Part 23
As to Person: My name is Arnold Keuten, aged 25; Assistant Medical Officer of the 2nd Mobile Landsturm Battalion Neuss, at present in Malines.
As to Case: As far as I remember, I came to Louvain in the course of the afternoon of August 27th, and was there until the beginning of October, when the Landsturm Battalion marched off. In the course of the afternoon I heard shots in the Rue de la Station. I was then wearing the Red Cross armlet. I had the impression that shots were being fired on us from a house in spite of my visible Red Cross armlet. We moved towards the house. A German soldier of another battalion jumped out of the first floor of this house, and in doing so broke the upper part of the thigh. He related to me that he had just been pursued and shot at by six civilians in the house. Later I went to the station at Louvain. There two German soldiers, both wounded by small shot, were taken to the ward under my care. They had small shot in the upper part of the thigh and the abdominal muscles respectively. According to their statement, civilians fired at them from houses when they were standing at the station between carriages.
From September 10th to September 12th I had the care of a concentration ward in Wygmael, about 5 kilometres from Louvain. From the 10th to the 12th of September there had been some engagements in the vicinity, especially at Rotzelar and Wackerzerl. It was reported to me that there were still on the battlefield about 300 Belgians. I went there twice to take care of the wounded Belgians, the first time with a cart and a few men wearing the Red Cross. In bringing out the severely wounded Belgians from a house, we were shot at from bushes two or three times, though it was still light. On the second occasion, too, when I went to the field with two motor ambulances and two transport cars for wounded, marked with the Red Cross and carrying flags with the Red Cross that were visible a long way off, shots were fired at us from bushes; the drive was merely undertaken in order to bring in Belgian wounded.
Read over, approved, signed.
Signed: A. KEUTEN.
The witness was duly sworn.
Signed: STEMPEL. Signed: STEMPER.
D. App. 22.
MALINES, _November 19th, 1914_.
Court of the General Belgian Government.
Present: President, STEMPEL. Secretary, STEMPER.
There appears on citation as witness Non-commissioned Officer Joseph Fenes, who is examined as follows:
As to Person: My name is Joseph Fenes, aged 44; non-commissioned officer, 1st Company, 2nd Landsturm Battalion Neuss, at present in Malines.
As to Case: I arrived at Louvain on the evening of August 24th with my Landsturm Battalion. In the afternoon of the following day, at about 4 o'clock, I was ordered to saddle at once, ready for battle, the two horses of our commander, Lieutenant-Colonel Schweder. The hotel, at which my commander had put up, was situated at the right, looking from the station square, at a corner of the square. When I arrived at the hotel with the two saddled horses my commander had already left in his automobile for the battlefield. I was instructed to wait with the two horses outside the hotel. From this point in front of the hotel I could well overlook the station square. I noticed that on the stroke of 8 o'clock (German time) a rocket went up suddenly from the station square, such as I have seen them at displays of fireworks. The rocket, giving a bright light, went up from the square to the right of the station from a bush near which there are to-day graves; I was about 50 metres away from it. I only saw one rocket go up. Before the rocket went up I had already noticed that between 6 and 7 in the evening a remarkable number of the civilians who passed me entered the hotel of my commander and went up the stairs.
Hardly had the above-mentioned rocket gone up when shots were fired from all the surrounding houses upon the German soldiers who were in the station square. The shots were fired from the houses by civilians, as I noticed distinctly--it was still fairly light. I also saw civilians running about on the roofs of the surrounding houses and firing down from the roofs. The first shot fell from a window of the top storey of the hotel of my commander, outside which I was waiting, and, as I distinctly noticed, was fired by a civilian. Immediately afterwards many more shots were fired from the windows of this hotel into the street. For safety's sake I at once mounted one of the horses. But immediately after I had mounted, it was shot in the leg (hind leg) from the window of my commander's hotel, so that it fell down with me. Just afterwards the other horse also was struck by a bullet from the hotel. It fell on me, so that I broke a rib and shoulder. As I was lying between the two horses, I received suddenly from above, from a window of the hotel, a shot on the crown of the head. (Witness shows the wound; the injury is to-day still clearly visible, and is situated on the upper part of the head, approximately in the centre, so that he must have received the shot from above.) I was carried to the hotel by a comrade and bandaged by a German military doctor who did not belong to our battalion. Later on I was moved to another house, and then laid down in a place amongst some bushes. From there I saw that brisk firing was still taking place from the surrounding houses. The persons firing the shots I could not recognise because of the darkness. I declare most positively that the German soldiers only fired after the civilians had already begun the firing from the houses, after the rocket had gone up. After the rocket had ascended, wild and indiscriminate firing at once began from all the surrounding houses. A mad confusion ensued. Riderless horses and driverless baggage-carts tore past.
