crimes of the invasion and the crimes of the occupation -are of a different order from one another, and -must be dealt with apart.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2>II. FROM THE FRONTIER TO LIÉGE.</h2> - - -<h3 id="Sect_23">(i) <em>On the Visé Road.</em></h3> - -<p>The Germans invaded Belgium on Aug. 4th, 1914. -Their immediate objective was the fortress of Liége -and the passage of the Meuse, but first they had to cross -a zone of Belgian territory from twenty to twenty-five -miles wide. They came over the frontier along four -principal roads, which led through this territory to the -fortress and the river, and this is what they did in the -towns and villages they passed.</p> - -<p>The first road led from Aix-la-Chapelle, in Germany, -to the bridge over the Meuse at Visé, skirting the Dutch -frontier, and <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Warsage</i><a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> was the first Belgian village on -this road to which the Germans came. Their advance-guards -distributed a proclamation by General von -Emmich: “<em>I give formal pledges to the Belgian population -that they will not have to suffer from the horrors -of war.... If you wish to avoid the horrors of -war, you must act wisely and with a true appreciation -of your duty to your country.</em>” This was on the morning -of Aug. 4th, and the Mayor of Warsage, M. -Fléchet, had already posted a notice on the town-hall<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span> -warning the inhabitants to keep calm. All that day -and the next the Germans passed through; on the afternoon -of the 6th the village was clear of them, when -suddenly they swarmed back, shooting in at the windows -and setting houses on fire. Several people were -killed; one old man was burnt alive. Then the Mayor -was ordered to assemble the population in the square. -A German officer had been shot on the road. No inquiry -was held; no post-mortem examination made (the -German soldiers were nervous and marched with finger -on trigger); the village was condemned. The houses -were systematically plundered, and then systematically -burnt. A dozen inhabitants, including the Burgomaster, -were carried off as hostages to the German camp -at Mouland. Three were shot at once; the rest were -kept all night in the open; one of them was tied to a -cart-wheel and beaten with rifle-butts; in the morning -six were hanged, the rest set free. Eighteen people -in all were killed at Warsage and 25 houses destroyed.</p> - -<p>At <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Fouron-St. Martin</i><a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> five people were killed and -20 houses burnt. Nineteen houses were burnt at -<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Fouron-le-Compte</i>.<a name="FNanchor_5_5a" id="FNanchor_5_5a"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> At <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Berneau</i>,<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> a few miles further -down the road, 67 houses (out of 116) were burnt on -Aug. 5th, and 7 people killed. “The people of Berneau,” -writes a German in his diary on Aug. 5th, “have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span> -fired on those who went to get water. The village has -been partly destroyed.” On the day of this entry the -Germans had commandeered wine at Berneau, and were -drunk when they took reprisals for shots their victims -were never proved to have fired. Among these victims -was the Burgomaster, M. Bruyère, a man of 83. He -was taken, like the Burgomaster of Warsage, to the -camp at Mouland, and was never seen again after the -night of the 6th. At <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Mouland</i><a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> itself 4 people were -killed and 73 houses destroyed (out of 132).</p> - -<p>The road from Aix-la-Chapelle reaches the Meuse -at <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Visé</i>.<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> It was a town of 900 houses and 4,000 souls, -and, as a German describes it, “It vanished from the -map.”<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> The inhabitants were killed, scattered or deported, -the houses levelled to the ground, and this was -done systematically, stage by stage.</p> - -<p>The Germans who marched through Warsage -reached Visé on the afternoon of Aug. 4th. The Belgians -had blown up the bridges at Visé and Argenteau, -and were waiting for the Germans on the opposite bank. -As they entered Visé, the Germans came for the first -time under fire, and they wreaked their vengeance on -the town. “The first house they came to as they entered -Visé they burned” (a 16), and they began to fire at -random in the streets. At least eight civilians were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span> -shot in this way before night, and when night fell the -population was driven out of the houses and compelled -to bivouac in the square. More houses were burnt on -the 6th; on the 10th they burned the church; on the -11th they seized the Dean, the Burgomaster, and the -Mother Superior of the Convent as hostages; on the -15th a regiment of East Prussians arrived and was -billeted in the town, and that night Visé was destroyed. -“I saw commissioned officers directing and supervising -the burning,” says an inhabitant (a 16). “It was done -systematically with the use of benzine, spread on the -floors and then lighted. In my own and another house -I saw officers come in before the burning with revolvers -in their hands, and have china, valuable antique furniture, -and other such things removed. This being done, -the houses were, by their orders, set on fire....”</p> - -<p>The East Prussians were drunk, there was firing in -the streets, and, once more, people were killed. Next -morning the population was rounded up in the station -square and sorted out—men this side, women that. The -women might go to Holland, the men, in two gangs -of about 300 each, were deported to Germany as franc-tireurs. -“During the night of Aug. 15-16,” as another -German diarist<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> describes the scene, “Pioneer Grimbow -gave the alarm in the town of Visé. Everyone -was shot or taken prisoner, and the houses were burnt. -The prisoners were made to march and keep up with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span> -the troops.” About 30 people in all were killed at -Visé, and 575 out of 876 houses destroyed. On the -final day of destruction the Germans had been in peaceable -occupation of the place for ten days, and the Belgian -troops had retired about forty miles out of range.</p> - -<p>That is what the Germans did on the road from -Aix-la-Chapelle; but, before reaching Warsage, the -road sends out a branch through Aubel to the left, -which passes under the guns of <em>Fort Barchon</em> and leads -straight to Liége. The Germans took this road also, -and Barchon was the first of the Liége forts to fall. -The civil population was not spared.</p> - - -<h3 id="Sect_27">(ii) <em>On the Barchon Road.</em></h3> - -<p>At <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">St. André</i><a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> 4 civilians were killed and 14 houses -burnt. <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Julémont</i>,<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> the next village, was completely -plundered and burnt. Only 2 houses remained standing, -and 12 people were killed. Advancing along this -road, the Germans arrived at <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Blégny</i><a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> on Aug. 5th. -Several inhabitants of Blégny were murdered that afternoon, -among them M. Smets, a professor of gunsmithry -(the villagers worked for the small-arms -manufacturers of Liége). M. Smets was killed in his -house, where his wife was in child-bed. The corpse -was thrown into the street, the mother and new-born<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span> -baby were dragged out after it. That night the population -of Blégny was herded together in the village institute; -their houses were set on fire. Next morning—the -6th—the women were released and the men driven -forward by the German infantry towards Barchon fort. -The Curé of Blégny, the Abbé Labeye, was among the -number, and there were 296 of them in all. In front -of Barchon they were placed in rows of four, but the -fort would not fire upon this living screen, and they -were marched away across country towards Battice, -where five were shot before the eyes of the rest, and -the curé kicked, spat upon, and pricked with bayonets. -They were again driven forward as a screen against a -Belgian patrol, and were kept in the open all night. -Next morning 4 more were shot—two who had been -wounded by the Belgian fire, and one who had heart -disease and was too feeble to go on. The fourth was -an old man of 78. The Germans tortured these victims -by placing lighted cigarettes in their nostrils and -ears. After this second execution on the 7th, the remainder -were set free....</p> - -<p>On the 10th Aug. the curé writes in his diary:</p> - -<blockquote> - -<p>“There are now 38 houses burnt, and 23 damaged.</p> - -<p>“Thursday the 13th: a few houses pillaged, two -young men taken away.</p> - -<p>“Friday, the 14th: a few houses pillaged.</p> - -<p>“Friday night: the village of Barchon is burnt -and the curé taken prisoner....”</p></blockquote> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span></p> - -<p>The curé’s last notes for a sermon have survived: -“My brothers, perhaps we shall again see happy days....” -But on the 16th, before the sermon was delivered, -the curé was shot. He was shot against the -church wall, with M. Ruwet, the Burgomaster, and -two brothers, one of them a revolver manufacturer -who had handed over his stock to the German authorities -(from whom he received two passes) and had been -working for the Red Cross. After the execution the -church was burnt down. The nuns of Blégny were -shot at by Germans in a motor-car when they came out -that day to bury the bodies. From the 5th to the 16th -Aug., about 30 people were killed in the commune of -Blégny-Trembleur, and 45 houses burnt in all.</p> - -<p>The village of <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Barchon</i>,<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> as the curé of Blégny records, -was destroyed on the 14th—in cold blood, five -days after the surrender of the fort. There was a battue -by two German regiments through the village. The -houses were plundered and burnt (110 burnt in all out -of 146); the inhabitants were rounded up. Twenty-two -were shot in one batch, including two little girls -of two and an old woman of ninety-four. Thirty-two -perished altogether, and a dozen hostages were carried -off, some of whom were tied to field guns and compelled -to keep up with the horses. On the 16th the -Germans evicted the inhabitants of <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Chefneux</i>,<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span> -shot 4 men. On the 17th they burned all the 22 houses -in the hamlet. At <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Saives</i><a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> they burned 12 houses, and -shot a man and a girl.</p> - -<p>We have the diary of a German soldier who marched -down this branch road from Aubel when all the villages -had been destroyed except <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Wandre</i>,<a name="FNanchor_17_17" id="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> which stood -where the road debouched upon the Meuse.</p> - -<p>“15th Aug.—11.50 a.m. Crossed the Belgian frontier -and kept steadily along the high road until we got -into Belgium. We were hardly into it before we met -a horrible sight. Houses were burnt down, the inhabitants -driven out and some of them shot. Of the -hundreds of houses not a single one had been spared—every -one was plundered and burnt down. Hardly -were we through this big village when the next was -already set on fire, and so it went on....</p> - -<p>“16th Aug. The big village of Barchon set on fire. -The same day, about 11.50 a.m., we came to the town -of Wandre. Here the houses were spared but all -searched. At last we had got out of the town when -once more everything was sent to ruins. In one house -a whole arsenal had been discovered. The inhabitants -were one and all dragged out and shot, but this shooting -was absolutely heart-rending, for they all knelt -and prayed. But this got them no mercy. A few shots<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span> -rang out, and they fell backwards into the green grass -and went to their eternal sleep.</p> - -<p>“And still the brigands would not leave off shooting -us from behind—that, and never from in front—but -now we could stand it no longer, and raging and roaring -we went on and on, and everything that got in -our way was smashed or burnt or shot. At last we had -to go into bivouac. Half tired out and done up we -laid ourselves down, and we didn’t wait long before -quenching some of our thirst. But we only drank -wine; the water has been half poisoned and half left -alone by the beasts. Well, we have much too much -here to eat and drink. When a pig shows itself anywhere -or a hen or a duck or pigeons, they are all shot -down and slaughtered, so that at any rate we have -something to eat. It is a real adventure....”</p> - -<p>This was the temper of the Germans who destroyed -Wandre. They burned 33 houses altogether and shot -32 people—16 of them in one batch.</p> - - -<h3 id="Sect_31">(iii) <em>On the Fléron Road.</em></h3> - -<p>There is another road from Aix-la-Chapelle to Liége, -which passes through Battice and is commanded by -<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Fort Fléron</i> (Fort Fléron offered the most determined -resistance of all the forts of Liége, and cost the Germans -the greatest loss). The Germans marched -through <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Battice</i> on August 4th, and came under fire of -the fort that afternoon. In the evening they arrested<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span> -three men in the streets of Battice, and shot them without -charge or investigation.</p> - -<p>The check to their arms was avenged on the civil -population. “On the arrival of the German troops in -the village of <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Micheroux</i>,” states a Belgian witness -(a 12), “during the time when Fort Fléron was holding -out, they came to a block of four cottages, and having -turned out the inhabitants, set the cottages on fire and -burned them. From one of the cottages a woman -(mentioned by name) came out with a baby in her -arms, and a German soldier snatched it from her and -dashed it to the ground, killing it then and there.”<a name="FNanchor_18_18" id="FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a></p> - -<p>“The position was dangerous,” writes a German in -his diary<a name="FNanchor_19_19" id="FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> on August 5th, from a picket in front of -Fort Fléron. “As suspicious civilians were hovering -round, houses 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 were cleared, the owners -arrested (and shot the next day).... I shoot a civilian -with my rifle, at 400 metres, slap through the -head....”</p> - -<div id="Fig_32" class="figcenter" style="width: 499px;"> -<img src="images/i_b_032fp.jpg" width="499" height="650" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p class="center">3. <span class="smcap">Liége Forts: A Destroyed Cupola</span></p></div> -</div> - -<div id="Fig_33" class="figcenter" style="width: 495px;"> -<img src="images/i_b_033fp.jpg" width="495" height="650" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p class="center">4. <span class="smcap">Ans: An Interior</span></p></div> -</div> - -<p>That day the curé of Battice<a name="FNanchor_20_20" id="FNanchor_20_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a>: (who had been kept -under arrest in the open since the evening of the 4th) -was driven, with the Mayor and one of the communal -councillors, under the Belgian fire. On the 6th the German -troops again retired on Battice in confusion, and -the village was destroyed that afternoon. Shots were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span> -fired indiscriminately and the houses set on fire. The -first victim was a young man sitting in a café with his -<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">fiancée</i>—he fell dead by her side. Three people were -taken to the field to which the men of Blégny had been -brought, and were shot with the five victims there. -On the 7th they shot a workman who had been given -a safe-conduct by a German officer to buy bread in a -neighbouring village, and was on his way home with -his wife. On the 8th they set the fire going again, to -burn what still remained. They burned 146 houses and -killed 36 people in Battice from first to last.</p> - -<p>The town of <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Herve</i><a name="FNanchor_21_21" id="FNanchor_21_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> lies a mile or so beyond Battice -on the Fléron road, and was also traversed by the -Germans on August 4th. The first to pass were officers -in a motor car, and as they crossed the bridge they -shot down two young men standing by the roadside—one -was badly wounded, the other killed outright. In -the evening they sent for the Mayor, accused the inhabitants -of having fired on German troops, and -threatened to shoot the inhabitants and burn the town -to the ground. The Mayor and the curé spent the -night going from house to house and warning the people -to avoid all grounds of offence—before they had -finished there were more shots fired indiscriminately -(by the Germans), and more (civilian) wounded and -dead. The Mayor and curé were then retained as hostages -for the civilians’ good behaviour. On the 6th<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span> -the first house was burnt; on the 7th five men were -shot in cold blood; on the 8th a fresh column of troops -arrived from Aix-la-Chapelle, and these were the destroyers -of Herve. “They fired indiscriminately in all -quarters of the town,” says an eye-witness (a 2), “and -in the Rue de la Station they shot Madame Hendrickx, -hitting her at close range, although she had a crucifix -in her hand—begging for mercy.” All through the -8th the shooting and burning went on, and on the 9th -the fires were kindled again. “The Germans gave -themselves up to pillage and loaded motor cars with -everything of value they could find.” They burned -and pillaged consecutively for ten days, and on the -19th and 20th fresh regiments arrived and carried on -the work. Two hundred and seventy-nine houses were -destroyed at Herve altogether, and 44 people killed. -“On the road to Herve everything is burnt,” writes a -German soldier (Reply p. 127) who passed when all -was over. “At Herve, the same. Everything is burnt -except a convent—everywhere corpses carbonised into -an indistinguishable mass. (There are about a hundred, -all civilians, and children among the number.) -I only saw three people alive in the village—an old -man, a sister of charity, and a girl.” The Belgian witness -quoted above (a 2) records that “the German staff -officers staying in his hotel told his wife that the reason -why they had so treated Herve was because the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span> -inhabitants of the town would not petition for a passage -for the Germans at Fléron.”</p> - -<p>In the villages between Herve and Fort Fléron the -slaughter and devastation were, if possible, more complete. -At <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">la Bouxhe-Melen</i><a name="FNanchor_22_22" id="FNanchor_22_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> there were two massacres—one -on Aug. 5th and another on the 8th. In the second -the people were shot down in a field <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">en masse</i>, -and 129 were murdered altogether, as well as about 40 -people herded in from the farms and hamlets of the -neighbourhood. Sixty houses in la Bouxhe-Melen -were destroyed. In the commune of <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Soumagne</i>,<a name="FNanchor_23_23" id="FNanchor_23_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> on a -branch road to the south, the Germans killed 165 -civilians and burned 104 houses down. When they -entered Soumagne on Aug. 5th, they killed indiscriminately -in the streets. “They broke the windows and -broke the door,” writes a witness (a 5) who had taken -refuge in a cellar. “My mother went out of the cellar -door.... Then I heard a shot and my mother fell -back into the cellar. She was killed.” This indiscriminate -killing was followed up the same afternoon -by the massacre of 69 civilians in a field called the -Fonds Leroy. “The soldiers fired a volley and killed -many, and then fired twice more. Then they went -through the ranks and bayonetted everyone still living. -I saw many bayonetted in this way” (a 4). One -boy was shot and bayonetted in four places, and lay<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span> -several days among the dead, keeping himself alive on -weeds and grass. This boy survived. In another field -18 were massacred in one batch, in another 19. “I -saw about 20 dead bodies lying here and there along -the road,” writes one of the witnesses (a 4). “One of -them was that of a little girl aged 13. The rest were -men, and most of them had had their heads bashed in.”—“I -saw 56 corpses of civilians in a meadow,” deposes -another. “Some had been killed by bayonet thrusts -and others by rifle shots. In the heaps of corpses above -mentioned was that of the son of the Burgomaster. His -throat had been cut from ear to ear and his tongue -had been pulled out and cut off.”</p> - -<p>In the hamlet of <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Fécher</i> the whole population—about -1,000 women, children and men—was penned -into the church on Aug. 5th, and next morning the -men (412 of them) were herded off as a living screen -for the German troops advancing between the forts -(the first man to come out of the church being wantonly -shot down as an example to the rest). The 411 were -driven by bye-roads to the Chartreuse Monastery, above -the Meuse, overlooking the bridge into the city of -Liége, and on the 7th they were planted as hostages on -the bridge while the Germans marched across. They -were held there without food or shelter or relief for a -hundred hours. At <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Micheroux</i><a name="FNanchor_24_24" id="FNanchor_24_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a> 9 people were killed -and 17 houses destroyed. These villages were all outside<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span> -the eastern line of forts, but the places inside the -line, between the forts and Liége, were devastated to -an equal degree. At Fléron<a name="FNanchor_25_25" id="FNanchor_25_25"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a> 15 civilians were killed -and 152 houses destroyed.<a name="FNanchor_26_26" id="FNanchor_26_26"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a> At <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Retinnes</i><a name="FNanchor_27_27" id="FNanchor_27_27"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a> 41 civilians -were killed and 118 houses destroyed.<a name="FNanchor_26_26a" id="FNanchor_26_26a"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a> At <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Queue du -Bois</i><a name="FNanchor_28_28" id="FNanchor_28_28"></a><a href="#Footnote_28_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a> 11 civilians were killed and 35 houses destroyed. -At <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Evegnée</i> 2 civilians were killed and 5 houses destroyed. -At <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Cerexhe</i><a name="FNanchor_29_29" id="FNanchor_29_29"></a><a href="#Footnote_29_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a> 4 women and children were -burnt alive in a house, and 2 houses destroyed. At -<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Bellaire</i><a name="FNanchor_30_30" id="FNanchor_30_30"></a><a href="#Footnote_30_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a> 4 people were killed and 15 houses destroyed. -At <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Jupille</i><a name="FNanchor_31_31" id="FNanchor_31_31"></a><a href="#Footnote_31_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a> 8 people were killed and 1 house destroyed. -These villages were saved none of the horrors -of war by the surrender of the forts.</p> - - -<h3 id="Sect_37">(iv) <em>On the Verviers Road.</em></h3> - -<p>The Germans converged on the forts by more southerly -roads as well. At <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Dolhain</i>,<a name="FNanchor_32_32" id="FNanchor_32_32"></a><a href="#Footnote_32_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a> on the road from -Eupen to Verviers, 28 houses were burnt on Aug. 8th -and several civilians killed. At <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Metten</i>,<a name="FNanchor_33_33" id="FNanchor_33_33"></a><a href="#Footnote_33_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a> near Verviers, -a German soldier confesses that he and his comrades -“were ordered to search a house from which shots had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span> -been fired, but found nothing in the house but two -women and a child.... I did not see the women fire. -The women were told that nothing would be done to -them, because they were crying so bitterly. We -brought the women out and took them to the major, -and then we were ordered to shoot the women.... -When the mother was dead, the major gave the order -to shoot the child, so that the child should not be left -alone in the world. The child’s eyes were bandaged. I -took part in this because we were ordered to do it by -Major Kastendick and Captain Dultingen....”</p> - -<p>But Verviers and the Verviers road remained comparatively -unscathed. Far worse was done by the Germans -who descended on the Vesdre from Malmédy, -south-eastward, over the hills.</p> - - -<h3 id="Sect_38">(v) <em>On the Malmédy Road.</em></h3> - -<p><i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Francorchamps</i>,<a name="FNanchor_34_34" id="FNanchor_34_34"></a><a href="#Footnote_34_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a> the first Belgian village on the -Malmédy road, was sacked on Aug. 8th, four days -after the first German troops had passed through it -unopposed, and again on Aug. 14th by later detachments. -At <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Hockay</i>,<a name="FNanchor_35_35" id="FNanchor_35_35"></a><a href="#Footnote_35_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a> near Francorchamps, the curé was -shot. In Hockay and Francorchamps 13 people were -killed altogether, and 25 houses burnt. “M. Darchambeau, -who was wounded (in the cellar of a burning -house), asked a young officer for mercy. This young<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span> -officer of barely 22, in front of the women and children, -aimed his revolver at M. Darchambeau’s head and -killed him.”</p> - -<p>The fate of <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Pepinster</i><a name="FNanchor_36_36" id="FNanchor_36_36"></a><a href="#Footnote_36_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a> is recorded in a German -diary: “Aug. 12th, Pepinster, Burgomaster, priest, and -schoolmaster shot; houses reduced to ashes. March -on.” As a matter of fact, the three hostages were not -shot, but reprieved. The Burgomaster of <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Cornesse</i><a name="FNanchor_37_37" id="FNanchor_37_37"></a><a href="#Footnote_37_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a> -was shot in their stead (a 33, 34)—“an old man and -quite deaf. (He was only hit in the leg, and a German -officer came up and shot him through the heart -with his revolver.)” Five houses in Cornesse were -burnt. At <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Soiron</i>,<a name="FNanchor_38_38" id="FNanchor_38_38"></a><a href="#Footnote_38_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a> on Aug. 4th, the Germans bivouacking -there fired on one another, and eight German -soldiers were wounded or killed. “But the officers,” -deposes a German private<a name="FNanchor_39_39" id="FNanchor_39_39"></a><a href="#Footnote_39_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a> who was present at the -scene, “in their anxiety to prevent the fact of this -blunder from being reported, hastened to pretend that -it was really the civilians who had fired, and gave -orders for a general massacre. This order was carried -out, and there was terrible butchery. I must mention -that we only killed the males, but we burned all -the houses.” At <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Olnes</i><a name="FNanchor_40_40" id="FNanchor_40_40"></a><a href="#Footnote_40_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a> the curé and the communal<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span> -secretary were shot on Aug. 5th, and the schoolmaster -the same evening, in front of his burning house, with -his daughter and his two sons. Only two members -of the schoolmaster’s family were spared. In the hamlet -of <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">St. Hadelin</i>,<a name="FNanchor_41_41" id="FNanchor_41_41"></a><a href="#Footnote_41_41" class="fnanchor">[41]</a> which came within the radius of -Fort Fléron’s guns, there was a wholesale massacre on -the same date. Early in the day the Germans “requisitioned” -300 bottles of wine; later they drove a -crowd of people from St. Hadelin, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Riessonsart</i>, and -<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Ayeneux</i>, to a place called the Faveu, and shot down -33. The remainder were forced to haul German artillery -towards the forts, but these were partly released -next day, and partly massacred at the Heids d’Olne. -Twenty inhabitants of Ayeneux were massacred in a -batch elsewhere. Sixty-two civilians were murdered -altogether in the commune of Olne, and 78 houses destroyed—40 -in St. Hadelin and 38 in Olne itself.</p> - -<p>At <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Forêt</i><a name="FNanchor_42_42" id="FNanchor_42_42"></a><a href="#Footnote_42_42" class="fnanchor">[42]</a> the Germans burned a farm and killed -two of the farmer’s sons on Aug. 5th as they entered -the place. They drove the farmer and his two surviving -sons in front of them as a screen. The schoolmaster -and two others were shot outside the village. -“At Forêt,” states the German soldier quoted above,<a name="FNanchor_43_43" id="FNanchor_43_43"></a><a href="#Footnote_43_43" class="fnanchor">[43]</a> -“we found prisoners—a priest and five civilians, including -a boy of 17. Pillage began ... but we were -shelled ... and moved off to the next village. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span> -house doors were at once broken in with the butt-ends -of muskets. We pillaged everything. We made piles -of the curtains and everything inflammable, and set -them alight. All the houses were burnt. It was in -the middle of this that the civilian prisoners of whom -I have spoken were shot, with the exception of the -curé.” (The curé, too, was shot that night.)<a name="FNanchor_44_44" id="FNanchor_44_44"></a><a href="#Footnote_44_44" class="fnanchor">[44]</a> “A -little further on, under the pretext that civilians had -fired from a house (though for my own part I cannot -say whether they were soldiers or civilians who fired), -orders were given to burn the house. A woman asleep -there was dragged from her bed, thrown into the flames, -and burnt alive....”</p> - -<p>Thirteen people in all were killed at Forêt, and 6 -houses destroyed. At <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Magnée</i><a name="FNanchor_45_45" id="FNanchor_45_45"></a><a href="#Footnote_45_45" class="fnanchor">[45]</a> 18 houses were destroyed -and 21 people killed. The German troops in -Magnée were caught by the fire from the Fléron and -Chaudfontaine forts, and they revenged themselves, as -elsewhere, on the civilians, shooting people in batches -and burning houses and farms. This was on Aug. 6th, -and at <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Romsée</i>,<a name="FNanchor_46_46" id="FNanchor_46_46"></a><a href="#Footnote_46_46" class="fnanchor">[46]</a> on the same day, 34 houses were burnt -and 31 civilians murdered—some of them being driven -as a screen in front of the German troops under the -fire of Fort Chaudfontaine.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span></p> - -<h3 id="Sect_42">(vi) <em>Between the Vesdre and the Ourthe.</em></h3> - -<p>The same outrages were committed between the -Vesdre and the Ourthe. At <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Louveigné</i>,<a name="FNanchor_47_47" id="FNanchor_47_47"></a><a href="#Footnote_47_47" class="fnanchor">[47]</a> on Aug. 7th, -the Germans, retreating from their attack on the -southern forts, looted the drink-shops, fired in the -streets, and accused the civilians of having shot. A -dozen men (two of them over 70 years old) were -imprisoned as hostages in a forge, and were shot down, -when released, like game in the open. That evening -Louveigné was systematically set on fire with the -same incendiary apparatus that was used at Visé, and -the curé was dragged round on the foot-board of a -military motor-car to watch the work. There were -more murders next day. The total number of civilians -murdered at Louveigné was 29, and there were 77 -houses burnt. The devastation impressed the German -soldiers who passed through Louveigné on the following -days. “Louveigné has been completely burnt out. -All the inhabitants are dead,” writes a German diarist -on Aug. 9th. “March to Louveigné,” another records -on Aug. 16th. “Several citizens and the curé shot -according to martial law, some not yet buried—still -lying where they were executed, for everyone to see. -Stench of corpses everywhere. Curé said to have incited -the inhabitants to ambush and kill the Germans.”—“Bivouac! -Rain! Burnt villages! Louveigné!”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span> -another exclaims on Aug. 17th. “We marched and -bivouacked in the rain, in an orchard with a high hedge -round it, full of fruit-trees. There was an abandoned -house in front of it. The door, which was locked, was -broken in with an axe. The traces of war—burnt -houses, weeping women and children, executions of -franc-tireurs—showed us the ruthlessness of the times. -We could not have done otherwise.... But how -many have to suffer with others, how many innocent -people are shot by martial law, because there is no -detailed enquiry first....”</p> - -<p>At <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Lincé</i>,<a name="FNanchor_48_48" id="FNanchor_48_48"></a><a href="#Footnote_48_48" class="fnanchor">[48]</a> in the commune of Sprimont, a German -officer was wounded when the troops returned in confusion -from before the southern forts of Liége. The -Germans forbade an autopsy to discover by what bullet -the wound had been caused, and condemned two -civilians with a proven alibi to be shot. All the next -morning the destruction went on. Houses were burnt, -the curé was mishandled, a farmer and his son were -shot down at their farm gate, a girl of twelve received -four bullets in her body. The execution of the hostages -took place in the afternoon. Sixteen men were -shot, of whom 7 were more than 60 years old. At -<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Chanxhe</i>,<a name="FNanchor_49_49" id="FNanchor_49_49"></a><a href="#Footnote_49_49" class="fnanchor">[49]</a> on Aug. 6th, hostages from <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Poulseur</i> were -bound in ranks to the parapet of the bridge over the -Ourthe, and kept there several days while the Germans<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span> -filed across. “We were tortured by hunger and thirst,” -writes one of them. “We shivered at night. And -then, of necessity, there was the filth.... At the -end of the bridge the women were pleading with the -Germans in vain, and the children were crying.” On -the 5th two civilian captives were shot on the bridge, -and their bodies thrown into the river, and two more -(one aged 70) were shot on the 7th. In the commune -of Poulseur, from which these hostages came, 7 civilians -were killed and 25 houses destroyed. In the commune -of Sprimont 67 houses were destroyed and 48 civilians -killed. At <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Esneux</i> 26 houses were destroyed and 7 -civilians killed.</p> - - -<h3 id="Sect_44">(vii) <em>Across the Meuse.</em></h3> - -<p>Meanwhile, the Germans had crossed the Meuse at -Visé, and were descending on Liége from the north. -At <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Hallembaye</i>, in the commune of <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Haccourt</i>,<a name="FNanchor_50_50" id="FNanchor_50_50"></a><a href="#Footnote_50_50" class="fnanchor">[50]</a> 18 -people were killed. There were women, children and -old men among them, and also the curé,<a name="FNanchor_51_51" id="FNanchor_51_51"></a><a href="#Footnote_51_51" class="fnanchor">[51]</a> who was -bayonetted on his church threshold as he was removing -the sacrament. In the commune of Haccourt 80 houses -were destroyed, and 112 hostages were carried away -into Germany. <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Hermalle-sous-Argenteau</i><a name="FNanchor_52_52" id="FNanchor_52_52"></a><a href="#Footnote_52_52" class="fnanchor">[52]</a> was plundered -on Aug. 15th, and 9 houses destroyed. There<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span> -was a mock execution of hostages in the presence of -women and children, and 368 men of the place were -imprisoned in the church for 17 days. At <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Vivegnis</i><a name="FNanchor_53_53" id="FNanchor_53_53"></a><a href="#Footnote_53_53" class="fnanchor">[53]</a> -6 civilians were shot on Aug. 13th, and 45 houses -destroyed the day after. The Germans fired on the -inhabitants through the windows and doors, and two -men were thus killed in a single household. At <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Heure-le-Romain</i><a name="FNanchor_54_54" id="FNanchor_54_54"></a><a href="#Footnote_54_54" class="fnanchor">[54]</a> -the population was confined in the church -on Aug. 16th (it was Sunday) and compelled to stand -there, hands raised, under the muzzle of a machine-gun. -Seven civilians were shot at Heure-le-Romain -that day, including the Burgomaster’s brother and the -curé,<a name="FNanchor_55_55" id="FNanchor_55_55"></a><a href="#Footnote_55_55" class="fnanchor">[55]</a> who were roped together and shot against the -church wall. All through the 16th and 17th the sack -continued; on the 18th fresh troops arrived and completed -the work by systematic arson and the slaughter -of 19 people more. Twenty-seven civilians were -killed at Heure-le-Romain altogether and 84 houses -destroyed. At <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Hermée</i>,<a name="FNanchor_56_56" id="FNanchor_56_56"></a><a href="#Footnote_56_56" class="fnanchor">[56]</a> on Aug. 6th, the Germans, -caught by the fire of <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Fort Pontisse</i>, revenged themselves -by shooting 11 civilians, including old men of -76 and 82 years. On the 14th, the day after the surrender -of the fort, the inhabitants of Hermée were -driven from their homes and the village systematically -burnt, 146 houses out of 308 being destroyed. In the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span> -village itself, as apart from the outlying hamlets of -the commune, only two or three houses were left standing. -At <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Fexhe-Slins</i>, near Hermée, 3 people were -killed. Twenty-three were killed, and 13 houses destroyed, -in the hamlet of <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Rhées</i> in the commune of -<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Herstal</i>.