Part 15
In the meantime the last detachment of the foremost company had pushed forward into the village itself. The men proceeded in quite detached formation. They were at once received by francs-tireurs firing from the various visible houses on both sides of the street. The detachment was obliged first to clear each individual house of francs-tireurs before they could again advance a little. The street door had to be smashed in and each separate room had to be captured from the francs-tireurs. About 10 a.m. two platoons of our company, one of them the 2nd Platoon under Lieutenant Schreyer, to which I belonged, came to the help of our comrades. We were obliged to fight for each individual house, to kill the male population in them who, as far as I saw, carried rifles and fired, and to shut up the women and children in order in this way to advance gradually. Only some quite old men were found without arms. They were not killed, but locked up with the women. In the afternoon, towards 3 o'clock, the house-fighting still fluctuated, and we had not yet penetrated as far as the village square when I received the order to go back with about half a platoon and occupy the heights of the Meuse from which francs-tireurs were still firing. In executing this order, I passed a wood-sawing factory before which lay about thirty francs-tireurs who had been shot. This house had been stormed by men of my 1st Platoon. They told me in the evening that each separate room in the house had been occupied by civilians engaged in firing. The francs-tireurs had been shot according to the usages of war.
Up on the heights I did not succeed in catching a franc-tireur. Up there they were by this time very much scattered. Right under the heights lay the village. I could look straight down from above into the village street. The street-fighting was still in progress, but became less since the village in the meantime had begun to burn. On the opposite heights I saw German Jägers--I believe Marburgers--subduing armed civilians. These francs-tireurs had previously also fired on my platoon. When I returned, towards 7 o'clock in the evening, from the heights, the whole place, as far as the village square which lies on the Meuse, was in the hands of the Germans. About the whole village, also on the village square, there lay corpses of francs-tireurs. I took part in the storming of eight or ten houses. They all afforded the same picture: shots from the windows, street doors barred so that they had to be forced open, all male persons, without any military badge or uniform, armed with sporting-guns. As soon as we got into the room they dropped their weapons and held up their hands. During the street-fighting and on the heights where the civilians were firing I did not see any uniform. The civilians did not give me the impression of being soldiers in civilian clothes. They were mostly older people, 40 years old and upwards, or young fellows of 17 to 18 years; persons of 20 to 30 years I practically did not see at all.
Read over, approved, signed.
Signed: STIEBING, Acting-Sergeant-Major.
The witness was sworn.
Signed: Dr. UHLIG. Signed: GÖRNER.
C. App. 32.
Present: Lieutenant FRANCKE, Officer of the Court.
## Acting-Sergeant-Major LANGE, Military Clerk of the Court.
## Acting-Sergeant-Major (Deputy Officer) Bauer states:
My name is Kurt Bauer. I am 24 years old; Protestant; now
## Acting-Sergeant-Major of Reserve, attached to 6th Company, Infantry
Regiment No. 178; in civil life Cand. Arch.
As my company leader had been fired at from a factory in Leffe my platoon received the order to clear the factory and the houses standing in the rear. I advanced with my detachment and plainly saw that we were heavily fired on from roof windows and skylights in the roofs of the factory and the houses, as well as from bushes on the heights, by civilians armed with pistols. We stormed the houses and set them on fire. I was also witness to the fact that we were even fired on from the monastery, although the Geneva flag was hoisted above it.
Read over, approved, signed.
Signed: KURT BAUER.
The witness was sworn.
Signed: FRANCKE. Signed: LANGE.
C. App. 33.
EXTRACT from the Report of Operations, Infantry Regiment No. 103.
_August 23rd, 1914._
At 4.30 in the afternoon the regiment received the order from the 32nd Infantry Brigade to move off to Leffe. The regiment halted in the ravine east of Leffe behind the pontoon column of the division. As the firing from the slopes of the ravine down into the valley was continuous, the 9th Company received the order to clear the southern slopes. One man of the regiment was severely wounded by a shot fired from a house by an inhabitant; the house was set on fire; the men, who were inside with weapons in their hands were shot; in other ways, too, the place was cleared of francs-tireurs.