Read over, approved, signed.
Signed: JOSEPH FENES.
After the importance of the oath had been pointed out to the witness, he was duly sworn.
Signed: STEMPEL. Signed: STEMPER.
D. App. 23.
MALINES, _November 19th, 1914_.
Court of the General Belgian Government.
Present: President, STEMPEL. Secretary, STEMPER.
There appears on citation as witness Medical Non-commissioned Officer Adam Meschede, who is examined as follows:
As to Person: My name is Adam Meschede, aged 42; medical non-commissioned officer, 1st Company, 2nd Landsturm Battalion Neuss, at present in Malines.
As to Case: On the evening of August 25th, between 8 and 9 o'clock, I was in a ward at the railway station of Louvain. As trained medical non-commissioned officer I was bandaging the wounded there. Among the wounded two German soldiers of the 1st Company of our battalion were brought to me this evening; their names are Kloenters and Roesseler. In both cases I ascertained, and I declare this on oath, that they had been injured by small shot in the head.
On this evening I had in all about forty to fifty German wounded brought to me.
Read over, approved, signed.
Signed: ADAM MESCHEDE.
After the importance of the oath had been pointed out to the witness, he was duly sworn.
Signed: STEMPEL. Signed: STEMPER.
D. App. 24.
MALINES, _November 19th, 1914_.
Court of the General Belgian Government.
Present: President, STEMPEL. Secretary, STEMPER.
There appears on citation as witness Musketeer Franz Bongartz, who is examined as follows:
As to Person: My name is Franz Bongartz, aged 41; musketeer, 1st Company, 2nd Landsturm Battalion Neuss, at present in Malines.
As to Case: On the evening of August 25th we came back from an engagement near Bueken, and formed up at the station. Suddenly, as if by command, shots were fired upon us from all sides from the surrounding houses, as I clearly saw. Whole volleys were discharged at us. I saw how we were being shot at from a restaurant there. We brought out from this restaurant a few women and one man, who were taken to the town hall. On the way there we were shot at from the houses. On the following day, at about 8 o'clock in the morning, I was shot in the knee. A German sentry showed me his rifle which, as I convinced myself, was hit by small shot. I saw clearly that civilians fired from the houses; the shot I received in the knee was fired from a cellar by a civilian.
Read over, approved, signed.
Signed: FRANZ BONGARTZ.
After the importance of the oath had been pointed out to the witness, he was duly sworn.
Signed: STEMPEL. Signed: STEMPER.
D. App. 25.
QUEDLINBURG, _November 22nd, 1914_.
Court of the Ersatzbataillon, 5th Hannoverian Infantry Regiment No. 165.
Present: MOELLMANN, Lieutenant, as Officer of the Court. BRINGERN, Sergeant-Major, as Military Clerk.
There appeared as witness Musketeer August Zander, 3rd Ersatz Company, 5th Hannoverian Infantry Regiment No. 165, shop assistant by calling, and after the importance of the oath had been pointed out to him, he was examined as follows:
As to Person: My name is August Zander, aged 21; Protestant; born in Schönebeck a.E., now living in Quedlinburg infantry barracks.
As to Case: On August 21st I was brought to the field hospital at Louvain because I was hurt in the foot. The field hospital was situated in the barracks of the 11th Belgian Line Infantry Regiment, opposite the military hospital, and was recognisable by a Red Cross flag.
Food was conveyed to us regularly by young Belgians, who visited a school in Louvain to train as clerics, by a few Dominicans or Franciscans, who wore yellow coats, and also by a few civilians. The nursing attendants wore white armlets with the red cross.
