Part 16
The battalion received the order to take up the fight against the inhabitants of the place, who were firing as if demented; for this purpose the 3rd and 4th Companies pushed forward to the street-and house-fighting, whilst portions of the 1st Company remained on the river-bank. A part of the inhabitants who were acting in a particularly mean fashion and were firing madly with all kinds of firearms, without let or hindrance, upon our troops, were shot down to the number of about twenty; amongst these were some women who, with special cunning, fired again and again into the companies from the rear. This shooting was done to defend ourselves and to scare the inhabitants from any further atrocities. About 100 to 150 men and women, also children, were seized and taken over the Meuse to the opposite bank by the first rope-ferries, partly to prevent further outrages, partly to remove them, as far as they appeared innocent, from the terrible fighting.
The fighting of the 3rd and 4th Companies in the streets lasted until far into the darkness, until finally the burning of the whole place put a stop to the general activity of the population.
The order to take up the street-fighting by direction of the regiment came through me and was detailed by me to the 3rd and 4th Companies. I, for my part, can only protest that the inhabitants of the place--men of every age women and girls--fired madly on us at a given signal, and that the remedy taken only constituted an act of self-defence. The situation in which the troops found themselves, especially at the spot where the bridge was later thrown across, deserves, in every true sense, the name of a witches' cauldron, for a worse situation, brought about by a raging force of men and women, cannot be imagined. Despite all the dreadful impressions of such fighting, I have since always admired the calmness our men maintained in the presence of such brutes, far removed from any thought of cruelty, even though they themselves were exposed to the worst.
Signed: SCHLICK, Major and Commander, 1st Battalion, Grenadier Regiment No. 101.
C. App. 45.
Present: President of the Court, SCHWEINITZ. Secretary, LIPS.
NEUFCHÂTEL, _March 2nd, 1915_.
In the inquiry concerning the events in Dinant there appeared as witness Major von Zeschau, who stated:
As to Person: My name is Karl Adolf Heinrich von Zeschau. I am 46 years old; Protestant; Major and Adjutant, General Command, XII. Army Corps.
As to Case: On the 23rd of August 1914 I arrived at the Meuse in Les Rivages at 6 p.m. All the houses were closed; none of the inhabitants were to be seen. The Grenadiers stood in column of route on the by-road which enters Les Rivages, the head of the column at the valley road. I inquired whether the houses had been searched. Thereupon a patrol was dispatched to search the houses, and an acting-sergeant-major reported to me that the houses were empty. I stayed there about a quarter of an hour and watched the effect of our artillery on the houses on the left bank of the Meuse. At this time there came along by the valley road from Dinant a number of inhabitants--men, women, and children--who were held up by the Grenadiers.
As the bridge was half finished and some pontoons with Grenadiers were at the opposite bank, my task was finished and I returned to the Commanding General. When I again returned to the bridge-head at Les Rivages there lay there a heap of corpses. I learned that shortly after my departure there had been firing from the seemingly empty houses. In the night several hundred inhabitants who had come from Dinant arrived at the crossing-place. These were well treated; many women and children were also provided with provisions by the soldiers.
Read over, approved, signed.
Signed: VON ZESCHAU.
The witness was thereupon sworn.
Signed: SCHWEINITZ. Signed: LIPS.
C. App. 46.
Present: President of the Court, SCHWEINITZ. Secretary, LIPS.
NEUFCHÂTEL, _February 19th, 1915_.
In the matter for inquiry concerning the events in Dinant there appeared as witness Captain Reserve Ermisch, who stated:
As to Person: My name is Karl Traugott Hubert Ludwig Ermisch. I am 37 years old; Protestant; engineer (with diploma), director of mines, now Captain of Reserve, 1st Field Pioneer Company.