<a name="FNanchor_57_57" id="FNanchor_57_57"></a><a href="#Footnote_57_57" class="fnanchor">[57]</a></p> - -<p>Thus the Germans plundered private property, -burned down houses, and shot civilians of both sexes -and all ages, on every road by which they marched -upon Liége—from the north-east, the south-east, and -the north. One thousand and thirty-two civilians<a name="FNanchor_58_58" id="FNanchor_58_58"></a><a href="#Footnote_58_58" class="fnanchor">[58]</a> -were shot by the Germans in the whole <em>Province of -Liége</em>, and 3,173 houses were destroyed in two arrondissements -(those of Liége and Verviers) alone out of -the four of which the Province is made up.</p> - - -<h3 id="Sect_46">(viii) <em>The City of Liége.</em></h3> - -<p>Twenty-nine of these civilians were killed and 55<a name="FNanchor_59_59" id="FNanchor_59_59"></a><a href="#Footnote_59_59" class="fnanchor">[59]</a> -of the houses destroyed in the <em>city of Liége</em> itself—on -August 20th, a fortnight after it had fallen into the -German Army’s possession. The Germans entered -Liége on August 7th. Their entry was not opposed by -Belgian troops, and arms in private hands had already -been called in by the Belgian police.<a name="FNanchor_60_60" id="FNanchor_60_60"></a><a href="#Footnote_60_60" class="fnanchor">[60]</a> The Germans<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span> -found themselves in peaceful occupation of a great -industrial city, caught in the full tide of its normal -life. There was nothing to suggest outrage, still less -to excuse it, in their surroundings there; their conduct -on August 20th was deliberate and cold-blooded. The -Higher Command was faced with the problem of -holding a conquered country, and wanted an example. -The troops in garrison were demoralised by the sudden -change to idleness from fatigue and danger, and were -ready for excitement and pillage.</p> - -<p>“Aug. 16th, Liége,” writes a German soldier in his -diary.<a name="FNanchor_61_61" id="FNanchor_61_61"></a><a href="#Footnote_61_61" class="fnanchor">[61]</a> “The villages we passed through had been -destroyed.</p> - -<p>“Aug. 19th. Quartered in University. Gone on -the loose and boozed through the streets of Liége. Lie -on straw; enough booze; too little to eat, or we must -steal.</p> - -<p>“Aug. 20th. In the night the inhabitants of Liége -became mutinous. Forty persons were shot and 15 -houses demolished. Ten soldiers were shot. The -sights here make you cry.”</p> - -<p>There are proofs of German premeditation—warnings -from German soldiers to civilians on whom they -were billeted,<a name="FNanchor_62_62" id="FNanchor_62_62"></a><a href="#Footnote_62_62" class="fnanchor">[62]</a> and an ammunition waggon which -drew up at 8.0 a.m. in the Rue des Pitteurs, and twelve<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span> -hours later disgorged the benzine with which the houses -in that street were drenched before being burnt.<a name="FNanchor_63_63" id="FNanchor_63_63"></a><a href="#Footnote_63_63" class="fnanchor">[63]</a></p> - -<p>“The city was perfectly quiet,” declares a Belgian -witness,<a name="FNanchor_64_64" id="FNanchor_64_64"></a><a href="#Footnote_64_64" class="fnanchor">[64]</a> “until about 8.0 p.m. At about 9.15 p.m. -I was in bed reading when I heard the sound of rifle-fire.... -The noise of the firing came nearer and -nearer.” The first shot was fired from a window of -“Emulation Building,” looking out on the Place de -l’Université, in the heart of the town.<a name="FNanchor_65_65" id="FNanchor_65_65"></a><a href="#Footnote_65_65" class="fnanchor">[65]</a> The Place -was immediately crowded with armed German soldiers, -firing in the air, breaking into houses, and dragging out -any civilians they could find. First nine men (5 of -them Spanish subjects) were shot in a batch, then 7 -more.<a name="FNanchor_66_66" id="FNanchor_66_66"></a><a href="#Footnote_66_66" class="fnanchor">[66]</a> “About 10.0 p.m. they were shooting everywhere. -About 10.30 p.m. several machine guns were -firing and artillery as well.” (The artillery was -firing on private houses from the opposite side of the -Meuse.<a name="FNanchor_67_67" id="FNanchor_67_67"></a><a href="#Footnote_67_67" class="fnanchor">[67]</a>) “About 11.0 p.m. I saw between 45 and 50 -houses burning. There were two seats of the fire—the -first at the Place de l’Université (8 houses—I was -close by at the time), the second across the Meuse on -the Quai des Pecheurs, where there were about 35 -houses burning. I heard a whole series of orders given -in German, and also bugle calls, followed by the cries<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span> -of the victims, and I saw women with children running -about in the street, pursued by soldiers....” (a 28).</p> - -<div id="Fig_48" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> -<img src="images/i_b_048fp.jpg" width="600" height="415" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p class="center">5. <span class="smcap">Ans: The Church</span></p></div> -</div> - -<div id="Fig_49" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> -<img src="images/i_b_049fp.jpg" width="600" height="363" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p class="center">6. <span class="smcap">Liége: A Farm House</span></p></div> -</div> - -<p>The arson was elaborate. In the Rue des Pitteurs -the waggon loaded with benzine moved from door to -door.<a name="FNanchor_68_68" id="FNanchor_68_68"></a><a href="#Footnote_68_68" class="fnanchor">[68]</a> “About 20 men were going up to each of the -houses. One of them had a sort of syringe, with which -he squirted into the house, and another would throw a -bucket of water in. A handful of stuff was first put -into the bucket, and when this was thrown into the -house there was an immediate explosion” (a 31). At -the Place de l’Université, when the Belgian fire-brigade -arrived, they were forbidden to extinguish the fire, and -made to stand, hands up, against a wall (a 28, 29). -Later they were assigned another task. “About midnight,” -states a witness (a 30), “a whole heap of -civilian corpses were brought to the Hôtel de Ville on -a fire-brigade cart. There were 17 of them. Bits were -blown out of their heads....”</p> - -<p>As the houses caught fire the inmates tried to escape. -The few who reached the street were shot down (a 24, -26). Most were driven back into the flames. “At -about 30 of the houses,” a witness states (a 31), “I -actually saw faces at the windows before the Germans -entered, and then saw the same faces at the cellar windows -after the Germans had driven the people into the -cellars.” In this way a number of men and women<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span> -were burnt alive.<a name="FNanchor_69_69" id="FNanchor_69_69"></a><a href="#Footnote_69_69" class="fnanchor">[69]</a> In some cases the Germans would -not wait for the fire to do their work for them, but -bayonetted the people themselves. In one house, near -the Episcopal Palace,<a name="FNanchor_70_70" id="FNanchor_70_70"></a><a href="#Footnote_70_70" class="fnanchor">[70]</a> two boys were bayonetted -before their mother’s eyes, and then the man—their -father and her husband. Another man in the house -was wounded almost to death, and the Germans were -with difficulty prevented from “finishing him off,” -next morning, on the way to the hospital. An orphan -girl, who lodged in the same house, was violated.</p> - -<p>Next morning, August 21st, the district round the -University Buildings on either side of the Meuse was -cleared of its inhabitants—such inhabitants as survived -and such streets as still stood. The people were -evicted at a few hours’ notice, and not allowed to -return for a month.<a name="FNanchor_71_71" id="FNanchor_71_71"></a><a href="#Footnote_71_71" class="fnanchor">[71]</a> The same day a proclamation -was posted by the German authorities: “Civilians -have fired on the German soldiers. Repression is the -result.”<a name="FNanchor_72_72" id="FNanchor_72_72"></a><a href="#Footnote_72_72" class="fnanchor">[72]</a> The indictment was not convincing, for -“Emulation Building,” from which the first shot was -fired on the night of the 20th, had been cleared of its -Belgian occupants some days before and filled entirely -with German soldiers. Later the German Governor -of Liége shifted his ground, and laid the blame on -Russian students “who had been a burden on the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span> -population of the city.”<a name="FNanchor_73_73" id="FNanchor_73_73"></a><a href="#Footnote_73_73" class="fnanchor">[73]</a> A clearer light is thrown -on the outbreak of August 20th by what occurred on -the night of August 21st-22nd. “Aug. 22nd, 3 a.m., -Liége,” writes a German in his diary. “Two infantry -regiments shot at each other. Nine dead and 50 -wounded—fault not yet ascertained.” But in the -other diary, quoted before, the incident is thus recorded -under the same date: “August 21st. In the night the -soldiers were again fired on. We then destroyed several -houses more.” The soldiers fire, the civilians suffer -reprisals, but the Germans’ object is gained. The conquered -population is terrorised, the invaders feel secure. -“On August 23rd everything quiet,” the latter diarist -continues. “The inhabitants have so far given in.</p> - -<p>“August 24th. Our occupation is bathing, and eating -and drinking for the rest of the day. We live like -God in Belgium.”</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span></p> - - -<h2>III. FROM LIÉGE TO MALINES.</h2> - - -<h3 id="Sect_52">(i) <em>Through Limburg to Aerschot.</em></h3> - -<p>The first German force to push forward from Liége -was the column commissioned to mask the Belgian -fortress of Antwerp on the extreme right flank of the -German advance. From the bridges of the Meuse this -column marched north-west across the <em>Province of -Limburg</em>. Belgian patrols met the advance-guard -already at <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Lanaeken</i> on August 6th, driving civilians -in front of it as a screen.<a name="FNanchor_74_74" id="FNanchor_74_74"></a><a href="#Footnote_74_74" class="fnanchor">[74]</a> The invaders were obsessed -with the terror of franc-tireurs. At <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Hasselt</i>,<a name="FNanchor_75_75" id="FNanchor_75_75"></a><a href="#Footnote_75_75" class="fnanchor">[75]</a> on -August 17th, they made the Burgomaster post a proclamation -advising his fellow-citizens “to abstain from -any kind of provocative demonstration and from all -acts of hostility, which might bring terrible reprisals -upon our town.</p> - -<p>“Above all you must abstain from acts of violence -against the German troops, and especially from firing -on them.</p> - -<p>“In case the inhabitants fire upon the soldiers of the -German Army, a third of the male population will be -shot.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span></p> - -<div id="Fig_52" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> -<img src="images/i_b_052fp.jpg" width="600" height="454" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p class="center">7. <span class="smcap">Liége Under German Occupation</span></p></div> -</div> - -<div id="Fig_53" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> -<img src="images/i_b_053fp.jpg" width="600" height="422" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p class="center">8. <span class="smcap">Liége Under the Germans: Ruins and Placards</span></p></div> -</div> - -<p>At <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Tongres</i>,<a name="FNanchor_76_76" id="FNanchor_76_76"></a><a href="#Footnote_76_76" class="fnanchor">[76]</a> on August 18th, the Germans carried -threats into action. The population was driven out -bodily from the town, and the town systematically -plundered. At least 17 civilians were killed (including -a boy of 12), and a number of houses were burnt. -“On August 18th,” writes a German in his diary, “we -reach Tongres. Here, too, it is a complete picture of -destruction—something unique of its kind for our profession.”<a name="FNanchor_77_77" id="FNanchor_77_77"></a><a href="#Footnote_77_77" class="fnanchor">[77]</a>—“Tongres,” -writes another on the 19th, -“A quantity of houses plundered by our cavalry.” A -captured letter from the hand of a German army-doctor -reveals the pretext on which this was done. -“The Belgians have only themselves to thank that their -country has been devastated in this way. I have seen -all the great towns attacked and the villages besieged -and set on fire. At Tongres we were attacked by the -population in the evening <em>when it was dark</em>. An immense -number of shots were exchanged, for we were -exposed to fire on four sides. <em>Happily we had only -one man hit</em>—he died the following day. We killed -two women, and the men were shot the day after.” -There is no disproof here of the Belgian affirmation -that the shots were fired by the Germans themselves.</p> - -<p>This outbreak at Tongres on August 18th was not -an isolated occurrence. On the same day the Germans<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span> -shot down the Burgomaster’s wife and a lawyer at -<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Cannes</i>,<a name="FNanchor_78_78" id="FNanchor_78_78"></a><a href="#Footnote_78_78" class="fnanchor">[78]</a> and two men and a boy at <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Lixht</i>,<a name="FNanchor_79_79" id="FNanchor_79_79"></a><a href="#Footnote_79_79" class="fnanchor">[79]</a> a few -miles north-west of the Visé bridge. But Limburg -suffered little compared to Brabant, into which the -Germans next advanced.</p> - -<p>Haelen, where their advance-guard was severely -handled by the Belgian Army on August 12th, lies -close to the boundary between the two provinces, and -they took vengeance on the civil population of <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Brabant</i> -for this military reverse.</p> - -<p>“The Germans came to <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Schaffen</i>,”<a name="FNanchor_80_80" id="FNanchor_80_80"></a><a href="#Footnote_80_80" class="fnanchor">[80]</a> the curé reports, -“at 9.0 o’clock on August 18th. They set fire to 170 -houses. A thousand inhabitants are homeless. The -communal building and my own residence are among -the houses burnt. Twenty-two people at least were -killed without motive. Two men (mentioned by -name) were buried alive head downwards, in the presence -of their wives. The Germans seized me in my -garden, and mishandled me in every kind of way.... -The blacksmith, who was a prisoner with me, had his -arm broken and was then killed.... It went on all -day long. Towards evening they made me look at the -church, saying it was the last time I should see it. -About 6.45 they let me go. I was bleeding and unconscious.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span> -An officer made me get up and bade me be off. -At several metres distance they fired on me. I fell -down and was left for dead. It was my salvation....</p> - -<p>“All the houses were drenched, before burning, with -naphtha and petrol, which the Germans carry with -them....”</p> - -<p>On the German side, there is the ordinary excuse. -“Fifty civilians,” writes a diarist, “had hidden in the -church tower and had fired on our men with a machine-gun.<a name="FNanchor_81_81" id="FNanchor_81_81"></a><a href="#Footnote_81_81" class="fnanchor">[81]</a> -All the civilians were shot.”</p> - -<p>The curé mentions that the Germans found the -church door locked, broke it in, and then found no one -there.</p> - -<p>At <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Molenstede</i>, another village in the <em>Canton of -Diest</em>, 32 houses were burnt and 11 civilians killed. -In the whole Canton 226 houses were burnt, and 47 -people killed in all.</p> - -<p>The Germans were also advancing by a more southerly -road from Tongres through St. Trond. At <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">St. -Trond</i>,<a name="FNanchor_82_82" id="FNanchor_82_82"></a><a href="#Footnote_82_82" class="fnanchor">[82]</a> the first Uhlans killed 2 civilians in the street -and wounded others. At <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Budirgen</i> they killed 2 -civilians and burned 58 houses, at <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Neerlinter</i> one and -73. In the <em>Canton of Léau</em> they killed 19 civilians -altogether, and 174 houses were destroyed.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span></p> - -<p>At <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Haekendover</i>, in the Canton of Tirlemont, they -killed one civilian, burned 32 houses and pillaged 150 -(out of 220 in all). At <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Tirlemont</i> itself, they killed -three civilians and burned 60 houses. At <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Hougaerde</i>,<a name="FNanchor_83_83" id="FNanchor_83_83"></a><a href="#Footnote_83_83" class="fnanchor">[83]</a> -when they entered the village, they drove the curé of -Autgaerde before them as a screen, and he was killed -by the first bullet from the Belgian troops, who were -defending the road from behind a barricade. Four -civilians were killed at Hougaerde, 100 houses pillaged, -and 50 destroyed. In the whole <em>Canton of -Tirlemont</em> the Germans killed 18 civilians, and burned -212 houses down.</p> - -<p>At <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Bunsbeek</i> they killed 4 people and burned 20 -houses, at <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Roosbeek</i> 3 and 42. “After Roosbeek,” a -German diarist notes,<a name="FNanchor_84_84" id="FNanchor_84_84"></a><a href="#Footnote_84_84" class="fnanchor">[84]</a> “we began to have an idea of -the war; houses burnt, walls pierced by bullets, the -face of the tower carried away by shells, and so on. A -few isolated crosses marked the graves of the victims.” -At <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Kieseghem</i><a name="FNanchor_85_85" id="FNanchor_85_85"></a><a href="#Footnote_85_85" class="fnanchor">[85]</a> the Germans used civilians as a screen -again, and killed two more when they entered the village. -At <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Attenrode</i> they killed 6 civilians and burned -17 houses, at <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Lubbeck</i> 15 and 46. In the <em>Canton of -Glabbeek</em> 35 civilians were killed from first to last, -and 140 houses destroyed.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span></p> - -<h3 id="Sect_57">(ii) <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Aerschot.</i></h3> - -<p>The Germans marched into <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Aerschot</i><a name="FNanchor_86_86" id="FNanchor_86_86"></a><a href="#Footnote_86_86" class="fnanchor">[86]</a> on the morning -of Aug. 19th, driving before them two girls and -four women with babies in their arms as a screen.<a name="FNanchor_87_87" id="FNanchor_87_87"></a><a href="#Footnote_87_87" class="fnanchor">[87]</a> -One of the women was wounded by the fire of the -Belgian troops, who had posted machine guns to dispute -the Germans’ entry, but now withheld their fire -and retired from the town. The Germans encountered -no further resistance, but they began to kill civilians -and break into houses immediately they came in. They -bayonetted two women on their doorstep (c 27). -They shot a deaf boy (c 1) who did not understand -the order to raise his hands. They shot 5 men they -had requisitioned as guides (R. No. 3). They fired -at the church (c 18). They fired at people looking -out of the windows of their houses (R. No. 5). The -Burgomaster’s son, a boy of fifteen, was standing at a -window with his mother and was wounded by a bullet -in the leg (R. No. 11). They killed people in their -houses. Six men, for instance, were bayonetted in one -house (R. No. 15). They dragged a railway employé -from his home and shot him in a field (R. No. 2). -“I went back home,” states a woman who had been -seized by the Germans and had escaped (c 18), “and -found my husband lying dead outside it. He had been<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span> -shot through the head from behind. His pockets had -been rifled.”</p> - -<p>Other civilians (the civil population was already -accused of having fired) were collected as hostages,<a name="FNanchor_88_88" id="FNanchor_88_88"></a><a href="#Footnote_88_88" class="fnanchor">[88]</a> -and driven, with their hands raised above their heads, -to an open space on the banks of the River Démer. -“There were about 200 prisoners, some of them invalids -taken from their beds” (c 1). There was a -professor from the College among them (R. No. 9), -and an old man of 75 (c 15). After these hostages -had been searched, and had been kept standing by the -river, with their arms up, for two hours, the Burgomaster -was brought to them under guard,<a name="FNanchor_89_89" id="FNanchor_89_89"></a><a href="#Footnote_89_89" class="fnanchor">[89]</a> and compelled -to read out a proclamation, ordering all arms -to be given up, and warning that if a shot were -fired by a civilian, the man who fired it, and four -others with him, would be put to death. It was a -gratuitous proceeding, for, several days before the -Germans arrived, the Burgomaster (like most of his -colleagues throughout Belgium) had sent the town -crier round, calling on the population to deposit all -arms at the Hôtel-de-Ville, and he had posted placards -on the walls to the same effect (c 4, 7). A priest drew -a German officer’s attention to these placards (c 20), -and the Burgomaster himself had already given a translation -of their contents to the German commandant<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span> -(R. No. 11). That officer<a name="FNanchor_90_90" id="FNanchor_90_90"></a><a href="#Footnote_90_90" class="fnanchor">[90]</a> disingenuously represents -this act of good faith as a suspicious circumstance. -“To my special surprise,” he states, “thirty-six more -rifles, professedly intended for public processions and -for the Garde Civique, were produced” (from the -Hôtel-de-Ville). “The constituents of ammunition -for these rifles were also found packed in a case.” But -the only weapon still found in private hands on the -morning of Aug. 19th was a shot gun used for pigeon -shooting (c 1), and when the owner had fetched it -from his home the hostages were released. Yet at this -point 4 more civilians were shot down, two of them -father and son—the son feeble-minded (c 15).</p> - -<p>The Germans quartered in Aerschot were already -getting out of hand. “I saw the dead body of another -man in the street,” continues the witness (c 15) quoted -above. “When I got to my house, I found that all the -furniture had been broken, and that the place had been -thoroughly ransacked, and everything of value stolen. -When I came out into the street again I saw the dead -body of a man at the door of the next house to mine. -He was my neighbour, and wore a Red Cross brassard -on his arm....”</p> - -<p>The Germans gave themselves up to drink and -plunder. “They set about breaking in the cellar doors, -and soon most of them were drunk” (R. No. 15).—“An -officer came to me,” states another witness (c 7),<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span> -“and demanded a packet of coffee. He did not pay -for it. He gave no receipt.”—“They broke my shop -window,” deposes another. “The shop front was pillaged -in a moment. Then they gutted the shop itself. -They fought each other for the bottles of cognac and -rum. In the middle of this an officer entered. He did -not seem at all surprised, and demanded three bottles -of cognac and three of wine for himself. The soldiers, -N.C.O.’s and officers, went down to the cellar and -emptied it....” Not even the Red Cross was -spared. The monastery of St. Damien, which had -been turned into an ambulance, was broken into by -German soldiers, who accused the monks of firing and -tore the bandages off the wounded Belgian soldiers to -make sure that the wounds were real (R. No. 16). -“Whenever we referred to our membership of the Red -Cross,” declares one of the monks, “our words were -received with scornful smiles and comments, indicating -clearly that they made no account of that.”</p> - -<div id="Fig_60" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> -<img src="images/i_b_060fp.jpg" width="600" height="400" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p class="center">9. <span class="smcap">Liége in Ruins</span></p></div> -</div> - -<div id="Fig_61" class="figcenter" style="width: 368px;"> -<img src="images/i_b_061fp.jpg" width="368" height="650" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p class="center">10. “<span class="smcap">We Live Like God in Belgium</span>”</p></div> -</div> - -<p>About 5.0 p.m. Colonel Stenger, the commander of -the 8th German Infantry Brigade, arrived in Aerschot -with his staff. They were quartered in the Burgomaster’s -house, in rooms overlooking the square. Captain -Karge, the commander of the divisional military -police, was billeted on the Burgomaster’s brother, also -in the square but on the opposite side. About 8.0 p.m. -(German time) Colonel Stenger was standing on the -Burgomaster’s balcony; the Burgomaster, who had just<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span> -been allowed to return home, was at his front door, -offering the German sentries cigars, and his wife was -close by him; the square was full of troops, and a -supply column was just filing through, when suddenly -a single loud shot was fired, followed immediately by -a heavy fusillade. “I very distinctly saw two columns -of smoke,” writes the Burgomaster’s wife (R. No. 11), -“followed by a multitude of discharges.”—“I could -perceive a light cloud of smoke and dust,” states Captain -Karge,<a name="FNanchor_91_91" id="FNanchor_91_91"></a><a href="#Footnote_91_91" class="fnanchor">[91]</a> who was at his window across the square, -“coming from the eaves of a red corner house.” In a -moment the soldiers massed in the square were in an -uproar. “My yard,” continues the Burgomaster’s wife, -“was immediately invaded by horses and by soldiers -firing in the air like madmen.”—“The drivers and -transport men,” observes Captain Karge, “had left -their horses and waggons and taken cover from the -shots in the entrances of the houses. Some of the -waggons had interlocked, because the horses, becoming -restless, had taken their own course without the drivers -to guide them.” Another German officer<a name="FNanchor_92_92" id="FNanchor_92_92"></a><a href="#Footnote_92_92" class="fnanchor">[92]</a> thought the -firing came from the north-west outskirts of the town, -and was told by fugitive German soldiers that there -were Belgian troops advancing to the attack. A -machine-gun company went out to meet them, and -marched three kilometres before it discovered that there<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span> -was no enemy, and turned back. “About 350 yards -from the square,” states the commander of this unit,<a name="FNanchor_93_93" id="FNanchor_93_93"></a><a href="#Footnote_93_93" class="fnanchor">[93]</a> -“I met cavalry dashing backwards and transport -waggons trying to turn round.... I saw shots -coming from the houses, whereupon I ordered the -machine guns to be unlimbered and the house fronts -on the left to be fired upon.”</p> - -<p>Who fired the first shot? Who fired the answering -volley? There is abundant evidence, both Belgian and -German, of German soldiers firing in the square and -the neighbouring streets; no single instance is proved, -or even alleged, in the German White Book, of a -Belgian caught in the act of firing. “The situation -developed,” deposes Captain Folz,<a name="FNanchor_94_94" id="FNanchor_94_94"></a><a href="#Footnote_94_94" class="fnanchor">[94]</a> “into our men -pressing their backs against the houses, and firing on -any marksman in the opposite house, as soon as he -showed himself.” But were they Belgians at the windows, -or Germans taking cover from the undoubted -fire of their comrades, and replying from these vantage -points upon an imaginary foe? “Near the Hôtel-de-Ville,” -continues Captain Folz, “there stood an officer -who had the signal ‘Cease Fire’ blown continuously.<a name="FNanchor_95_95" id="FNanchor_95_95"></a><a href="#Footnote_95_95" class="fnanchor">[95]</a> -Clearly this officer desired in the first place to stop the -shooting of our men, in order to set a systematic action -on foot.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span></p> - -<p>The German soldiers’ minds had been filled with -lying rumours. “I heard,” declares Captain Karge, -“that the King of the Belgians had decreed that every -male Belgian was under obligation to do the German -Army as much harm as possible....</p> - -<p>“An officer told me he had read on a church door -that the Belgians were forbidden to hold captured German -officers on parole, but had to shoot them....</p> - -<p>“A seminary teacher assured me” (it was under the -threat of death) “definitely, as I now think that I can -distinctly remember, that the Garde Civique had been -ordered to injure the German Army in every possible -way....”</p> - -<p>Thus, when he heard the shots, Captain Karge leapt -to his conclusions. “The regularity of the volleys gave -me the impression that the affair was well organised -and possibly under military command.” It never occurred -to him that they might be German volleys commanded -by German officers as apprehensive as himself. -“Everywhere, apparently,” he proceeds, “the firing -came, <em>not from the windows</em>, but from roof-openings -or prepared loopholes in the attics of the houses.” But -if not from the windows, why not from the square, -which was crowded with German soldiers, when a -moment afterwards (admittedly) these very soldiers -were firing furiously? “This” (assumed direction -from which the firing came) “is the explanation of the -smallness of the damage done by the shots to men and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span> -animals,” and, in fact, the only victim the Germans -claim is Colonel Stenger, the Brigadier. After the -worst firing was over and the troops were getting under -control, Colonel Stenger was found by his aide-de-camp -(A 2), who had come up to his room to make a -report, lying wounded on the floor and on the point -of death. Captain Folz (A 5) records that “the Regimental -Surgeon of the Infantry Regiment No. 140, -who made a post-mortem examination of the body in -his presence on the following day, found in the aperture -of the breast wound a deformed leaden bullet, which -had been shattered by contact with a hard object.” It -remains to prove that the bullet was not German. The -German White Book does not include any report from -the examining surgeon himself.</p> - -<p>Meanwhile, the town and people of Aerschot were -given over to destruction. “I now took some soldiers,” -proceeds Captain Karge, “and went with them towards -the house from which the shooting”—in Captain -Karge’s belief—“had first come.... I ordered the -doors and windows of the ground floor, which were -securely locked, to be broken in. Thereupon I pushed -into the house with the others, and using a fairly large -quantity of turpentine, which was found in a can of -about 20 litres capacity, and which I had poured out -partly on the first storey and then down the stairs and -on the ground floor, succeeded in setting the house on -fire in a very short time. Further, I had ordered the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span> -men not taking part in this to guard the entrances of -the house and arrest all male persons escaping from it. -When I left the burning house several civilians, including -a young priest, had been arrested from the -<em>adjoining</em> houses. I had these brought to the square, -where in the meantime my company of military police -had collected.</p> - -<p>“I then ... took command of all prisoners, -among whom I set free the women, boys and girls. I -was ordered by a staff officer to shoot the prisoners. -Then I ordered my police ... to escort the prisoners -and take them out of the town. Here, at the exit, a -house was burning, and by the light of it I had the -culprits—88 in number, after I had separated out three -cripples—shot....”</p> - -<div id="Fig_64" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> -<img src="images/i_b_064fp.jpg" width="600" height="393" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p class="center">11. <span class="smcap">Haelen</span></p></div> -</div> - -<div id="Fig_65" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> -<img src="images/i_b_065fp.jpg" width="600" height="343" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p class="center">12. <span class="smcap">Aerschot</span></p></div> -</div> - -<p>These 88 victims were only a preliminary batch. -The whole population of Aerschot was being hunted -out of the houses by the German troops and driven -together into the square. They were driven along with -brutal violence. “One of the Germans thrust at me -with his bayonet,” states one woman (c 9), “which -passed through my skirt and behind my knees. I was -too frightened to notice much.”—“When we got into -the street,” states another (c 10), “other German -soldiers fired at us. I was carrying a child in my arms, -and a bullet passed through my left hand and my -child’s left arm. The child was also hit on the fundament.... -In the hospital, on Aug. 22nd, I saw<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span> -three women die of wounds.”—“In the ambulance at -the Institut Damien,” reports the monk quoted above, -“we nursed four women, several civilians and some -children. A one-year-old child had received a bayonet -wound in its thigh while its mother was carrying it in -her arms. Several civilians had burns on their bodies -and bullet wounds as well. They told us how the -soldiers set fire to the houses and fired on the suffocating -inhabitants when they tried to escape.”</p> - -<p>As elsewhere, the incendiarism was systematic. -“They used a special apparatus, something like a big -rifle, for throwing naphtha or some similar inflammable -substance” (c 19).—“I was taken to the officer in command,” -states a professor (c 14). “I found him personally -assisting in setting fire to a house. He and -his men were lighting matches and setting them to the -curtains.”—“We saw a whole street burning, in which -I possessed two houses,” deposes a native of Aerschot, -who was being driven towards the square. “We heard -children and beasts crying in the flames” (c 2). A -civilian went out into the street to see if his mother -was in a burning house. He was shot down by Germans -at a distance of 18 yards (c 5). Another householder -(R. No. 5) threw his child out of the first-floor -window of his burning house, jumped out himself, and -broke both his legs. His wife was burnt alive. “The -Germans with their rifles prevented anyone going to -help this man, and he had to drag himself along with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span> -his legs broken as best he could” (c 19).—“The whole -upper part of my house caught fire,” declares another -(R. No. 13), “when there were a dozen people in it. -The Germans had blocked the street door to prevent -them coming out. They tried in vain to reach the -neighbouring roofs.... The Germans were firing -on everyone in the streets....”</p> - -<p>By this time the Germans were mostly drunk (c9) -and lost to all reason or shame. Two men and a boy -stepped out of the door of a public-house in which they -had taken refuge with others. “As soon as we got outside -we saw the flash of rifles and heard the report.... -We came in as quickly as we could and shut -the door. The German soldiers entered. The first man -who entered said, ‘You have been shooting,’ and the -others kept repeating the same words. They pointed -their revolvers at us, and threatened to shoot us if we -moved” (c 4).</p> - -<p>In another building about 22 captured Belgian -soldiers (some of them wounded) and six civilian -hostages were under guard. They were dragged out -to the banks of the Démer and shot down by two companies -of German troops. “I was hit,” explains one -of the two survivors (a soldier already wounded before -being taken prisoner), “but an officer saw that I was -still breathing, and when a soldier wanted to shoot me -again, he ordered him to throw me into the Démer. -I clung to a branch and set my feet against the stones<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span> -on the river-bottom. I stayed there till the following -morning, with only my head above water....” -(R. No. 8).</p> - -<p>The Burgomaster’s house was the first to be cleared. -Colonel Stenger’s aide-de-camp dragged the Burgomaster -out of the cellar where he and his family had -taken refuge, and carried him off under guard. Half-an-hour -later the aide-de-camp returned for the Burgomaster’s -wife and his fifteen-year-old son. “My poor -child,” writes the Burgomaster’s wife, “could scarcely -walk because of his wound. The aide-de-camp kicked -him along. I shut my eyes to see no more....” -(R. No. 11).</p> - -<p>“When we reached the square,” the same witness -continues, “we found there all our neighbours. A girl -near me was fainting with grief. Her father and two -brothers had been shot, and they had torn her from -her dying mother’s bedside. (They found her, nine -hours later, dead). All the houses on the right side of -the square were ablaze. One could detect the perfect -order and method with which they were proceeding. -There was none of the feverishness of men left to pillage -by themselves. I am positive they were acting -with orderliness and under orders.... From time -to time, soldiers emerged from our house, with their -arms full of bottles of wine. They were opening our -windows, and all the interiors were stripped bare....”—“The -square was one blaze of fire,” states a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span> -blacksmith (c 1), “and the civilians were obliged to -stand there close to the flames from the burning -houses.”—“They put the women and children on one -side,” adds a woman (c 7). “I was among them, and -my 5 children—one boy of fifteen and 4 girls. I saw -that many of the men had their hands tied. They -took the men away along the road to Louvain....”</p> - -<p>The men were being led out of the town, as Captain -Karge’s prisoners had been led out a few hours before, -to be shot. The Burgomaster, his brother, and his son -were in this second convoy. “Under the glare of the -conflagration,” writes the Burgomaster’s wife, “my -eyes fell upon my husband, my son and my brother-in-law, -who were being led, with other men, to execution. -For fear of breaking down his courage, I could -not even cry out to my husband: ‘I am here.’” There -were 50 or 60 prisoners altogether, and another batch -of 30 followed behind.<a name="FNanchor_96_96" id="FNanchor_96_96"></a><a href="#Footnote_96_96" class="fnanchor">[96]</a> “They made us walk in the -same position, hands up, for 20 minutes,” one survivor -states (c 4). “When we got tired we put our hands -on our heads.”—“One of the prisoners,” states a second -member of the convoy (c 8), “was struck on the -back with a rifle-butt by a German soldier. The young -man said: ‘O my father.’ His father said: ‘Keep -quiet, my boy.’ Another soldier thrust his bayonet -into the thigh of another prisoner, and afterwards compelled -him to walk on with the rest.”