Part 26
On citation there appears as witness Captain of Landwehr II. Hermansen, who, after the sanctity of the oath had been pointed out to him, makes the following statement:
As to Person: My name is Richard, aged 37; Protestant; Public Prosecutor at Düsseldorf; at present in the Reserve Battalion, Infantry Regiment No. 76, Hamburg.
As to Case: I arrived at Louvain on August 25th at about 9 o'clock p.m. after a railway journey of 55 hours.
At the moment of alighting a violent fire was opened upon the station and its vicinity from the houses lying round the station. I also heard a mechanical noise, which I took to be machine-gun fire.
We took part in the searching and the burning down of houses from which firing had taken place.
Some of the houses were furnished with regular loopholes, among them also houses which, as I saw on the following morning, had flown white flags.
On September 1st, at Lombeek, St. Catharinen, near Ternath, west of Brussels, I made the acquaintance of a priest, to whom I expressed my approval of the quiet bearing of the inhabitants of Lombeek towards our company.
He said, "Yes, for weeks I have been preaching this from the pulpit, and my flock listens to me. I have told them that if they wished to fight, they should go to Antwerp, put on uniform, and obtain a rifle. The enemy is only doing his duty; his soldiers are children of the same heavenly Father."
I replied that, if all his colleagues in office had acted thus, much that was disagreeable would have been avoided both for the Belgians and for us. He did not contradict me; we remained talking a little while longer, and when I took my leave of him, he blessed me.
Read over, approved, signed.
Signed: HERMANSEN.
The witness was then sworn according to regulations.
Signed: STEENGRAFE, President. Signed: KAHL.
D. App. 43.
Present: President, FELGNER. Secretary, BECKER.
FLENSBURG, _January 8th, 1915_.
There appeared as witness Captain von Vethacke, who, after the importance of the oath had been pointed out to him, was examined as follows:
As to Person: My name is Moritz, aged 37; Protestant; Captain, Reserve Battalion, Reserve Infantry Regiment No. 86.
As to Case: I have just read Captain Hermansen's statement of December 28th, 1914, and I confirm it with the following remarks:
I know for certain that among the corpses lying in the station square there were several dressed in clerical garb. The examinations in the station square in Louvain were carried out very carefully. Each company had its portion of the town which it tried to clear of francs-tireurs. Persons found with a rifle in their hand were at once shot, but others who could not be at once convicted of the participation in the attack were led to the station building for a decision to be come to there regarding them. The witnesses accompanied them in order to give their testimony in the station square. Whatever priests were shot, were found guilty before the Court. I also made the acquaintance of the priest mentioned by Captain Hermansen at the end of his statement; he made an excellent impression on me also; he did not contradict me when I expressed my view that priests had stirred up the people and had taken
## part in the attacks. From my conversation with this priest I gained the
impression that he did not approve of the behaviour of his colleagues in office.
Read over, approved, signed.
Signed: VON VETHACKE.
The witness was sworn according to regulations.
Proceedings closed.
Signed: FELGNER. Signed: BECKER.
D. App. 44.
Court of the Bavarian Landsturm Infantry Battalion Gunzenhausen.
Present: President, Captain HAHN. Secretary, WALZ.
VIELSALEN, _February 4th, 1915_.
On citation there appeared as witness Herr Karl Dörffer, born on December 25th, 1877, at Erda, district of Wetzlar; Protestant; 1st Lieutenant, Reserve of Prussian Railway Regiment No. 3, assigned to the Railway Constructing Company No. 17, at present commanded by the Bavarian Staff Officer of railway troops in Vielsalen.
The witness, to whom the importance of the oath was pointed out, was examined as follows:
As to Person: My personal description is correctly stated.
As to Case: On August 24th, 1914, I was commanded to effect the detraining at the station in Louvain. I was acting manager in the station as well as commandant over the station. On August 25th detraining took place almost continuously; I particularly mention the detraining of the IX. Reserve Corps and the General Staff of this corps. On the evening of August 25th, at nightfall, shots fell suddenly in front of and on both sides of the station area; in this area were detachment of troops and trains. At first I did not attach much importance to the firing; but as it became more violent I went to the front of the station building.
I now saw that violent firing was taking place, particularly from an hotel to the right of the station. From the long flash of fire from the individual shots I assumed that military rifles were not being used. I know for certain that firing took place from the upper floors of this hotel, but the windows from which firing took place were dark.