As to Case: On August 23rd, 1914, I was with the 3rd Company of the Pioneer Battalion No. 12, and present when the pontoons of the Corps Bridging Train, at first brought down to Dinant, were obliged to turn back. We then made a detour into the valley road which leads to Les Rivages; from there I was sent out to reconnoitre the place for the bridge. In Les Rivages all was peaceful. Neither French nor German soldiers were to be seen. When I had been there about one hour, my company arrived with the bridging waggons and other German soldiers. These rounded up the civilian population standing near as hostages. In the meantime, I commenced with the construction of the bridge. Somewhere about 4 or 5 o'clock we suddenly received a tolerably heavy fire, which was directed straight towards us at the bridge-head. We were forced to conceal ourselves under the cover of the bridge. I noticed plainly that the firing came from the slopes to the right and left of the flanking valley, and particularly from a red house not far from the Bayard Rock, which stands near the north of Les Rivages. In consequence, the hostages were shot by direction of a senior Grenadier officer.
Read over, approved, signed.
Signed: ERMISCH.
The witness was thereupon sworn.
Signed: SCHWEINITZ. Signed: LIPS.
C. App. 47.
Present: President of the Court, SCHWEINITZ. Secretary, LIPS.
NEUFCHÂTEL, _March 2nd, 1915_.
In the inquiry concerning the events in Dinant there appeared as witness, 1st Lieutenant of Reserve Freiherr von Rochow, who stated:
As to Person: My name is Heinrich Bernhard Wichart Freiherr von Rochow. I am 30 years old; Protestant; 1st Lieutenant of Reserve Uhlan Regiment No. 17, now Commander of the Cavalry Staff Escort of the General Command, XII. Army Corps.
As to Case: On August 23rd, 1914, I reached Les Rivages at nightfall, and saw at the crossing-place a great heap of corpses. In the course of the evening, when the crossing was in progress and things had become quieter, we saw that some wounded were among them. These were brought away. I myself saw a girl of about eight years with an injured face, and an older woman with a shot in the upper part of the thigh taken to the women prisoners and handed over to the doctor. I remained until the bridge was finished the next day. Up till then shots were being fired again and again, obviously by the inhabitants. The houses were searched by field-police. The people who were in them were examined, and in the course of this I also acted as interpreter. Two men, from whose house there had been firing, and in whose pockets ammunition was found, were shot. A woman was not shot, although a loaded revolver was found on her, because her guilt was not fully established.
The guilt of every single person was dispassionately considered by the officers present.
Read over, approved, signed.
Signed: Freiherr VON ROCHOW.
The witness was thereupon sworn.
Signed: SCHWEINITZ. Signed: LIPS.
C. App. 48.
Present: President of the Court, SCHWEINITZ. Secretary, LIPS.
NEUFCHÂTEL, _March 2nd, 1915_.
In the inquiry concerning the events in Dinant there appeared as witness Major Steinhoff, who stated:
As to Person: My name is Fritz Eugen Steinhoff. I am 48 years old; Protestant; Major and Commander of Pioneers, XII. Army Corps.
As to Case: On August 23rd, 1914, about 5 o'clock in the afternoon, I came to the crossing-place at Les Rivages, where there was no one except an officer's patrol of the Pioneers. I went as far as the bank, and then on about 100 metres towards Anseremme. Various soldiers pointed out to me that there was firing from the bridge, and from the houses near the bridge. Wounded soldiers lay in the street. I was also fired at, and other soldiers warned me against proceeding farther.
I went back to the crossing-place, and there met Colonel Meister, to whom I reported my observations. He had the district cleared by a detachment, which brought in a large number of men and women. Of these, the men were placed by a wall at the crossing-place, the women and children somewhat farther downstream. The crossing and building of the bridge was now in progress. When the bridge had been pushed out about 40 metres, a heavy rifle-fire was delivered from the houses of Les Rivages and from the rocks above on the waiting Grenadiers and the Pioneers at work. I myself heard the whistle, on a rough estimate, of 100 bullets. A great confusion ensued. Everybody sought cover, and work was interrupted. Even the Grenadiers, who stood there in a mass, were in great agitation. I went again through a garden-plot to the Meuse in order to look after the Pioneers. At this moment the fire of the enemy flared up, and simultaneously I heard a couple of rapid volleys in the immediate vicinity.
I thereupon went back and saw at the spot, where previously the captured men had stood, a heap of corpses. From that moment onwards the francs-tireurs' firing ceased completely, and the bridging work proceeded undisturbed.
Read over, approved, signed.
Signed: STEINHOFF.
The witness was thereupon sworn.
Signed: SCHWEINITZ. Signed: LIPS.