—“Our hands,”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span> -states a third (R. No. 7), “were bound behind our -backs with copper wire—so tightly that our wrists were -cut and bled. We were compelled to lie down, still -bound, on our backs, with our heads touching the -ground. About six in the morning, they decided to -begin the executions.”</p> - -<p>An officer read out a document to the prisoners.—One -out of three was to be shot. “It was read out like -an article of the law. He read in German, but we -understood it.... They took all the young -men....” (c 4).</p> - -<p>The Burgomaster’s chief political opponent was -among the prisoners. He offered his life for the Burgomaster’s—“The -Burgomaster’s life was essential to the -welfare of the town.” The Burgomaster pleaded for -his fellow citizens, and then for his son. The officer -answered that he must have them all—the Burgomaster, -his son and his brother. “The boy got up and -stood between his father and uncle.... The shots -rang out, and the three bodies fell heavily one upon -another....” (R. No. 7).</p> - -<p>“The rest were drawn up in ranks of three. They -numbered them—one, two, three. Each number three -had to step out of his rank and fall in behind the -corpses; they were going to be shot, the Germans said. -My brother and I were next to each other—I number -two, he three. I asked the officer if I might take my -brother’s place: ‘My mother is a widow. My brother<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span> -has finished his education, and is more useful than I!’ -The officer was again implacable. ‘Step out, number -three.’ We embraced, and my brother joined the rest. -There were about 30 of them lined up. Then the -German soldiers moved slowly along the line, killing -three at every discharge—each time at the officer’s -word of command” (R. No. 7).</p> - -<p>The last man in the line was spared as a medical -student and member of the Red Cross (R. No. 5). -The survivors were set free. On their way back they -passed another batch going to their death (R. No. 7). -They passed the corpse of a woman on the road, and -another in the cattle-market (c 17). Other inhabitants -of Aerschot were forced to bury all the corpses -on the Louvain road in the course of the same day. -They brought back to the women of Aerschot the sure -knowledge that their husbands, sons and brothers were -dead.<a name="FNanchor_97_97" id="FNanchor_97_97"></a><a href="#Footnote_97_97" class="fnanchor">[97]</a></p> - -<p>The rest of what happened at Aerschot is quickly -told. When the Germans had marched the second -convoy of men out of the town and dismissed the -women from the square, they evacuated the town themselves<a name="FNanchor_98_98" id="FNanchor_98_98"></a><a href="#Footnote_98_98" class="fnanchor">[98]</a> -and bombarded it from outside with artillery;<a name="FNanchor_99_99" id="FNanchor_99_99"></a><a href="#Footnote_99_99" class="fnanchor">[99]</a> -but in the daylight of Aug. 20th they came back again, -and burned and pillaged continuously for three days—taking<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span> -not only food and clothing but valuables of -every kind, and loading them methodically on waggons -and motor cars.<a name="FNanchor_100_100" id="FNanchor_100_100"></a><a href="#Footnote_100_100" class="fnanchor">[100]</a> On the evening of the 20th, the -Institut Damien, hospital though it was, was compelled -to provide quarters for 1,100 men. “We spent -all night giving food and drink to this mob, of whom -many were drunk. We collected 800 empty bottles -next morning.”<a name="FNanchor_101_101" id="FNanchor_101_101"></a><a href="#Footnote_101_101" class="fnanchor">[101]</a></p> - -<p>On Aug. 26th and 27th the remnant of the population—about -600 men, women, and children, who had -not perished or fled—were herded into the church.<a name="FNanchor_102_102" id="FNanchor_102_102"></a><a href="#Footnote_102_102" class="fnanchor">[102]</a> -They were given little food, and no means of sanitation. -On the evening of the 27th a squad of German -soldiers amused themselves by firing through the -church door over the heads of the hostages, against -the opposite wall. On the 28th the monks of St. -Damien were brought there also. (Their hospital was -closed, and the patients turned out of their beds.) -The rest of the hostages were marched that day to -Louvain. There were little children among them, and -women with child, and men too old to walk. At Louvain, -in the Place de la Station, they were fired upon, -and a number were wounded and killed. The survivors -were released on the 29th, but when they returned -to Aerschot they were arrested and imprisoned<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span> -again—the men in the church, the women in a chateau. -The women and children were released the day following -(that day the active troops at Aerschot were replaced -by a landsturm garrison, who began to pillage -the town once more).<a name="FNanchor_103_103" id="FNanchor_103_103"></a><a href="#Footnote_103_103" class="fnanchor">[103]</a> The men were kept prisoners -till Sept. 6th, when those not of military age were -released and the remainder (about 70) deported by -train to Germany. All the monks were deported, whatever -their age.<a name="FNanchor_104_104" id="FNanchor_104_104"></a><a href="#Footnote_104_104" class="fnanchor">[104]</a></p> - -<p>“On Aug. 31st,” writes a German landsturmer in -his diary,<a name="FNanchor_105_105" id="FNanchor_105_105"></a><a href="#Footnote_105_105" class="fnanchor">[105]</a> “we entered Aerschot to guard the station. -On Sept. 2nd I had a little time off duty, which I spent -in visiting the town. No one, without seeing it, could -form any idea of the condition it is in.... In all -my life I shall never drink more wine than I drank -here.”</p> - -<p>Three hundred and eighty-six houses were burnt at -Aerschot, 1,000 plundered, 150 inhabitants killed, and -after this destruction the Germans admitted the innocence -of their victims. “It was a beastly mess,” a -German non-commissioned officer confessed to one of -the monks in the church of Aerschot on Aug. 29th.<a name="FNanchor_106_106" id="FNanchor_106_106"></a><a href="#Footnote_106_106" class="fnanchor">[106]</a> -“It was our soldiers who fired, but they have been -punished.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span></p> - -<h3 id="Sect_74">(iii) <em>The Aerschot District.</em></h3> - -<p>The smaller places round Aerschot suffered in their -degree. At <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Nieuw-Rhode</i> 200 houses (out of 321) -were plundered, one civilian killed, and 27 deported -to Germany. At <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Gelrode</i>,<a name="FNanchor_107_107" id="FNanchor_107_107"></a><a href="#Footnote_107_107" class="fnanchor">[107]</a> on August 19th, the Germans -seized 21 civilians as hostages, imprisoned them -in the church, and then shot one in every three against -a wall—the rest were marched to Louvain and imprisoned -in the church there. None of them were discovered -with arms, for the Burgomaster of Gelrode had -collected all arms in private hands before the Germans -arrived. The priest of Gelrode<a name="FNanchor_108_108" id="FNanchor_108_108"></a><a href="#Footnote_108_108" class="fnanchor">[108]</a> was dragged away to -Aerschot on August 27th by German soldiers. “When -they got to the churchyard the priest was struck several -times by each soldier on the head. Then they -pushed him against the wall of the church” (c24).—“His -hands were raised above his head. Five or six -soldiers stood immediately in front of him.... -When he let his hands drop a little, soldiers brought -down their rifle butts on his feet” (c25). Finally -they led him away to be shot, and his corpse was -thrown into the Démer.</p> - -<p>Eighteen civilians altogether were shot in the commune -of Gelrode, and 99 deported to Germany. -Twenty-three houses were burnt, and 131 plundered, -out of 201 in the village.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span></p> - -<p>At <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Tremeloo</i><a name="FNanchor_109_109" id="FNanchor_109_109"></a><a href="#Footnote_109_109" class="fnanchor">[109]</a> 214 houses were burnt and 3 civilians -killed (one of them an old man of 72). A number of -women were raped at Tremeloo.</p> - -<p>At <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Rotselaer</i><a name="FNanchor_110_110" id="FNanchor_110_110"></a><a href="#Footnote_110_110" class="fnanchor">[110]</a> 67 houses were burnt, 38 civilians -killed, and 120 deported to Germany. A girl who -was raped by five Germans went out of her mind -(c52). The priest of Rotselaer was deported with his -parishioners. The men of the village had been confined -in the church on the night of August 22nd, again -on the night of the 23rd, and then consecutively till the -morning of the 27th. The priest of Herent (who was -more than 70 years old)<a name="FNanchor_111_111" id="FNanchor_111_111"></a><a href="#Footnote_111_111" class="fnanchor">[111]</a> and other men from Herent, -Wackerzeel, and Thildonck, were imprisoned with -them, till there were a thousand people in the church -altogether. The women brought them what food -could be found, but for five days they could neither -wash nor sleep. On the 27th they were marched to -Louvain with a batch of prisoners taken from Louvain -itself, and were sent on the terrible journey in -cattle-trucks to Aix-la-Chapelle.</p> - -<p>At <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Wespelaer</i><a name="FNanchor_112_112" id="FNanchor_112_112"></a><a href="#Footnote_112_112" class="fnanchor">[112]</a> the destruction was complete. Out -of 297 houses 47 were burnt and 250 gutted. Twenty-one -inhabitants were killed. “The Germans shot the -owner of the first house burnt on his doorstep, and his -twenty-years-old daughter inside.... I only saw one<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span> -man shot with my own eyes—a man who had an old -carbine in his house. It had not been used; he was -not carrying it.... In another house a married -couple, 80 years old, were burnt alive” (c60).</p> - -<p>At <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Campenhout</i><a name="FNanchor_113_113" id="FNanchor_113_113"></a><a href="#Footnote_113_113" class="fnanchor">[113]</a> the Germans burned 85 houses -and killed 14 civilians. In a rich man’s house, where -officers were quartered, they rifled the wine cellar and -shot the mistress of the house in cold blood as she -entered the room where they were drinking. “The -other officers continued to drink and sing, and did not -pay great attention to the killing of my mistress,” -states a servant who was present. As they continued -their advance, the Germans collected about 400 men, -women and children (some of the women with babies -in their arms) from Campenhout, Elewyt and Malines, -and drove them forward as a screen, with the priest of -Campenhout at their head, against the Belgian forces -holding the outer ring of the Antwerp lines.<a name="FNanchor_114_114" id="FNanchor_114_114"></a><a href="#Footnote_114_114" class="fnanchor">[114]</a></p> - -<p>The devastation of this district is described by a -witness who walked through it, from Brussels to -Aerschot, after the Germans had passed (c 25). “We -traversed the village of Werchter, where there had -been no battle, but it had been in the occupation of -the Germans, and on all sides of this village we saw -burnt-down houses and traces of plunder and havoc. -In Wespelaer and Rotselaer and Wesemael we saw<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span> -the same. We did not pass through the village of -Gelrode, but close to it, and we saw that houses had -been burnt down there. In Aerschot the Malines -Street, Hamer Street, Théophile Becker Street and -other streets were completely burnt. Half the Grand -Place had been burnt down....”</p> - - -<h3 id="Sect_77">(iv) <em>The Retreat from Malines.</em></h3> - -<p>Yet the devastation done by the Germans in their -advance was light compared with the outrages they -committed when the Belgian sortie of August 25th -drove them back from Malines towards the Aerschot-Louvain -line.</p> - -<p>In <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Malines</i> itself<a name="FNanchor_115_115" id="FNanchor_115_115"></a><a href="#Footnote_115_115" class="fnanchor">[115]</a> they destroyed 1,500 houses from -first to last, and revenged themselves atrociously on -the civil population. A Belgian soldier saw them -bayonet an old woman in the back, and cut off a young -woman’s breasts (d 1). Another saw them bayonet -a woman and her son (d 2). They shot a police inspector -in the stomach as he came out of his door, and -blew off the head of an old woman at a window (d 3). -A child of two came out into the street as eight drunken -soldiers were marching by. “A man in the second file -stepped aside and drove his bayonet with both hands -into the child’s stomach. He lifted the child into the -air on his bayonet and carried it away, he and his comrades -still singing. The child screamed when the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span> -soldier struck it with his bayonet, but not afterwards.” -This incident is reported by two witnesses (d 4-5). -Another woman was found dead with twelve bayonet -wounds between her shoulders and her waist (d 7). -Another—between 16 and 20 years old—who had -been killed by a bayonet, “was kneeling, and her hands -were clasped, and the bayonet had pierced both hands. -I also saw a boy of about 16,” continues the witness, -“who had been killed by a bayonet thrust through his -mouth.” In the same house there was an old woman -lying dead (d 9).</p> - -<p>The next place from which the Germans were driven -was <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Hofstade</i>,<a name="FNanchor_116_116" id="FNanchor_116_116"></a><a href="#Footnote_116_116" class="fnanchor">[116]</a> and here, too, they revenged themselves -before they went. They left the corpses of -women lying in the streets. There was an old woman -mutilated with the bayonet.<a name="FNanchor_117_117" id="FNanchor_117_117"></a><a href="#Footnote_117_117" class="fnanchor">[117]</a> There was a young -pregnant woman who had been ripped open.<a name="FNanchor_118_118" id="FNanchor_118_118"></a><a href="#Footnote_118_118" class="fnanchor">[118]</a> In the -lodge of a chateau the porter’s body was found lying -on a heap of straw.<a name="FNanchor_119_119" id="FNanchor_119_119"></a><a href="#Footnote_119_119" class="fnanchor">[119]</a> He had been bayonetted in the -stomach—evidently while in bed, for the empty bed -was soaked with blood. The blacksmith of Hofstade—also -bayonetted in the stomach—was lying on his -doorstep.<a name="FNanchor_120_120" id="FNanchor_120_120"></a><a href="#Footnote_120_120" class="fnanchor">[120]</a> Adjoining the blacksmith’s house there -was a café, and here a middle-aged woman lay dead,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span> -and a boy of about 16. The boy was found kneeling -in an attitude of supplication. Both his hands had -been cut off. “One was on the ground, the other hanging -by a bit of skin” (d 25). His face was smeared -with blood. He was seen in this condition by twenty-five -separate witnesses, whose testimony is recorded in -the Bryce Report.<a name="FNanchor_121_121" id="FNanchor_121_121"></a><a href="#Footnote_121_121" class="fnanchor">[121]</a> Several saw him before he was -quite dead.</p> - -<p>In one house at Hofstade<a name="FNanchor_122_122" id="FNanchor_122_122"></a><a href="#Footnote_122_122" class="fnanchor">[122]</a> the Belgian troops found -the dead bodies of two women and a man. One of -the women, who was middle-aged, had been bayonetted -in the stomach; the other, who was about 20 -years old, had been bayonetted in the head, and her -legs had been almost severed from her body. The man -had been bayonetted through the head. In another -room the body of a ten-year-old boy was suspended -from a hanging lamp. He had been killed first by a -bayonet wound in the stomach.</p> - -<p>“I went with an artilleryman,” states another Belgian -soldier,<a name="FNanchor_123_123" id="FNanchor_123_123"></a><a href="#Footnote_123_123" class="fnanchor">[123]</a> “to find his parents who lived in Hofstade. -All the houses were burning except the one -where this man’s parents lived. On forcing the door, -we saw lying on the floor of the room on which it -opened the dead bodies of a man, a woman, a girl, and -a boy, who, the artilleryman told us, were his father<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span> -and mother and brother and sister. Each of them had -both feet cut off just above the ankle, and both hands -just above the wrist. The poor boy rushed straight off, -took one of the horses from his gun, and rode in the -direction of the German lines. We never saw him -again....”</p> - -<p>Retreating from Hofstade, the Germans drove about -200 of the inhabitants with them as a screen, to cover -their flank against the Belgian attack.<a name="FNanchor_124_124" id="FNanchor_124_124"></a><a href="#Footnote_124_124" class="fnanchor">[124]</a> At <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Muysen</i> -they killed 6 civilians and burned 450 houses. “There -were broken wine bottles lying about everywhere” -(d 88).</p> - -<p>At <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Sempst</i>,<a name="FNanchor_125_125" id="FNanchor_125_125"></a><a href="#Footnote_125_125" class="fnanchor">[125]</a> as they evacuated the village, they -dragged the inhabitants out of their houses. One old -man who expostulated was shot by an officer with a -revolver,<a name="FNanchor_126_126" id="FNanchor_126_126"></a><a href="#Footnote_126_126" class="fnanchor">[126]</a> and his son was shot when he attempted to -escape. They fired down into the cellars and up -through the ceilings to drive the people out (d 68). -The hostages were taken to the bridge. “One young -man was carrying in his arms his little brother, 10 or -11 years old, who had been run over before the war -and could not walk. The soldiers told the man to hold -up his arms. He said he could not, as he must hold -his brother, who could not walk. Then a German<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span> -soldier hit him on the head with a revolver, and he let -the child fall....”</p> - -<div id="Fig_80" class="figcenter" style="width: 467px;"> -<img src="images/i_b_080fp.jpg" width="467" height="650" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p class="center">13. <span class="smcap">Brussels: A Booking-Office</span></p></div> -</div> - -<div id="Fig_81" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> -<img src="images/i_b_081fp.jpg" width="600" height="438" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p class="center">14. <span class="smcap">Malines After Bombardment</span></p></div> -</div> - -<p>In one house they bound a bed-ridden man to his -bed, and shot another man in the presence of 13 children -who were in the house (d 29). In another house -they burned a woman and two children (d 71); they -burned the owner of a bicycle shop in his shop;<a name="FNanchor_127_127" id="FNanchor_127_127"></a><a href="#Footnote_127_127" class="fnanchor">[127]</a> these -four bodies were found, carbonised, by the Belgian -troops. The Belgians also found a woman dead in -the street, with four bayonet wounds in her body -(d 36), and saw an Uhlan overtake a woman driving -in a cart, thrust his lance through her body, and then -shoot her in the chest with his carbine (d 80). In a -farmhouse the farmer was found with his head cut off. -His two sons, killed by bullet wounds, were lying beside -him. His wife, whose left breast had been cut -off, was still alive, and told how, when her eight-year-old -son had gone up a ladder into the loft, the Germans -had pulled away the ladder and set the building -on fire.<a name="FNanchor_128_128" id="FNanchor_128_128"></a><a href="#Footnote_128_128" class="fnanchor">[128]</a> Twenty-seven houses were burnt at Sempst, -200 sacked, 18 inhabitants killed, and 34 deported to -Germany.</p> - -<p>At <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Weerde</i> 34 houses were burnt. As the Germans -retreated they bayonetted two little girls standing in -the road and tossed them into the flames of a burning -house—their mother was standing by (d 85). At<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span> -<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Eppeghem</i><a name="FNanchor_129_129" id="FNanchor_129_129"></a><a href="#Footnote_129_129" class="fnanchor">[129]</a> 176 houses were burnt, 8 civilians killed, -and 125 deported. The killing was done with the -bayonet. A woman with child, whose stomach had -been slashed open, died in the hospital at Malines. -When the Germans returned to Eppeghem again, they -used the remaining civilians as a screen. On August -28th they did the same at <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Elewyt</i>,<a name="FNanchor_130_130" id="FNanchor_130_130"></a><a href="#Footnote_130_130" class="fnanchor">[130]</a> not even exempting -old men or women with child. We have the testimony -of a Belgian priest who was driven in the screen, -and of a Belgian soldier in the trenches against which -the screen was driven. A hundred and thirty-three -houses were burnt at Elewyt, and 10 civilians killed. -The Belgian troops found the body of a man tied -naked to a ring in a wall. His head was riddled with -bullets, there was a bayonet wound in his chest, and -he had been mutilated obscenely. A woman, also -mutilated obscenely after violation, was lying dead on -the ground. In another house a man and a woman -were found, with bayonet wounds all over their bodies, -on the floor. At <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Perck</i> 180 houses (out of 243) were -sacked and 5 civilians killed. At <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Bueken</i> 50 houses -were burnt, 30 sacked (out of 84), and 8 civilians -killed. The victims were killed in a meadow in the -sight of the women and children.<a name="FNanchor_131_131" id="FNanchor_131_131"></a><a href="#Footnote_131_131" class="fnanchor">[131]</a> Among them was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span> -the parish priest.<a name="FNanchor_132_132" id="FNanchor_132_132"></a><a href="#Footnote_132_132" class="fnanchor">[132]</a> “He was a man 75 or 80 years -old. He could not walk fast enough. He was driven -along with blows from rifle-butts and knocked down. -He cried out: ‘I can go no further,’ and a soldier -thrust a bayonet into his neck at the back—the blood -flowed out in quantities. The old man begged to be -shot, but the officer said: ‘That is too good for you.’ -He was taken off behind a house and we heard shots. -He did not return....” (d 97, cp. 98). At <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Vilvorde</i><a name="FNanchor_133_133" id="FNanchor_133_133"></a><a href="#Footnote_133_133" class="fnanchor">[133]</a> -33 houses were burnt and 6 civilians killed. In -the whole <em>Canton of Vilvorde</em>, in which all these places, -except Malines, lay, 611 houses were burnt, 1,665 -plundered, 90 civilians killed, and 177 deported to -Germany.</p> - -<p>The devastation spread through the whole zone of -the German retreat. At <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Capelle-au-Bois</i><a name="FNanchor_134_134" id="FNanchor_134_134"></a><a href="#Footnote_134_134" class="fnanchor">[134]</a> the Belgian -troops found two girls hanging naked from a tree with -their breasts cut off, and two women bayonetted in a -house, caught as they were making preparations to flee. -A woman told them how German soldiers had held her -down by force, while other soldiers had violated her -daughter successively in an adjoining room. Four -civilians were killed at Capelle-au-Bois and 235 houses -burnt. At <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Londerzeel</i><a name="FNanchor_135_135" id="FNanchor_135_135"></a><a href="#Footnote_135_135" class="fnanchor">[135]</a> 18 houses were burnt and one -civilian killed. He was a man who had tried to prevent<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span> -the Germans from violating his two daughters. -When the Germans re-entered Londerzeel they used -the civilian population as a screen. At <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Ramsdonck</i>, -near Londerzeel, a woman and two children were shot -by the Germans as they were flying for protection -towards the Belgian lines.<a name="FNanchor_136_136" id="FNanchor_136_136"></a><a href="#Footnote_136_136" class="fnanchor">[136]</a> At <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Wolverthem</i> 10 houses -were burnt and 5 people killed. At <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Meysse</i> 3 houses -were burnt and 350 sacked, 2 civilians killed and 29 -deported. At <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Beyghem</i> 32 houses were burnt. At -<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Pont-Brûlé</i>,<a name="FNanchor_137_137" id="FNanchor_137_137"></a><a href="#Footnote_137_137" class="fnanchor">[137]</a> on Aug. 25th, the priest was imprisoned -with 28 other civilian hostages in a room. The German -soldiers compelled him to hold up his hands for -hours, and struck him when he lowered them from -fatigue. They compelled his fellow-prisoners to spit -on him. They tore up his breviary and threw the -fragments in his face. When he fainted they threw -pails of water on him to revive him. As he was reviving -he was shot. Fifty-eight houses were burnt in -the commune of Pont-Brûlé-Grimbergen, 5 civilians -shot, and 65 deported. These places lay in the <em>Canton -of Wolverthem</em>, west of the river Senne, between Termonde, -Malines, and Brussels. In the whole canton -426 houses were burnt, 1,292 plundered, 29 civilians -killed, and 182 deported to Germany.</p> - -<div id="Fig_84" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> -<img src="images/i_b_084fp.jpg" width="600" height="470" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p class="center">15. <span class="smcap">Malines: Ruins</span></p></div> -</div> - -<div id="Fig_85" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> -<img src="images/i_b_085fp.jpg" width="600" height="424" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p class="center">16. <span class="smcap">Malines: Ruins</span></p></div> -</div> - -<p>In the district between Malines and Aerschot it was -the same, and places which had suffered already on<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span> -Aug. 19th were devastated again on Aug. 25th and the -following days. At <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Hever</i><a name="FNanchor_138_138" id="FNanchor_138_138"></a><a href="#Footnote_138_138" class="fnanchor">[138]</a> in the Canton of Haecht, -a baby was found hanged by the neck to the handle of -a door. Thirty-five houses were burnt. At <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Boortmeerbeek</i><a name="FNanchor_139_139" id="FNanchor_139_139"></a><a href="#Footnote_139_139" class="fnanchor">[139]</a> -103 houses were burnt and 300 sacked (out of -437); 5 civilians were killed—one of them a little girl -who was bayonetted in the road. At <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Haecht</i><a name="FNanchor_140_140" id="FNanchor_140_140"></a><a href="#Footnote_140_140" class="fnanchor">[140]</a> 5 men -were seized as hostages and then shot in cold blood. -One of them survived, though he was bayonetted twice -after the shooting to “finish him off.” Seven others -were stripped naked and threatened with bayonets, -but instead of being killed they were used as a screen. -The Belgian troops found the body of a woman on the -road, stripped to the waist and with the breasts cut off. -There was another woman with her head cut off and -her body mutilated. There was a child with its stomach -slashed open with a bayonet, and another—two or -three years old—nailed to a door by its hands and feet. -At Haecht 40 houses were burnt.</p> - -<p>At <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Thildonck</i> 31 houses were burnt and 10 civilians -killed. Seven of those killed in the commune of Thildonck -belonged to the family of the two Valckenaers -brothers, whose farms (situated close to one another) -were occupied by the Belgian troops early on the morning<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span> -of August 26th. As the Germans counter-attacked, -the Belgian soldiers opened fire on them from the farm -buildings and then retired. A platoon of Germans, -with an officer at their head, entered Isodore Valckenaers’ -farm (where the whole family was gathered) -about 8.0 a.m. Isodore and two of his nephews—barely -more than boys—were shot at once. His -daughter, who clung to him and begged for his life, -was torn away. The two young men were killed instantaneously. -The elder, though horribly wounded -by the bullet, survived, and was rescued next day. -The rest of the family—a group of eleven women and -children, for François-Edouard Valckenaers, the other -brother, was away—were shot down half-an-hour later. -They were herded together in the garden and fired on -from all sides. Madame Isodore Valckenaers was holding -her youngest baby in her arms. The bullet broke -the child’s arm and mangled its face, and then tore the -mother’s lip and destroyed one of her eyes. (The -baby died, but the mother survived.) Madame F.-E. -Valckenaers also survived—her dress was spattered -with the brains of her fourteen-year-old son, whom she -was holding by the hand. Five died altogether out of -this group of eleven—some instantaneously, some after -hours of agony. The eldest of them was only eighteen, -the youngest was two-and-a-half. Thus seven of the -Valckenaers’ family were killed in all out of the fourteen<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span> -present, and three were severely wounded. Only -four were left unscathed.<a name="FNanchor_141_141" id="FNanchor_141_141"></a><a href="#Footnote_141_141" class="fnanchor">[141]</a></p> - -<p>At <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Werchter</i><a name="FNanchor_142_142" id="FNanchor_142_142"></a><a href="#Footnote_142_142" class="fnanchor">[142]</a> 267 houses were burnt and 162 -sacked (out of 496), 15 civilians were killed, and 32 -deported. The priests of <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Wygmael</i> and <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Wesemael</i> -were dragged away as hostages, and driven, with a -crowd of civilians from Herent, as a screen in front of -the German troops on Aug. 29th. At Wesemael 46 -houses were burnt, 13 civilians killed and 324 deported. -At <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Holsbeek</i> one civilian was killed and 35 -houses burnt. In the whole <em>Canton of Haecht</em> 899 -houses were burnt, 1,772 plundered, 116 civilians -killed, and 647 deported.</p> - -<p>As the Germans fell back south-eastward, the devastation -spread into the Canton of Louvain. “When -the Germans first arrived at <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Herent</i>,”<a name="FNanchor_143_143" id="FNanchor_143_143"></a><a href="#Footnote_143_143" class="fnanchor">[143]</a> states a witness -(d 97), “they did nothing, but when they were -repulsed from Malines they began to ill-treat the -civilians.” They shot a man at his door, and threw -another man’s body into a burning house. At <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Aanbosch</i>, -a hamlet of Herent, they dragged 4 men and 9 -women out of their houses and bayonetted them. In -the commune of Herent they killed 22 civilians (the -priest was among the later victims)<a name="FNanchor_144_144" id="FNanchor_144_144"></a><a href="#Footnote_144_144" class="fnanchor">[144]</a> and deported 104 -altogether, burned 312 houses and sacked 200. At<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span> -<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Velthem</i> they killed 14 civilians and burned 44 houses. -At <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Winxele</i> they burned 57 houses and killed 5 -civilians—the soldier who had shot and bayonetted -one of them thrust his bayonet into the faces of the -hostages: “Smell, smell! It is the blood of a Belgian -pig” (d 97-8). At <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Corbeek-Loo</i> 20 civilians were -killed, 62 deported, and 129 houses burnt. At <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Wilsele</i> -36 houses were burnt and 7 people killed. One of -them was an epileptic who had a seizure while he was -being carried away as a hostage. Since he could go -no further, he was shot through the head (d 129). At -<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Kessel-Loo</i> 59 people were killed and 461 houses burnt; -at <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Linden</i> 6 and 103; at <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Heverlé</i> 6 and 95. In the -whole <em>Canton of Louvain</em> 2,441 houses were burnt, -2,722 plundered, 251 civilians killed, and 831 deported. -About 40 per cent. of this destruction was -done in the City of Louvain itself, on the night of -August 25th and on the following nights and days. -The destruction of Louvain was the greatest organised -outrage which the Germans committed in the -course of their invasion of Belgium and France, and -as such it stands by itself. But it was also the inevitable -climax of the outrages to which they had abandoned -themselves in their retreat upon Louvain from -Malines. The Germans burned and massacred invariably, -wherever they passed, but there was a bloodthirstiness -and obscenity in their conduct on this retreat -which is hardly paralleled in their other exploits,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span> -and which put them in the temper for the supreme -crime which followed.</p> - - -<h3 id="Sect_89">(v) <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Louvain.</i></h3> - -<p>The Germans entered <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Louvain</i> on August 19th. The -Belgian troops did not attempt to hold the town, and -the civil authorities had prepared for the Germans’ arrival. -They had called in all arms in private possession -and deposited them in the Hôtel-de-Ville. This -had been done a fortnight before the German occupation,<a name="FNanchor_145_145" id="FNanchor_145_145"></a><a href="#Footnote_145_145" class="fnanchor">[145]</a> -and was repeated, for security, on the morning -of the 19th itself.<a name="FNanchor_146_146" id="FNanchor_146_146"></a><a href="#Footnote_146_146" class="fnanchor">[146]</a> The municipal commissary of -police remarked the exaggerated conscientiousness with -which the order was obeyed. “Antiquarian pieces, -flint-locks and even razors were handed in.”<a name="FNanchor_147_147" id="FNanchor_147_147"></a><a href="#Footnote_147_147" class="fnanchor">[147]</a> The -people of Louvain were indeed terrified. They had -heard what had happened in the villages round Liége, -at Tongres and at St. Trond, and on the evening -(August 18th) before the Germans arrived the refugees -from Tirlemont had come pouring through the town.<a name="FNanchor_148_148" id="FNanchor_148_148"></a><a href="#Footnote_148_148" class="fnanchor">[148]</a> -The Burgomaster, like his colleagues in other Belgian -towns, had posted placards on August 18th, enjoining -confidence and calm.</p> - -<p>The German entry on the 19th took place without -disturbance. Large requisitions were at once made on<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span> -the town by the German Command. The troops were -billeted on the inhabitants. In one house an officer demanded -quarters for 50 men. “Revolver in hand, he -inspected every bedroom minutely. ‘If anything goes -wrong, you are all <i lang="de" xml:lang="de">kaput</i>.’ That was how he finished -the business.”<a name="FNanchor_149_149" id="FNanchor_149_149"></a><a href="#Footnote_149_149" class="fnanchor">[149]</a> It was vacation time, and the lodgings -of the University students were empty. Many -houses were shut up altogether, and these were broken -into and pillaged by the German soldiers.<a name="FNanchor_150_150" id="FNanchor_150_150"></a><a href="#Footnote_150_150" class="fnanchor">[150]</a> They pillaged -enormous quantities of wine, without interference -on the part of their officers. “The soldiers did not -scruple to drain in the street the contents of stolen -bottles, and drunken soldiers were common objects.”<a name="FNanchor_151_151" id="FNanchor_151_151"></a><a href="#Footnote_151_151" class="fnanchor">[151]</a> -There was also a great deal of wanton destruction—“furniture -destroyed, mirrors and picture-frames -smashed, carpets spoilt and so on.”<a name="FNanchor_152_152" id="FNanchor_152_152"></a><a href="#Footnote_152_152" class="fnanchor">[152]</a> The house of -Professor van Gehuchten, a scientist of international -eminence, was treated with especial malice. This is -testified by a number of people, including the Professor’s -son. “They destroyed, tore up and threw into -the street my father’s manuscripts and books (which -were very numerous), and completely wrecked his library -and its contents. They also destroyed the manuscript -of an important work of my late father’s which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span> -was in the hands of the printer.”<a name="FNanchor_153_153" id="FNanchor_153_153"></a><a href="#Footnote_153_153" class="fnanchor">[153]</a>—“This misdemeanour -made a scandal,” states another witness. “It was -brought to the knowledge of the German general, who -seemed much put out, but took no measures of protection.”<a name="FNanchor_154_154" id="FNanchor_154_154"></a><a href="#Footnote_154_154" class="fnanchor">[154]</a> -The pillage was even systematic. A servant, -left by an absent professor in charge of his house, -found on August 20th that the Germans “had five -motor-vans outside the premises. I saw them removing -from my master’s house wine, blankets, books, etc., -and placing them in the vans. They stripped the whole -place of everything of value, including the furniture.... -I saw them smashing glass and crockery and the -windows.”<a name="FNanchor_155_155" id="FNanchor_155_155"></a><a href="#Footnote_155_155" class="fnanchor">[155]</a> On August 20th there were already acts -of violence in the outskirts of the town. At Corbeek-Loo -a girl of sixteen was violated by six soldiers and -bayonetted in five places for offering resistance. Her -parents were kept off with rifles.<a name="FNanchor_156_156" id="FNanchor_156_156"></a><a href="#Footnote_156_156" class="fnanchor">[156]</a> By noon on August -20th the town itself “was like a stable. Streets, pavements, -public squares and trampled flower beds had -disappeared under a layer of manure.”<a name="FNanchor_157_157" id="FNanchor_157_157"></a><a href="#Footnote_157_157" class="fnanchor">[157]</a></p> - -<p>On August 20th the German military authorities -covered the walls with proclamations: “Atrocities -have been committed by (Belgian) franc-tireurs.”<a name="FNanchor_158_158" id="FNanchor_158_158"></a><a href="#Footnote_158_158" class="fnanchor">[158]</a>—“If<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span> -anything happens to the German troops, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">le total -sera responsable</i>”<a name="FNanchor_159_159" id="FNanchor_159_159"></a><a href="#Footnote_159_159" class="fnanchor">[159]</a> (an attempt to render in French -the Prussian doctrine of collective responsibility). -Doors must be left open at night. Windows fronting -the street must be lighted up. Inhabitants must be -within doors between 8.0 p.m. and 7.0 a.m. Most of -these placards were ready-made in German, French -and Russian. There were no placards in Flemish till -after the events of August 25th. Yet Flemish was the -only language spoken and understood by at least half -the population of Louvain.