The following design will indicate the position of the hotel more clearly:
[Illustration]
To judge by the violence of the firing I must assume that firing from other houses also took place.
Through officers of the Mecklenburg Dragoons belonging to the General Commando of the IX. Reserve Army Corps--if I remember right, through Captain von Alten and another officer--the news was received at the station that even the transport of the Army Corps had been fired on in the town. A high officer gave the command to search the hotel mentioned and other houses, and then to set them on fire. A number of persons,
## partly middle aged, partly older people, were taken out of these
houses, and a great number of them--but only males--were immediately shot according to martial law. It was then quiet in the station square for a long time. I would point out that I could not stand in the station square continuously, because I had business to transact in the station itself. It was therefore impossible for me to watch all the events in front of the station. At about 11 or 11.30 p.m.--most of the houses in the station square were burning--a volley was fired on us from the roof of an hotel on the left of the station; the hotel was already burning at the bottom. I stood, as it happened, in the centre of the station square with several officers; there remained nothing for us but to throw ourselves upon the ground so as to offer the smallest possible target. Orders were then given to search this house once again; in spite of this, a few isolated shots were fired during the night from the houses in the station square, especially from the houses on the road to Tirlemont, opposite the loading ramp, upon which artillery and vehicles were unloaded even during the night.
I know that, after the volley had been fired from the house last mentioned, a high officer gave orders to clear the people from all the houses round the station; a number of women and children, also old and middle-aged men, were thereupon apprehended; a few of the men were shot according to martial law, but in a great number of cases it could not longer be ascertained whether they had taken part in the firing. These persons were first housed in the station; part of them were later on transported.
On August 26th a few isolated shots fell near the station. On my request, the commandant of a battalion--according to my notes it must have been Colonel von Treskow, 2nd Battalion, Reserve Regiment No. 76--had various houses on the road to Tirlemont cleared; this officer told me that in doing so he lost one of his reserve officers. I cannot say whether there were persons of the Garde Civique among the Belgians who fired on us.
As to the persons shot--I speak, of course, only of my own observations--it had been ascertained by witnesses that they were guilty.
Read over, approved, signed.
Signed: KARL DÖRFFER, 1st Lieutenant of the Reserve.
The witness was then sworn.
Signed: HAHN, Captain and Officer of the Court. Signed: FRIEDRICH WALZ, Secretary.
D. App. 45.
Court of the Mobile Commissary Commando, 1, VII. Army Corps.
Present: President, ELBLE. Secretary, CASSER.
PÉRONNE, _December 29th, 1914_.
There appears on citation as witness Paymaster Otto Rudolph, Reserve Railway Constructing Company No. 11, at present at Péronne, who, after the importance of the oath had been pointed out to him, was examined as follows:
As to Person: My name is Otto Rudolph, aged 34; Protestant; police officer at Worms.
As to Case: The Reserve Railway Constructing Company No. 11, of whom I am paymaster, marched into Louvain on August 24th, 1914. My Commandant instructed me to arrange for quarters for the officers and the horses of the company near the principal railway station. I first applied to the proprietors of the hotels in the station square, especially to the proprietor of the Hôtel "Maria Theresa." Everywhere I was received in the kindest way. As the rooms of the hotel were, however, already engaged by officers of other units of troops, I could not get the necessary rooms. I therefore tried to find quarters in the main road leading from the town hall direct to the station, but the name of which I have forgotten. Here the necessary rooms were put at my disposal in the kindest way. In the house No. 105 of this street I found quarters for three officers. In the house diagonally opposite, the apartments of a bank official, I was also well received.
The quarters were not occupied on this day, because the company was trench-digging at the station during the whole night.