C. App. 49.
Present: President of the Court, SCHWEINITZ. Secretary, LIPS.
NEUFCHÂTEL, _February 18th, 1915_.
In the inquiry concerning the events in Dinant there appeared as witness the Divisional Chaplain, Dr. Kaiser, who stated:
As to Person: My name is Dr. Paul Kaiser. I am 52 years old; Roman Catholic Divisional Chaplain of the 32nd Infantry Division.
As to Case: I lay in Leffe from the evening of the 23rd until the morning of the 25th August. On the afternoon of the 24th August, a Captain of my acquaintance invited me to eat a plate of soup with him. This took place in a courtyard where, besides ourselves, were the Captain's servant, who was cooking the soup there, and two or three units who were pottering about round a freight-automobile. All at once some shots were heard and missiles flew quite close over us. Everyone was naturally excited. In the direction from which the shots presumably came, stood a fairly new brick-built house, distant about 100 metres. Between the first floor and the attic was a white ledge in which one could see several holes, and from which arose smoke, evidently from a shot which had just been discharged. As I learned, the house was then searched. Shortly afterwards, a whole procession of civilians, men and women, were led off by us; these persons, as I was told, had all been arrested in the house. They were then handed over to the Cadet School, which was used as a prison.
Read over, approved, signed.
Signed: Dr. KAISER.
The witness was thereupon sworn.
Signed: SCHWEINITZ. Signed: LIPS.
C. App. 51.
Present: President of the Court, SCHWEINITZ. Secretary, LIPS.
NEUFCHÂTEL, _February 18th, 1915_.
In the matter for inquiry concerning the events in Dinant, there appeared as witness Staff-Surgeon Dr. Petrenz who, after the importance of the oath had been pointed out to him, was examined as follows:
My name is Max Georg Hand Petrenz. I am 36 years old; Roman Catholic; by profession Dr. med., Staff-Surgeon with the Commander of the Train, XIIth Army Corps.
Questioned on the subject of his examination, he stated the following:
On August 21st and 22nd, 1914, I was in Taviet; on August 23rd the mounted echelon of the General Command started off and reached the Meuse at Les Rivages towards 10 o'clock in the evening. As I learned, the village of Sorinnes had been cleared on August 22nd of all the men and suspicious characters by our troops. When I came to Sorinnes early on the 23rd August I saw a burning house surrounded by our troops. I learned that passing hussars had been fired on from the house, that the house had been searched for the marksmen without result, and that in order to smoke them out of their hiding-places the house had been set on fire. I related this when I had ridden back again to Taviet, to my billet-landlady, a woman of the middle class. She gave it as her opinion that they were certainly, some of them, once more from Dinant. She related further, that suspicious characters had been sent out from Dinant to the surrounding districts; if these did anything to the German troops, the blame was put upon the inhabitants. I gathered from her words that the resistance to the German troops was directly organised in Dinant.
Our mounted escort set out from Taviet at three in the afternoon, made a halt for some time to the south of the Sorinnes-Dinant road, and carried out the descent to the Meuse in the ravine which leads to Les Rivages. We reached this point when it was already dark. In the night there came here a large number of women and children who really wanted to go still farther south. As this was attended with great danger, because everything on the way was burning, we detained them there and sheltered them in a large empty house, just opposite the pontoon bridge, where they were safe from the danger of fire. Besides myself, a number of Grenadier officers of the (Guards) Grenadier Regiment No. 100 also looked after the sheltering of the women and children. The next morning, at my request, all the women and children were provided with warm coffee by Captain von Criegern.
On the bank of the Meuse, between the river and a garden wall, there lay close to the left of the pontoon bridge a heap of civilians who had been shot; how many I do not know--I estimate the number at from thirty to forty. I do not know who had shot them. I have heard that the Grenadier Regiment No. 101 had carried out an execution there. Among those who had been shot were also some women; by far the majority were young lads. Under the pile I discovered a girl of about five years old, alive and quite uninjured. I took her out and brought her to the house where the women were. She accepted some chocolate, was quite pleased and evidently quite unconscious of the gravity of the situation. I thereupon examined the pile of corpses to see if any more children were among them. I only found further a girl of about ten years with a wound in the leg. I had her bandaged and lodged her with the women also. The next morning she was almost without pain. It turned out that the mother of the girl was among the women who had come from Dinant. The mother and daughter were very grateful to me.