</p> - -<div id="Fig_92" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> -<img src="images/i_b_092fp.jpg" width="600" height="442" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p class="center">17. <span class="smcap">Malines: Cardinal Mercier’s State-Room as a Red Cross Hospital</span></p></div> -</div> - -<div id="Fig_93" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> -<img src="images/i_b_093fp.jpg" width="600" height="416" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p class="center">18. <span class="smcap">Malines: The Cardinal’s Throne-Room</span></p></div> -</div> - -<p>Hostages were also taken by the German authorities.<a name="FNanchor_160_160" id="FNanchor_160_160"></a><a href="#Footnote_160_160" class="fnanchor">[160]</a> -The Burgomaster, a City Councillor and a Senator -were confined under guard in the Hôtel-de-Ville on -the first day of occupation. From August 21st onwards -they were replaced successively by other notables, including -the Rector and Vice-Rector of the University. -On August 21st there was another German proclamation, -in which the inhabitants were called upon (for -the third time) to deliver up their arms.<a name="FNanchor_161_161" id="FNanchor_161_161"></a><a href="#Footnote_161_161" class="fnanchor">[161]</a> Requisitions -and acts of pillage by individual officers and -soldiers continued, and on the evening of August 24th -the Burgomaster was dragged to the Railway Station -and threatened with a revolver by a German officer, -who had arrived with 250 men by train and demanded<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span> -a hot meal and mattresses for them at once. Major -von Manteuffel, the Etappen-Kommandant in the city, -was called in and the Burgomaster was released, but -without reparation.<a name="FNanchor_162_162" id="FNanchor_162_162"></a><a href="#Footnote_162_162" class="fnanchor">[162]</a> On that day, too, the German -wounded were removed from Louvain<a name="FNanchor_163_163" id="FNanchor_163_163"></a><a href="#Footnote_163_163" class="fnanchor">[163]</a>—an ominous -precaution—and in the course of the following day -there were spoken warnings.<a name="FNanchor_164_164" id="FNanchor_164_164"></a><a href="#Footnote_164_164" class="fnanchor">[164]</a> On the morning of this -day, Tuesday, August 25th, Madame Roomans, a -notary’s wife, is said to have been warned by the German -officers billeted on her to leave the town. In the -afternoon, about 5.0 o’clock, another lady reported how -an officer, billeted on her and taking his leave, had -added: “I hope you will be spared, for now it is going -to begin.” At supper time, when the first shots were -fired and the alarm was sounded, officers billeted on -various households are said to have exclaimed “Poor -people!”—or to have wept.</p> - -<p>On the morning of August 25th there were few -German troops in Louvain. The greater part of those -that had entered the town since the 19th had passed on -to the front in the direction of Malines, and were now -engaged in resisting the Belgian sortie from Antwerp, -which was made this day. As the Belgian offensive -made progress, the sound of the cannon became louder -and louder in Louvain,<a name="FNanchor_165_165" id="FNanchor_165_165"></a><a href="#Footnote_165_165" class="fnanchor">[165]</a> and the German garrison grew<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span> -increasingly uneasy. Despatch riders from the front -kept arriving at the Kommandantur;<a name="FNanchor_166_166" id="FNanchor_166_166"></a><a href="#Footnote_166_166" class="fnanchor">[166]</a> at 4.0 o’clock -a general alarm was sounded;<a name="FNanchor_167_167" id="FNanchor_167_167"></a><a href="#Footnote_167_167" class="fnanchor">[167]</a> the troops in the town -assembled and marched out towards the north-western -suburbs;<a name="FNanchor_168_168" id="FNanchor_168_168"></a><a href="#Footnote_168_168" class="fnanchor">[168]</a> military waggons drove in from the north-west -in disorder, “their drivers grasping revolvers and -looking very much excited.”<a name="FNanchor_169_169" id="FNanchor_169_169"></a><a href="#Footnote_169_169" class="fnanchor">[169]</a> At the same time, reinforcements<a name="FNanchor_170_170" id="FNanchor_170_170"></a><a href="#Footnote_170_170" class="fnanchor">[170]</a> -began to detrain at the <em>Station</em>, which -stands at the eastern extremity of the town, and is connected -with the central <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Grand’ Place</i> and with the -University buildings by the broad, straight line of the -<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Rue de la Station</i>, flanked with the private houses of -the wealthier inhabitants. These fresh troops were billeted -hastily by their officers in the quarters nearest the -<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Station</i>.<a name="FNanchor_171_171" id="FNanchor_171_171"></a><a href="#Footnote_171_171" class="fnanchor">[171]</a> The cavalry were concentrated in the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Place -du Peuple</i>, a large square lying a short distance to the -left of the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Rue de la Station</i>, about half-way towards -the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Grand’ Place</i>.<a name="FNanchor_172_172" id="FNanchor_172_172"></a><a href="#Footnote_172_172" class="fnanchor">[172]</a> The square was already crowded -with the transport that had been sent back during the -day from the front.<a name="FNanchor_173_173" id="FNanchor_173_173"></a><a href="#Footnote_173_173" class="fnanchor">[173]</a> As the reinforcements kept on -detraining, and the quarters near the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Station</i> filled up, -the later arrivals went on to the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Grand’ Place</i> and the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span> -<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Hôtel-de-Ville</i>,<a name="FNanchor_174_174" id="FNanchor_174_174"></a><a href="#Footnote_174_174" class="fnanchor">[174]</a> which was the seat of the Kommandantur.</p> - -<p>During all this time the agitation increased. About -7.0 o’clock a company of Landsturm which had -marched out in the afternoon to the north-western outskirts -of the town, were ordered back by their battalion -commander to the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Place de la Station</i>—the extensive -square in front of the <em>station buildings</em>, out of which -the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Rue de la Station</i> leads into the middle of the -city.<a name="FNanchor_175_175" id="FNanchor_175_175"></a><a href="#Footnote_175_175" class="fnanchor">[175]</a> The military police pickets<a name="FNanchor_176_176" id="FNanchor_176_176"></a><a href="#Footnote_176_176" class="fnanchor">[176]</a> in the centre of -the city were on the alert. Between 7.0 and 7.30 the -alarm was sounded again,<a name="FNanchor_177_177" id="FNanchor_177_177"></a><a href="#Footnote_177_177" class="fnanchor">[177]</a> and the troops who had arrived -that afternoon assembled from their billets and -stood to arms.<a name="FNanchor_178_178" id="FNanchor_178_178"></a><a href="#Footnote_178_178" class="fnanchor">[178]</a> The tension among them was extreme. -They had been travelling hard all day; they had entered -the town at dusk; it was now dark, and they did -not know their way about the streets, nor from what -quarter to expect the enemy forces, which were supposed -to be on the point of making their appearance. -It was in these circumstances that, a few minutes past -eight o’clock, the shooting in Louvain broke out.</p> - -<p>All parties agree that it broke out in answer to signals. -A Belgian witness,<a name="FNanchor_179_179" id="FNanchor_179_179"></a><a href="#Footnote_179_179" class="fnanchor">[179]</a> -living near the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Tirlemont Gate</i>,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span> -saw a German military motor-car dash up from -the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Boulevard de Tirlemont</i>, make luminous signals -at the Gate, and then dash off again. A fusillade immediately -followed. The German troops bivouacked -in the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Place de la Station</i> saw two rockets, the first -green and the second red, rise in quick succession from -the centre of the town.<a name="FNanchor_180_180" id="FNanchor_180_180"></a><a href="#Footnote_180_180" class="fnanchor">[180]</a> They found themselves under -fire immediately afterwards. A similar rocket was seen -later in the night to rise above the conflagration.<a name="FNanchor_181_181" id="FNanchor_181_181"></a><a href="#Footnote_181_181" class="fnanchor">[181]</a> It -is natural to suppose that the rockets, as well as the -lights on the car, were German military signals of the -kind commonly used in European armies for signalling -in the dark. There had been two false alarms already -that afternoon and evening; there is nothing incredible -in a third. The German troops in the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Place de la -Station</i> assumed that the signals were of Belgian origin -(and therefore of civilian origin, as the Belgian troops -did not after all reach the town), because these signals -were followed by firing directed against themselves. -They could not believe that the shots were fired in -error by their own comrades, yet there is convincing -evidence that this was the case.</p> - -<p>It is certain that German troops fired on each other -in at least two places—in the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Rue de la Station</i> and in -the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Rue de Bruxelles</i>, which leads into the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Grand’ -Place</i> from the opposite direction.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span></p> - -<p>“We were at supper,” states a Belgian witness,<a name="FNanchor_182_182" id="FNanchor_182_182"></a><a href="#Footnote_182_182" class="fnanchor">[182]</a> -whose house was in the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Rue de la Station</i>, “when -about 8.15, shots were suddenly fired in the street by -German cavalry coming from the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Station</i>. The troops -who were bivouacked in the square replied, and an -automobile on its way to the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Station</i> had to stop -abruptly opposite my house and reverse, while its occupants -fired. Within a few seconds the din of revolver -and rifle shots had become terrific. The fusillade -was sustained, and spread (north-eastward) towards -the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Boulevard de Diest</i>. It became so furious -that there was even gun-fire. The encounter between -the German troops continued as far as the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Grand’ Place</i>, -where on at least two occasions there was machine-gun -fire. The fight lasted for from fifteen to twenty minutes -with desperation; it persisted an hour longer after -that, but with less violence.”</p> - -<div id="Fig_96" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> -<img src="images/i_b_096fp.jpg" width="600" height="443" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p class="center">19. <span class="smcap">Capelle-au-Bois</span></p></div> -</div> - -<div id="Fig_97" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> -<img src="images/i_b_097fp.jpg" width="600" height="477" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p class="center">20. <span class="smcap">Capelle-au-Bois</span></p></div> -</div> - -<p>“At the stroke of eight,” states another witness,<a name="FNanchor_183_183" id="FNanchor_183_183"></a><a href="#Footnote_183_183" class="fnanchor">[183]</a> -“shots were heard by us, coming from the direction of -the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Place du Peuple</i>, where the German cavalry was -concentrated. Part of the baggage-train, which was -stationed in the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Rue Léopold</i>, turned right about and -went off at a gallop towards the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Station</i>. I was at my -front door and heard the bullets whistling as they came -from the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Place du Peuple</i>. At this moment a sustained<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span> -fusillade broke out, and there was a succession of -cavalry-charges in the direction of the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Station</i>.”</p> - -<p>The stampede in the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Place du Peuple</i> is described by -a German officer<a name="FNanchor_184_184" id="FNanchor_184_184"></a><a href="#Footnote_184_184" class="fnanchor">[184]</a> who was present. “I heard the clock -strike in a tower.... Complete darkness already prevailed. -At the same moment I saw a green rocket go -up above the houses south-west of the square.... -Firing was directed on the German troops in the -square.... Whilst riding round the square, I was -shot from my horse on the north-eastern side. I distinctly -heard the rattling of machine-guns, and the bullets -flew in great numbers round about me.... After -I had fallen from my horse, I was run over by an -artillery transport waggon, the horses of which had -been frightened by the firing and stampeded....”</p> - -<p>The shots by which this officer was wounded evidently -came from German troops in the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Rue Léopold</i>, -where they were attacking the house of Professor Verhelst. -The Landsturm Company bivouacked in the -<em>Station Square</em> was already replying vigorously to what -it imagined to be the Belgian fire, coming from the -<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Rue Léopold</i> and the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Rue de la Station</i>.</p> - -<p>“I stood with my Company,” states the Company -Commander,<a name="FNanchor_185_185" id="FNanchor_185_185"></a><a href="#Footnote_185_185" class="fnanchor">[185]</a> “at about ten minutes to eight in the -<em>Station Square</em>. I had stood about five minutes, when -suddenly, quite unexpectedly, shots were fired at my<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span> -Company from the surrounding houses, from the windows, -and from the attics. Simultaneously I heard -lively firing from the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Rue de la Station</i>, as well as from -all the neighbouring streets.” (Precisely the district -in which the newly-arrived troops had taken up their -quarters.) “Shots were also fired from the windows -of my hotel—straight from my room” (which had -doubtless been occupied by some newly-arrived soldier -during the afternoon, while the witness was on duty at -the Malines Gate)....</p> - -<p>“We now knelt down and fired at the opposite -houses.... I sought cover with my Company in the -entrances of some houses. During the assault five men -of my Company were wounded. The fact that so few -were wounded is due to the fact that the inhabitants -were shooting too high....</p> - -<p>“About an hour later I was summoned to His Excellency -General von Boehn, who was standing near -by. His Excellency asked for an exact report, and, -after I had made it, he said to me: ‘Can you take an -oath concerning what you have just reported to me—in -particular, that the first shots were fired by the inhabitants -from the houses?’ I then answered: ‘Yes, -I can swear to that fact.’”</p> - -<p>But what evidence had the Lieutenant for the “fact” -to which he swore? There was no doubt about the -shots, but he gives no proof of the identity of those who<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span> -fired them, and another witness,<a name="FNanchor_186_186" id="FNanchor_186_186"></a><a href="#Footnote_186_186" class="fnanchor">[186]</a> who lived in a house -looking on to the <em>Station Square</em>, is equally positive -that the assailants, too, were German soldiers.</p> - -<p>“Just before eight,” he states, “we heard one shot -from a rifle, followed immediately after by two others, -and then a general fusillade began. I went at once -to my garden; the bullets were passing quite close to -me; I went back to the house and on to the balcony, -and there I saw the Germans, not fighting Belgians, -but fighting each other at a distance of 200 or 300 -yards. At 8.0 o’clock it begins to be dark, but I am -perfectly certain it was Germans fighting Germans. -The firing on both sides passed right in front of my -house, and from the other side of the railway. I was -low down on the balcony, quite flat, and watched it all. -They fought hard for about an hour. The officers -whistled and shouted out orders; there was terrible confusion -until each side found out they were fighting each -other, and then the firing ceased. About half an hour -after, on the other side of the railway, I heard a -machine-gun—I was told afterwards that the Germans -were killing civilians with it. It went on certainly for -at least five or six minutes, stopping now and then for -a few seconds....”</p> - -<p>This fighting near the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Station</i> seems to have been -the first and fiercest of all, but the panic spread like -wildfire through the city. It was spread by the horses<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span> -that stampeded in the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Place du Peuple</i> and elsewhere, -and galloped riderless in all directions—across the -<em>Station Square</em>,<a name="FNanchor_187_187" id="FNanchor_187_187"></a><a href="#Footnote_187_187" class="fnanchor">[187]</a> through the suburb of <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Corbeek-Loo</i>,<a name="FNanchor_188_188" id="FNanchor_188_188"></a><a href="#Footnote_188_188" class="fnanchor">[188]</a> -down the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Rue de la Station</i>,<a name="FNanchor_189_189" id="FNanchor_189_189"></a><a href="#Footnote_189_189" class="fnanchor">[189]</a> and up the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Rue de Tirlemont</i>,<a name="FNanchor_190_190" id="FNanchor_190_190"></a><a href="#Footnote_190_190" class="fnanchor">[190]</a> -the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Rue de Bruxelles</i>,<a name="FNanchor_191_191" id="FNanchor_191_191"></a><a href="#Footnote_191_191" class="fnanchor">[191]</a> and the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Rue de Malines</i>.<a name="FNanchor_192_192" id="FNanchor_192_192"></a><a href="#Footnote_192_192" class="fnanchor">[192]</a> -The troops infected by the panic either ran -amok or took to flight.</p> - -<p>“About 8.0 o’clock,” states a witness,<a name="FNanchor_193_193" id="FNanchor_193_193"></a><a href="#Footnote_193_193" class="fnanchor">[193]</a> “the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Rue -de la Station</i> was the scene of a stampede of horses and -baggage waggons, some of which were overturned. A -smart burst of rifle-fire occurred at this moment. This -came from the German police-guard in the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Rue de la -Station</i>, who, seeing troops arrive in disorder, thought -that it was the enemy. Another proof of their mistake -is that later during the same night a group of German -soldiers, under the command of an officer, got into a -shop belonging to the F.’s and in charge of their -nephew B., and told him, pointing their revolvers at -him, to hide them in the cellar. A few hours afterwards, -hearing troops passing, they compelled him to -go and see if it was the French or the Germans, and -when they learnt that it was the Germans, they called<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span> -out: ‘Then we are safe,’ and rejoined their compatriots.”</p> - -<p>These new troops hurrying into the town in the -midst of the uproar were infected by the panic in -their turn and flung themselves into the fighting. “On -August 25th,” states one of them in his diary,<a name="FNanchor_194_194" id="FNanchor_194_194"></a><a href="#Footnote_194_194" class="fnanchor">[194]</a> “we -hold ourselves on the alert at <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Grimde</i> (a sugar refinery); -here, too, everything is burnt and destroyed. -From <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Grimde</i> we continue our march upon Louvain; -here it is a picture of horror all round; corpses of our -men and horses; motor-cars blazing; the water poisoned; -we have scarcely reached the outskirts of the -town when the fusillade begins again more merrily -than ever; naturally we wheel about and sweep the -street; then the town is peppered by us thoroughly.”</p> - -<p>In the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Rue Léopold</i>, leading from the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Rue de la Station</i> -into the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Place du Peuple</i>, “at 8.0 o’clock exactly -a violent fusillade broke out.” The newly-arrived -troops, who had been under arms since the alarm at -7.0 o’clock, “took to flight as fast as their legs could -carry them. From our cellar,” states one of the householders -on whom they had been billeted,<a name="FNanchor_195_195" id="FNanchor_195_195"></a><a href="#Footnote_195_195" class="fnanchor">[195]</a> “we saw -them running until they must have been out of breath.”</p> - -<p>There was a single shot, followed by a fusillade and -machine-gun fire, in the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Rue des Joyeuses Entrées</i>.<a name="FNanchor_196_196" id="FNanchor_196_196"></a><a href="#Footnote_196_196" class="fnanchor">[196]</a><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span> -Waggons and motor-cars were flying out of the town -down the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Rue de Parc</i>, and soldiers on foot down the -<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Rue de Tirlemont</i>.<a name="FNanchor_197_197" id="FNanchor_197_197"></a><a href="#Footnote_197_197" class="fnanchor">[197]</a> In the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Rue des Flamands</i>, which -runs at right-angles between these two latter roads, “at -ten minutes past eight, a shot was fired quite close to -the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Institut Supérieur de Philosophie</i>” (now converted -into the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Hôpital St. Thomas</i>). “We had scarcely -taken note of it,” states one of the workers in the hospital,<a name="FNanchor_198_198" id="FNanchor_198_198"></a><a href="#Footnote_198_198" class="fnanchor">[198]</a> -“when other reports followed. In less than a -minute rifle-shots and machine-gun fire mingled in a -terrific din. Accompanying the crack of the firearms, -we heard the dull thud of galloping hoofs in the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Rue de -Tirlemont</i>.”</p> - -<p>Mgr. Deploige, President of the Institute and Director -of the Hospital, reports<a name="FNanchor_199_199" id="FNanchor_199_199"></a><a href="#Footnote_199_199" class="fnanchor">[199]</a> that “a lively fusillade -broke out suddenly at 8.0 o’clock (Belgian time), at -different points simultaneously—at the <em>Brussels Gate</em>, -at the <em>Tirlemont Gate</em>, in the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Rue de la Station</i>, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Rue -Léopold</i>, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Rue Marie-Thérèse</i>, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Rue des Joyeuses Entrées</i>, -<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Rue de Tirlemont</i>, etc.<a name="FNanchor_200_200" id="FNanchor_200_200"></a><a href="#Footnote_200_200" class="fnanchor">[200]</a> It was the German -troops firing with rifles and machine-guns. Some -houses were literally riddled with bullets, and a number -of civilians were killed in their homes.”</p> - -<p>Higher up the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Rue de Tirlemont</i>, in the direction of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span> -the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Grand’ Place</i>, there was a Belgian Infantry Barracks, -which had been turned into a hospital for slightly -incapacitated German soldiers. The patients were in -a state of nervous excitement already. “Every man,” -states one of them,<a name="FNanchor_201_201" id="FNanchor_201_201"></a><a href="#Footnote_201_201" class="fnanchor">[201]</a> “had his rifle by his side, also -ball-cartridge.”—“About 9.0 o’clock,” states another,<a name="FNanchor_202_202" id="FNanchor_202_202"></a><a href="#Footnote_202_202" class="fnanchor">[202]</a> -“we heard shots.... We had to fall in in the yard. -A sergeant-major distributed cartridges among us, -whereupon I marched out with about 20 men. In the -<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Rue de Tirlemont</i> a lively fire was directed against us -from guns of small bore.... We pushed our way into -a restaurant from which shots had come, and found in -the proprietor’s possession about 100 Browning cartridges. -He was arrested and shot.”—“We now,” continues -the former, “stormed all the houses out of which -shots were being fired.... Those who were found -with weapons were immediately shot or bayonetted.... -I myself, together with a comrade, bayonetted -one inhabitant who went for me with his knife....”</p> - -<p>But who would not defend himself with a knife when -attacked by an armed man breaking into his house? -The witness admits that only five civilians were armed -out of the twenty-five dragged out. Were these -“armed” with knives? Or if revolver bullets were -found in their houses, was it proved that they had not -delivered up their revolvers at the time when they had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span> -been ordered to do so by the municipal authorities and -the German Command? The witness does not claim -to have found the revolvers themselves as well as the -ammunition, though even if he had that was no proof -that his victims had been firing with them, or even that -they were theirs. The German Army uses “Brownings” -too, and at this stage of the panic many German -soldiers had broken into private houses and were firing -from the windows as points of vantage. Two German -soldiers broke into the house of Professor Verhelst (<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Rue -Léopold</i>, <em>16</em>), and fired into the street out of the second -storey window. Other Germans passing shouted: -“They have been shooting here,” and returned the fire.<a name="FNanchor_203_203" id="FNanchor_203_203"></a><a href="#Footnote_203_203" class="fnanchor">[203]</a> -Mgr. Ladeuze, Rector of Louvain University, was -looking from the window of his house adjoining the -garden of the <em>Chemical Institute, Rue de Namur</em>, and -saw two German soldiers hidden among the trees and -firing over the wall into the street.<a name="FNanchor_204_204" id="FNanchor_204_204"></a><a href="#Footnote_204_204" class="fnanchor">[204]</a> Moreover, there -is definite evidence of Germans firing on one another -by mistake in other quarters beside the neighbourhood -of the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Station</i>.</p> - -<p>“I myself know,” declares a Belgian witness,<a name="FNanchor_205_205" id="FNanchor_205_205"></a><a href="#Footnote_205_205" class="fnanchor">[205]</a> “that -the Germans fired on one another on August 25th. On -that day, at about 8.0 p.m., I was in the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Rue de -Bruxelles</i> at Louvain. I was hidden in a house. There<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span> -was one party of German soldiers at one end of the -street firing on another party at the other end. I could -see that this happened myself. On the next day I -spoke to a German soldier called Hermann Otto—he -was a private in a Bavarian regiment. He told me that -he himself was in the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Rue de Bruxelles</i> the evening -before, and that the two parties firing on one another -were Bavarians and Poles, he being among the Bavarians....”</p> - -<p>The Poles openly blamed the Bavarians for the error. -A wounded Polish Catholic, who was brought in during -the night to the Dominican Monastery in the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Rue -Juste-Lipse</i>, told the monks that “he had been wounded -by a German bullet in an exchange of shots between -two groups of German soldiers.”<a name="FNanchor_206_206" id="FNanchor_206_206"></a><a href="#Footnote_206_206" class="fnanchor">[206]</a> On the Thursday -following, a wounded Polish soldier was lying in the -hospital of the Sisters of Mary at Wesemael, and, seeing -German troops patrolling the road between Wesemael -and Louvain, exclaimed to one of the nuns: -“These drunken pigs fired on us.”<a name="FNanchor_207_207" id="FNanchor_207_207"></a><a href="#Footnote_207_207" class="fnanchor">[207]</a></p> - -<p>The casualties inflicted by the Germans on each -other do not, however, appear to have been heavy. -One German witness<a name="FNanchor_208_208" id="FNanchor_208_208"></a><a href="#Footnote_208_208" class="fnanchor">[208]</a> saw “two dead transport horses -and several dead soldiers” lying in the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Place du Peuple</i>. -Another<a name="FNanchor_209_209" id="FNanchor_209_209"></a><a href="#Footnote_209_209" class="fnanchor">[209]</a> saw a soldier lying near the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span> <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Juste-Lipse -Monument</i> who had been killed by a shot through the -mouth. But most express astonishment at the lightness -of the losses caused by so heavy a fire. “It is -really a miracle,” said a German military doctor to a -Belgian Professor in the course of the night,<a name="FNanchor_210_210" id="FNanchor_210_210"></a><a href="#Footnote_210_210" class="fnanchor">[210]</a> “that not -one soldier has been wounded by this violent fusillade.”—“A -murderous fire,” states the surgeon of the Second -Neuss Landsturm Battalion,<a name="FNanchor_211_211" id="FNanchor_211_211"></a><a href="#Footnote_211_211" class="fnanchor">[211]</a> “was directed against -us from <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Rue de la Station</i>, <em>No. 120</em>. The fact that -we or some of us were not killed I can merely explain -by the fact that we were going along the same side of -the street from which the shots were fired, and that it -was night.”—“A tremendous fire,” states Major von -Manteuffel, the Etappen-Kommandant,<a name="FNanchor_212_212" id="FNanchor_212_212"></a><a href="#Footnote_212_212" class="fnanchor">[212]</a> “was opened -from the houses surrounding the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Grand’ Place</i>, which -was now filled with artillery (one battery), and with -transport columns, motor-lorries and tanks of benzine.... -I believe there were three men wounded, chiefly -in the legs.” General von Boehn, commanding the -Ninth Reserve Army Corps, estimates<a name="FNanchor_213_213" id="FNanchor_213_213"></a><a href="#Footnote_213_213" class="fnanchor">[213]</a> that the total -loss, in killed, wounded, and missing, of his General -Command Staff, which was stationed in the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Place du -Peuple</i>, “amounts to 5 officers, 2 officials, 23 men, and -95 horses.”—“I note that the inhabitants fired far too<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span> -high,” states a N.C.O. of the Landsturm Company -drawn up in the <em>Station Square</em>.<a name="FNanchor_214_214" id="FNanchor_214_214"></a><a href="#Footnote_214_214" class="fnanchor">[214]</a> “That was our good -luck, because otherwise, considering the fearful fire -which was directed against us from all the houses in -the <em>Station Square</em>, most German officers and soldiers -would have been killed or seriously wounded.”</p> - -<p>Thus the German troops in Louvain seem not merely -to have fired on one another, but to have exaggerated -hysterically the amount of danger each incurred from -the other’s mistake. And the legend grew with time. -The deposition last quoted was taken down on September -17th, 1914, less than a month after the event. -But when examined again, on November 19th, the same -witness deposed that “Many of us were wounded, and -some of us even received mortal wounds.... I fully -maintain my evidence of September 17th,” he naïvely -adds in conclusion.</p> - -<p>On the night of August 25th these German soldiers -were distraught beyond all restraints of reason and -justice. They blindly assumed that it was the civilians, -and not their comrades, who had fired, and when they -discovered their error they accused the civilians, deliberately, -to save their own reputation.</p> - -<p>The Director and the Chief Surgeon of the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Hôpital -St.-Thomas</i> went out into the street after the first fusillade -was over. Three soldiers with fixed bayonets -rushed at them shouting: “You fired! Die!”—and it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span> -was only with difficulty that they persuaded them to -spare their lives. When the firing began again a sergeant -broke into the hospital shouting: “Who fired -here?”—and placed the hospital staff under guard.<a name="FNanchor_215_215" id="FNanchor_215_215"></a><a href="#Footnote_215_215" class="fnanchor">[215]</a> -This was the effect of panic, but there were cases in -which the firing was imputed to civilians, and punishment -meted out for it, by means of criminal trickery. -It was realised that the material evidence would be -damning to the German Army. The empty cartridge -cases were all German which were picked up in the -streets,<a name="FNanchor_216_216" id="FNanchor_216_216"></a><a href="#Footnote_216_216" class="fnanchor">[216]</a> and it is stated that every bullet extracted -from the bodies of wounded German soldiers was found -to be of German origin.<a name="FNanchor_217_217" id="FNanchor_217_217"></a><a href="#Footnote_217_217" class="fnanchor">[217]</a> The Germans, convicted by -these proofs, shrank from no fraud which might enable -them to transfer the guilt on to the heads of Belgian -victims.</p> - -<p>“The Germans took the horses out of a Belgian Red -Cross car,” states a Belgian witness<a name="FNanchor_218_218" id="FNanchor_218_218"></a><a href="#Footnote_218_218" class="fnanchor">[218]</a> living in the -<em>Station Square</em>, “frightened them so that they ran -down the street, and then shot three of them. Two -fell quite close to my house. They then took a Belgian -artillery helmet and put it on the ground, so as to prepare -a <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">mise-en-scène</i> to pretend that the Belgians had -been fighting in the street.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span></p> - -<p>At a late hour of the night a detachment of German -soldiers was passing one of the professors’ houses, when -a shot rang out, followed by a volley from the soldiers -through the windows of the house. The soldiers then -broke in and accused the inmates of having fired the -first shot. They were mad with fury, and the professor -and his family barely escaped with their lives. A sergeant -pointed to his boot, with the implication that -the shot had struck him there; but a witness in another -house actually saw this sergeant fire the original shot -himself, and make the same gesture after it to incite -his comrades.<a name="FNanchor_219_219" id="FNanchor_219_219"></a><a href="#Footnote_219_219" class="fnanchor">[219]</a></p> - -<p>A staff-surgeon billeted on a curé in the suburb of -<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Blauwput</i> pretended he had been wounded by civilians -when he had really fallen from a wall. On the morning -of the 26th the officer in local command arrested -fifty-seven men at <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Blauwput</i>, this curé included, in -order to decimate them in reprisal for wounds which -the surgeon and two other soldiers had received. The -curé was exempted by the lot, when the surgeon came -up with a handful of revolver-cartridges which he professed -to have discovered in the curé’s house. The -officer answered: “Go away. I have searched this -house myself,” and the surgeon slunk off. The curé -was not added to the victims, but every tenth man was -shot all the same.<a name="FNanchor_220_220" id="FNanchor_220_220"></a><a href="#Footnote_220_220" class="fnanchor">[220]</a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span></p> - -<p>That “the civilians had fired” was already an official -dogma with the German military authorities in Louvain. -Mgr. Coenraets, Vice-Rector of the University, -was serving that day as a hostage at the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Hôtel-de-Ville</i>. -A Dominican monk, Father Parijs, was there at the -moment the firing broke out, in quest of a pass for -remaining out-of-doors at night on ambulance service. -He was now retained as well, and Alderman Schmit -was fetched from his house. Von Boehn, the General -Commanding the Ninth Reserve Corps, harangued -these hostages on his arrival from the Malines front, -and von Manteuffel, the Etappen-Kommandant, then -conducted them, with a guard of soldiers, round the -town. Baron Orban de Xivry was dragged out of his -house to join them on the way. The procession halted -at intervals in the streets, and the four hostages were -compelled to proclaim to their fellow-citizens, in Flemish -and in French, that, unless the firing ceased, the -hostages themselves would be shot, the town would -have to pay an indemnity of 20,000,000 francs, the -houses from which shots were fired would be burnt, and -artillery-fire would be directed upon Louvain as a -whole.<a name="FNanchor_221_221" id="FNanchor_221_221"></a><a href="#Footnote_221_221" class="fnanchor">[221]</a></p> - -<p>But “reprisals” against the civil population had already -begun. The firing from German soldiers in the -houses upon German soldiers in the street was answered -by a general assault of the latter upon all houses within<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span> -their reach. “They broke the house-doors,” states a -Belgian woman,<a name="FNanchor_222_222" id="FNanchor_222_222"></a><a href="#Footnote_222_222" class="fnanchor">[222]</a> “with the butt-ends of their rifles.... -They shot through the gratings of the cellars.”—“In -the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Hôtel-de-Ville</i>,” states von Manteuffel,<a name="FNanchor_223_223" id="FNanchor_223_223"></a><a href="#Footnote_223_223" class="fnanchor">[223]</a> “I -saw the Company stationed there on the ground floor, -standing at the windows and answering the fire of the -inhabitants. In front of the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Hôtel-de-Ville</i>, on the -entrance steps, I also saw soldiers firing in reply to the -inhabitants’ fire in the direction of their houses.”—“Personally -I was under the distinct impression,” states -a staff officer,<a name="FNanchor_224_224" id="FNanchor_224_224"></a><a href="#Footnote_224_224" class="fnanchor">[224]</a> “that we were fired at from the Hôtel -Maria Theresa with machine-guns.” (This is quite -probable, and merely proves that those who fired were -German soldiers.) “The fire from machine-guns lasted -from four to five minutes, and was immediately answered -by our troops, who finally stormed the house -and set it on fire.”—“The order was passed up from -the rear that we should fire into the houses,” states an -infantryman who had just detrained and was marching -with his unit into the town.