On the following day I had requisitioned vegetables, straw, etc., at Linden and Kessel-Loo, the latter a suburb of Louvain. The various farmers fulfilled my requirements in the kindest way. In the evening I returned from the requisitioning. On the way, in the suburb Kessel-Loo, male civilians, who had assembled in imposing numbers, intimated to me that the English had succeeded in breaking through near Louvain. On inquiring for the messenger who had brought this news I heard that priests had related it. I also remember actually to have seen three priests at the eastern exit of the village at about 7 o'clock p.m. They went through the streets singly, and here and there made communications to the people. As I heard the firing of cannon at no very great distance, I hurried to reach the main station at Louvain. I arrived there at about 8 o'clock p.m. At about 9 o'clock I suddenly saw, near the station, a rocket go up. At the same moment I heard violent gun-fire. In order to inform myself regarding the firing, and to have a better view, I went to a "G"-car of the company transport, which was about 30 metres distant from the station square. From the open peep-hole of the "G"-car I obtained a good outlook over the station square and towards the road that connects Louvain with Kessel-Loo. I saw quite clearly firing upon the railway train from the roof of the third house of the street opposite to the train entering Louvain. I also remarked firing towards the station square from a window on the third floor of an hotel. From a window of the Hôtel "Maria Theresa" firing upon the station square took place. During the firing, the station square and the adjacent streets, which I was able to overlook, were filled with our troops. The firing could only be intended for our troops. Our men replied to the firing. I myself fired at a window of the second floor of the fifth house of the road that is parallel to the train, from which a civilian, whom I could clearly see, was firing.
After our side had received the signal to stop firing, I went to the station square; this may have been at about 10.30. A General there had instructed the field-gendarmes to search the houses from which firing had taken place for arms and ammunition. On my report of what I had seen, a search was also made in the third and fifth houses of the street parallel to the train. In both houses suspected persons with guns and suitable ammunition were found. One of these persons who was examined at the station had cartridges which fitted the guns in his pocket.
At about 12 o'clock p.m. several civilians, among them about six or seven priests, were shot in the station square. Suddenly a window was opened on the second floor of the Hôtel "Maria Theresa," where I had received information in such a trustworthy manner during my search for quarters on the previous day. I saw a male person who repeatedly fired upon the troops assembled in the station square. Firing also took place from houses whose inhabitants had wished to signify their friendliness by flying white flags.
On the following day, August 26th, at about 12 o'clock, I again went to the station square. A large number of male and female inhabitants of Louvain were there. Among the male inhabitants who were held as hostages I recognised the bank official who was the proprietor of the house in the Rue de la Station in Louvain. I entered into conversation with him; he told me that the Belgian Garde Civique had fired from his house, as well as from house No. 105 in which I had intended to engage quarters. When asked why he had permitted it, he told me that on August 25th, 1914, at about 3 o'clock in the afternoon, members of the Belgian Garde Civique had appeared and had forcibly seized the houses under threat of death; he said that the citizens of Louvain did not wish this treacherous firing, but had been forced by the Garde Civique to put up with the firing from the houses.
At about 2 o'clock p.m., when a few of the houses in the main street of Kessel-Loo, opposite the main railway station, had been set on fire, firing took place from the other houses of this street whose inhabitants had on the previous day conversed with me apparently in the kindest way.
In my opinion, supported by the foregoing personal observations, this treacherous firing was organised according to plan.
Read over, approved, signed.
Signed: RUDOLPH.
The witness was then sworn.
Signed: ELBLE, President. Signed: CASSER, Secretary.
D. App. 46.
War Ministry.
Military Examination Office for Infringements of Laws of War.
BERLIN, _February 12th, 1915_.
Before the President at the War Ministry in Berlin, Dr. Grasshoff and the Secretary Pahl, there appears to-day, without citation, Captain Karl Friedrich von Esmarch (permanently living at his country seat, Schönheim, Post Rinkenes, district of Apenrade, at present wounded in Berlin, Club Hospital, Wilhelmstrasse 30, landowner).
The witness requests to be heard as such with regard to his observation of the events at Louvain on August 25th, 1914.
The importance of the oath was pointed out to him, and he makes the following statement:
As to Person: My name is Karl Friedrich von Esmarch, aged 40; Protestant.
As to Case: On August 25th, 1914, I arrived at Louvain as Commandant of the Headquarters of the Corps, IX. Reserve Army Corps. We arrived in Louvain by train about 6 o'clock p.m. We detrained the horses and the 1st Division. We were to march to a Belgian hussar barrack, take in provisions, and move into quarters. On the way from the station to the barracks the adjutant brought me the order to turn back because the alarm was being raised as our troops were fighting about 10 km. outside the town. The horses and 1st Division were therefore to go to the Place du Peuple in Louvain, taking in provisions there, and the riding horses were to follow on a new order. We rode to the place designated, and drew up there. In the square stood a train column. The square was therefore rather fully occupied on all four sides with vehicles and horses. Gradually it became dark. Infantry regiments marched past us; on the south-west side of the square they went in the direction of the town hall. As I had only a few Staff guards to escort the hand-carts, I asked a passing infantry regiment for a company as reinforcement. I had become uneasy as to our safety for the following reason: At first the streets were full, very full of inhabitants; towards the evening all movement of the inhabitants suddenly stopped; the streets gave me the impression of being deserted; I also noticed that generally the roller shutters in the houses were down. I obtained the company and drew it up on the north-west side of the square; I then rode to the opposite (south-east) side of the square, where the forage master stood, in order to urge him to hasten matters.