On August 25th these people, who had given us our food, had from the afternoon onwards disappeared without a trace. The evening meal we received on this evening from a civilian; it must in some way have been spoiled, for most who had eaten of it were attacked by violent diarrhoea.
In the evening, when most were already abed, it may have been 9 or 9.30, we heard suddenly violent firing. All who could jumped from their beds and endeavoured to get rifles to defend themselves.
The senior soldier present in the field hospital was a battalion drummer (sergeant-major) from Regiment No. 27, who was lying in bed severely wounded. He tried to quiet us by saying that we were under the protection of the Red Cross; no one could hurt us. Those of us who had been able to get rifles crowded to the entrance of the field hospital in order to defend ourselves.
I saw quite clearly two or three persons sitting on the roof of a neighbouring house, who fired at our hospital.
Below at the door, where the guard stood, we heard violent firing. One could distinguish clearly between the pistol firing, carried out by the Belgians, and the rifle fire of our own troops. Meanwhile, one or other of our soldiers came to us and told us to rest quietly; the attack undertaken by the inhabitants had failed. They only said that our sentinels were having a bad time, that they were covered with hot tar, and were suffering great pain.
Finally we went to bed again. We heard throughout the night single pistol shots, which could be clearly distinguished from our rifle shots.
Next morning, between 8 and 9, I had gone into the court. Two other soldiers were near. Suddenly about ten pistol shots were fired on us, which, as I saw clearly, struck the ground quite close to me. The shots had evidently been fired from the opposite roof by pushing back the tiles. On the way to the station, which we took on the same morning, we were repeatedly told by our posts to take care, as more shots had been fired. At the Louvain station it was some hours before the field hospital train went off. During this time several pistol shots fell again at the end of our column, which were evidently intended for the hospital train; a comrade was immediately afterwards carried from the rear part of the column, where he had just been severely wounded in the legs, to the front of the train.
Read over, approved, signed.
Signed: AUGUST ZANDER.
The witness was then sworn.
Signed as above.
Signed: MOELLMANN. Signed: BRINGERN.
D. App. 26.
_Report._
On August 26th, 1914, a motor-car, provided with a Red Cross flag and painted with the sign, stopped in the town hall square at Louvain.
The night affair in the streets was finished.
The square was being cleansed from blood, etc. From Mons had arrived a vehicle with wounded.
Of these Captain Count v. Reventlow, 12th Grenadier Regiment, was carried in the Voluntary Aid Society's automobile. It was 1 p.m., sunny, raining at times. Rifle fire upon this automobile was opened from the windows of the houses.
Signed: GEORG V. ZITZEWITZ, Capitänleutnant, Delegate of the Voluntary Aid Society.
D. App. 27.
FÜRSTENWALDE (SPREE), _November 25th, 1914_.
Present: Lieutenant Prince ZU CAROLATH-BEUTHEN, as Court Officer. Sergeant-Major ALTENDORF, as Clerk.
There appears as witness Uhlan Friedrich Herzog, 1st Field Squadron, Uhlan Regiment (1st Brandenburg) No. 3, who states:
As to Person: My name is Friedrich Herzog, aged 29; Protestant.
As to Case: I was in the hospital at Louvain. On the evening of August 25th, 1914, 9 o'clock, we heard shots directed upon our hospital. The shots came from a house opposite the hospital. They were fired by civilians, whom I saw myself.
On the next day I was taken from the hospital to the station at Louvain. On the way there I saw how shots were fired by civilians upon four nursing sisters who were carrying a wounded German soldier. The soldier, on this occasion, was hurt in the foot.
Read over, approved, signed.
Signed: FRIEDRICH HERZOG.
The witness was sworn.
Proceedings took place as above.
Signed: ZU CAROLATH-BEUTHEN, Lieutenant, Officer of the Court. Signed: ALTENDORF, Sergeant-Major, Clerk.
D. App. 28.
FRANKFURT A.O., _November 23rd, 1914_.
Court of the Reserve Battalion, Grenadier Regiment Prince Carl von Preussen (2nd Brandenburg) No. 12.