<a name="FNanchor_225_225" id="FNanchor_225_225"></a><a href="#Footnote_225_225" class="fnanchor">[225]</a> “Thereupon we shot -into the house-fronts on either side of us. To what -extent the fire was answered I cannot say, the noise -and confusion were too great.”—“We now dispersed -towards both sides,” states a lance-corporal in the same<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span> -battalion,<a name="FNanchor_226_226" id="FNanchor_226_226"></a><a href="#Footnote_226_226" class="fnanchor">[226]</a> “and fired into the upper windows.... -How long the firing lasted I cannot say.... We now -began shooting into the ground-floor windows too, as -well as tearing down a certain number of the shutters. I -made my way into the house from which the shot had -come, with a few others who had forced open the door. -We could find no one in the house. In the room from -which the shot had come there was, however, a petroleum -lamp, lying overturned on the table and still -smouldering....”</p> - -<div id="Fig_112" class="figcenter" style="width: 493px;"> -<img src="images/i_b_112fp.jpg" width="493" height="650" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p class="center">21. <span class="smcap">Capelle-au-Bois: The Church</span></p></div> -</div> - -<div id="Fig_113" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> -<img src="images/i_b_113fp.jpg" width="600" height="393" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p class="center">22. <span class="smcap">Louvain: Near the Church of St. Pierre</span></p></div> -</div> - -<p>These assaults on houses passed over inevitably into -wholesale incendiarism. “The German troops,” as the -Editors of the German White Book remark in their -summarising report on the events at Louvain, “had to -resort to energetic counter-measures. In accordance -with the threats, the inhabitants who had taken part in -the attack were shot, and the houses from which shots -had been fired were set on fire. The spreading of the -fire to other houses also and the destruction of some -streets could not be avoided. In this way the Cathedral” -(<i lang="la" xml:lang="la">i. e.</i>, the Collegiate Church of St. Pierre) “also -caught fire....”</p> - -<p>There is a map in the German White Book which -shows the quarters burnt down. The incendiarism -started in the <em>Station Square</em>, and spread along the -<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Boulevard de Tirlemont</i> as far as the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Tirlemont Gate</i>. -It was renewed across the railway and devastated the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span> -suburbs to the east. Then it was extended up the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Rue -de la Station</i> into the heart of the town, and here the -<em>Church of St. Pierre</em> was destroyed, and the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">University -Halles</i> with the priceless <em>University Library</em>—not by -mischance, as the German Report alleges, but by the -deliberate work of German troops, employing the same -incendiary apparatus as had been used already at Visé, -Liége and elsewhere.<a name="FNanchor_227_227" id="FNanchor_227_227"></a><a href="#Footnote_227_227" class="fnanchor">[227]</a></p> - -<p>The burning was directed by a German officer from -the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Vieux Marché</i>, a large open space near the centre -of the town, and by another group of officers stationed -in the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Place du Peuple</i>.<a name="FNanchor_228_228" id="FNanchor_228_228"></a><a href="#Footnote_228_228" class="fnanchor">[228]</a> The burning here is described -by a German officer<a name="FNanchor_229_229" id="FNanchor_229_229"></a><a href="#Footnote_229_229" class="fnanchor">[229]</a> (whose evidence on other -points has been quoted above). “The Company,” he -states, “continued to fire into the houses. The fire of -the inhabitants (<i lang="la" xml:lang="la">sic</i>) gradually died down. Thereupon -the German soldiers broke in the doors of the houses -and set the houses on fire, flinging burning petroleum -lamps into the houses or striking off the gas-taps, setting -light to the gas which rushed out and throwing -table-cloths and curtains into the flames. Here and -there benzine was also employed as a means of ignition. -The order to set fire to the houses was given out<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span> -by Colonel von Stubenrauch, whose voice I distinguished....”</p> - -<p>In the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Rue de la Station</i> the Germans set the houses -on fire with incendiary bombs. This was seen by a -Belgian witness,<a name="FNanchor_230_230" id="FNanchor_230_230"></a><a href="#Footnote_230_230" class="fnanchor">[230]</a> and is confirmed by the German officer -just cited, who, in the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Place du Peuple</i>, “heard -repeatedly the detonation of what appeared to be -heavy guns” round about him. “I supposed,” he proceeds, -“that artillery was firing; but since there was -none present, there is only one explanation for this—that -the inhabitants (<i lang="la" xml:lang="la">sic</i>) also threw hand-grenades.”</p> - -<p>In the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Rue de Manège</i><a name="FNanchor_231_231" id="FNanchor_231_231"></a><a href="#Footnote_231_231" class="fnanchor">[231]</a> another Belgian witness -saw a soldier pouring inflammable liquid over a house -from a bucket, and this though a German military surgeon, -present on the spot, admitted that in that house -there had been nobody firing. Soldiers are also stated -to have been seen<a name="FNanchor_232_232" id="FNanchor_232_232"></a><a href="#Footnote_232_232" class="fnanchor">[232]</a> with a complete incendiary equipment -(syringe, hatchet, etc.), and with “Gott mit Uns” -and “Company of Incendiaries” blazoned on their -belts. The Germans deny that the <em>Church of St. Pierre</em> -was deliberately burnt, and allege that the fire spread -to it from private houses;<a name="FNanchor_233_233" id="FNanchor_233_233"></a><a href="#Footnote_233_233" class="fnanchor">[233]</a> but a Dutch witness<a name="FNanchor_234_234" id="FNanchor_234_234"></a><a href="#Footnote_234_234" class="fnanchor">[234]</a> saw -it burning while the adjoining houses were still intact. -There is less evidence for the deliberate burning of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span> -<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">University Halles</i>, containing the <em>Library</em>, but it is -significant that the building was completely consumed -in one night (a result hardly possible without artificial -means), and at 11.0 p.m., in the middle of the burning, -an officer answered a Belgian monk, who protested, -that it was “By Order.”<a name="FNanchor_235_235" id="FNanchor_235_235"></a><a href="#Footnote_235_235" class="fnanchor">[235]</a> The manuscripts and early -printed books in the <em>Library</em> were one of the treasures -of Europe. The whole collection of 250,000 volumes -was the intellectual capital of the University, without -which it could not carry on its work. Every volume -and manuscript was destroyed. The Germans pride -themselves on saving the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Hôtel-de-Ville</i>, but they saved -it because it was the seat of the German Kommandantur, -and this only suggests that, had they desired, -they could have prevented the destruction of the other -buildings as well.</p> - -<p>As the houses took fire the inhabitants met their fate. -Some were asphyxiated in the cellars where they had -taken refuge from the shooting, or were burnt alive as -they attempted to escape from their homes.<a name="FNanchor_236_236" id="FNanchor_236_236"></a><a href="#Footnote_236_236" class="fnanchor">[236]</a> Others -were shot down by the German troops as they ran out -into the street,<a name="FNanchor_237_237" id="FNanchor_237_237"></a><a href="#Footnote_237_237" class="fnanchor">[237]</a> or while they were fighting the flames.<a name="FNanchor_238_238" id="FNanchor_238_238"></a><a href="#Footnote_238_238" class="fnanchor">[238]</a> -“The franc-tireurs,” as they are called by the German -officer in the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Place du Peuple</i>,<a name="FNanchor_239_239" id="FNanchor_239_239"></a><a href="#Footnote_239_239" class="fnanchor">[239]</a> “were without exception<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span> -evil-looking figures, such as I have never seen elsewhere -in all my life. They were shot down by the -German posts stationed below....”</p> - -<div id="Fig_116" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> -<img src="images/i_b_116fp.jpg" width="600" height="400" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p class="center">23. <span class="smcap">Louvain: The Church of St. Pierre</span></p></div> -</div> - -<div id="Fig_117" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> -<img src="images/i_b_117fp.jpg" width="600" height="472" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p class="center">24. <span class="smcap">Louvain: The Church of St. Pierre Across the Ruins</span></p></div> -</div> - -<p>Others, again, tried to save themselves by climbing -garden walls.<a name="FNanchor_240_240" id="FNanchor_240_240"></a><a href="#Footnote_240_240" class="fnanchor">[240]</a> “I, my mother and my servants,” -states one of these,<a name="FNanchor_241_241" id="FNanchor_241_241"></a><a href="#Footnote_241_241" class="fnanchor">[241]</a> “took refuge at A.’s, whose cellars -are vaulted and therefore afforded us a better protection -than mine. A little later we withdrew to A.’s -stables, where about 30 people, who had got there by -climbing the garden walls, were to be found. Some of -these poor wretches had had to climb 20 walls. A -ring came at the bell. We opened the door. Several -civilians flung themselves under the porch. The Germans -were firing upon them from the street.”</p> - -<p>“When we were crossing a particularly high wall,” -states another victim,<a name="FNanchor_242_242" id="FNanchor_242_242"></a><a href="#Footnote_242_242" class="fnanchor">[242]</a> “my wife was on the top of -the wall and I was helping her to get down, when a -party of 15 Germans came up with rifles and revolvers. -They told us to come down. My wife did not follow -as quickly as they wished. One of them made a lunge -at her with his bayonet. I seized the blade of the -bayonet and stopped the lunge. The German soldier -then tried to stab me in the face with his bayonet....</p> - -<p>“They kept hitting us with the butt-ends of their -rifles—the women and children as well as the men.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span> -They struck us on the elbows because they said our -arms were not raised high enough....</p> - -<p>“We were driven in this way through a burning -house to the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Place de la Station</i>. There were a number -of prisoners already there. In front of the station -entrance there were the corpses of three civilians killed -by rifle fire. The women and the children were separated. -The women were put on one side and the men -on the other. One of the German soldiers pushed my -wife with the butt-end of his rifle, so that she was -compelled to walk on the three corpses. Her shoes -were full of blood....</p> - -<p>“Other prisoners were being continually brought in. -I saw one prisoner with a bayonet-wound behind his -ear. A boy of fifteen had a bayonet-wound in his -throat in front.... The priests were treated more -brutally than the rest. I saw one belaboured with the -butt-ends of rifles. Some German soldiers came up to -me sniggering, and said that all the women were going -to be raped.... They explained themselves by gestures.... -The streets were full of empty wine bottles....</p> - -<p>“An officer told me that he was merely executing -orders, and that he himself would be shot if he did not -execute them....”</p> - -<p>The battue of civilians through the streets was the -final horror of that night. The massacre began with -the murder of M. David-Fischbach. He was a man of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span> -property, a benefactor of the University and the town. -Since the outbreak of war he had given 10,000 francs -to the Red Cross. Since the German occupation he -had entertained German officers in his house, which -stood in the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Rue de la Station</i> opposite the <em>Statue of -Juste-Lipse</em>, and about 9.0 o’clock that evening he had -gone to bed.</p> - -<p>“Close to the <em>Monument Square</em>,” states Dr. Berghausen, -the German military surgeon who was responsible -for M. David-Fischbach’s death,<a name="FNanchor_243_243" id="FNanchor_243_243"></a><a href="#Footnote_243_243" class="fnanchor">[243]</a> “I saw a German -soldier lying dead on the ground.... His comrades -told me that the shot had been fired from the -corner house belonging to David-Fischbach. Thereupon -I myself, with my servant, broke in the door of -the house and met first the owner of the house, old -David-Fischbach. I challenged him concerning the -soldier who had been murdered.... Old David-Fischbach -declared he knew nothing about it. Thereupon -his son, young Fischbach, came downstairs from -the first floor, and from the porter’s lodge appeared an -old servant. I immediately took father, son, and servant -with me into the street. At that moment a -tumult arose in the street, because a fearful fusillade -had opened from a few houses on the same side of the -street against the soldiers standing by the Monument -and against myself. In the darkness I then lost sight -of David-Fischbach, with his son and servant....”</p> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span></p> -<p>The soldiers set the old man with his back against -the statue. Standing with his arms raised, he had to -watch his house set on fire. Then he was bayonetted -and finally shot to death. His son was shot, too. His -house was burnt to the ground, and a servant asphyxiated -in the cellar.<a name="FNanchor_244_244" id="FNanchor_244_244"></a><a href="#Footnote_244_244" class="fnanchor">[244]</a></p> - -<p>“Later,” adds Dr. Berghausen, “I met Major von -Manteuffel with the hostages, and all four or five of -us saw the dead soldier lying in front of the monument -and, a few steps further on, old David-Fischbach. -I assumed that the comrades of the soldier who had -been killed ... had at once inflicted punishment on -the owner of the house....”</p> - -<p>The corpse was also seen by a professor’s wife who -made her way to the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Hôpital St.-Thomas</i>—the old -man’s white beard was stained with blood.<a name="FNanchor_245_245" id="FNanchor_245_245"></a><a href="#Footnote_245_245" class="fnanchor">[245]</a></p> - -<p>The massacre spread. Six workmen returning from -their work were shot down from behind.<a name="FNanchor_246_246" id="FNanchor_246_246"></a><a href="#Footnote_246_246" class="fnanchor">[246]</a> A woman -was shot as she was beating for admittance on a door.<a name="FNanchor_247_247" id="FNanchor_247_247"></a><a href="#Footnote_247_247" class="fnanchor">[247]</a> -A man had his hands tied behind his back, and was -shot as he ran down the street.<a name="FNanchor_248_248" id="FNanchor_248_248"></a><a href="#Footnote_248_248" class="fnanchor">[248]</a> Another witness saw -20 men shot.<a name="FNanchor_249_249" id="FNanchor_249_249"></a><a href="#Footnote_249_249" class="fnanchor">[249]</a> One saw 19 corpses,<a name="FNanchor_250_250" id="FNanchor_250_250"></a><a href="#Footnote_250_250" class="fnanchor">[250]</a> and corpses -were also seen with their hands tied behind their backs,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span> -like the victim mentioned above.<a name="FNanchor_251_251" id="FNanchor_251_251"></a><a href="#Footnote_251_251" class="fnanchor">[251]</a> There was the body -of a woman cut in two, with a child still alive beside -her.<a name="FNanchor_252_252" id="FNanchor_252_252"></a><a href="#Footnote_252_252" class="fnanchor">[252]</a> Other children had been murdered, and were -lying dead.<a name="FNanchor_253_253" id="FNanchor_253_253"></a><a href="#Footnote_253_253" class="fnanchor">[253]</a> There was the body of another murdered -woman, and a girl of fourteen who had been -wounded and was being carried to hospital. A German -soldier beckoned a Dutch witness into a shop,<a name="FNanchor_254_254" id="FNanchor_254_254"></a><a href="#Footnote_254_254" class="fnanchor">[254]</a> -and showed him the shop-keeper’s body in the back-room, -in a night-shirt, with a bullet-wound through -the head.</p> - -<p>These were the “evil-looking franc-tireurs” whom -the German soldiers shot down at sight. Inhabitants -of Louvain dragged as prisoners through the -streets<a name="FNanchor_255_255" id="FNanchor_255_255"></a><a href="#Footnote_255_255" class="fnanchor">[255]</a> recognised the corpses of people they -knew. Here a bootmaker lay,<a name="FNanchor_256_256" id="FNanchor_256_256"></a><a href="#Footnote_256_256" class="fnanchor">[256]</a> here a hairdresser,<a name="FNanchor_256_256a" id="FNanchor_256_256a"></a><a href="#Footnote_256_256" class="fnanchor">[256]</a> -here a professor. The corpse of Professor -Lenertz was lying in front of his house in -the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Boulevard de Tirlemont</i>. It was recognised by Dr. -Noyons, one of his colleagues (though a Dutchman by -nationality), who was serving in the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Hôpital St.-Thomas</i>, -and so escaped himself.<a name="FNanchor_257_257" id="FNanchor_257_257"></a><a href="#Footnote_257_257" class="fnanchor">[257]</a> “On the 27th,” -states a Belgian lady,<a name="FNanchor_258_258" id="FNanchor_258_258"></a><a href="#Footnote_258_258" class="fnanchor">[258]</a> “M. Lenertz’ body was still<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span> -lying on the Boulevard. When his wife and children -were evicted by the Germans and came out of their -house, members of the family had to stand in front of -the body to hide it from Madame Lenertz’ sight.”</p> - -<p>The dead were lying in every quarter of the town. -In the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Boulevard de Tirlemont</i> there were six or seven -more.<a name="FNanchor_259_259" id="FNanchor_259_259"></a><a href="#Footnote_259_259" class="fnanchor">[259]</a> There was one at the end of the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Rue du -Manège</i>.<a name="FNanchor_260_260" id="FNanchor_260_260"></a><a href="#Footnote_260_260" class="fnanchor">[260]</a> But the greatest number were in the <em>Station -Square</em>, where they were seen by all the civilian prisoners -herded thither this night and the following day.<a name="FNanchor_261_261" id="FNanchor_261_261"></a><a href="#Footnote_261_261" class="fnanchor">[261]</a> -Their murder is described by a German sergeant-major<a name="FNanchor_262_262" id="FNanchor_262_262"></a><a href="#Footnote_262_262" class="fnanchor">[262]</a> -who was fighting in the neighbourhood of the <em>Station</em>. -“Various civilians,” he remarks, “were led off by my -men, and after judgment had been given against them -by the Commandant, they were shot in the <em>Square</em> in -front of the <em>Station</em>. In accordance with orders, I -myself helped to set fire to various houses, after having -in every case previously convinced myself that no -one was left in them. Towards midnight the work -was done, and the Company returned to the station -buildings, before which were lying shot about 15 inhabitants -of the town.”</p> - -<p>The slaughter itself increased the thirst for blood. -A Dutch witness<a name="FNanchor_263_263" id="FNanchor_263_263"></a><a href="#Footnote_263_263" class="fnanchor">[263]</a> met a German column marching in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span> -from <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Aerschot</i>. “The soldiers were beside themselves -with rage at the sight of the corpses, and cried: -‘Schweinhunde! Schweinhunde!’ They regarded me -with threatening eyes. I passed on my way....”</p> - -<p>The soldiers in their frenzy respected no one. The -Hostel for Spanish students in the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Rue de la Station</i> -was burnt down, though it was protected by the Spanish -flag. Father Catala, the Superior of the Hostel and -formerly Vice-Consul of Spain, barely escaped with -his life. There was no mercy either for the old or the -sick. A retired barrister, bedridden with paralysis, had -his house burnt over his head, and was brought to the -<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Hôpital St.-Thomas</i> to die. Another old man, more -than eighty years old and in his last illness, was cast -out by the soldiers into the street, and died in the -<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Hôpital St.-Thomas</i> next day.<a name="FNanchor_264_264" id="FNanchor_264_264"></a><a href="#Footnote_264_264" class="fnanchor">[264]</a> An aged concierge -was cast alive into the blazing ruins of the house it -was his duty to guard.<a name="FNanchor_265_265" id="FNanchor_265_265"></a><a href="#Footnote_265_265" class="fnanchor">[265]</a> So it went on till dawn, when -the havoc was completed by salvoes of artillery. “At -four o’clock in the morning,” states an officer of the -Ninth German Reserve Corps Staff,<a name="FNanchor_266_266" id="FNanchor_266_266"></a><a href="#Footnote_266_266" class="fnanchor">[266]</a> “the Army Corps -moved out to battle. We did not enter the main -streets, but advanced along an avenue.... As the -road carrying our lines of communication was continuously -fired on, the order was given to clear the town by<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span> -force. Two guns were sent with 150 shells. The two -guns, firing from the <em>Railway Station</em>, swept the streets -with shells. Thus at least the quarter surrounding the -<em>Railway Station</em> was secured, and this made it possible -to conduct the supply-columns through the town....”</p> - -<p>It was now the morning of August 26th. At dawn -Mgr. Coenraets and Father Parijs, the hostages of the -preceding night, were placed under escort and marched -round the City once more. If the firing continued the -hostages were to be shot. They had to proclaim this -themselves to the inhabitants from point to point of -the town, and they were kept at this task till far on -in the day.<a name="FNanchor_267_267" id="FNanchor_267_267"></a><a href="#Footnote_267_267" class="fnanchor">[267]</a> The inhabitants, meanwhile, were paying -the penalty for the shots which not they but the -Germans had already fired.</p> - -<p>In one street after another the people were dragged -from their houses, and those not slaughtered out of -hand were driven by the soldiers to the <em>Station Square</em>. -“I only had slippers on,” states one victim,<a name="FNanchor_268_268" id="FNanchor_268_268"></a><a href="#Footnote_268_268" class="fnanchor">[268]</a> “and no -hat or waistcoat. On the way to the <em>Station Square</em>, -soldiers kicked me and hit me with the butt-ends of -their rifles, and shouted: ‘Oh, you swine! Another -who shot at us! You swine!’ My hands were tied -behind my back with a cord, and when I cried: ‘Oh, -God, you are hurting me,’ a soldier spat on me.”—“We -had to go in front of the soldiers,” adds this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span> -witness’s wife,<a name="FNanchor_269_269" id="FNanchor_269_269"></a><a href="#Footnote_269_269" class="fnanchor">[269]</a> “holding our hands above our heads. -All the ladies who lived in the Boulevard—invalids -or not—were taken prisoners. One of them, an old -lady of 85, who could scarcely walk, was dragged from -her cellar with her maid.”</p> - -<div id="Fig_124" class="figcenter" style="width: 446px;"> -<img src="images/i_b_124fp.jpg" width="446" height="650" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p class="center">25. <span class="smcap">Louvain: The Church of St. Pierre—Interior</span></p></div> -</div> - -<div id="Fig_125" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> -<img src="images/i_b_125fp.jpg" width="600" height="386" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p class="center">26. <span class="smcap">Louvain: Station Square</span></p></div> -</div> - -<p>When they reached the <em>Station Square</em> the men were -herded to one side, the women and children to the -other. It was done by an officer with a loaded revolver.<a name="FNanchor_270_270" id="FNanchor_270_270"></a><a href="#Footnote_270_270" class="fnanchor">[270]</a> -“We were separated from our families,” states -one of the men;<a name="FNanchor_271_271" id="FNanchor_271_271"></a><a href="#Footnote_271_271" class="fnanchor">[271]</a> “we were knocked about and blows -were rained on us from rifle butts; the women and -children and the men were isolated from one another....”</p> - -<p>The men’s pockets were rifled. Purses, keys, penknives -and so on were taken from them.<a name="FNanchor_272_272" id="FNanchor_272_272"></a><a href="#Footnote_272_272" class="fnanchor">[272]</a> One gentleman’s -servant had 7,805 francs taken from his bag, -and was given a receipt for 7,000 francs in exchange.<a name="FNanchor_273_273" id="FNanchor_273_273"></a><a href="#Footnote_273_273" class="fnanchor">[273]</a> -This was the preliminary to a “trial,” conducted by -Captain Albrecht,<a name="FNanchor_274_274" id="FNanchor_274_274"></a><a href="#Footnote_274_274" class="fnanchor">[274]</a> a staff officer of the Ninth Reserve -Corps. “The soldiers,” states a German tradesman -who acted as Captain Albrecht’s interpreter,<a name="FNanchor_275_275" id="FNanchor_275_275"></a><a href="#Footnote_275_275" class="fnanchor">[275]</a> -“brought forward the civilians whom they had seized.... -In all about 600 persons may have been brought<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span> -in, the lives of at least 500 of whom were spared, because -no clear proof of their guilt seemed to be established -at the trial. These persons were set on one side.... -Captain Albrecht followed the course—I imagine, -by the command of his superiors—of ordering that -those among the men brought forward upon whom -either a weapon or an identification mark was discovered, -or in whose case it was established by at least two -witnesses that they had fired upon the German troops, -should be shot. It is an utter impossibility, according -to my firm conviction, that any innocent man should -have lost his life....”</p> - -<p>But was there really “clear proof of guilt” in any -of these cases? Not one of these “identification marks” -(assumed to establish that the bearer was a member -of the Belgian Army) has been brought forward as material -evidence by the German Government. And was -the other material evidence so clear? One man, for instance,<a name="FNanchor_276_276" id="FNanchor_276_276"></a><a href="#Footnote_276_276" class="fnanchor">[276]</a> -had a German bullet in his pocket which he -had picked up in the street. “He was shot down, and -two of his comrades had to make a pit and bury him -in the place where he was shot.”<a name="FNanchor_277_277" id="FNanchor_277_277"></a><a href="#Footnote_277_277" class="fnanchor">[277]</a> One priest was shot -“because he had purposely enticed the soldiers, according -to their testimony, under the fire of the franc-tireurs.”<a name="FNanchor_278_278" id="FNanchor_278_278"></a><a href="#Footnote_278_278" class="fnanchor">[278]</a> -Two other priests were shot “for distributing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span> -ammunition to civilians,”<a name="FNanchor_279_279" id="FNanchor_279_279"></a><a href="#Footnote_279_279" class="fnanchor">[279]</a> but this was only a -story heard from General Headquarters at second-hand. -The witness who tells it was sent with a squad “to -set on fire two hotels in the <em>Station Square</em> and drive -out their inmates. The chief culprits found, apparently, -a way of escape in good time over the roofs, -since only the proprietor of one of the hotels presented -himself at 5.0 o’clock in the morning, and very shortly -afterwards received the reward he deserved.” But -what was the proof that he deserved it? Not any -material evidence on his person, or the testimony of -two witnesses who had seen him fire, but simply the -fact that he was the only Belgian found in a certain -building the inmates of which had been condemned, -<i lang="la" xml:lang="la">a priori</i>, as franc-tireurs. The logic of this proceeding -is defended by the tradesman interpreter, who submits<a name="FNanchor_280_280" id="FNanchor_280_280"></a><a href="#Footnote_280_280" class="fnanchor">[280]</a> -that “apart from all evidence, the persons brought to -trial must have acted somehow in a suspicious manner—otherwise -they would never have been brought to -trial at all.”</p> - -<p>“It is untrue,” nevertheless he states expressly, “that -an arbitrary selection among the persons brought forward -was made when the order for execution was issued.” -But one of the Belgian women<a name="FNanchor_281_281" id="FNanchor_281_281"></a><a href="#Footnote_281_281" class="fnanchor">[281]</a> held prisoner -in the <em>Station Square</em> describes how “the men were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span> -placed in rows of five, and the fifth in each row was -taken and shot,” as she affirms, “in my presence. If -the fifth man happened to be old, his place was taken -by the sixth man if he happened to be younger. This -was also witnessed by my grandmother, my uncle and -his wife, my cousin and our servant....”</p> - -<p>“The whole day long,” states another Belgian -woman,<a name="FNanchor_282_282" id="FNanchor_282_282"></a><a href="#Footnote_282_282" class="fnanchor">[282]</a> “I saw civilians being shot—twenty to -twenty-five of them, including some monks or priests—in -the <em>Station Square</em> and the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Boulevard de Tirlemont</i>, -opposite the warehouse. The victims were bound four -together and placed on the pavement in front of the -Maison Hamaide. The soldiers who shot them were -on the other side of the Boulevard, on the warehouse -roof. For that matter, the soldiers were firing everywhere -in all directions.”</p> - -<p>The executions were also witnessed by the German -troops. “On the morning of August 26th,” states a -soldier,<a name="FNanchor_283_283" id="FNanchor_283_283"></a><a href="#Footnote_283_283" class="fnanchor">[283]</a> “I saw many civilians, more than a hundred, -among them five priests, shot at the <em>Station Square</em> in -Louvain because they had fired on German troops or -because weapons were found on their persons.”</p> - -<p>This went on all day, and all day the women were -compelled to watch it, while the surviving men were -marched away in batches, and the houses on either side -of the railway continued to burn. When night came<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span> -the women were confined in the <em>Station</em>. “My aunt,” -continues the witness quoted above,<a name="FNanchor_284_284" id="FNanchor_284_284"></a><a href="#Footnote_284_284" class="fnanchor">[284]</a> “was taken to -the <em>Station</em> with her baby and kept there till the morning. -It rained all the night, and she wrapped the baby -in her skirt. The baby cried for food, and a German -soldier gave the child a little water, and took my aunt -and the child to an empty railway-carriage. Some -other women got into the carriage with her, but during -the whole night the Germans fired at the carriage for -amusement....”</p> - -<p>The firing by German soldiers had never ceased since -the first outbreak at 8.0 o’clock the evening before. An -eye-witness records two bursts of it on the 26th—one -at 5.0 p.m., and a more serious one at 8.45.<a name="FNanchor_285_285" id="FNanchor_285_285"></a><a href="#Footnote_285_285" class="fnanchor">[285]</a> This -firing was due in part to panic, but was in part of a -more deliberate character. “The whole day,” states a -Belgian witness,<a name="FNanchor_286_286" id="FNanchor_286_286"></a><a href="#Footnote_286_286" class="fnanchor">[286]</a> “the soldiers went and came through -the streets, saying: ‘Man hat geschossen,’ but it seems -that the shots came from the soldiers themselves. I -myself saw a soldier going through the streets shooting -peacefully in the air.” There was also killing in cold -blood. A café proprietor and his daughter were shot -by two German soldiers waiting to be served. The -other daughter crept under a table and escaped.<a name="FNanchor_287_287" id="FNanchor_287_287"></a><a href="#Footnote_287_287" class="fnanchor">[287]</a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span></p> - -<p>The women held prisoner at the <em>Station</em> were only -released at 8.0 o’clock on the morning of the 27th,<a name="FNanchor_288_288" id="FNanchor_288_288"></a><a href="#Footnote_288_288" class="fnanchor">[288]</a> -but they had suffered less during these hours than the -men. “Of the men,” as a German witness puts it,<a name="FNanchor_289_289" id="FNanchor_289_289"></a><a href="#Footnote_289_289" class="fnanchor">[289]</a> -“some were shot according to Martial Law. In the -case of a large number of others it was, however, impossible -to determine whether they had taken part in -the shooting. These persons were placed for the moment -in the <em>Station</em>; some of them were conveyed -elsewhere.”</p> - -<p>The first batch<a name="FNanchor_290_290" id="FNanchor_290_290"></a><a href="#Footnote_290_290" class="fnanchor">[290]</a> of those “not found guilty” was -“conveyed” by the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Boulevard de Diest</i> round the outskirts -of the town, and out along the <em>Malines Road</em>, -about 11.0 o’clock in the morning. It consisted of -from 70 to 80 men, one of whom at least was 75 years -old, while five were neutrals—a Paraguayan priest, -Father Gamarra,<a name="FNanchor_291_291" id="FNanchor_291_291"></a><a href="#Footnote_291_291" class="fnanchor">[291]</a> the Superior of the Spanish Hostel, -Father Catala, and three of Father Catala’s students. -There were doctors, lawyers, and retired officers among -the Belgian victims. One prisoner was driven on -ahead to warn the country people that all the hostages -would be executed if a single shot were fired;<a name="FNanchor_292_292" id="FNanchor_292_292"></a><a href="#Footnote_292_292" class="fnanchor">[292]</a> the -rest were searched, had their hands bound behind their -backs, and were marched in column under guard. On<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span> -the way to <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Herent</i> they were used as a screen.<a name="FNanchor_293_293" id="FNanchor_293_293"></a><a href="#Footnote_293_293" class="fnanchor">[293]</a> The -village of <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Herent</i> was burning, and they had to run -through the street to avoid being scorched by the -flames.<a name="FNanchor_294_294" id="FNanchor_294_294"></a><a href="#Footnote_294_294" class="fnanchor">[294]</a> “Carbonised corpses were lying in front of -the houses.”—“At <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Herent</i>” states the South American -priest,<a name="FNanchor_295_295" id="FNanchor_295_295"></a><a href="#Footnote_295_295" class="fnanchor">[295]</a> “I saw lying in the nook of a wall the corpse -of a girl twelve or thirteen years old, who had been -burnt alive.” On the road from <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Herent</i> to <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Bueken</i> -“everything was devastated.” Beyond <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Bueken</i> and -<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Campenhout</i> they were made to halt in a field, and -were told that they were going to be executed. Squads -of soldiers advanced on them from the front and rear, -and they were kept many minutes in suspense. Then -they were marched on again towards <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Campenhout</i>, surrounded -by a company which, they were given to understand, -was the “execution company.” Crowds of -German troops, bivouacked by the roadside, shouted -at them and spat on them as they passed. They -reached <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Campenhout</i> at dusk, and were locked up for -the night in the church with the inhabitants of the village. -At 4.30 a.m. they were warned to confess, as -their execution was imminent. At 5.0 a.m. they were -released from the church, and told they were free. But -at <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Bueken</i> they were arrested again with a large number -of country people, and were marched back towards<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span> -<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Campenhout</i>. One of these countrywomen bore a baby -on the road.<a name="FNanchor_296_296" id="FNanchor_296_296"></a><a href="#Footnote_296_296" class="fnanchor">[296]</a> From the outskirts of <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Campenhout</i> they -were suddenly ordered to make their own way as best -they could to the Belgian lines. They arrived at -<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Malines</i> about 11.30 in the morning (of August 27th), -about 200 strong. Within four hours of their arrival -the German bombardment<a name="FNanchor_297_297" id="FNanchor_297_297"></a><a href="#Footnote_297_297" class="fnanchor">[297]</a> of <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Malines</i> began, and they -had to march on again to <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Antwerp</i>.</p> - -<p>A second batch<a name="FNanchor_298_298" id="FNanchor_298_298"></a><a href="#Footnote_298_298" class="fnanchor">[298]</a> was driven out along the <em>Brussels -Road</em> on August 26th between 1.0 and 2.0 o’clock in -the afternoon. As they marched through Louvain by -the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Rue de Bruxelles</i>, the guard fired into the windows -of the houses and shot down one of the prisoners, -who was panic-stricken and tried to escape.<a name="FNanchor_299_299" id="FNanchor_299_299"></a><a href="#Footnote_299_299" class="fnanchor">[299]</a> At -<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Herent</i> they were yoked to heavy carts and made to -drag them along by-roads for three hours,<a name="FNanchor_299_299a" id="FNanchor_299_299a"></a><a href="#Footnote_299_299" class="fnanchor">[299]</a> and another -civilian was shot on the way.<a name="FNanchor_299_299b" id="FNanchor_299_299b"></a><a href="#Footnote_299_299" class="fnanchor">[299]</a> At 10.0 p.m. -they were made to lie down in an open field with their -feet tied together, and lay thus in pouring rain till 6.0 -o’clock next morning. Then they were marched -through <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Bueken</i>, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Thildonck</i>, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Wespelaer</i>—still in pouring -rain—with their hands bound by a single long -cord. They reached <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Campenhout</i> at noon, and were -set to digging trenches. At 7.0 p.m. they were allowed -to sit down and rest, but only just behind the batteries<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span> -bombarding the Antwerp forts,<a name="FNanchor_300_300" id="FNanchor_300_300"></a><a href="#Footnote_300_300" class="fnanchor">[300]</a> which might have -opened retaliation fire on them at any moment. That -night they passed in Campenhout church, and at 9.0 -o’clock next morning (August 28th) they were marched -back again to Louvain, about 1,000 in all—women and -children as well as men. “The houses along the road -were burning. The principal streets of Louvain itself -were burnt out.”<a name="FNanchor_300_300a" id="FNanchor_300_300a"></a><a href="#Footnote_300_300" class="fnanchor">[300]</a> That night at Louvain they were -crowded into the <em>Cavalry Riding School</em> in the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Rue du -Manège</i>. Six or seven thousand people were imprisoned -there in all.<a name="FNanchor_301_301" id="FNanchor_301_301"></a><a href="#Footnote_301_301" class="fnanchor">[301]</a> The press was terrible, and the -heat from the burning buildings round was so great -that the glass of the roof cracked during the night.<a name="FNanchor_301_301a" id="FNanchor_301_301a"></a><a href="#Footnote_301_301" class="fnanchor">[301]</a> -Two women went out of their minds and two babies -died.<a name="FNanchor_302_302" id="FNanchor_302_302"></a><a href="#Footnote_302_302" class="fnanchor">[302]</a> Next morning a German officer read them a -proclamation to the effect that their liberty was given -them because Germany had already won the war,<a name="FNanchor_303_303" id="FNanchor_303_303"></a><a href="#Footnote_303_303" class="fnanchor">[303]</a> and -they were marched out again through the streets. They -passed corpses left unburied since the night of August -25th.<a name="FNanchor_303_303a" id="FNanchor_303_303a"></a><a href="#Footnote_303_303" class="fnanchor">[303]</a> “The German soldiers giggled at the sight.”<a name="FNanchor_304_304" id="FNanchor_304_304"></a><a href="#Footnote_304_304" class="fnanchor">[304]</a> -Once more they were driven round the countryside. At -<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Herent</i> the women and children, and the men over -forty, were set free. At <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Campenhout</i> the curé was -added to the company, after being dragged round his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span> -parish at the tail of a cart.<a name="FNanchor_305_305" id="FNanchor_305_305"></a><a href="#Footnote_305_305" class="fnanchor">[305]</a> At <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Boortmeerbeek</i> the -men between twenty and forty were also released at -last, and told to go forward to the Belgian lines, under -threat of being shot if they turned back. They arrived -in front of <em>Fort Waelhem</em> in the dark, at 11.0 -p.m. on the 29th, and were fired on by the Belgian -outposts; but they managed to make themselves known -and came through to safety.</p> - -<p>The third batch “conveyed elsewhere” from Louvain -on August 26th consisted of the Garde Civique.<a name="FNanchor_306_306" id="FNanchor_306_306"></a><a href="#Footnote_306_306" class="fnanchor">[306]</a> -All members of this body were summoned by proclamation -to present themselves at the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Hôtel-de-Ville</i> at 2.0 -p.m.<a name="FNanchor_307_307" id="FNanchor_307_307"></a><a href="#Footnote_307_307" class="fnanchor">[307]</a> The 95 men who reported themselves were -informed that they were prisoners, taken to the <em>Station</em>, -and entrained in two goods-vans. There were 250 -other deportees on the train, including the Gardes -Civiques of <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Beyghem</i> and <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Grimberghen</i>, and about a -hundred women and children. They did not reach the -internment camp at <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Münster</i> till the night of the 28th, -and on the journey they were almost starved. At -<em>Cologne Station</em> a German Red Cross worker refused -one of the women, who asked her in German for a little -milk to feed her sick baby fourteen months old.<a name="FNanchor_308_308" id="FNanchor_308_308"></a><a href="#Footnote_308_308" class="fnanchor">[308]</a> In -the camp at <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Münster</i> all the men were crowded promiscuously<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span> -into a single wooden shed. The floor was -strewn with straw (already old), which was never -changed. The blankets (also old, and too thin to keep -out the cold) were never disinfected or washed. There -was no lighting or heating. The food was insufficient -and disgusting. The sanitary arrangements were indecent. -And the deportees had to live under these -conditions for months, in the clothes they stood in, -though many had come in slippers and shirt-sleeves—the -proclamation having taken them completely by -surprise. In neighbouring huts there were the 400 -Russian students from <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Liége</i>, 600 or 700 people from -<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Visé</i>, the Gardes Civiques of <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Hasselt</i> and <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Tongres</i>, -people from <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Haccourt</i> and from several communes in -the <em>Province of Limburg</em>—about 1,700 prisoners in -all. On October 4th an article in the <cite>Berliner Tageblatt</cite>, -signed by a German general, admitted that -“only two of the prisoners at <i lang="de" xml:lang="de">Münster</i> were under suspicion -of having fired”; but none of the prisoners from -Louvain were released till October 30th, and then only -cripples and men over seventy years of age. The rest -were retained, including a man with a wooden leg....</p> - -<p>The fourth batch of prisoners on August 26th started -about 3.0 o’clock in the afternoon, also by way of the -<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Boulevard de Diest</i> and the <em>Malines Road</em>.<a name="FNanchor_309_309" id="FNanchor_309_309"></a><a href="#Footnote_309_309" class="fnanchor">[309]</a> This -group seems to have been treated even more brutally -than the rest. One man was so violently mishandled<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span> -that he fainted, and was carried in a waggon the first -part of the way. He came to himself in time to see -his own house burning and his wife waving him farewell. -He was then thrown out of the waggon and -made to go on foot. His bonds cut so deeply into his -flesh that his arms lost all sensation for three days. -The party was marched aimlessly about between -<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Herent</i>, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Louvain</i>, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Bueken</i>, and <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Herent</i> again till 11.0 -at night, when they had to camp in the open in the -rain. They were refused water to drink. At 3.0 a.m. -on August 27th they were driven on again, and -marched till 3.0 p.m., when they arrived at <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Rotselaer</i>. -At <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Rotselaer</i> they were shut up in the church—a company -of 3,000 men and women, including all the inhabitants -of the village. This respite only lasted an -hour, and at 4.0 o’clock they started once more along -the Louvain Road. They were destined for a still -worse torment, which will shortly be described.</p> - -<p>These preliminary expulsions on the 26th were followed -up by more comprehensive measures on the -morning of the 27th. Between 8.0 and 9.0 a.m. German -soldiers went round the streets proclaiming from -door to door: “Louvain is to be bombarded at noon; -everyone is to leave the town immediately.”<a name="FNanchor_310_310" id="FNanchor_310_310"></a><a href="#Footnote_310_310" class="fnanchor">[310]</a> The -people had no time to set their affairs in order or to -prepare for the journey. They started out just as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span> -they were, fearing that the bombardment would overtake -them before they could escape from the town. -The exodus was complete. About 40,000 people altogether -were in flight,<a name="FNanchor_311_311" id="FNanchor_311_311"></a><a href="#Footnote_311_311" class="fnanchor">[311]</a> and the majority of them -streamed towards the <em>Station Square</em>, where they had -been ordered to assemble, and then out by the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Boulevard -de Tirlemont</i>, along the <em>Tirlemont Road</em>.</p> - -<p>The Dominicans from the Monastery in the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Rue -Juste-Lipse</i> were expelled with the rest. “At the moment -when they were leaving the Monastery an old -man was brought in seriously wounded in the stomach; -it was evident that he had but a few hours to live. A -German officer proposed to ‘finish him off,’ but was -deterred by the Prior. One of the monks attempted to -pick up a paralysed person who had fallen in the street; -the soldiers prevented him, striking him with the butt-ends -of their muskets. The weeping, terrified population -was hurrying towards the <em>Railway Station</em>....”<a name="FNanchor_312_312" id="FNanchor_312_312"></a><a href="#Footnote_312_312" class="fnanchor">[312]</a> -At the <em>Station</em> the Dominicans were stopped and sent -to Germany by train; the rest of the crowd was driven -on. There were from 8,000 to 10,000 people in this -first column.<a name="FNanchor_313_313" id="FNanchor_313_313"></a><a href="#Footnote_313_313" class="fnanchor">[313]</a> “Nothing but heads was to be seen—a -sea of heads.... The wind was blowing violently, -and a remorseless rain scourged us.... The crowd -was pressing upon us, suffocating us, and sometimes<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span> -literally lifting us along like a wave, our feet not touching -the ground. We progressed with difficulty, and -had to stop every ten metres. Sometimes a German -asked us if we had any arms....”<a name="FNanchor_314_314" id="FNanchor_314_314"></a><a href="#Footnote_314_314" class="fnanchor">[314]</a> When they -arrived at <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Tirlemont</i> they were kept outside the town -till nightfall.<a name="FNanchor_315_315" id="FNanchor_315_315"></a><a href="#Footnote_315_315" class="fnanchor">[315]</a> The inhabitants did their best for -them, but <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Tirlemont</i>, too, had been ravaged by the -invasion. The number of the refugees was overwhelming, -and there was a dearth of supplies. “My mother -and I,” states a Professor of Louvain University,<a name="FNanchor_316_316" id="FNanchor_316_316"></a><a href="#Footnote_316_316" class="fnanchor">[316]</a> -“had to walk about 20 miles on the 27th and the following -day before we could find a peasant cart. We -had to carry the few belongings we were able to take -away, and to walk in the heavy rain. We could find -nothing to eat, but other people were yet more unfortunate -than we. I saw ladies walking in the same plight, -without hats and almost in their night-dresses. Sick -persons, too, dragged themselves along or were carried -in wheel-barrows. Thousands of people were obliged -to sleep in <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Tirlemont</i> on the church pavements. We -found a little room to sleep in....”</p> - -<p>Ecclesiastics were singled out for special maltreatment. -This professor, and twelve other priests or -monks with him, was stopped by German troops encamped -at <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Lovenjoul</i>. They were informed that they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span> -were going to be shot for “having incited the population.”—“A -soldier,” states the professor, “called me -‘Black Devil’ and pushed me roughly into a dirty little -stable.”—“I was thrust into a pig-stye,” states one of -his fellow-victims,<a name="FNanchor_317_317" id="FNanchor_317_317"></a><a href="#Footnote_317_317" class="fnanchor">[317]</a> “from which a pig had just been -removed before my eyes.... There I was compelled -to undress completely. German soldiers searched my -clothes and took all I had. Thereupon the other ecclesiastics -were brought to the stye; two of them were -stripped like me; all were searched and robbed of all -they had. The soldiers kept everything of value—watches, -money and so on—and only returned us -trifles. Our breviaries were thrown into the manure. -Some of the ecclesiastics were robbed of large sums—one -had 6,000 francs on him, another more than 4,000. -All were brutally handled and received blows.” They -were saved from death by the professor’s mother, who -appealed to a German officer with more sense of justice -than his colleagues, and they were thankful to rejoin -the other refugees.</p> - -<p>A second stream of refugees was pouring out of -Louvain by the <em>Tervueren Road</em>,<a name="FNanchor_318_318" id="FNanchor_318_318"></a><a href="#Footnote_318_318" class="fnanchor">[318]</a> towards the south-west. -“On the road,” states a professor,<a name="FNanchor_319_319" id="FNanchor_319_319"></a><a href="#Footnote_319_319" class="fnanchor">[319]</a> “we had to -raise our arms each time we met soldiers. An officer<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span> -in a motor-car levelled his revolver at us. He threatened -fiercely a young man walking by himself who -only raised one arm—he was carrying a portmanteau -in the other hand, which he had to put down in a hurry. -At <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Tervueren</i> we were searched several times over, and -then took the electric tram for Brussels....”</p> - -<p>But here the ecclesiastics were singled out once more. -One was searched so roughly that his cassock was torn -from top to bottom.<a name="FNanchor_320_320" id="FNanchor_320_320"></a><a href="#Footnote_320_320" class="fnanchor">[320]</a> Another was charged with -carrying “cartridges,” which turned out to be a packet -of chocolates.<a name="FNanchor_321_321" id="FNanchor_321_321"></a><a href="#Footnote_321_321" class="fnanchor">[321]</a> One soldier tried to slip a cartridge -into a Jesuit’s pocket, but the trick was fortunately -seen by another monk standing by.<a name="FNanchor_322_322" id="FNanchor_322_322"></a><a href="#Footnote_322_322" class="fnanchor">[322]</a> Insults were -hurled at them—“Swine”; “Beastly Papists”; “You -incite the people to fire on us”; “You will be castrated, -you swine!” Then they were driven into a field, and -surrounded by a guard with loaded rifles. About 140 -ecclesiastics were collected altogether,<a name="FNanchor_323_323" id="FNanchor_323_323"></a><a href="#Footnote_323_323" class="fnanchor">[323]</a> including Mgr. -Ladeuze, the Rector of Louvain University; Canon -Cauchie, the Professor of History; Mgr. Becker, the -Principal of the American Seminary; and Mgr. Willemsen, -formerly President of the American College. -After they had waited an hour, 26 of them were taken -and lined up against a fence. Expecting to be shot, -they gave one another absolution, but after waiting<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span> -seven or eight minutes they were marched out of the -field and lined up once more with their backs to a wood. -As they marched, a soldier muttered that “one of them -was going to be shot.” The two Americans showed -their passports to an officer, but were violently rebuffed. -Then Father Dupierreux, a Jesuit student 23 years -old, was led before them under guard, and one of their -number was called forward to translate aloud into German -a paper that had been found on Father Dupierreux’s -person. The paper (it was a manuscript memorandum -of half-a-dozen lines) compared the conduct -of the Germans at Louvain to the conduct of Genseric -and of the Saracens, and the burning of the Library to -the burning of the Library at Alexandria. The officer -cut the recitation short. Father Dupierreux received -absolution, and was then ordered to advance towards -the wood. Four soldiers were lined up in front of him, -and the 26 prisoners were ordered to face about, in -order to witness the execution. Among their number -was Father Robert Dupierreux, the twin brother of -the condemned.<a name="FNanchor_324_324" id="FNanchor_324_324"></a><a href="#Footnote_324_324" class="fnanchor">[324]</a> “Father Dupierreux,” states Father -Schill,<a name="FNanchor_325_325" id="FNanchor_325_325"></a><a href="#Footnote_325_325" class="fnanchor">[325]</a> the Jesuit who had been forced to translate -the document, “had listened to the reading with complete -calm.... He kept his eyes fixed on the -crucifix.... The command rang out: ‘Aim! -Fire!’ We only heard one report. The Father fell<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span> -on his back; a last shudder ran through his limbs. Then -the spectators were ordered to turn about again, while -the officer bent over the body and discharged his pistol -into the ear. The bullet came out through the eye.”</p> - -<p>The others were then placed in carts, and harangued:<a name="FNanchor_326_326" id="FNanchor_326_326"></a><a href="#Footnote_326_326" class="fnanchor">[326]</a> -“When we pass through a village, if a -single shot is fired from any house, the whole village -will be burnt. You will be shot and the inhabitants -likewise.” They were paraded in these carts through -the streets of <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Brussels</i> and liberated, at 7.0 o’clock in -the evening, at eight kilometres’ distance beyond the -city.</p> - -<p>Meanwhile, the proclamation of the morning had -had its effect. Louvain was cleared of its inhabitants, -but the bombardment did not follow. Between 11.0 -and 12.0 o’clock a few cannon shots were heard in the -distance, but that was all.<a name="FNanchor_327_327" id="FNanchor_327_327"></a><a href="#Footnote_327_327" class="fnanchor">[327]</a> “At <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Rotselaer</i>,” states an -inhabitant of Louvain who was in the party conveyed -there on the 27th,<a name="FNanchor_328_328" id="FNanchor_328_328"></a><a href="#Footnote_328_328" class="fnanchor">[328]</a> “I understood from the prisoners -in the church that all the people of <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Rotselaer</i> were -made to leave their houses on the pretext that they -were in danger of bombardment, and the Germans -stated that they were being placed in the church for -security. While all these people were in the church -the Germans robbed the houses and then burned the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span> -village.” At Louvain the German strategy was the -same. The bombardment was only a pretext for the -wholesale expulsion of the inhabitants, which was followed -by systematic pillage and incendiarism as soon -as the ground was clear. The conflagration of two -nights before, which had never burnt itself out, was -extended deliberately and revived where it was dying -out; the plundering, which had been desultory since -the Germans first occupied the town, was now conducted -under the supervision of officers from house to -house.<a name="FNanchor_329_329" id="FNanchor_329_329"></a><a href="#Footnote_329_329" class="fnanchor">[329]</a></p> - -<p>On the morning of August 27th, even before the -exodus began, a Dutch witness<a name="FNanchor_330_330" id="FNanchor_330_330"></a><a href="#Footnote_330_330" class="fnanchor">[330]</a> waiting at the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Hôtel-de-Ville</i> -saw “soldiers streaming in from all sides, laden -with huge packages of stolen property—clothes, boxes -of cigars, bottles of wine, etc. Many of these men -were drunk.”—“I saw the German soldiers taking the -wine away from my house and from neighbours’ -houses,” states a Belgian witness.<a name="FNanchor_331_331" id="FNanchor_331_331"></a><a href="#Footnote_331_331" class="fnanchor">[331]</a> “They got into -the cellar with a ladder, and brought out the wine -and placed it on their waggons.”—“The streets were -full of empty wine bottles,” states another.<a name="FNanchor_332_332" id="FNanchor_332_332"></a><a href="#Footnote_332_332" class="fnanchor">[332]</a> “My -factory has been completely plundered,” states a cigar-manufacturer.<a name="FNanchor_333_333" id="FNanchor_333_333"></a><a href="#Footnote_333_333" class="fnanchor">[333]</a> -“Seven million cigars have disappeared.”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span> -The factory itself was set on fire on the -26th, and was only saved by the Germans for fear the -flames might spread to the prison. They saved it by -an extinguishing apparatus which was as instantaneous -in its effect as the apparatus they used for setting houses -alight. “The soldiers, led by a non-commissioned -officer, went from house to house and broke in the shop -fronts and house doors with their rifle butts. A cart -or waggon waited for them in the street to carry away -the loot.”<a name="FNanchor_334_334" id="FNanchor_334_334"></a><a href="#Footnote_334_334" class="fnanchor">[334]</a> Carts were also employed in the suburb -of <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Blauwput</i>, on the other side of the railway. “I saw -German soldiers break into the houses,” states a witness -from <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Blauwput</i>.<a name="FNanchor_335_335" id="FNanchor_335_335"></a><a href="#Footnote_335_335" class="fnanchor">[335]</a> “One party consisting of six -soldiers had a little cart with them. I saw these break -into a store where there were many bottles of champagne -and a stock of cigars, etc. They drank a good -deal of wine, smoked cigars, and carried off a supply -in the cart. I saw many Germans engaged in looting.” -This employment of carts became an anxiety to the -Higher Command. A type-written order, addressed -to the Officers of the 53rd Landwehr Infantry, lays -down that “For the future it is forbidden to use army -carts for the transport of things which have nothing -whatever to do with the service of the Army. At some -period these carts, which travel empty with our Army, -will be required for the transport of war material.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span> -They are now actually loaded with all sorts of things, -none of which have anything to do with military -supplies or equipment.”<a name="FNanchor_336_336" id="FNanchor_336_336"></a><a href="#Footnote_336_336" class="fnanchor">[336]</a></p> - -<p>This systematic pillage went on day after day. -“The <em>Station Square</em>,” states a refugee from Louvain<a name="FNanchor_337_337" id="FNanchor_337_337"></a><a href="#Footnote_337_337" class="fnanchor">[337]</a> -who traversed the city again on August 29th, “was -transformed into a vast goods-depôt, where bottles of -wine were the most prominent feature. Officers and -men were eating and drinking in the middle of the -ruins, without appearing to be in the least incommoded -by the appalling stench of the corpses which still lay -in the <em>Boulevard</em>. Along the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Boulevard de Diest</i> I -saw Landsturm soldiers taking from the houses anything -that suited their fancy, and then setting the -house alight, and this under their officers’ eyes.” On -September 2nd there was a fresh outbreak of plunder -and arson in the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Rue Léopold</i> and the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Rue Marie-Thérèse</i>.<a name="FNanchor_338_338" id="FNanchor_338_338"></a><a href="#Footnote_338_338" class="fnanchor">[338]</a> -As late as September 5th—ten days after -the original catastrophe—the Germans were pillaging -houses in the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Rue de la Station</i> and loading the loot -on carts.<a name="FNanchor_339_339" id="FNanchor_339_339"></a><a href="#Footnote_339_339" class="fnanchor">[339]</a> Householders who returned when all was -over found the destruction complete. “I found my -parents’ house sacked,” states one.<a name="FNanchor_340_340" id="FNanchor_340_340"></a><a href="#Footnote_340_340" class="fnanchor">[340]</a> “A great deal of -the furniture was smashed, the contents of cupboards<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span> -and drawers were scattered about the rooms.... -In my sister’s house the looking-glasses on the ground -floor were broken. On the bedding of the glass the -imprint of the rifle-butts was clearly visible.”—“Inside -our house,” states another,<a name="FNanchor_341_341" id="FNanchor_341_341"></a><a href="#Footnote_341_341" class="fnanchor">[341]</a> “everything is upside -down.... The floors are strewn with flowers and -with silver plate not belonging to our house, the writing -room is filled with buckets and basins, in which -they had cooled the bottles of champagne.... -There was straw everywhere—in short, the place was -like a barn. To crown everything, my father was not -allowed to sleep in his own house.... When the -Germans at last quitted our residence, it was necessary -to cleanse and disinfect everything. The lowest stable -was cleaner than our bedrooms, where scraps from the -gourmandising and pieces of meat lay rotting in every -corner amid half-smoked cigars, candle ends, broken -plates, and hay brought from I don’t know where.”</p> - -<p>But these two houses were, at any rate, not burnt -down, and more frequently, when they had finished -with a house, the Germans set it on fire. They had -begun on the night of August 25th; on August 26th -they were proceeding systematically,<a name="FNanchor_342_342" id="FNanchor_342_342"></a><a href="#Footnote_342_342" class="fnanchor">[342]</a> and the work -continued on the 27th and the following days. All -varieties of incendiary apparatus were employed—a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span> -white powder,<a name="FNanchor_343_343" id="FNanchor_343_343"></a><a href="#Footnote_343_343" class="fnanchor">[343]</a> an inflammable stick,<a name="FNanchor_344_344" id="FNanchor_344_344"></a><a href="#Footnote_344_344" class="fnanchor">[344]</a> a projectile -fired from a rifle.<a name="FNanchor_345_345" id="FNanchor_345_345"></a><a href="#Footnote_345_345" class="fnanchor">[345]</a> They introduced these into the -house to be burnt by staving in a panel of the front -door<a name="FNanchor_346_346" id="FNanchor_346_346"></a><a href="#Footnote_346_346" class="fnanchor">[346]</a> or breaking a window,<a name="FNanchor_347_347" id="FNanchor_347_347"></a><a href="#Footnote_347_347" class="fnanchor">[347]</a> and the conflagration -was immediate when once the apparatus was inside. -This scientific incendiarism was the regular sequel to -the organised pillage. The firing by German soldiers -also went on. “On August 27th,” states one German -witness,<a name="FNanchor_348_348" id="FNanchor_348_348"></a><a href="#Footnote_348_348" class="fnanchor">[348]</a> “I was fired at from a garden from behind -the hedge, without being hit. It was in the afternoon; -I could not see the person who had shot.” The identification -can be inferred from the experience of the -Rector of Louvain University, Mgr. Ladeuze, on the -night of August 25th, when he detected two German -soldiers firing over the garden wall of the <em>Chemical -Institute</em> into the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Rue de Namur</i>.<a name="FNanchor_349_349" id="FNanchor_349_349"></a><a href="#Footnote_349_349" class="fnanchor">[349]</a> Another German -witness, a military surgeon in the Neuss Landsturm,<a name="FNanchor_350_350" id="FNanchor_350_350"></a><a href="#Footnote_350_350" class="fnanchor">[350]</a> -who arrived at Louvain in the afternoon of August -27th, testifies that “in the course of the afternoon I -heard the noise of firing in the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Rue de la Station</i>.... -I had the impression that we were being shot at from -a house there, in spite of my conspicuous armlet with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span> -the Red Cross. We approached the house. A German -soldier of another battalion leapt out from the first -floor, and in so doing broke the upper part of his thigh. -He told me that he had just been pursued and shot at -by six civilians in the house.” The surgeon, a young -man of twenty-five, a new-comer to Louvain, and unused -to the notion of German soldiers firing on one -another, repeats this story without seeing that it fails -to explain the shots fired <em>from</em> the house and directed -against himself, and he takes the presence of the “six -civilians” on faith. Was the soldier who escaped -punishment by this lie firing into the street from panic? -This may have been so, for the German troops were in -a state of nervous degeneration, but there is another -possible explanation. Two days later, on August 29th, -when Mr. Gibson, Secretary of the American Legation -at Brussels, visited Louvain to enquire into the catastrophe, -his motor-car was fired at in the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Rue de la -Station</i> from a house, and five or six armed men in -civilian costume were dragged out of it by his escort -and marched off for execution. But they were not -executed, for they were German soldiers disguised to -give Mr. Gibson an ocular demonstration that “the -civilians had fired.” The German Higher Command -had already adopted this as their official thesis, and -they were determined to impose it on the world.<a name="FNanchor_351_351" id="FNanchor_351_351"></a><a href="#Footnote_351_351" class="fnanchor">[351]</a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span></p> - -<p>After the exodus on the morning of the 27th, Louvain -lay empty of inhabitants all day, while the burning -and plundering went on. But at dusk a procession -of civilians, driven by soldiers, streamed in from the -north. They were the fourth batch of prisoners who -had been marched out of Louvain on the previous day. -They had spent the night in the open, and had been -locked up that afternoon in <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Rotselaer</i> church. But -after only an hour’s respite they had been driven forth -again, and the whole population of <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Rotselaer</i> with -them, along the road leading back to the city.</p> - -<p>“On the way,” states one of the victims,<a name="FNanchor_352_352" id="FNanchor_352_352"></a><a href="#Footnote_352_352" class="fnanchor">[352]</a> “we rested -a moment. The curé of <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Rotselaer</i>, a man 86 years of -age, spoke to the officer in command: ‘Herr Offizier, -what you are doing now is a cowardly act. My people -did no harm, and, if you want a victim, kill me....’ -The German soldiers then seized the curé by the neck -and took him away. Some Germans picked up mud -from the ground and threw it in his face....”</p> - -<p>“We entered Louvain,” states the curé himself,<a name="FNanchor_353_353" id="FNanchor_353_353"></a><a href="#Footnote_353_353" class="fnanchor">[353]</a> -“by the <em>Canal</em> and the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Rue du Canal</i>. No ruins. We -reached the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Grand’ Place</i>—what a spectacle! The -<em>Church of Saint-Pierre</em>! Rest in front of the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Hôtel-de-Ville</i>. -Fatigue compelled me to stretch myself on -the pavement, while the houses blazed all the time.</p> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span></p> -<p>“Other prisoners from Louvain and the neighbourhood -kept arriving. Soon I saw fresh prisoners arrive -from <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Rotselaer</i>—women, children and old men, among -others a blind old man of eighty years, and the wife -of the doctor at <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Rotselaer</i>, dragged from her sick-bed. -(She died during the journey to Germany.)...”</p> - -<p>“In the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Grand’ Place</i>,” states the former witness,<a name="FNanchor_354_354" id="FNanchor_354_354"></a><a href="#Footnote_354_354" class="fnanchor">[354]</a> -“the heat from the burning houses was so great that -the prisoners huddled together to get away from -it....”</p> - -<p>“After we had remained standing there about an -hour,” states a third,<a name="FNanchor_355_355" id="FNanchor_355_355"></a><a href="#Footnote_355_355" class="fnanchor">[355]</a> “we had to proceed towards the -<em>Station</em> along the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Rue de la Station</i>. In this same -road we saw the German soldiers plundering the houses. -They took pleasure in letting us see them doing it. In -the city and at <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Kessel-Loo</i> the conflagration redoubled -in intensity.”</p> - -<p>“The houses were all burning in the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Rue de la -Station</i>,” states the first,<a name="FNanchor_356_356" id="FNanchor_356_356"></a><a href="#Footnote_356_356" class="fnanchor">[356]</a> “and there were even flames -in the street which we had to jump across. We were -closely guarded by German soldiers, who threatened -to kill us if we looked from side to side.”</p> - -<p>Yet these victims in their misery were accused of -shooting by their tormentors. “On August 27th,” -states an officer concerned,<a name="FNanchor_357_357" id="FNanchor_357_357"></a><a href="#Footnote_357_357" class="fnanchor">[357]</a> “the Third Battalion of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span> -the Landwehr Infantry Regiment No. 53 had to take -with it on its march from <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Rotselaer</i> to Louvain a convoy -of about 1,000 civilian prisoners.... Among -the prisoners were a number of Belgian priests, one of -whom,<a name="FNanchor_358_358" id="FNanchor_358_358"></a><a href="#Footnote_358_358" class="fnanchor">[358]</a> especially caught my attention because at every -halt he went from one to another of the prisoners and -addressed words to them in an excited manner, so that -I had to keep him under special observation. In Louvain -we made over the prisoners at the <em>Station</em>.... -On the following morning it was reported to me ... -that the above-mentioned priest had shot at one of the -men of the guard, but had failed to hit him, and in -consequence had himself been shot in the <em>Station -Square</em>.”</p> - -<p>Such were the rumours that passed current in the -German Army; but there is no reference in this officer’s -deposition to what really happened at the <em>Station</em> on -the night of the 27th-28th. The prisoners arrived -there about 7.0 p.m., and were immediately put on -board a train. Their numbers had risen by now to -between 2,000 and 3,000,<a name="FNanchor_359_359" id="FNanchor_359_359"></a><a href="#Footnote_359_359" class="fnanchor">[359]</a> and the overcrowding was -appalling. The curé of <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Rotselaer</i> was placed in a truck -which had carried troops and was furnished with -benches; but even this truck was made to hold 50<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span> -people,<a name="FNanchor_360_360" id="FNanchor_360_360"></a><a href="#Footnote_360_360" class="fnanchor">[360]</a> while the majority were forced into cattle -trucks—from 70 to 100 men, women, and children in -each,<a name="FNanchor_361_361" id="FNanchor_361_361"></a><a href="#Footnote_361_361" class="fnanchor">[361]</a> which had never been cleaned, and were knee-deep -in dung.<a name="FNanchor_362_362" id="FNanchor_362_362"></a><a href="#Footnote_362_362" class="fnanchor">[362]</a> They stood in these trucks all night, -while the train remained standing in the <em>Station</em>. On -August 28th, about 6.0 in the morning, they started -for <i lang="de" xml:lang="de">Cologne</i>, but the stoppages and shuntings were -interminable, and <i lang="de" xml:lang="de">Cologne</i> was not reached till the -afternoon of August 31st. During these four days—from -the evening of August 27th to the afternoon of -August 31st—the prisoners were given nothing to eat,<a name="FNanchor_363_363" id="FNanchor_363_363"></a><a href="#Footnote_363_363" class="fnanchor">[363]</a> -and were not allowed to get out of the train to relieve -themselves when it stopped.<a name="FNanchor_364_364" id="FNanchor_364_364"></a><a href="#Footnote_364_364" class="fnanchor">[364]</a> “We had nothing to -eat,” states one of them,<a name="FNanchor_365_365" id="FNanchor_365_365"></a><a href="#Footnote_365_365" class="fnanchor">[365]</a> “not even the child one -month old.”—“My wife was suckling her child,” states -another,<a name="FNanchor_366_366" id="FNanchor_366_366"></a><a href="#Footnote_366_366" class="fnanchor">[366]</a> “but her milk came to an end. My wife was -crying nearly all the time. The baby was dreadfully -ill, and nearly died.”—“We had been without food -for two days and nights, and had nothing to drink till -we got to <i lang="de" xml:lang="de">Cologne</i>, except that one of my fellow-prisoners -had a bottle of water, from which we just -wetted our lips.”<a name="FNanchor_367_367" id="FNanchor_367_367"></a><a href="#Footnote_367_367" class="fnanchor">[367]</a>—“I asked for some water for my<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span> -child at <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Aix-la-Chapelle</i>, and it was refused. It was -the soldiers that I asked, and they spat at me when -they refused the water. The soldiers also took all the -money that I had upon me.”<a name="FNanchor_368_368" id="FNanchor_368_368"></a><a href="#Footnote_368_368" class="fnanchor">[368]</a>—“We had not been -allowed to leave the train to obey the calls of nature, -till at <i lang="de" xml:lang="de">Cologne</i> we went on our knees and begged the -soldiers to allow us to get down.”<a name="FNanchor_369_369" id="FNanchor_369_369"></a><a href="#Footnote_369_369" class="fnanchor">[369]</a></p> - -<p>The brutality of the soldiers did not stop short of -murder. “At <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Henne</i>,” where the train stopped at 3.30 -a.m. on August 29th, “a man got out to satisfy nature. -He belonged to the village of <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Wygmael</i>. He was going -towards the side of the line when three German -soldiers approached him. One of them caught hold of -him and threw him on the ground, and he was bayonetted -by one or other of them in his left side. The -man cried out; then the German soldier withdrew his -bayonet and showed his comrades how far it had gone -in. He then wiped the blood off his bayonet by drawing -it through his hand.... After the soldier had -wiped his bayonet, he and his comrades turned the man -over on his face.... A few minutes after he had -wiped his bayonet, he put his hand in his pocket and -took out some bread, which he ate....”<a name="FNanchor_370_370" id="FNanchor_370_370"></a><a href="#Footnote_370_370" class="fnanchor">[370]</a></p> - -<p>Between Louvain and the frontier two men in a -passenger-carriage “tried to escape and broke the windows.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span> -The German sentinels bayonetted these two -men and killed them.”<a name="FNanchor_371_371" id="FNanchor_371_371"></a><a href="#Footnote_371_371" class="fnanchor">[371]</a></p> - -<p>Two people on the train went mad,<a name="FNanchor_372_372" id="FNanchor_372_372"></a><a href="#Footnote_372_372" class="fnanchor">[372]</a> and two committed -suicide.<a name="FNanchor_373_373" id="FNanchor_373_373"></a><a href="#Footnote_373_373" class="fnanchor">[373]</a> When the train started again after -its halt at <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Liége</i>, a man from <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Thildonck</i> was run over, -and it was supposed that he had thrown himself under -the wheels to put himself out of his misery.<a name="FNanchor_374_374" id="FNanchor_374_374"></a><a href="#Footnote_374_374" class="fnanchor">[374]</a> When -the train was emptied at <i lang="de" xml:lang="de">Cologne</i>, three of the prisoners -were taken out dead.<a name="FNanchor_375_375" id="FNanchor_375_375"></a><a href="#Footnote_375_375" class="fnanchor">[375]</a></p> - -<p>The trucks were chalked with the inscription: -“Civilians who shot at the soldiers at Louvain,”<a name="FNanchor_376_376" id="FNanchor_376_376"></a><a href="#Footnote_376_376" class="fnanchor">[376]</a> and -at every place in Germany where the train stopped the -prisoners were persecuted by the crowd.<a name="FNanchor_377_377" id="FNanchor_377_377"></a><a href="#Footnote_377_377" class="fnanchor">[377]</a> “At <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Aix-la-Chapelle</i>,” -states the curé of <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Rotselaer</i>, “an officer -came up to spit on me.”<a name="FNanchor_378_378" id="FNanchor_378_378"></a><a href="#Footnote_378_378" class="fnanchor">[378]</a> At <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Aix</i>, too, those destined -for the internment camp at <i lang="de" xml:lang="de">Münster</i> had to change -trains and were marched through the streets. “As we -went,” states one of them,<a name="FNanchor_379_379" id="FNanchor_379_379"></a><a href="#Footnote_379_379" class="fnanchor">[379]</a> “the German women and -children spat at us.”—“We arrived at <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Aix-la-Chapelle</i>,” -states another witness.<a name="FNanchor_380_380" id="FNanchor_380_380"></a><a href="#Footnote_380_380" class="fnanchor">[380]</a> “There the German -people shouted at us. At <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Dürren</i>, between <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Aix-la-Chapelle</i><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span> -and <i lang="de" xml:lang="de">Cologne</i>, 4,000 German people crowded -round. I turned round to the old woman with eight -children, and said: ‘Do these people think we are -prisoners? Show them one of your little children, at -the window.’ This child was a month old, and naked. -When the child was shown at the window a hush came -over the crowd.”</p> - -<p>“When we reached <i lang="de" xml:lang="de">Cologne</i> a crowd came round the -trucks, jeering at us, and as we marched out they -prodded us with their umbrellas and pelted us and -shouted: ‘Shoot them dead! Shoot them dead!’—and -drew their fingers across their throats.”<a name="FNanchor_381_381" id="FNanchor_381_381"></a><a href="#Footnote_381_381" class="fnanchor">[381]</a></p> - -<p>“At <i lang="de" xml:lang="de">Cologne</i>,” states the curé of <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Rotselaer</i>,<a name="FNanchor_382_382" id="FNanchor_382_382"></a><a href="#Footnote_382_382" class="fnanchor">[382]</a> “we -had to leave the train and parade—men, women and -children—through the streets under the surveillance of -the police.”—“On the way,” adds another,<a name="FNanchor_383_383" id="FNanchor_383_383"></a><a href="#Footnote_383_383" class="fnanchor">[383]</a> “the children -in the streets threw stones at us.”</p> - -<p>They were herded for the night into an exhibition-ground -called the “Luna Park,” and here their first -food was served out to them—for every ten persons -one loaf of mouldy bread.<a name="FNanchor_384_384" id="FNanchor_384_384"></a><a href="#Footnote_384_384" class="fnanchor">[384]</a> A certain number found -shelter in a “joy-wheel”; the rest spent the night in -the open, in the rain. The guards amused themselves -by making individuals kneel down in turn and threatening<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span> -them with execution.<a name="FNanchor_385_385" id="FNanchor_385_385"></a><a href="#Footnote_385_385" class="fnanchor">[385]</a> Next morning they were -marched back to the station, once more under the insults -of the crowd, and started to retrace their journey, -but not all of them were allowed to return. A batch -of 300 men were kept at <i lang="de" xml:lang="de">Cologne</i> for a week, during -which time 60 of their number were shot before the -eyes of the rest, while the survivors were paraded -through the town again and subjected more than once -to a sham execution.<a name="FNanchor_386_386" id="FNanchor_386_386"></a><a href="#Footnote_386_386" class="fnanchor">[386]</a> Others<a name="FNanchor_387_387" id="FNanchor_387_387"></a><a href="#Footnote_387_387" class="fnanchor">[387]</a> were sent direct from -<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Aix-la-Chapelle</i> to the internment camp at <i lang="de" xml:lang="de">Münster</i>, -where the Garde Civique of Louvain had been sent -before. In this camp the men were separated completely -from the women and children—one of them -was the man<a name="FNanchor_388_388" id="FNanchor_388_388"></a><a href="#Footnote_388_388" class="fnanchor">[388]</a> whose baby had nearly died on the way, -and for six weeks he was kept in ignorance of what -was happening to the baby and to his wife. For the -first six weeks they were given no water to wash in, -and no soap during the whole period of their imprisonment. -They were not allowed to smoke or read or -sing. This particular prisoner was allowed by special -grace to return to Louvain with his family on December -6th, but the others still remained.</p> - -<p>Meanwhile, the main body of the prisoners was -being transported back to Belgium. This return journey -was almost as painful as the journey out; they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span> -were almost as badly crowded and starved;<a name="FNanchor_389_389" id="FNanchor_389_389"></a><a href="#Footnote_389_389" class="fnanchor">[389]</a> but the -delays were less, and they reached <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Brussels</i> on September -2nd. While they were halted at <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Brussels</i>, Burgomaster -Max managed to serve out to each of them a -ration of white bread.<a name="FNanchor_390_390" id="FNanchor_390_390"></a><a href="#Footnote_390_390" class="fnanchor">[390]</a> They were carried on to -<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Schaerbeek</i>, detrained, and marched in column to <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Vilvorde</i>. -“I was in the last file,” states one of them.<a name="FNanchor_391_391" id="FNanchor_391_391"></a><a href="#Footnote_391_391" class="fnanchor">[391]</a> -“We were made to run quickly, and the soldiers struck -us on the back with their rifles and on the arms with -their bayonets.”—“On the way to <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Vilvorde</i> one man -sprang into the water, a canal—he was mad by then. -The German soldiers threw empty bottles at this man -in the water; they were bottles they got from the houses -as they passed, and were drinking from on the way.”<a name="FNanchor_392_392" id="FNanchor_392_392"></a><a href="#Footnote_392_392" class="fnanchor">[392]</a> -At <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Vilvorde</i> they were informed that they were free.<a name="FNanchor_393_393" id="FNanchor_393_393"></a><a href="#Footnote_393_393" class="fnanchor">[393]</a> -They dragged themselves forward towards the Belgian -lines, but at <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Sempst</i> another party of Germans took -them prisoner again.<a name="FNanchor_393_393a" id="FNanchor_393_393a"></a><a href="#Footnote_393_393" class="fnanchor">[393]</a> “The Germans thrust their -bayonets quite close to our chests,” states one of the -prisoners;<a name="FNanchor_394_394" id="FNanchor_394_394"></a><a href="#Footnote_394_394" class="fnanchor">[394]</a> “then four of them prepared to shoot us, -but they did not shoot. One of the prisoners went -mad; I was made to hold him, and he hurt me very -much.” Finally the officer commanding the picket let<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span> -them go once more. They asked if they might return -to Louvain. “If you go back that way we will kill -you,” the officer said; “you have to go that way,” and -he pointed towards <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Malines</i>.<a name="FNanchor_395_395" id="FNanchor_395_395"></a><a href="#Footnote_395_395" class="fnanchor">[395]</a> It was now midnight, -and pouring with rain. The prisoners stumbled on -again, and made their way, in scattered parties, to the -Belgian outposts.<a name="FNanchor_396_396" id="FNanchor_396_396"></a><a href="#Footnote_396_396" class="fnanchor">[396]</a></p> - -<p>This horrible railway journey to <i lang="de" xml:lang="de">Cologne</i> was the -last stroke in the campaign of terrorisation carried out -against Louvain after the night of August 25th by the -deliberate policy of the German Army Command. A -refugee who had returned to the city on August 28th, -and had been kept prisoner during the night, was released -with her fellow prisoners on the 29th. “We -will not hurt you any more,” said the officer in command; -“stay in Louvain. All is finished.”<a name="FNanchor_397_397" id="FNanchor_397_397"></a><a href="#Footnote_397_397" class="fnanchor">[397]</a></p> - -<p>On August 30th the staff of the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Hôpital St.-Thomas</i>, -who had defied the proclamation of the 27th and remained -continuously at their posts, took the task of -reconstruction in hand.<a name="FNanchor_398_398" id="FNanchor_398_398"></a><a href="#Footnote_398_398" class="fnanchor">[398]</a> A committee of notables was -formed, and overtures were made to Major von Manteuffel, -the German Etappen-Kommandant in the -town. On September 1st a proclamation, signed by -the provisional municipal government, was posted up,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span> -with von Manteuffel’s sanction, in the streets.<a name="FNanchor_399_399" id="FNanchor_399_399"></a><a href="#Footnote_399_399" class="fnanchor">[399]</a> It -communicated a promise from the German Military -Authorities that pillage and arson should thenceforth -cease, and it invited the inhabitants to come back to -Louvain and take up again their normal life. The -most pressing task was to clear the ruins, and to find -and bury the dead. In Louvain alone, not including -the suburban communes, 1,120 houses had been destroyed -and 100 civilians had been killed during this -week of terror.</p> - -<p>“We arrived at Louvain,” writes a German soldier -in his diary on August 29th.<a name="FNanchor_400_400" id="FNanchor_400_400"></a><a href="#Footnote_400_400" class="fnanchor">[400]</a> “The whole place was -swarming with troops. Landsturmers of the Halle -Battalion came along, dragging things with them—chiefly -bottles of wine—and many of them were drunk. -A tour round the town with ten bicyclists in search of -billets revealed a picture of devastation as bad as any -imaginable. Burning and falling houses bordered the -streets; only a house here and there remained standing. -Our tour led us over broken glass, burning wood-work -and rubble. Tram and telephone wires trailed in the -streets. Such barracks as were still standing were full -up. Back to the <em>Station</em>, where nobody knew what to -do next. Detached parties were to enter the streets, -but actually the Battalion marched in close order into<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span> -the town, to break into the first houses and loot—no, -of course, only to ‘requisition’—for wine and other -things. Like a wild pack they broke loose, each on -their own; officers set a good example by going on -ahead. A night in a barracks with many drunk was -the end of this day, which aroused in me a contempt -I cannot describe.”</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<div id="Fig_EOV1" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> -<a href="images/i_b_160fp.jpg"><img src="images/i_b_160fp_thumb.jpg" width="600" height="395" alt="" /></a> -<div class="caption"><p class="center">THE TRACK OF THE ARMIES: FROM THE FRONTIER TO MALINES.</p></div> -</div> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<div id="Fig_EOV2" class="figcenter" style="width: 547px;"> -<a href="images/i_b_endpiece.jpg"><img src="images/i_b_endpiece_thumb.jpg" width="546" height="650" alt="" /></a> -<div class="caption"><p class="center">LOUVAIN<br /> -SKETCH TAKEN FROM MAP ATTACHED TO THE GERMAN WHITE BOOK.<br /> -The cross hatching <img src="images/i_b_endpiece-hatch.jpg" width="20" height="10" alt="" /> denotes the quarters burnt down, and is reproduced exactly from the German original.</p></div> -</div> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> A schedule of the more important documents will be found in the -“List of Abbreviations” pp. xi-xiii.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> Belgian Reply pp. vii. and 97-8.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> <em>This map shows practically all the roads and places referred to in the text.</em></p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> Belgian Report xvi (statements by the Mayor and another inhabitant); -Somville pp. 134-143.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> Belg. xvii.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> Somville pp. 143-6.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> Somville pp. 146-7.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> Belg. xvii; Somville pp. 177-184; Bland pp. 164-5; a 16.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> Höcker p. 46.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> Bland p. 165.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> Somville p. 148.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> Somville pp. 147-8.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> Somville pp. 157-168; a 7, 20.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> Somville pp. 152-7; xvii.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> Somville p. 156.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> S. p. 148; xvii.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> Bryce pp. 161-2; S. pp. 168-177.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_18_18" id="Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> Same incident recorded in xvii, p. 50.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_19_19" id="Footnote_19_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> Bryce pp. 168-9.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_20_20" id="Footnote_20_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> S. pp. 46-55; xvii; Reply pp. 110-116 (Report of L’Abbé Voisin, -Curé of Battice, to the Belgian Government).</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_21_21" id="Footnote_21_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> S. pp. 55-72; xvii; Reply pp. 123-7; a 2.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_22_22" id="Footnote_22_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> S. pp. 73-9; xvii.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_23_23" id="Footnote_23_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> S. pp. 113-126; xvii; a 4, 5, 9.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_24_24" id="Footnote_24_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> S. pp. 110-2; xvii; a 12.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_25_25" id="Footnote_25_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_25"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> S. pp. 126-130.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_26_26" id="Footnote_26_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_26"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> Partly by bombardment during the attack on the fort.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_27_27" id="Footnote_27_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_27"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> S. pp. 105-110; Reply pp. 133-4.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_28_28" id="Footnote_28_28"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28_28"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> S. pp. 151-2.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_29_29" id="Footnote_29_29"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29_29"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> S. p. 148.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_30_30" id="Footnote_30_30"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30_30"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> S. p. 152.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_31_31" id="Footnote_31_31"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31_31"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> S. p. 149.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_32_32" id="Footnote_32_32"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32_32"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> xvii. p. 57.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_33_33" id="Footnote_33_33"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33_33"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> Bland pp. 105-9.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_34_34" id="Footnote_34_34"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34_34"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> S. pp. 16-18; xvii. p. 56.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_35_35" id="Footnote_35_35"></a><a href="#FNanchor_35_35"><span class="label">[35]</span></a> S. p. 18; Mercier.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_36_36" id="Footnote_36_36"></a><a href="#FNanchor_36_36"><span class="label">[36]</span></a> Bland p. 185.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_37_37" id="Footnote_37_37"></a><a href="#FNanchor_37_37"><span class="label">[37]</span></a> xvii; a 33, 34.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_38_38" id="Footnote_38_38"></a><a href="#FNanchor_38_38"><span class="label">[38]</span></a> xvii; Reply p. 126.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_39_39" id="Footnote_39_39"></a><a href="#FNanchor_39_39"><span class="label">[39]</span></a> Reply p. 126.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_40_40" id="Footnote_40_40"></a><a href="#FNanchor_40_40"><span class="label">[40]</span></a> xvii; Mercier; S. pp. 79-82.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_41_41" id="Footnote_41_41"></a><a href="#FNanchor_41_41"><span class="label">[41]</span></a> S. pp. 82-92.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_42_42" id="Footnote_42_42"></a><a href="#FNanchor_42_42"><span class="label">[42]</span></a> xvii; S. pp. 92-4.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_43_43" id="Footnote_43_43"></a><a href="#FNanchor_43_43"><span class="label">[43]</span></a> Reply p. 126.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_44_44" id="Footnote_44_44"></a><a href="#FNanchor_44_44"><span class="label">[44]</span></a> Mercier.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_45_45" id="Footnote_45_45"></a><a href="#FNanchor_45_45"><span class="label">[45]</span></a> S. pp. 94-100.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_46_46" id="Footnote_46_46"></a><a href="#FNanchor_46_46"><span class="label">[46]</span></a> S. pp. 100-5.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_47_47" id="Footnote_47_47"></a><a href="#FNanchor_47_47"><span class="label">[47]</span></a> S. pp. 40-5: Belg. Ann. 5, pp. 167-8; Morgan p. 100; Bryce p. 172.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_48_48" id="Footnote_48_48"></a><a href="#FNanchor_48_48"><span class="label">[48]</span></a> S. pp. 30-8.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_49_49" id="Footnote_49_49"></a><a href="#FNanchor_49_49"><span class="label">[49]</span></a> S. pp. 20-30.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_50_50" id="Footnote_50_50"></a><a href="#FNanchor_50_50"><span class="label">[50]</span></a> S. pp. 191-3; xvii.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_51_51" id="Footnote_51_51"></a><a href="#FNanchor_51_51"><span class="label">[51]</span></a> Mercier.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_52_52" id="Footnote_52_52"></a><a href="#FNanchor_52_52"><span class="label">[52]</span></a> S. pp. 190-1, a 15.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_53_53" id="Footnote_53_53"></a><a href="#FNanchor_53_53"><span class="label">[53]</span></a> S. pp. 187-8.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_54_54" id="Footnote_54_54"></a><a href="#FNanchor_54_54"><span class="label">[54]</span></a> S. pp. 200-5; xvii; a 17.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_55_55" id="Footnote_55_55"></a><a href="#FNanchor_55_55"><span class="label">[55]</span></a> Mercier.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_56_56" id="Footnote_56_56"></a><a href="#FNanchor_56_56"><span class="label">[56]</span></a> S. pp. 194-200; xvii; a 35.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_57_57" id="Footnote_57_57"></a><a href="#FNanchor_57_57"><span class="label">[57]</span></a> S. pp. 185-7; a 6, 10, 11, 13.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_58_58" id="Footnote_58_58"></a><a href="#FNanchor_58_58"><span class="label">[58]</span></a> Known by name. See Reply, p. 142.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_59_59" id="Footnote_59_59"></a><a href="#FNanchor_59_59"><span class="label">[59]</span></a> There were also thirty-seven houses destroyed in the suburb of -Grivegnée.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_60_60" id="Footnote_60_60"></a><a href="#FNanchor_60_60"><span class="label">[60]</span></a> a 24.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_61_61" id="Footnote_61_61"></a><a href="#FNanchor_61_61"><span class="label">[61]</span></a> Bryce pp. 172-3.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_62_62" id="Footnote_62_62"></a><a href="#FNanchor_62_62"><span class="label">[62]</span></a> a 28.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_63_63" id="Footnote_63_63"></a><a href="#FNanchor_63_63"><span class="label">[63]</span></a> a 24.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_64_64" id="Footnote_64_64"></a><a href="#FNanchor_64_64"><span class="label">[64]</span></a> a 28.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_65_65" id="Footnote_65_65"></a><a href="#FNanchor_65_65"><span class="label">[65]</span></a> S. p. 209.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_66_66" id="Footnote_66_66"></a><a href="#FNanchor_66_66"><span class="label">[66]</span></a> Names given by S. pp. 211-2; cp. a 27.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_67_67" id="Footnote_67_67"></a><a href="#FNanchor_67_67"><span class="label">[67]</span></a> S. p. 212.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_68_68" id="Footnote_68_68"></a><a href="#FNanchor_68_68"><span class="label">[68]</span></a> a 24, 27, 31.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_69_69" id="Footnote_69_69"></a><a href="#FNanchor_69_69"><span class="label">[69]</span></a> a 31; S. p. 213.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_70_70" id="Footnote_70_70"></a><a href="#FNanchor_70_70"><span class="label">[70]</span></a> S. pp. 219-224.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_71_71" id="Footnote_71_71"></a><a href="#FNanchor_71_71"><span class="label">[71]</span></a> S. pp. 217-8, 225.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_72_72" id="Footnote_72_72"></a><a href="#FNanchor_72_72"><span class="label">[72]</span></a> S. p. 218.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_73_73" id="Footnote_73_73"></a><a href="#FNanchor_73_73"><span class="label">[73]</span></a> S. p. 234; a 24.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_74_74" id="Footnote_74_74"></a><a href="#FNanchor_74_74"><span class="label">[74]</span></a> xv p. 20.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_75_75" id="Footnote_75_75"></a><a href="#FNanchor_75_75"><span class="label">[75]</span></a> Bryce pp. 183-4.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_76_76" id="Footnote_76_76"></a><a href="#FNanchor_76_76"><span class="label">[76]</span></a> xvii p. 66; xxi p. 129; Morgan p. 101; Bland p. 121; Davignon -p. 107.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_77_77" id="Footnote_77_77"></a><a href="#FNanchor_77_77"><span class="label">[77]</span></a> The man was a glass-maker.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_78_78" id="Footnote_78_78"></a><a href="#FNanchor_78_78"><span class="label">[78]</span></a> xvii p. 66.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_79_79" id="Footnote_79_79"></a><a href="#FNanchor_79_79"><span class="label">[79]</span></a> xvii p. 63.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_80_80" id="Footnote_80_80"></a><a href="#FNanchor_80_80"><span class="label">[80]</span></a> Reply pp. 140-1; k4; Bédier pp. 10-1; i pp. 3-4.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_81_81" id="Footnote_81_81"></a><a href="#FNanchor_81_81"><span class="label">[81]</span></a> There had been Belgian <em>soldiers</em> with a machine-gun in the -village.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_82_82" id="Footnote_82_82"></a><a href="#FNanchor_82_82"><span class="label">[82]</span></a> k18.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_83_83" id="Footnote_83_83"></a><a href="#FNanchor_83_83"><span class="label">[83]</span></a> Reply p. 128.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_84_84" id="Footnote_84_84"></a><a href="#FNanchor_84_84"><span class="label">[84]</span></a> Davignon p. 97.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_85_85" id="Footnote_85_85"></a><a href="#FNanchor_85_85"><span class="label">[85]</span></a> xv p. 20.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_86_86" id="Footnote_86_86"></a><a href="#FNanchor_86_86"><span class="label">[86]</span></a> c1-38; Belg. xxi pp. 111-4; Anns. 1, 7; Reply pp. 147-178; German -White Book, A; Struyken; Davignon p. 97.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_87_87" id="Footnote_87_87"></a><a href="#FNanchor_87_87"><span class="label">[87]</span></a> Reply No. 1; g2.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_88_88" id="Footnote_88_88"></a><a href="#FNanchor_88_88"><span class="label">[88]</span></a> c1, 6, 9, 15; R. No. 9.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_89_89" id="Footnote_89_89"></a><a href="#FNanchor_89_89"><span class="label">[89]</span></a> c1, 15; R. Nos. 4, 9, 11.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_90_90" id="Footnote_90_90"></a><a href="#FNanchor_90_90"><span class="label">[90]</span></a> German White Book, A 2.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_91_91" id="Footnote_91_91"></a><a href="#FNanchor_91_91"><span class="label">[91]</span></a> White Book A 3, Appendix.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_92_92" id="Footnote_92_92"></a><a href="#FNanchor_92_92"><span class="label">[92]</span></a> White Book A 5.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_93_93" id="Footnote_93_93"></a><a href="#FNanchor_93_93"><span class="label">[93]</span></a> A 4.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_94_94" id="Footnote_94_94"></a><a href="#FNanchor_94_94"><span class="label">[94]</span></a> White Book A 5.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_95_95" id="Footnote_95_95"></a><a href="#FNanchor_95_95"><span class="label">[95]</span></a> cp. A 3, Appendix.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_96_96" id="Footnote_96_96"></a><a href="#FNanchor_96_96"><span class="label">[96]</span></a> c 4, 8.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_97_97" id="Footnote_97_97"></a><a href="#FNanchor_97_97"><span class="label">[97]</span></a> R. No. 3; c 12.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_98_98" id="Footnote_98_98"></a><a href="#FNanchor_98_98"><span class="label">[98]</span></a> White Book A 2 and 3 (Appendix).</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_99_99" id="Footnote_99_99"></a><a href="#FNanchor_99_99"><span class="label">[99]</span></a> c 1, 4, 5; R. No. 11.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_100_100" id="Footnote_100_100"></a><a href="#FNanchor_100_100"><span class="label">[100]</span></a> R. Nos. 9, 10, 15.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_101_101" id="Footnote_101_101"></a><a href="#FNanchor_101_101"><span class="label">[101]</span></a> R. No. 16.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_102_102" id="Footnote_102_102"></a><a href="#FNanchor_102_102"><span class="label">[102]</span></a> c 7, 13, 20, 23-5; R. Nos. 12, 13, 15, 16.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_103_103" id="Footnote_103_103"></a><a href="#FNanchor_103_103"><span class="label">[103]</span></a> R. No. 9.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_104_104" id="Footnote_104_104"></a><a href="#FNanchor_104_104"><span class="label">[104]</span></a> cp. the treatment of the monks at Louvain, p. 137 below.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_105_105" id="Footnote_105_105"></a><a href="#FNanchor_105_105"><span class="label">[105]</span></a> Davignon, p. 97.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_106_106" id="Footnote_106_106"></a><a href="#FNanchor_106_106"><span class="label">[106]</span></a> R. p. 171.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_107_107" id="Footnote_107_107"></a><a href="#FNanchor_107_107"><span class="label">[107]</span></a> c39-45.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_108_108" id="Footnote_108_108"></a><a href="#FNanchor_108_108"><span class="label">[108]</span></a> c3, 23-5, 40; R. No. 10 (Aerschot).</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_109_109" id="Footnote_109_109"></a><a href="#FNanchor_109_109"><span class="label">[109]</span></a> c54-6.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_110_110" id="Footnote_110_110"></a><a href="#FNanchor_110_110"><span class="label">[110]</span></a> c48-9, 52; R. pp. 351-3.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_111_111" id="Footnote_111_111"></a><a href="#FNanchor_111_111"><span class="label">[111]</span></a> For his death see footnote on p. 151 below.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_112_112" id="Footnote_112_112"></a><a href="#FNanchor_112_112"><span class="label">[112]</span></a> c60-63.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_113_113" id="Footnote_113_113"></a><a href="#FNanchor_113_113"><span class="label">[113]</span></a> c 46-47.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_114_114" id="Footnote_114_114"></a><a href="#FNanchor_114_114"><span class="label">[114]</span></a> g 16-18.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_115_115" id="Footnote_115_115"></a><a href="#FNanchor_115_115"><span class="label">[115]</span></a> d 1-9.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_116_116" id="Footnote_116_116"></a><a href="#FNanchor_116_116"><span class="label">[116]</span></a> d 10-65; vii p. 54.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_117_117" id="Footnote_117_117"></a><a href="#FNanchor_117_117"><span class="label">[117]</span></a> d 18, 20, 21, 34, 52, 62.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_118_118" id="Footnote_118_118"></a><a href="#FNanchor_118_118"><span class="label">[118]</span></a> d 11, 18, 20, 21, 37, 39, 41, 44.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_119_119" id="Footnote_119_119"></a><a href="#FNanchor_119_119"><span class="label">[119]</span></a> d 36, 38, 40.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_120_120" id="Footnote_120_120"></a><a href="#FNanchor_120_120"><span class="label">[120]</span></a> d 32-4, 38-9.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_121_121" id="Footnote_121_121"></a><a href="#FNanchor_121_121"><span class="label">[121]</span></a> d 12, 13, 16, 17, 20, 21, 25, 27, 29-31, 33, 35, 38, 43, 46, 52, 54-7, -62-5.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_122_122" id="Footnote_122_122"></a><a href="#FNanchor_122_122"><span class="label">[122]</span></a> d 10, 13, 15, 26, 47.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_123_123" id="Footnote_123_123"></a><a href="#FNanchor_123_123"><span class="label">[123]</span></a> d 36, cp. 37.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_124_124" id="Footnote_124_124"></a><a href="#FNanchor_124_124"><span class="label">[124]</span></a> vii p. 54.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_125_125" id="Footnote_125_125"></a><a href="#FNanchor_125_125"><span class="label">[125]</span></a> d 66-83.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_126_126" id="Footnote_126_126"></a><a href="#FNanchor_126_126"><span class="label">[126]</span></a> d 67-9, 72, 75.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_127_127" id="Footnote_127_127"></a><a href="#FNanchor_127_127"><span class="label">[127]</span></a> d 66, 69-72, 77-9.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_128_128" id="Footnote_128_128"></a><a href="#FNanchor_128_128"><span class="label">[128]</span></a> d 74, cp. 81.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_129_129" id="Footnote_129_129"></a><a href="#FNanchor_129_129"><span class="label">[129]</span></a> d 87-9; g 20.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_130_130" id="Footnote_130_130"></a><a href="#FNanchor_130_130"><span class="label">[130]</span></a> xv p. 22; g 18; d 90-1, 26.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_131_131" id="Footnote_131_131"></a><a href="#FNanchor_131_131"><span class="label">[131]</span></a> x pp. 78-9.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_132_132" id="Footnote_132_132"></a><a href="#FNanchor_132_132"><span class="label">[132]</span></a> Mercier.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_133_133" id="Footnote_133_133"></a><a href="#FNanchor_133_133"><span class="label">[133]</span></a> d 92-3.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_134_134" id="Footnote_134_134"></a><a href="#FNanchor_134_134"><span class="label">[134]</span></a> d 112-4; cp. Massart, pp. 338-9.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_135_135" id="Footnote_135_135"></a><a href="#FNanchor_135_135"><span class="label">[135]</span></a> g 22.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_136_136" id="Footnote_136_136"></a><a href="#FNanchor_136_136"><span class="label">[136]</span></a> k 21.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_137_137" id="Footnote_137_137"></a><a href="#FNanchor_137_137"><span class="label">[137]</span></a> Reply p. 431; Mercier.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_138_138" id="Footnote_138_138"></a><a href="#FNanchor_138_138"><span class="label">[138]</span></a> d 125.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_139_139" id="Footnote_139_139"></a><a href="#FNanchor_139_139"><span class="label">[139]</span></a> 94.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_140_140" id="Footnote_140_140"></a><a href="#FNanchor_140_140"><span class="label">[140]</span></a> d 100-8.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_141_141" id="Footnote_141_141"></a><a href="#FNanchor_141_141"><span class="label">[141]</span></a> R. pp. 378-380.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_142_142" id="Footnote_142_142"></a><a href="#FNanchor_142_142"><span class="label">[142]</span></a> d 110-1.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_143_143" id="Footnote_143_143"></a><a href="#FNanchor_143_143"><span class="label">[143]</span></a> d 95-9.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_144_144" id="Footnote_144_144"></a><a href="#FNanchor_144_144"><span class="label">[144]</span></a> Mercier.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_145_145" id="Footnote_145_145"></a><a href="#FNanchor_145_145"><span class="label">[145]</span></a> “Germans,” p. 26.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_146_146" id="Footnote_146_146"></a><a href="#FNanchor_146_146"><span class="label">[146]</span></a> e23.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_147_147" id="Footnote_147_147"></a><a href="#FNanchor_147_147"><span class="label">[147]</span></a> R29; cp. “Germans,” p. 9; Chambry, p. 14; e5; R24.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_148_148" id="Footnote_148_148"></a><a href="#FNanchor_148_148"><span class="label">[148]</span></a> “Germans,” p. 15; R24.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_149_149" id="Footnote_149_149"></a><a href="#FNanchor_149_149"><span class="label">[149]</span></a> Chambry, p. 16.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_150_150" id="Footnote_150_150"></a><a href="#FNanchor_150_150"><span class="label">[150]</span></a> e2; R7, 10.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_151_151" id="Footnote_151_151"></a><a href="#FNanchor_151_151"><span class="label">[151]</span></a> R24; Chambry, p. 17.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_152_152" id="Footnote_152_152"></a><a href="#FNanchor_152_152"><span class="label">[152]</span></a> “Horrors,” p. 31.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_153_153" id="Footnote_153_153"></a><a href="#FNanchor_153_153"><span class="label">[153]</span></a> e25.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_154_154" id="Footnote_154_154"></a><a href="#FNanchor_154_154"><span class="label">[154]</span></a> R24; cp. R11; e2; “Germans,” p. 25.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_155_155" id="Footnote_155_155"></a><a href="#FNanchor_155_155"><span class="label">[155]</span></a> e23.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_156_156" id="Footnote_156_156"></a><a href="#FNanchor_156_156"><span class="label">[156]</span></a> e2; R18.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_157_157" id="Footnote_157_157"></a><a href="#FNanchor_157_157"><span class="label">[157]</span></a> “Germans,” p. 25.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_158_158" id="Footnote_158_158"></a><a href="#FNanchor_158_158"><span class="label">[158]</span></a> “Germans,” p. 26; R24.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_159_159" id="Footnote_159_159"></a><a href="#FNanchor_159_159"><span class="label">[159]</span></a> “Horrors,” p. 31.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_160_160" id="Footnote_160_160"></a><a href="#FNanchor_160_160"><span class="label">[160]</span></a> R7, 24.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_161_161" id="Footnote_161_161"></a><a href="#FNanchor_161_161"><span class="label">[161]</span></a> R10.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_162_162" id="Footnote_162_162"></a><a href="#FNanchor_162_162"><span class="label">[162]</span></a> R1, 24; “Germans,” pp. 28-9.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_163_163" id="Footnote_163_163"></a><a href="#FNanchor_163_163"><span class="label">[163]</span></a> R29.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_164_164" id="Footnote_164_164"></a><a href="#FNanchor_164_164"><span class="label">[164]</span></a> R2, 24, 29.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_165_165" id="Footnote_165_165"></a><a href="#FNanchor_165_165"><span class="label">[165]</span></a> “Germans,” p. 31; Grondijs, p. 34; e 1; R1, 8, 11, 17.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_166_166" id="Footnote_166_166"></a><a href="#FNanchor_166_166"><span class="label">[166]</span></a> “Germans,” pp. 31-2.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_167_167" id="Footnote_167_167"></a><a href="#FNanchor_167_167"><span class="label">[167]</span></a> e 1.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_168_168" id="Footnote_168_168"></a><a href="#FNanchor_168_168"><span class="label">[168]</span></a> e 1; “Germans,” p. 32; D7, 8.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_169_169" id="Footnote_169_169"></a><a href="#FNanchor_169_169"><span class="label">[169]</span></a> “Germans,” p. 32.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_170_170" id="Footnote_170_170"></a><a href="#FNanchor_170_170"><span class="label">[170]</span></a> “Germans,” p. 32; Davignon, p. 97; R17.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_171_171" id="Footnote_171_171"></a><a href="#FNanchor_171_171"><span class="label">[171]</span></a> Chambry, p. 21; e3; R17.