I had hardly arrived there when I heard a clock strike. I did not count the strokes, there may have been eight or nine. It was already perfectly dark. At the same moment I saw a green rocket go up above the houses south-west of the place. Shortly afterwards the sound of gun-fire came from the direction south-west of the place. This first gun-fire was followed by general firing from all the houses round the square itself; the firing was directed upon the German troops in the square. The shots came from the closed shutters; one could clearly see their flashes; holes must therefore have been bored previously in the shutters. I now wanted to gallop to the company to make arrangements, and as I could not ride through the whole park of vehicles I had to ride round them, _i.e._ round the north-eastern part of the square. In doing so I was shot from my horse on the north-eastern side of the square. I heard distinctly the rattling of machine-guns, and the bullets flew in great quantities all round me. I was severely hit by five bullets; I also received a large number of grazing shots; my whole coat was in rags. When I had fallen from the horse I was run over by a baggage-cart, the horses of which bolted on account of the firing; I was dragged to the corner of the square which separates the north-east side from the north-west side. Here I remained lying under the cart for about half an hour. During this time I never lost consciousness and I accurately observed my surroundings. The bullets continually rebounded on the pavement all round me; I noticed clearly the cracking off of numerous splinters. I also heard repeatedly the explosion of apparently heavy projectiles all round me; I thought artillery was firing; but as there was none present there is only one explanation, that the inhabitants were throwing hand-grenades on us from the houses in the square. The firing was not answered to by our troops until some time had elapsed. The firing on both sides continued for about half an hour, during which time I lay under the cart; the chain of the brake-shoe had caught my belt so that I could not get free by myself. When the shooting ceased somewhat, my servant came and released me from my position. He brought me to the place where my company was drawn up on the north-west side of the square and laid me on the edge of the square, leaning my back against the wheel of a cart. From this position I could observe all the houses on the north-west side of the square and also the first houses on both sides contiguous to the square. I noticed the following:
The company continued firing into the houses. The firing of the inhabitants gradually ceased. The German soldiers then beat open the doors of the houses and set them on fire by throwing burning paraffin lamps into the houses or by knocking off the gas cocks, igniting the escaping gas and throwing tablecloths and curtains into the flames; now and again benzine was used as an incendiary means. Colonel von Stubenrauch gave the order to set the houses on fire, and I heard his voice. As soon as the smoke in the houses became stronger, the francs-tireurs came out of their houses down the stairs. In many cases they still held their arms in their hands; I saw clearly muskets, revolvers, military rifles, and other firearms. I was particularly struck by the great number of revolvers. The francs-tireurs were to a man evil-looking figures such as I have never in my life seen before; they were shot by the German sentries standing below. Our men took great care to spare women and children, who were allowed to leave the burning houses without interference. I have not seen a single case in which a woman or child were hurt. Some of the women and children even assembled in the square round us and were very well treated by the German soldiers. Near me stood a woman with a perambulator containing a small child. The soldiers standing round were consoling the weeping woman.
I watched the scenes of burning the houses and taking the francs-tireurs perhaps for half an hour. My servant then brought up a motor-car. Together with other wounded I was driven to a hospital, which we only reached after driving to and fro for some time. It was a Belgian military hospital; I took it to be a monastery at the time, because there were many monks there. I was handed over about 12 o'clock, midnight, August 25th, 1914. On the very next day, August 26th, 1914, I was again fetched in an automobile and taken to Louvain station to be transported to Liège.
Read over, approved, signed.
Signed: KARL FRIEDRICH VON ESMARCH.
The witness was sworn.
Proceedings took place as above.
Signed: GRASSHOFF. Signed: PAHL.
D. App. 47.
Present: President, Dr. VAN GEMBER. Secretary, LEMPFRID.
WESEL, _January 8th, 1915_.
There appeared as a witness Musketeer Schmidt, who, after the importance of the oath had been pointed out to him, was examined as follows:
As to Person: My name is Alfred Schmidt, aged 32; Protestant; butcher; musketeer, 9th Company, Landwehr Infantry Regiment No. 53.