Present: Lieutenant and Adjutant QUANDER, as Officer of the Court.
## Acting-Sergeant-Major TROSCHEL, as Secretary.
On citation there appears as witness Reservist Emil Getzke, 2nd Company, Grenadier Regiment No. 12, now with the 2nd Company of Reserve Grenadier Regiment No. 12, and after the importance of the oath has been pointed out, he is examined as follows:
As to Person: My name is as stated. I am 24 years old; Protestant; fireman by calling, living in Berlin, Winstrasse 58.
As to Case: From August 19th to 26th, 1914, I was in Louvain, wounded, where I was stationed with other wounded men in a school arranged as a hospital.
On August 25th, shortly after 9 p.m., we suddenly heard rifle fire coming from the street, which later on was augmented by machine-gun fire. As we could see nothing from the window owing to the geographical position of our house, an Offizierstellvertreter, unknown to me, called the hospital guard, which was stationed in a building separated by the school-court, to inquire about the reason for the firing. The guard having replied to the query, the Offizierstellvertreter ran quickly over and returned in a few moments. He ordered all lights in the house to be extinguished, and no one was to fire. On the afternoon of the following day the hospital was cleared. All the wounded, I amongst them, were conveyed to the station in a furniture van. Immediately behind the van, sisters of the Red Cross carried a severely wounded soldier. When we had arrived at the station, and were about to leave the van, we were suddenly fired on by civilians who were passing. None of the wounded were hit, nor the sisters, but a few of the Landwehr men, who were accompanying the conveyance of the wounded. They, as well as the guard at the station, at once replied to the firing. A number of the assailants were hit by rifle shots.
Read over, approved, signed.
Signed: EMIL GETZKE.
The witness was then sworn.
Proceedings closed.
Signed: QUANDER, Officer of the Court. Signed: TROSCHEL, Secretary.
D. App. 29.
COLOGNE, _November 13th, 1914_.
Royal Government.
Present: President GREEVEN, as Judge. Referendary, Dr. WOLTER, as Secretary.
On citation there appears as witness the soldier Dadaczynski, 6th Company, Reserve Infantry Regiment No. 27, who states:
As to Person: My name is Stanislaus Anton Dadaczynski, aged 31; Catholic; gardener in Stassfurt, near Magdeburg, at present in the reserve battalion, Reserve Infantry Regiment No. 27.
As to Case: When my battalion was in a village before Louvain, the name of which I do not remember, I was taken by a non-commissioned officer to Louvain on account of lung-trouble, together with two other soldiers who were suffering with their feet.
On Tuesday, August 25th, 1914, about 9 p.m., we were lying in the barracks in which I was placed, in our rooms, on the straw. Each one had by his side his rifle, also loaded cartridges. Suddenly we heard shots directed upon our barracks from the hospital opposite. Shots also came from the houses near the hospital. I can say with certainty that shots were also fired from the hospital. We could hear distinctly that shots were being discharged not only from guns, but also from machine-guns.
When we heard the shooting we took our rifles and ran from the second or third storey, where we were stationed, downstairs. As the main entrance of the barracks was covered by machine-gun fire, we could not get out of the barracks. Some of us, who tried all the same, were wounded; one fell dead. When the shots ceased for a moment we ran, thirty to forty together, out of the barracks. We were shot at from all surrounding houses, from cellars and windows.
We now stormed all the houses from which shots had fallen; I with four others rushed into the first house to the left of the hospital. We brought out five inhabitants; from the other houses, close by, about twenty men were brought out. Those who were found with arms were immediately shot or bayoneted. Some twenty men, who were unarmed, we brought to the barracks. From all side-streets near the hospital came shots. We had to rush house after house. Wherever an armed inhabitant was discovered he was killed. The house in which he was found was set on fire. I myself, together with a comrade, bayoneted one inhabitant who went for me with a knife.
Shots were fired not only from the windows and cellar-openings, but from the upper storeys of houses tin boxes filled with hot tar were thrown on us. I saw myself how a box filled with tar was thrown upon the helmet of one of my comrades, so that the tar ran down his neck and shoulder. Another comrade had been hit by such a tar box on the arm, so that the tar ran down his sleeve. Happily for them, the tar was no longer so very hot as to cause worse burns.