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_172_172" id="Footnote_172_172"></a><a href="#FNanchor_172_172"><span class="label">[172]</span></a> R7; D46.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_173_173" id="Footnote_173_173"></a><a href="#FNanchor_173_173"><span class="label">[173]</span></a> D46.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_174_174" id="Footnote_174_174"></a><a href="#FNanchor_174_174"><span class="label">[174]</span></a> D46.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_175_175" id="Footnote_175_175"></a><a href="#FNanchor_175_175"><span class="label">[175]</span></a> D7, 8.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_176_176" id="Footnote_176_176"></a><a href="#FNanchor_176_176"><span class="label">[176]</span></a> e1; R8.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_177_177" id="Footnote_177_177"></a><a href="#FNanchor_177_177"><span class="label">[177]</span></a> R7, 17.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_178_178" id="Footnote_178_178"></a><a href="#FNanchor_178_178"><span class="label">[178]</span></a> Chambry, pp. 22-3.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_179_179" id="Footnote_179_179"></a><a href="#FNanchor_179_179"><span class="label">[179]</span></a> R6.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_180_180" id="Footnote_180_180"></a><a href="#FNanchor_180_180"><span class="label">[180]</span></a> D7, 10, 12, 13, 14-18, 22; cp. D46.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_181_181" id="Footnote_181_181"></a><a href="#FNanchor_181_181"><span class="label">[181]</span></a> R6.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_182_182" id="Footnote_182_182"></a><a href="#FNanchor_182_182"><span class="label">[182]</span></a> R4.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_183_183" id="Footnote_183_183"></a><a href="#FNanchor_183_183"><span class="label">[183]</span></a> R7.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_184_184" id="Footnote_184_184"></a><a href="#FNanchor_184_184"><span class="label">[184]</span></a> D46.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_185_185" id="Footnote_185_185"></a><a href="#FNanchor_185_185"><span class="label">[185]</span></a> D8.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_186_186" id="Footnote_186_186"></a><a href="#FNanchor_186_186"><span class="label">[186]</span></a> e8.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_187_187" id="Footnote_187_187"></a><a href="#FNanchor_187_187"><span class="label">[187]</span></a> D8, 22.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_188_188" id="Footnote_188_188"></a><a href="#FNanchor_188_188"><span class="label">[188]</span></a> R20.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_189_189" id="Footnote_189_189"></a><a href="#FNanchor_189_189"><span class="label">[189]</span></a> R3.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_190_190" id="Footnote_190_190"></a><a href="#FNanchor_190_190"><span class="label">[190]</span></a> “Germans,” p. 33.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_191_191" id="Footnote_191_191"></a><a href="#FNanchor_191_191"><span class="label">[191]</span></a> R3.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_192_192" id="Footnote_192_192"></a><a href="#FNanchor_192_192"><span class="label">[192]</span></a> R13.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_193_193" id="Footnote_193_193"></a><a href="#FNanchor_193_193"><span class="label">[193]</span></a> e 1; cp. R8.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_194_194" id="Footnote_194_194"></a><a href="#FNanchor_194_194"><span class="label">[194]</span></a> Morgan, p. 102.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_195_195" id="Footnote_195_195"></a><a href="#FNanchor_195_195"><span class="label">[195]</span></a> Chambry, p. 23.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_196_196" id="Footnote_196_196"></a><a href="#FNanchor_196_196"><span class="label">[196]</span></a> R2.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_197_197" id="Footnote_197_197"></a><a href="#FNanchor_197_197"><span class="label">[197]</span></a> “Horrors,” p. 38.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_198_198" id="Footnote_198_198"></a><a href="#FNanchor_198_198"><span class="label">[198]</span></a> “Germans,” p. 33.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_199_199" id="Footnote_199_199"></a><a href="#FNanchor_199_199"><span class="label">[199]</span></a> R27.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_200_200" id="Footnote_200_200"></a><a href="#FNanchor_200_200"><span class="label">[200]</span></a> Also in the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Rue Vital Decoster</i>, north of the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Rue de la Station</i> -(R13).</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_201_201" id="Footnote_201_201"></a><a href="#FNanchor_201_201"><span class="label">[201]</span></a> D29; cp. R2.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_202_202" id="Footnote_202_202"></a><a href="#FNanchor_202_202"><span class="label">[202]</span></a> D20; cp. D25, 27.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_203_203" id="Footnote_203_203"></a><a href="#FNanchor_203_203"><span class="label">[203]</span></a> “Germans,” pp. 41, 107; e24; R29.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_204_204" id="Footnote_204_204"></a><a href="#FNanchor_204_204"><span class="label">[204]</span></a> “Germans,” p. 107; Grondijs p. 58.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_205_205" id="Footnote_205_205"></a><a href="#FNanchor_205_205"><span class="label">[205]</span></a> e5; cp. e13; R10.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_206_206" id="Footnote_206_206"></a><a href="#FNanchor_206_206"><span class="label">[206]</span></a> xxi p. 115.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_207_207" id="Footnote_207_207"></a><a href="#FNanchor_207_207"><span class="label">[207]</span></a> R5.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_208_208" id="Footnote_208_208"></a><a href="#FNanchor_208_208"><span class="label">[208]</span></a> D20.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_209_209" id="Footnote_209_209"></a><a href="#FNanchor_209_209"><span class="label">[209]</span></a> D9.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_210_210" id="Footnote_210_210"></a><a href="#FNanchor_210_210"><span class="label">[210]</span></a> R13.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_211_211" id="Footnote_211_211"></a><a href="#FNanchor_211_211"><span class="label">[211]</span></a> D9.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_212_212" id="Footnote_212_212"></a><a href="#FNanchor_212_212"><span class="label">[212]</span></a> D3.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_213_213" id="Footnote_213_213"></a><a href="#FNanchor_213_213"><span class="label">[213]</span></a> D1.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_214_214" id="Footnote_214_214"></a><a href="#FNanchor_214_214"><span class="label">[214]</span></a> D10.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_215_215" id="Footnote_215_215"></a><a href="#FNanchor_215_215"><span class="label">[215]</span></a> “Germans” pp. 33-5.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_216_216" id="Footnote_216_216"></a><a href="#FNanchor_216_216"><span class="label">[216]</span></a> R25.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_217_217" id="Footnote_217_217"></a><a href="#FNanchor_217_217"><span class="label">[217]</span></a> R29 (Statement by the Abbé van den Bergh, accredited by His -Eminence Cardinal Piffl, Prince-Bishop of Vienna, to conduct inquiries -on behalf of the Wiener Priester-Verein); cp. R25.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_218_218" id="Footnote_218_218"></a><a href="#FNanchor_218_218"><span class="label">[218]</span></a> e8.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_219_219" id="Footnote_219_219"></a><a href="#FNanchor_219_219"><span class="label">[219]</span></a> R3; cp. e24.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_220_220" id="Footnote_220_220"></a><a href="#FNanchor_220_220"><span class="label">[220]</span></a> R29; cp. e26.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_221_221" id="Footnote_221_221"></a><a href="#FNanchor_221_221"><span class="label">[221]</span></a> D1 (von Boehn), 2, 3 (von Manteuffel), 9, 49 (2).</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_222_222" id="Footnote_222_222"></a><a href="#FNanchor_222_222"><span class="label">[222]</span></a> e13; cp. R17, 24.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_223_223" id="Footnote_223_223"></a><a href="#FNanchor_223_223"><span class="label">[223]</span></a> D3.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_224_224" id="Footnote_224_224"></a><a href="#FNanchor_224_224"><span class="label">[224]</span></a> D2; cp. D11.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_225_225" id="Footnote_225_225"></a><a href="#FNanchor_225_225"><span class="label">[225]</span></a> D36 (1).</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_226_226" id="Footnote_226_226"></a><a href="#FNanchor_226_226"><span class="label">[226]</span></a> D36 (2).</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_227_227" id="Footnote_227_227"></a><a href="#FNanchor_227_227"><span class="label">[227]</span></a> <em>Area of incendiarism</em>: “Eye-witness” p. 1; “Horrors” pp. 39, 43; -“Germans” pp. 35-8, 92; Chambry pp. 25, 92; <em>Apparatus</em>: e2, 13; -R8, 13; cp. also D31, 37 (2)</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_228_228" id="Footnote_228_228"></a><a href="#FNanchor_228_228"><span class="label">[228]</span></a> R24.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_229_229" id="Footnote_229_229"></a><a href="#FNanchor_229_229"><span class="label">[229]</span></a> D46.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_230_230" id="Footnote_230_230"></a><a href="#FNanchor_230_230"><span class="label">[230]</span></a> R8; e23; cp. “Germans” p. 46.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_231_231" id="Footnote_231_231"></a><a href="#FNanchor_231_231"><span class="label">[231]</span></a> R13; cp. e14, 28.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_232_232" id="Footnote_232_232"></a><a href="#FNanchor_232_232"><span class="label">[232]</span></a> e13; cp. e24.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_233_233" id="Footnote_233_233"></a><a href="#FNanchor_233_233"><span class="label">[233]</span></a> D4.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_234_234" id="Footnote_234_234"></a><a href="#FNanchor_234_234"><span class="label">[234]</span></a> R14 (Grondijs); cp. R19, 29.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_235_235" id="Footnote_235_235"></a><a href="#FNanchor_235_235"><span class="label">[235]</span></a> R29; cp. “Eye-witness” p. 3; “Germans” p. 37; R25.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_236_236" id="Footnote_236_236"></a><a href="#FNanchor_236_236"><span class="label">[236]</span></a> e2, 23; R10, 11, 18, 24.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_237_237" id="Footnote_237_237"></a><a href="#FNanchor_237_237"><span class="label">[237]</span></a> e1; R8.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_238_238" id="Footnote_238_238"></a><a href="#FNanchor_238_238"><span class="label">[238]</span></a> R10.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_239_239" id="Footnote_239_239"></a><a href="#FNanchor_239_239"><span class="label">[239]</span></a> D46.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_240_240" id="Footnote_240_240"></a><a href="#FNanchor_240_240"><span class="label">[240]</span></a> R8, 26; e14.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_241_241" id="Footnote_241_241"></a><a href="#FNanchor_241_241"><span class="label">[241]</span></a> e1.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_242_242" id="Footnote_242_242"></a><a href="#FNanchor_242_242"><span class="label">[242]</span></a> e8; cp. “Horrors” p. 39; e17; R8, 15, 17.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_243_243" id="Footnote_243_243"></a><a href="#FNanchor_243_243"><span class="label">[243]</span></a> D9; cp. R24; e14 (M. David-Fischbach’s servant).</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_244_244" id="Footnote_244_244"></a><a href="#FNanchor_244_244"><span class="label">[244]</span></a> Chambry pp. 26-7.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_245_245" id="Footnote_245_245"></a><a href="#FNanchor_245_245"><span class="label">[245]</span></a> “Germans” p. 42.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_246_246" id="Footnote_246_246"></a><a href="#FNanchor_246_246"><span class="label">[246]</span></a> e16.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_247_247" id="Footnote_247_247"></a><a href="#FNanchor_247_247"><span class="label">[247]</span></a> e1.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_248_248" id="Footnote_248_248"></a><a href="#FNanchor_248_248"><span class="label">[248]</span></a> e15.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_249_249" id="Footnote_249_249"></a><a href="#FNanchor_249_249"><span class="label">[249]</span></a> e17.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_250_250" id="Footnote_250_250"></a><a href="#FNanchor_250_250"><span class="label">[250]</span></a> e15.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_251_251" id="Footnote_251_251"></a><a href="#FNanchor_251_251"><span class="label">[251]</span></a> e19.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_252_252" id="Footnote_252_252"></a><a href="#FNanchor_252_252"><span class="label">[252]</span></a> e17.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_253_253" id="Footnote_253_253"></a><a href="#FNanchor_253_253"><span class="label">[253]</span></a> e13.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_254_254" id="Footnote_254_254"></a><a href="#FNanchor_254_254"><span class="label">[254]</span></a> Grondijs p. 39.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_255_255" id="Footnote_255_255"></a><a href="#FNanchor_255_255"><span class="label">[255]</span></a> “Germans” pp. 46-7.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_256_256" id="Footnote_256_256"></a><a href="#FNanchor_256_256"><span class="label">[256]</span></a> R19.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_257_257" id="Footnote_257_257"></a><a href="#FNanchor_257_257"><span class="label">[257]</span></a> “Germans” p. 43.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_258_258" id="Footnote_258_258"></a><a href="#FNanchor_258_258"><span class="label">[258]</span></a> R2.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_259_259" id="Footnote_259_259"></a><a href="#FNanchor_259_259"><span class="label">[259]</span></a> R11, 17.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_260_260" id="Footnote_260_260"></a><a href="#FNanchor_260_260"><span class="label">[260]</span></a> R13.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_261_261" id="Footnote_261_261"></a><a href="#FNanchor_261_261"><span class="label">[261]</span></a> e1, 9, 13; R7, 8, 26.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_262_262" id="Footnote_262_262"></a><a href="#FNanchor_262_262"><span class="label">[262]</span></a> D37 (2).</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_263_263" id="Footnote_263_263"></a><a href="#FNanchor_263_263"><span class="label">[263]</span></a> Grondijs p. 41.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_264_264" id="Footnote_264_264"></a><a href="#FNanchor_264_264"><span class="label">[264]</span></a> “Germans” pp. 43-5; e2.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_265_265" id="Footnote_265_265"></a><a href="#FNanchor_265_265"><span class="label">[265]</span></a> R24.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_266_266" id="Footnote_266_266"></a><a href="#FNanchor_266_266"><span class="label">[266]</span></a> D2.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_267_267" id="Footnote_267_267"></a><a href="#FNanchor_267_267"><span class="label">[267]</span></a> “Horrors” p. 40; “Germans” p. 47; xxi p. 115; R6, 10.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_268_268" id="Footnote_268_268"></a><a href="#FNanchor_268_268"><span class="label">[268]</span></a> e3.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_269_269" id="Footnote_269_269"></a><a href="#FNanchor_269_269"><span class="label">[269]</span></a> e4; cp. R7.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_270_270" id="Footnote_270_270"></a><a href="#FNanchor_270_270"><span class="label">[270]</span></a> e1 = R8; cp. R1, 7.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_271_271" id="Footnote_271_271"></a><a href="#FNanchor_271_271"><span class="label">[271]</span></a> R17.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_272_272" id="Footnote_272_272"></a><a href="#FNanchor_272_272"><span class="label">[272]</span></a> e3.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_273_273" id="Footnote_273_273"></a><a href="#FNanchor_273_273"><span class="label">[273]</span></a> e1 = R8.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_274_274" id="Footnote_274_274"></a><a href="#FNanchor_274_274"><span class="label">[274]</span></a> Killed, October, 1914.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_275_275" id="Footnote_275_275"></a><a href="#FNanchor_275_275"><span class="label">[275]</span></a> D38.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_276_276" id="Footnote_276_276"></a><a href="#FNanchor_276_276"><span class="label">[276]</span></a> e4; cp. R20.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_277_277" id="Footnote_277_277"></a><a href="#FNanchor_277_277"><span class="label">[277]</span></a> e4.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_278_278" id="Footnote_278_278"></a><a href="#FNanchor_278_278"><span class="label">[278]</span></a> D38.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_279_279" id="Footnote_279_279"></a><a href="#FNanchor_279_279"><span class="label">[279]</span></a> D48.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_280_280" id="Footnote_280_280"></a><a href="#FNanchor_280_280"><span class="label">[280]</span></a> D38.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_281_281" id="Footnote_281_281"></a><a href="#FNanchor_281_281"><span class="label">[281]</span></a> e13.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_282_282" id="Footnote_282_282"></a><a href="#FNanchor_282_282"><span class="label">[282]</span></a> R9.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_283_283" id="Footnote_283_283"></a><a href="#FNanchor_283_283"><span class="label">[283]</span></a> D19; cp. D37 (3), 41, 43.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_284_284" id="Footnote_284_284"></a><a href="#FNanchor_284_284"><span class="label">[284]</span></a> e13; cp. Chambry pp. 38-9.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_285_285" id="Footnote_285_285"></a><a href="#FNanchor_285_285"><span class="label">[285]</span></a> “Eye-witness” p. 4; cp. “Horrors” p. 39; Chambry pp. 33, 71-2; -D37 (2).</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_286_286" id="Footnote_286_286"></a><a href="#FNanchor_286_286"><span class="label">[286]</span></a> e2.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_287_287" id="Footnote_287_287"></a><a href="#FNanchor_287_287"><span class="label">[287]</span></a> Grondijs pp. 50-1.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_288_288" id="Footnote_288_288"></a><a href="#FNanchor_288_288"><span class="label">[288]</span></a> e4; R9.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_289_289" id="Footnote_289_289"></a><a href="#FNanchor_289_289"><span class="label">[289]</span></a> D44.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_290_290" id="Footnote_290_290"></a><a href="#FNanchor_290_290"><span class="label">[290]</span></a> R1, 7, 8 (= e1), 20, 26.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_291_291" id="Footnote_291_291"></a><a href="#FNanchor_291_291"><span class="label">[291]</span></a> R26 (his deposition); cp. Grondijs, pp. 70-1.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_292_292" id="Footnote_292_292"></a><a href="#FNanchor_292_292"><span class="label">[292]</span></a> R1, 8 (= e1).</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_293_293" id="Footnote_293_293"></a><a href="#FNanchor_293_293"><span class="label">[293]</span></a> R1, 7, 26.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_294_294" id="Footnote_294_294"></a><a href="#FNanchor_294_294"><span class="label">[294]</span></a> R1, 8.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_295_295" id="Footnote_295_295"></a><a href="#FNanchor_295_295"><span class="label">[295]</span></a> R26.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_296_296" id="Footnote_296_296"></a><a href="#FNanchor_296_296"><span class="label">[296]</span></a> R7.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_297_297" id="Footnote_297_297"></a><a href="#FNanchor_297_297"><span class="label">[297]</span></a> R8.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_298_298" id="Footnote_298_298"></a><a href="#FNanchor_298_298"><span class="label">[298]</span></a> xxi p. 117; e18, 21; R22; “Germans” pp. 59-61.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_299_299" id="Footnote_299_299"></a><a href="#FNanchor_299_299"><span class="label">[299]</span></a> e21.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_300_300" id="Footnote_300_300"></a><a href="#FNanchor_300_300"><span class="label">[300]</span></a> e21.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_301_301" id="Footnote_301_301"></a><a href="#FNanchor_301_301"><span class="label">[301]</span></a> e18.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_302_302" id="Footnote_302_302"></a><a href="#FNanchor_302_302"><span class="label">[302]</span></a> R22; cp. e18, 21; “Germans” p. 60.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_303_303" id="Footnote_303_303"></a><a href="#FNanchor_303_303"><span class="label">[303]</span></a> R22; e18.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_304_304" id="Footnote_304_304"></a><a href="#FNanchor_304_304"><span class="label">[304]</span></a> xxi p. 117.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_305_305" id="Footnote_305_305"></a><a href="#FNanchor_305_305"><span class="label">[305]</span></a> cp. p. 76 above.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_306_306" id="Footnote_306_306"></a><a href="#FNanchor_306_306"><span class="label">[306]</span></a> R23.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_307_307" id="Footnote_307_307"></a><a href="#FNanchor_307_307"><span class="label">[307]</span></a> Chambry p. 33; Grondijs p. 47.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_308_308" id="Footnote_308_308"></a><a href="#FNanchor_308_308"><span class="label">[308]</span></a> A German soldier was so much shocked at this that he fetched -the milk himself.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_309_309" id="Footnote_309_309"></a><a href="#FNanchor_309_309"><span class="label">[309]</span></a> e3 = R15; R17.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_310_310" id="Footnote_310_310"></a><a href="#FNanchor_310_310"><span class="label">[310]</span></a> “Germans” pp. 52-4, 71; Chambry pp. 40-1, 73; “Horrors” pp. -40-1; Grondijs p. 52; “Eye-witness” p. 5; e2; R11; D31.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_311_311" id="Footnote_311_311"></a><a href="#FNanchor_311_311"><span class="label">[311]</span></a> “Germans” p. 54.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_312_312" id="Footnote_312_312"></a><a href="#FNanchor_312_312"><span class="label">[312]</span></a> xxi p. 116.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_313_313" id="Footnote_313_313"></a><a href="#FNanchor_313_313"><span class="label">[313]</span></a> R11.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_314_314" id="Footnote_314_314"></a><a href="#FNanchor_314_314"><span class="label">[314]</span></a> Chambry pp. 53-4.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_315_315" id="Footnote_315_315"></a><a href="#FNanchor_315_315"><span class="label">[315]</span></a> R11.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_316_316" id="Footnote_316_316"></a><a href="#FNanchor_316_316"><span class="label">[316]</span></a> e2.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_317_317" id="Footnote_317_317"></a><a href="#FNanchor_317_317"><span class="label">[317]</span></a> R12.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_318_318" id="Footnote_318_318"></a><a href="#FNanchor_318_318"><span class="label">[318]</span></a> “Eye-witness” pp. 5-9; “Germans” p. 58; Grondijs pp. 61-71 -(= R14); Chambry p. 73; R4, 13, 21 (= xxi pp. 117-9; “Eye-witness” -pp. 8-9).</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_319_319" id="Footnote_319_319"></a><a href="#FNanchor_319_319"><span class="label">[319]</span></a> R13.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_320_320" id="Footnote_320_320"></a><a href="#FNanchor_320_320"><span class="label">[320]</span></a> R22.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_321_321" id="Footnote_321_321"></a><a href="#FNanchor_321_321"><span class="label">[321]</span></a> “Eye-witness” p. 5.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_322_322" id="Footnote_322_322"></a><a href="#FNanchor_322_322"><span class="label">[322]</span></a> R21.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_323_323" id="Footnote_323_323"></a><a href="#FNanchor_323_323"><span class="label">[323]</span></a> “Eye-witness” p. 6.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_324_324" id="Footnote_324_324"></a><a href="#FNanchor_324_324"><span class="label">[324]</span></a> R21; “Eye-witness” p. 7.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_325_325" id="Footnote_325_325"></a><a href="#FNanchor_325_325"><span class="label">[325]</span></a> R21.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_326_326" id="Footnote_326_326"></a><a href="#FNanchor_326_326"><span class="label">[326]</span></a> R21.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_327_327" id="Footnote_327_327"></a><a href="#FNanchor_327_327"><span class="label">[327]</span></a> “Germans” p. 72; “Horrors” p. 42; cp. Chambry p. 56.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_328_328" id="Footnote_328_328"></a><a href="#FNanchor_328_328"><span class="label">[328]</span></a> e3.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_329_329" id="Footnote_329_329"></a><a href="#FNanchor_329_329"><span class="label">[329]</span></a> R24.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_330_330" id="Footnote_330_330"></a><a href="#FNanchor_330_330"><span class="label">[330]</span></a> “Grondijs” p. 51.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_331_331" id="Footnote_331_331"></a><a href="#FNanchor_331_331"><span class="label">[331]</span></a> e4.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_332_332" id="Footnote_332_332"></a><a href="#FNanchor_332_332"><span class="label">[332]</span></a> e8.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_333_333" id="Footnote_333_333"></a><a href="#FNanchor_333_333"><span class="label">[333]</span></a> R10.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_334_334" id="Footnote_334_334"></a><a href="#FNanchor_334_334"><span class="label">[334]</span></a> R24.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_335_335" id="Footnote_335_335"></a><a href="#FNanchor_335_335"><span class="label">[335]</span></a> e26.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_336_336" id="Footnote_336_336"></a><a href="#FNanchor_336_336"><span class="label">[336]</span></a> Chambry p. 86; v. p. 29.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_337_337" id="Footnote_337_337"></a><a href="#FNanchor_337_337"><span class="label">[337]</span></a> R11.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_338_338" id="Footnote_338_338"></a><a href="#FNanchor_338_338"><span class="label">[338]</span></a> “Germans” pp. 73, 89.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_339_339" id="Footnote_339_339"></a><a href="#FNanchor_339_339"><span class="label">[339]</span></a> R10.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_340_340" id="Footnote_340_340"></a><a href="#FNanchor_340_340"><span class="label">[340]</span></a> R13.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_341_341" id="Footnote_341_341"></a><a href="#FNanchor_341_341"><span class="label">[341]</span></a> Chambry pp. 74-7.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_342_342" id="Footnote_342_342"></a><a href="#FNanchor_342_342"><span class="label">[342]</span></a> R19.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_343_343" id="Footnote_343_343"></a><a href="#FNanchor_343_343"><span class="label">[343]</span></a> e16.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_344_344" id="Footnote_344_344"></a><a href="#FNanchor_344_344"><span class="label">[344]</span></a> R19.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_345_345" id="Footnote_345_345"></a><a href="#FNanchor_345_345"><span class="label">[345]</span></a> R24.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_346_346" id="Footnote_346_346"></a><a href="#FNanchor_346_346"><span class="label">[346]</span></a> Chambry p. 52.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_347_347" id="Footnote_347_347"></a><a href="#FNanchor_347_347"><span class="label">[347]</span></a> R19.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_348_348" id="Footnote_348_348"></a><a href="#FNanchor_348_348"><span class="label">[348]</span></a> D19.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_349_349" id="Footnote_349_349"></a><a href="#FNanchor_349_349"><span class="label">[349]</span></a> “Germans” p. 107; Grondijs p. 58; cp. p. 105 above.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_350_350" id="Footnote_350_350"></a><a href="#FNanchor_350_350"><span class="label">[350]</span></a> D21.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_351_351" id="Footnote_351_351"></a><a href="#FNanchor_351_351"><span class="label">[351]</span></a> R27 (Deposition of Mgr. Deploige, President of the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Institut -Supérieur de Philosophie</i> and Director of the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Hôpital St.-Thomas</i>); -R29 (Report by Abbé Van den Bergh, accredited by His Eminence -Cardinal Piffl, Prince-Bishop of Vienna, to make enquiries on behalf -of the Vienna Priester-Verein).</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_352_352" id="Footnote_352_352"></a><a href="#FNanchor_352_352"><span class="label">[352]</span></a> e3.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_353_353" id="Footnote_353_353"></a><a href="#FNanchor_353_353"><span class="label">[353]</span></a> R16.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_354_354" id="Footnote_354_354"></a><a href="#FNanchor_354_354"><span class="label">[354]</span></a> e3.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_355_355" id="Footnote_355_355"></a><a href="#FNanchor_355_355"><span class="label">[355]</span></a> R17.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_356_356" id="Footnote_356_356"></a><a href="#FNanchor_356_356"><span class="label">[356]</span></a> e3.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_357_357" id="Footnote_357_357"></a><a href="#FNanchor_357_357"><span class="label">[357]</span></a> D34.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_358_358" id="Footnote_358_358"></a><a href="#FNanchor_358_358"><span class="label">[358]</span></a> This was the Priest of <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Herent</i>, the Abbé van Bladel, whose body -was exhumed at <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Louvain</i> on Jan. 14th, 1915, in the <em>Station Square</em> -(R30).</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_359_359" id="Footnote_359_359"></a><a href="#FNanchor_359_359"><span class="label">[359]</span></a> e5, 7, 17; R16.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_360_360" id="Footnote_360_360"></a><a href="#FNanchor_360_360"><span class="label">[360]</span></a> R16; cp. e10.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_361_361" id="Footnote_361_361"></a><a href="#FNanchor_361_361"><span class="label">[361]</span></a> e3, 7, 17; “Germans” p. 68 (Narrative of a Bulgarian student).</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_362_362" id="Footnote_362_362"></a><a href="#FNanchor_362_362"><span class="label">[362]</span></a> e3, 7, 10, 17; “Germans” p. 68.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_363_363" id="Footnote_363_363"></a><a href="#FNanchor_363_363"><span class="label">[363]</span></a> e3, 5, 10; R17.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_364_364" id="Footnote_364_364"></a><a href="#FNanchor_364_364"><span class="label">[364]</span></a> e3, 7, 17.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_365_365" id="Footnote_365_365"></a><a href="#FNanchor_365_365"><span class="label">[365]</span></a> e3.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_366_366" id="Footnote_366_366"></a><a href="#FNanchor_366_366"><span class="label">[366]</span></a> e5.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_367_367" id="Footnote_367_367"></a><a href="#FNanchor_367_367"><span class="label">[367]</span></a> e10.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_368_368" id="Footnote_368_368"></a><a href="#FNanchor_368_368"><span class="label">[368]</span></a> e5.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_369_369" id="Footnote_369_369"></a><a href="#FNanchor_369_369"><span class="label">[369]</span></a> e17.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_370_370" id="Footnote_370_370"></a><a href="#FNanchor_370_370"><span class="label">[370]</span></a> e10; confirmed by e11.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_371_371" id="Footnote_371_371"></a><a href="#FNanchor_371_371"><span class="label">[371]</span></a> e5.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_372_372" id="Footnote_372_372"></a><a href="#FNanchor_372_372"><span class="label">[372]</span></a> e3; cp. e7; R17.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_373_373" id="Footnote_373_373"></a><a href="#FNanchor_373_373"><span class="label">[373]</span></a> e3.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_374_374" id="Footnote_374_374"></a><a href="#FNanchor_374_374"><span class="label">[374]</span></a> e10, 11.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_375_375" id="Footnote_375_375"></a><a href="#FNanchor_375_375"><span class="label">[375]</span></a> e16.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_376_376" id="Footnote_376_376"></a><a href="#FNanchor_376_376"><span class="label">[376]</span></a> e16.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_377_377" id="Footnote_377_377"></a><a href="#FNanchor_377_377"><span class="label">[377]</span></a> e10.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_378_378" id="Footnote_378_378"></a><a href="#FNanchor_378_378"><span class="label">[378]</span></a> R16.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_379_379" id="Footnote_379_379"></a><a href="#FNanchor_379_379"><span class="label">[379]</span></a> e5.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_380_380" id="Footnote_380_380"></a><a href="#FNanchor_380_380"><span class="label">[380]</span></a> e3 = R15.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_381_381" id="Footnote_381_381"></a><a href="#FNanchor_381_381"><span class="label">[381]</span></a> e7; cp. e10.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_382_382" id="Footnote_382_382"></a><a href="#FNanchor_382_382"><span class="label">[382]</span></a> R16; cp. e10; R17; “Germans” p. 68.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_383_383" id="Footnote_383_383"></a><a href="#FNanchor_383_383"><span class="label">[383]</span></a> e17.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_384_384" id="Footnote_384_384"></a><a href="#FNanchor_384_384"><span class="label">[384]</span></a> e17; R16.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_385_385" id="Footnote_385_385"></a><a href="#FNanchor_385_385"><span class="label">[385]</span></a> R15.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_386_386" id="Footnote_386_386"></a><a href="#FNanchor_386_386"><span class="label">[386]</span></a> e16.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_387_387" id="Footnote_387_387"></a><a href="#FNanchor_387_387"><span class="label">[387]</span></a> e5.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_388_388" id="Footnote_388_388"></a><a href="#FNanchor_388_388"><span class="label">[388]</span></a> e5.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_389_389" id="Footnote_389_389"></a><a href="#FNanchor_389_389"><span class="label">[389]</span></a> e3.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_390_390" id="Footnote_390_390"></a><a href="#FNanchor_390_390"><span class="label">[390]</span></a> e7, 10, 17; R16, 17.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_391_391" id="Footnote_391_391"></a><a href="#FNanchor_391_391"><span class="label">[391]</span></a> e17; cp. e3; R15, 16, 17.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_392_392" id="Footnote_392_392"></a><a href="#FNanchor_392_392"><span class="label">[392]</span></a> e7; R16, 17.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_393_393" id="Footnote_393_393"></a><a href="#FNanchor_393_393"><span class="label">[393]</span></a> e3, 17; R15.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_394_394" id="Footnote_394_394"></a><a href="#FNanchor_394_394"><span class="label">[394]</span></a> e17.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_395_395" id="Footnote_395_395"></a><a href="#FNanchor_395_395"><span class="label">[395]</span></a> e3; R15.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_396_396" id="Footnote_396_396"></a><a href="#FNanchor_396_396"><span class="label">[396]</span></a> R16.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_397_397" id="Footnote_397_397"></a><a href="#FNanchor_397_397"><span class="label">[397]</span></a> e13.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_398_398" id="Footnote_398_398"></a><a href="#FNanchor_398_398"><span class="label">[398]</span></a> “Germans” p. 84 <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">seqq.</i>; R27.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_399_399" id="Footnote_399_399"></a><a href="#FNanchor_399_399"><span class="label">[399]</span></a> “Germans” p. 86; R27.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_400_400" id="Footnote_400_400"></a><a href="#FNanchor_400_400"><span class="label">[400]</span></a> Ann. 8 (Extract from the Diary of Gaston Klein); cp. Bryce p. -80, No. 32.</p></div></div> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<div class="transnote" style="margin-top: 2em"> - -<h2 id="TN_end" style="margin-top: 0em">Transcriber’s Notes:</h2> - -<p>Footnotes have been moved to the end of the text and relabeled -consecutively through the document.</p> - -<p>Illustrations have been moved to paragraph breaks near where they -are mentioned.</p> - -<p>Punctuation has been made consistent.</p> - -<p>Variations in spelling and hyphenation were retained as they appear in -the original publication, except that obvious typos have been -corrected.</p> - -<p>Abbreviations for references have inconsistent spacing, such as c1 -versus c 1, and these have been left as they appear in the original -publication.</p> - -<p>Changes have been made as follows:</p> - -<p>Footnote <a href="#Footnote_86_86">86</a>: Struycken changed to Struyken (A; Struyken; Davignon)</p> - -<p>Footnote <a href="#Footnote_139_139">139</a>: Reference letter is missing and is probably d (d 94).</p> -</div></div> - - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's The German Terror in Belgium, by Arnold J. 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