The pile of corpses was so situated that it could not be seen from the house in which the women and children were lodged. When I was getting ready at 9 o'clock the next morning for marching off, Pioneers were about to dig a common grave for the bodies behind the garden wall, before which they lay. It was in an orchard. I convinced myself personally and by daylight that only the dead lay there. Any mistake of burying alive is precluded.
Further, I will cite the following:
In the course of the night I was requested by a Grenadier officer to take a wounded civilian from a house in danger of fire into a safe place. The man had a bullet wound in the upper thigh; he belonged to the better class. He told the Grenadier officers that he had been shot by Belgian francs-tireurs because he would not grant them a hiding-place in his house. He had been bandaged by our people, and was now carried into the house to the women.
The next morning, after crossing the Meuse, we rode along the left bank in order to gain the road to Onhaye. The bank lying opposite, as well as the houses of Dinant, seemed deserted. Only in the doorway of some hotel stood a civilian who aimed a rifle at us and fired, without making a hit. When we replied with revolver shots he disappeared.
Read over, approved, signed.
Signed: Dr. PETRENZ.
The witness was thereupon sworn.
Signed: SCHWEINITZ. Signed: LIPS.
C. App. 52.
Present: Lieutenant of Reserve KLEBERGER, as Officer of the Court. Sergeant RICHTER, as Clerk of the Military Court.
ORAINVILLE, _March 17th, 1915_.
Summoned as witness there appeared Private Steglich, who, after the importance of the oath had been pointed out to him, made the following statement:
As to Person: My name is Willy Steglich. I am 22 years old; Protestant; by calling bricklayer in Mügeln, now private in the Machine-Gun Company, Infantry Regiment No. 103.
As to Case: With Acting-Sergeant-Major and some other men--there were also present some Marburg Jäger--I fetched the occupants out of a house in Dinant which had been wrecked by the impact of a shell, and set them at liberty. There were men, women, and children. They were then brought to a house where, at the instigation of an officer of the Marburg Jäger, they were protected and looked after by two Red Cross nurses.
In various houses in Dinant we found a quantity of small-shot ammunition lying piled up by the windows; everywhere the lowest pane was broken, evidently to allow a rifle to be pushed through the opening.
Read over, approved.
The witness was thereupon sworn.
Signed: KLEBERGER, Lieutenant of Reserve and Officer of the Court. Signed: Sergeant RICHTER, as Clerk of the Court.
C. App. 53.
Present: Lieutenant of Reserve KLEBERGER, as Officer of the Court. Sergeant RICHTER, as Clerk of the Court.
ORAINVILLE, _March 17th, 1915_.
Summoned as witness there appeared Acting-Sergeant-Major Bartsch, who, after the importance of the oath had been pointed out to him, made the following statement:
As to Person: My name is Erich Bartsch. I am 25 years old; Protestant;
## Acting-Sergeant-Major in the Machine-Gun Company, Infantry Regiment No.
103.
As to Case: As patrol leader I found in a series of houses in Dinant sporting ammunition lying all ready, from which it may with certainty be assumed that it had been used by the francs-tireurs before their expulsion, as ammunition for firing on the German troops.
From the streets I saw inhabitants in the cellars of burning houses, chiefly women and children, who were no longer able to save themselves from their perilous position. Through the men of my patrol, in company with the Marburg Jäger, their rescue was made possible, and the persons saved were lodged in houses which were guarded by German troops. At times the work of rescue could only be carried out with great danger to life on the part of the patrol.
I myself was witness to the fact that Sisters of Mercy, in company with German soldiers, fetched along provisions for the inhabitants who had been given protection.
I was also present when Colonel Hoch sent all non-interested persons to their homes, with the strict injunction not to let themselves be seen in the streets.
For the other inhabitants whose houses had been completely burned down, lodging was procured in the houses of the railway signalmen.
Close to Dinant a bullet was found by a hussar in the leaden centre of which a spear-shaped steel blade had been inserted. This missile was passed round in my platoon.
Read over, approved.
The witness was thereupon sworn.
Signed: KLEBERGER, Lieutenant of Reserve and Officer of the Court. Signed: Sergeant RICHTER, as Clerk of the Military Court.
C. App. 54.
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 Reservist Hentschel, who, after the importance of the oath had been pointed out to him, made the following statement:
As to Person: My name is Alfred Hentschel. I am 25 years old; Protestant; by trade a butcher in Dresden, now Reservist, 9th Company, Infantry Regiment No. 103.
As to Case: In a house in Dinant which stood at the right of the bridge I found a severely wounded civilian, an old man with white hair, who still had his sporting rifle with him. I also came across civilians farther on in Belgium who had fired on the German troops with sporting rifles. In a village beyond Dinant, which cannot be very far from Dinant, I had my right hand injured by shot-wounds. The shot are probably still in the fingers.
On this side of the Meuse, where a convent stood, we distributed bread and what else we still had (cold meat, etc.) to the population, women and children, also men.
Read over, approved.
The witness was thereupon duly sworn.
Signed: KLEBERGER, Lieutenant of Reserve and Officer of the Court. Signed: Sergeant RICHTER, as Clerk of the Military Court.
C. App. 55.
Rifle (Fusilier) Regiment No. 108, Officer of the Court I.
LA VILLE-AUX-BOIS, _January 20th, 1915_.
There appeared Assistant Surgeon of Reserve, Dr. Sorge, 1st Battalion, Rifle (Fusilier) Regiment No. 108, who, being warned to speak the truth, made the following statement:
As to Person: My name is Kurt Hermann Georg Sorge. I am 27 years old; Protestant; 1st Assistant Surgeon of the Ear Department of the town Infirmary of Friedrichstadt, Dresden.
As to Case: During the fighting of the 1st Battalion, Rifle Regiment No. 108, near and in Dinant, I was always in the immediate neighbourhood of the troops engaged. I have repeatedly bandaged riflemen whose injuries were to be ascribed to non-military rifles (shot-wounds).
Women, children, and old men were always spared. The burial of the inhabitants who had been shot, as far as my sphere of work extended, never took place on the same day. I have, moreover, repeatedly seen that bread and drink were handed to various inhabitants by the riflemen.
Read over, approved, signed.
Signed: Dr. K. SORGE, Assistant Surgeon of Reserve, 1st Battalion, Rifle (Fusilier) Regiment No. 108.
The witness was thereupon sworn.
Signed: GLASER, Lieutenant of Reserve, Adjutant, 1st Battalion, Rifle (Fusilier) Regiment No. 108, as Officer of the Military Court.
C. App. 56.
WOOD SOUTH-WEST OF LA VILLE-AUX-BOIS, _February 5th, 1915_.
By order of Rifle (Fusilier) Regiment "Prinz Georg" there appeared as witness Non-commissioned Officer Lauterbach, who, being warned to speak the whole truth, made the following statement:
As to Person: My name is Paul Rudolf Lauterbach. I am 27 years old; Protestant; by trade mechanician, now non-commissioned officer, 10th Company, Rifle (Fusilier) Regiment No. 108.
As to Case: When, on our advance with the company, from the fort we had reached the Sorinnes-Dinant road in Dinant, I distinctly saw how a woman, standing at full height at a window, fired on the German soldiers with a rifle. The woman was immediately shot by a German soldier, and fell with the upper part of her body on the window-sill.
Volleys of rifle-fire were discharged from a remarkably large house on the west bank of the Meuse which was flying the Red Cross flag.
South of the Dinant-Sorinnes road by the Meuse, at a place which I am no longer able to fix, I saw lying there the charred body of a German Jäger whose feet were bound together with wire.
Read over, approved, signed.
Signed: PAUL RUDOLF LAUTERBACH.
The witness was thereupon sworn.
Signed: LOSSOW, Lieutenant and Officer of the Court. Signed: SCHUBERT, Clerk of the Military Court.
C. App. 57.
(Guards) Grenadier Regiment No. 100, 2nd Battalion.
WILLMSBARACKEN, _January 31st, 1915_.
Deposition concerning the wounding by the discharge of (small) shot in Dinant.