During the storming of the houses we again made a number of prisoners, among them women and children; these were taken for safety's sake. We brought these prisoners also to the barracks, and had to guard them there.
Shots were heard until 2 a.m., and between 6 and 7 a.m. the firing commenced afresh.
At about 9 a.m. I saw a church burning near the town hall, also many houses in the neighbourhood. The shooting continued intermittently until Thursday, August 27th, when I received instructions to accompany the convoy of captured francs-tireurs, to which were added about four hundred English prisoners, from Louvain _via_ Aachen to Cologne, where we were dismissed to the Ersatz Battalion, Reserve Infantry Regiment No. 27.
Read over, approved, signed.
Signed: STANISLAUS DADACZYNSKI.
After the importance of the oath had been urged upon the witness, he was duly sworn.
Proceedings closed.
Signed: GREEVEN. Signed: Dr. WOLTER.
D. App. 30.
AIX-LA-CHAPELLE, _November 14th, 1914_.
Garrison Command.
Present: President of the Court, Captain SCHNEIDER. Secretary, KLINKE.
On citation there appears as witness Herr Hubert Sittart, Member of the Imperial Diet, living in Aix-la-Chapelle, and on being questioned he declares the following:
On August 31st a number of women of Louvain told me there, with tears in their eyes, of the sorrow caused them by the bombardment of the town. They admitted emphatically that our troops had been fired at from the houses and cellars. One of them, the widow of a medical man, thought the firing had been done by the Garde Civique. But when she heard that wounded were lying at Aix-la-Chapelle who had been seriously wounded by small shot, she had to admit that civilians had also taken
## part in the firing. She also agreed with me when I declared that the
Garde Civique, as well as the regular troops, deserved no forbearance if they fired from an ambush, from cellars and roofs instead of in open, honest fighting.
The vice-rector of Louvain University, Monsignore Coenraets, told me that he was ordered as hostage to read out to the people a proclamation to the effect that the hostages would be shot and fire opened on the town if the troops were treacherously fired at. He had hardly read this out in one street when shots were actually fired upon the German soldiers accompanying him.
The importance of the oath having been pointed out to the witness, he was sworn according to regulations.
Signed: H. SITTART. Signed: SCHNEIDER. Signed: KLINKE.
D. App. 31.
LOUVAIN, _November 14th, 1914_.
Court of the Government-General of Belgium.
Present: President, STEMPEL. Secretary, STEMPER.
On citation there appears the witness Albert Lemaire, aged 37, professor of medicine, chief physician of St. Peter's Hospital at Louvain, living in the Leopoldstrasse, and he declared:
In the afternoon of August 25th German Landwehr (I do not know the number of the regiment) was quartered on me. The Germans behaved quietly and decently. Later on they marched out in consequence of an alarm. Later on in the evening, whilst taking supper with my family, I heard violent firing in the street. We fled to the cellar. Between 11 and 12 o'clock (Belgian time) I went once from there into the garden. There I was several times fired at, but owing to the darkness I cannot tell by whom. Previously I heard a German call out, "Louvain is on fire." I could see from my garden various reflections of conflagrations. I did not see civilians fire from houses or in the streets. Nearly all the houses of doctors and professors in the Leopoldstrasse are burned down.
On the following day I had my family taken to the hospital by two German soldiers for safety's sake. On Thursday, August 27th, the bombardment and destruction of the town was announced. I went to the country with my family. On my return I found my house burned down.
Read over, approved, signed.
Signed: Professor Dr. ALBERT LEMAIRE.
After the importance of the oath had been pointed out, the witness was sworn according to regulations. The examination took place in the German language.
Signed: STEMPEL. Signed: STEMPER.
D. App. 32.
Proceedings at LOUVAIN, _November 20th, 1914_.
Court of the Government-General.
Present: President, STEMPEL. Secretary, STEMPER.
_Legal Statement of Evidence._
In a side-street of the Rue de Tirlemont at Louvain, near the prison, the following was ascertained: