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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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