C. App. 34.
Present: Lieutenant of Reserve KLEBERGER, as Officer of the Court. Sergeant RICHTER, as Military Clerk of the Court.
ORAINVILLE, _March 17th, 1915_.
Summoned as witness, there appeared Major Langheld, who, after being advised as to the significance of the oath, made the following statement:
As to Person: My name is Karl Anton Emil Langheld. I am 43 years old; Protestant; Major, Infantry Regiment No. 143.
As to Case: On the afternoon of August 23rd I marched with my battalion at the head of the regiment from Lisogue to Leffe. The march from the beginning of the Leffe Valley was somewhat interrupted. During the advance the report came from the rear that a man of the 1st Company had been shot at from a house. By command of Captain Wuttig the house was set on fire by soldiers of the 1st Company, and the men who were seized in it, with weapons in their hands, were shot. During the whole of the afternoon one heard continual firing among the houses in Leffe and on the heights encircling the right and left of the Leffe Valley. A company of the Jäger Battalion, No. 11, was engaged in clearing the slopes on which there were armed inhabitants. The 9th Company of my regiment received a similar commission on the southern slope. I myself marched on with the 10th and 11th Companies to the bank of the Meuse in order to cross over there. Here I saw several times that guilty male inhabitants were shot.
On the night of the 24th, from time to time, fugitives turned up at our outposts--principally women and children--amongst them a number of nuns led by a priest. I sheltered them in a farm near which the 11th Company was in bivouac. Our men gave some of their provisions to the people, although they had only a little themselves. I pacified the fugitives myself, and as I was obliged that same night to march farther, I handed over to the priest a note to say that these people had incurred no blame. I was unable to take further trouble about them. However, I asked the Catholic Divisional Chaplain Kaiser, whom I met next morning, to see that the people got away safely.
Read over, approved.
Witness was sworn according to regulations.
Signed: KLEBERGER, Lieutenant of Reserve and Officer of the Court. Signed: RICHTER, Sergeant, as Clerk to the Military Court.
C. App. 35.
Present: Lieutenant of Reserve KLEBERGER, as Officer of the Court. Sergeant RICHTER, as Clerk of the Military Court.
ORAINVILLE, _March 17th, 1915_.
Summoned as witness, there appeared Lieutenant Richter, who, being advised as to the significance of the oath, made the following statement:
As to Person: My name is Martin Richter. I am 31 years old; Protestant; Lieutenant of 1st Company, Infantry Regiment No. 103.
As to Case: On the advance of the 1st Battalion of 4th Infantry Regiment No. 103 on the 23rd August 1914 to the crossing-place over the Meuse at Leffe, there came a single shot from a farm. A soldier of the 1st Company of the regiment was wounded.
By order of Captain Wuttig the farm was searched. About fourteen male civilians were arrested who had with them weapons and ammunition for sporting-rifles, pistols, etc.
A thirteen to fifteen year-old lad was released on account of his age; the other thirteen persons were shot.
Read over, approved.
Witness was sworn as usual.
Signed: KLEBERGER, Lieutenant of Reserve and Officer of the Court. Signed: RICHTER, Sergeant, as Clerk of the Military Court.
C. App. 36.
Present: Lieutenant of Reserve KLEBERGER, as Officer of the Court. Sergeant RICHTER, as Clerk of the Military Court.
ORAINVILLE, _March 17th, 1915_.
On summons there appeared as witness Lieutenant of Reserve Martin, who, being instructed as to the significance of the oath, made the following statement:
As to Person: My name is Kurt Martin. I am 24 years old; Protestant; Lieutenant of Reserve, 2nd Company, Infantry Regiment No. 103.
As to Case: I have seen how a German soldier was wounded by small shot, and know that he died of the effect of the injury in the castle before Leffe. The doctor who treated him was Dr. Schneider, now in Infantry Regiment No. 102.
The inhabitants of Leffe arrested in a house near the factory were well treated. After their provisions were exhausted, they were provided for from the field kitchen of the 5th Company, Infantry Regiment No. 103. They were later on released by a general order. At one time I was detailed as guard of the hospital which was located in the Château de Chession, near Leffe. The proprietress, a Madame Chiehe, and her people we also provided with food; she expressed her warm appreciation of the kind treatment.
Read over, approved.
The witness was duly sworn.
Signed: KLEBERGER, Lieutenant of Reserve and Officer of the Court. Signed: RICHTER, Sergeant, as Clerk of the Military Court.
C. App. 37.
REPORT of the 8th Company, Infantry Regiment No. 178. on the fighting round Dinant on August 21st and 23rd, 1914.
_February 14th, 1915._
Private Jentsch states in general the same as the witness, Non-commissioned Officer Macher,[2] except that he actually only saw a great pool of blood on a floor; the dead German soldier, of whom he had heard, had already been concealed. He does not now know to which company he belonged. On the same day, according to his statement, a further batch of four civilians were shot because they had attacked a sentry of Infantry Regiment No. 182. These people were fetched out of an underground passage. The order was given by Lieutenant Tränker.
[Footnote 2: See App. 29.]
In the military school about 400 men in civilian clothes were guarded. These were well looked after, and were also later on allowed to receive their relations. On the fourth day we were relieved by Reserve Infantry Regiment No. 106.
Signed: LUCIUS, 1st Lieutenant and Company Leader.
_Deposition._
Present: Lieutenant THOMAS, as Officer of the Court.
## Acting-Sergeant-Major LANGE, as Clerk of the Military Court.
There appeared as witness Private Jentsch, who, after the reading over of the preceding report, made the following statement:
As to Person: My name is Karl Albin Richard Jentsch. I am 22 years old; Protestant; private, 8th Company, Infantry Regiment No. 178.
As to Case: I maintain the correctness of my statements.
The witness was thereupon sworn.
Read over, approved, signed.
Signed: JENTSCH. Signed: THOMAS. Signed: LANGE.
C. App. 38.
Present: Military Magistrate, HUNERSDORF. Military Court Secretary, MÜLLER, Clerk of the Military Court.
CORBENY, _December 12th, 1914_.
In the investigation concerning the violations of International Law committed against German troops, there appeared as witness Captain Nitze, who, after reference to the significance of the oath, was examined as follows:
As to Person: My name is Otto Hermann Oswald Nitze. I am 34 years old; Protestant; Company Leader, Machine-Gun Company, Infantry Regiment No. 177.
As to Case: On August 23rd, 1914, as we were marching into Leffe, I found myself several hundred metres in front of the company, and was all at once fired at from the surrounding houses.
I first rode back to the company and confirmed the order already given to bring the houses under fire. I then rode to the Detachment Leader, Lieutenant-Colonel von Zeschau, reported the attack, and received the order to have the houses searched and, in case any male persons were found in them with arms, to set the houses on fire.
In the search there were discovered by Lieutenant-Colonel Reichel in my presence two persons of forty years of age who had hidden themselves in a room and were armed with a Belgian pistol and a rifle of an ancient pattern.
As I heard, a third man had also been found in the house. The first two men were immediately shot. While Lieutenant-Colonel Reichel went on farther to search other houses I saw how at least eight rifles were discharging on the search-parties a brisk fire from the first floors of at least two houses. The marksmen stood behind windows barricaded with mattresses. I saw the flash of the shots and heard the bullets whistle; as far as I could judge from the reports, they were using partly bullets, partly small shot. Only the horse of Assistant Doctor Sippel was wounded.
Read over, approved, signed.
Signed: NITZE.
The witness was sworn.
Signed: HUNERSDORF. Signed: MÜLLER.
C. App. 39.
EXTRACT from the Report of the 3rd Field Pioneer Company.
_August 23rd, 1914._
The patrols were heavily fired on from the houses and from the other bank.
The company advanced with the pontoon waggons on the steep, narrow road into Dinant behind Rifle (Fusilier) Regiment No. 108 and Infantry Regiment No. 182.
There was firing from the houses, although one could see little of the enemy. The company took part in searching the houses for civilians; some were arrested with arms in their hands and subsequently shot. The infantry had considerable losses here.
The order came to evacuate the town as it was to be first bombarded by our artillery.
The company, with Grenadier Regiment No. 101, reached the Meuse at Les Rivages. The village appeared to be quite peaceful; nevertheless, a number of inhabitants were arrested by the Grenadiers for security. The rifle-fire of the enemy on the left bank was only very weak. The houses over there burst into flames, one after another, as a result of our artillery fire. The crossing began at once with a half-column corps, Pontoon train, Train Battalion No. 12, which had been assigned to the company; the building of the bridge was at once begun, and at first proceeded rapidly.
Suddenly we received heavy rifle-fire from the houses on the right bank. The firing was briskly answered by the Grenadiers who were waiting in dense masses to cross. The houses were set on fire. On the afternoon of August 24th the bridge was finished. In the meantime, it frequently happened that firing came from the heights, and even from the cellar of a burnt-out house. In such cases, civilians caught with arms in their hands were shot.
C. App. 40.
Present: President of the Court, SCHWEINITZ. Secretary, LIPS.
INVINCOURT, _March 1st, 1915_.
In the matter for inquiry concerning the events in Dinant there appeared as witness Major von Zeschau, who stated:
As to Person: My name is Arnd Maximilian Ernst von Zeschau. I am 41 years old; Protestant; Major and Battalion Commander, Grenadier Regiment No. 101.
As to Case: On August 23rd, 1914, towards 6 o'clock in the afternoon, I, with my 11th Company, reached the Meuse at Les Rivages, and was at once taken across. I had the order to gain the heights on the other bank, to the right of the 2nd Company, which had already been put across. Opposite Les Rivages were connected rows of houses. We first went downstream as far as the church, and then turned off to the right. I passed with a detachment through a very narrow lane; the shop windows and house doors were closed. Suddenly four to five shots came from behind me. My men at once broke open the house from which the shots were fired. The house was empty; at the back was a small yard with a washhouse. In the yard lay a discharged sporting-gun.
Going farther, we came to a railway embankment through which ran a culvert. Before it lay a dead civilian with a weapon like a carbine. On the other side of the embankment was Lieutenant von Oer, who shouted to me that he had been fired at from the culvert. In the culvert I noticed some people; a few paces in front of the culvert crouched some of my men with rifles at the ready, and, on my question, reported that there had been firing from the culvert. I shouted into the culvert, "Sortez, on ne vous fera rien." As the people did not come out, I caused about five to six men to fire some shots, ten to twelve in all, into the culvert. As there arose a great outcry in the culvert, I left a non-commissioned officer behind to clear it. This officer reported to me next morning that he had fetched out about thirty-five to forty civilians, men, half-grown lads, women, and children, and with them a number of weapons--he told me there were about eight to ten carbine-shaped weapons. The captured civilians were handed over at the bridge-head. About 200 metres behind the railway embankment I came into fighting contact with the French infantry.
Read over, approved, signed.
Signed: VON ZESCHAU.
The witness was thereupon sworn.
Signed: SCHWEINITZ. Signed: LIPS.
C. App. 41.
Present: President of the Court, OERTEL. Secretary, Acting-Sergeant-Major SOMMERBURG.
PROVISEUX, _March 2nd, 1915_.
There appeared as witness for examination Non-commissioned Officer Faber, who, after reference to the significance and sanctity of the oath, was examined as follows:
As to Person: My name is Kurt Friedrich Faber, non-commissioned officer, 10th Company, Grenadier Regiment No. 101. I am 22 years old; Protestant.
As to Case: According to my war-diary, I crossed the Meuse at Dinant on Sunday, August 23rd, 1914, at 6.5 p.m. in company with Major von Zeschau and about three detachments of Grenadiers. We were bound for the ridge of hills lying opposite, as these were said to be occupied by the enemy. On my way thither I noticed in a side-street that a woman discharged shots at us from a revolver from a half-opened door. I thereupon fired at the woman, who quickly banged the door to. I do not know whether I hit her.
Read over, approved, signed.
Signed: KURT FRIEDRICH FABER.
The witness was thereupon sworn.
Signed: OERTEL, Lieutenant and Officer of the Court. Signed: SOMMERBURG, Acting-Sergeant-Major and Clerk of the Court.
C. App. 42.
Present: President of the Court, Lieutenant of Landwehr OERTEL. Secretary, Acting-Sergeant-Major SOMMERBURG.
PROVISEUX, _March 2nd, 1915_.
There appeared as witness for examination Grenadier Schlosser, who, after reference to the significance and sanctity of the oath, was examined as follows:
As to Person: My name is Franz Otto Schlosser, Grenadier, 10th Company, Grenadier Regiment No. 101; 22 years old; Protestant.
As to Case: On the afternoon of August 23rd, 1914, I crossed the Meuse at Dinant in a boat with Captain Graisewsky, Lieutenant von der Decken, and men of the 10th Company, Grenadier Regiment No. 101. When we were about the middle of the river, there began a heavy fire on us from various directions. On the other bank we occupied, by order of the Captain, a trench, and there received a heavy fire from the houses which were on the right and left of us. I saw with my own eyes that several women stood at the window of a house and discharged shots at us. We then received the order from the Captain to fetch the occupants from the houses, and brought about twenty persons out, I believe, only women and children. These were brought down as prisoners to the Meuse. We then set fire to the houses.
Read over, approved, signed.
Signed: FRANZ OTTO SCHLOSSER.
The witness was thereupon sworn.
Signed: OERTEL, Lieutenant and Officer of the Court. Signed: SOMMERBURG, Acting-Sergeant-Major and Clerk of the Military Court.
C. App. 43.
EXTRACT from the Report of Grenadier Regiment No. 101, 22nd to the 30th August 1914.
_August 23rd, 1914._
The Mayor of Les Rivages appears and protests that none of the inhabitants are in possession of weapons, and that no attack would take place on the troops.
After the Divisional Bridge (Pontoon) Train had arrived, the Pioneers begin the construction of a bridge over the Meuse, but a heavy enemy fire, partly from infantry, partly from the inhabitants on the opposite bank, perforates the pontoons and makes any further construction impossible.
At first the 11th Company is put across the Meuse and proceeds on a broad front through Leffe, where they are fired on from the houses and from the railway embankment. Several civilians, who fired on the company from places of concealment, are shot; the houses are set on fire.
Following the 2nd Company the remaining companies of the 1st Battalion have also reached Les Rivages. Whilst the battalion is standing by the Meuse to cross over, it is attacked from the houses by the inhabitants of the place. From all the windows, from the hedges of the gardens, from the slopes of the hills, bullets and shot from the rifles of the inhabitants rattle down on the companies.
The battalion at once received the order to take up the fight against the fanatical inhabitants of the place. With fixed bayonets, the Grenadiers rush through the narrow streets; with pickaxes and axes the closed doors and windows are burst open. In groups the Grenadiers force their way into the houses in order to seize the occupants who are still firing on us. Not only men and youths take part in the fighting, but also old men, women, and children.
The francs-tireurs have well chosen their hiding-places. Already twilight is falling, but still the fire of the enemy does not abate.
Our object is to reach the other bank of the Meuse, but, on the other hand, the troops and columns which follow us must be able to pass through the place without being attacked anew. Thus there only remains one remedy, to set the place on fire, and soon it is a sea of flames.
C. App. 44.
REPORT on the Street-fighting in Les Rivages (Dinant) on August 23rd, 1914.
The companies of the 1st Battalion of Grenadier Regiment No. 101 had reached Les Rivages in the afternoon of August 23rd, 1914, but had to be retired for about 600 to 800 metres on the road from Pont de Pierre on account of our own artillery having opened a heavy fire on this locality. The Mayor of the place, who was fetched up by me, protested that there were no weapons at hand, and that the inhabitants entertained no plot against our troops. He was commissioned to have ready, within a fixed time, bread and butter for the companies at the outlet of the place, where later the bridge was thrown over the Meuse. The companies did not get there to enjoy these, since, in the meantime, the 2nd Company had crossed over and the remaining companies were involved in the street-fighting.
When the companies, after the cessation of our artillery fire, had again been led out to Les Rivages and had been divided into commandos to receive the victuals asked for, the inhabitants began a murderous fire on the companies from all the houses and gardens and also from the hill-slopes. Inside and outside the houses, men of all ages were firing, also innumerable women and even girls of ten years of age. Here a woman was severely wounded in the breast by the inhabitants, and was bandaged by us.