Part 5
On August 24th, during the advance of the Army Corps through Jamoigne, the Medical Corps Company received the order to take charge of the German and French wounded, who had been conveyed into a hospital and a convent. On entering the hospital the senior Surgeon and Commander were received by a Belgian civilian doctor. He declared that he had only been able to afford the wounded poor attention, because he lacked medical _personnel_, bandages, and provisions. Questions addressed to the Germans in hospital revealed the fact that the wounded had not been attended to by the local doctor for three days. When our senior Surgeon remarked that in practice splints ought to have been used for the wound of one of the patients, the doctor replied that he possessed no material of this kind. The non-commissioned officer accompanying the senior Surgeon opened a wardrobe and found splints inside.
The German wounded, among them the adjutant of the 1st mounted detachment Field Artillery Regiment No. 11, declared they had had little to eat. The Sisters in the convent alleged that they possessed only a meagre quantity of provisions; at the same time they informed us that women and children had been collected into the cellar after their flight from the village. These statements of theirs did not arouse any feelings whatever of distrust. After the whole of the wounded, and, at the request of the Sisters, also a few poor old folk in the village had been fed from our field-kitchen, and medical treatment of the wounded was still taking place, shots were fired at the stretcher-bearers halted in the convent garden from the tower of the convent, a thicket in the convent garden, and the roof windows of the hospital some 500 metres away.
Meanwhile a detachment of stretcher-bearers proceeded to the convent with the special order to search it thoroughly from the cellar to the attics and tower. The firing here at once ceased. In the search of the convent there were found in the cellar not only children and women, but also men, and, beside these, a particularly large quantity of eggs--three kegs holding 750 each.
Another detachment advanced towards the thicket in the convent gardens lying close by the convent. Here two elderly men were discovered standing up to their waists in a stream which flowed through the thicket. Both these men had guns which they threw into the water the instant they were caught by the detachment; the pair of them were shot outside the convent precincts.
For protection against the firing from the hospital on the other side of the principal street of the village, the Medical Corps Company went into a narrow court belonging to the convent. While this was in progress, shots were fired also from the roof windows of the houses lying opposite the convent garden and near the hospital. This fire was diverted from the Medical Corps Company by the passage through the village of a munitions column.
The Medical Corps Company quitted Jamoigne and bivouacked outside the village, taking with it the German wounded and the lightly wounded French who might still be able to bear arms. The two priests and the doctor of the village, as well as all the male inhabitants found in the cellar of the convent, were carried off to the bivouac for greater security.
With the exception of the convent and the hospital, the houses from which shots had been fired were burned to the ground. During the conflagration a great many explosions occurred. It may be assumed that in the course of the fire quantities of ammunition exploded, which had been stored in the houses.
Signed: BRETTNER, Captain and Column Commander.
App. 31.
REPORT of Captain Larrass, commanding 9th Foot Artillery Munitions Column, and of 1st Lieutenant Reichel, commanding 5th Artillery Munitions Column; also the MILITARY COURT EXAMINATION of Lieutenant-Colonel Hübner and Sergeant-Major Peschke.
EASTERN CAMP, SIFFONE, _October 2nd, 1914_.
9th Foot Artillery Munitions Column.
_Report._
On August 23rd, 1914, the 9th Foot Artillery Munitions Column was bivouacked at Sorrinnes in Belgium at 7.30 p.m. As it was becoming dark the inhabitants of the village, whose behaviour had been extremely quiet the whole afternoon, treacherously and maliciously opened fire on the bivouac. In accordance with my orders, during the afternoon a young man was seized in a house in which an old man of seventy, alleged to be at the point of death, was lying on a bed. This was done because suspicious noises were audible in the house. In the evening the column was fired at, and more particularly from this house. In the course of this attack of the inhabitants upon the column, not only small shot was fired, but also bullets, which exploded on impact.
Signed: LARRASS, Captain and Commander of the 9th Foot Artillery Munitions Column.
SIFFONE, _November 1st, 1914_.
5th Artillery Munitions Column, XII. Army Corps.
On the afternoon of August 23rd, 1914, the 5th Artillery Munitions Column occupied a bivouac at the western exit from Sorrinnes. Throughout the day no villagers showed themselves; on the contrary, the village appeared to be completely abandoned. At nightfall, about 9 p.m., the entire column, bivouacked near Sorrinnes, was from all sides suddenly fired upon by the inhabitants from the houses or from the roof windows and from hedges.
Signed: REICHEL, 1st Lieutenant and Column Commander.
BERRIEUX, _October 5th, 1914_.
Present: President of the Court, SCHWEINITZ. Secretary of the Court, LIPS.
Lieutenant-Colonel Hübner as witness made the following statement:
As to Person: My name is Max Friedrich Hübner. I am 60 years of age; Protestant; Lieutenant-Colonel (Active List) and Commander of the 1st Munitions Column Division, XII. Army Corps.
As to Case: On August 22nd, 1914, in command of the munitions column detachment of the 1st Foot Artillery Regiment No. 9, I arrived with my staff at our quarters at Yschippe in Belgium. We numbered about 18 men and 14 horses. Beside ourselves, Munitions Column No. 5 was bivouacked to the south of the village, while Column No. 6 at the other end had been actually brought inside the village. The staff was quartered apart from the other troops in the neighbourhood of the church in two adjacent buildings. The occupants of these houses, both men and women, met me in a very friendly spirit.
At nine o'clock I lay down to sleep in my room on the first floor. At 11.30 I was awakened by a noise in the house, and my non-commissioned officer informed me that shots had been fired. As I myself had heard nothing, I did not believe the story, and returned to bed. Scarcely had I extinguished the light when a gun was fired, and the shot struck against the window-panes. I then alarmed all the men, and ordered the unharnessed waggon to be pushed crossways over the street, and the Mayor and six inhabitants to be brought to me as hostages, and tied together one pace apart from each other. I informed these persons that they would be placed in a line across the street if a single other shot was fired. The wives of the hostages took care that this statement of mine was made known throughout the place. After this, no more shooting occurred, and next day I left the village without further molestation.
Read over, approved, signed.
Signed: HÜBNER.
The witness was then sworn.
SIFFONE, _October 5th, 1914_.
Present: President of the Court, SCHWEINITZ. Secretary of the Court, LIPS.
There appeared as witness Sergeant-Major Peschke, who made the following statement:
As to Person: My name is Karl Friedrich August Peschke. I am 33 years old; Protestant; a merchant of table-glass; at present Sergeant-Major of the 6th (Foot) Artillery Munitions Column.
As to Case: From the 22nd-23rd August 1914 we lay at Yschippe; our waggons had been driven to the western exit of the place. I had myself at first found quarters in the village, and found my hosts there apparently friendly. But after I had learnt that already on the preceding day shooting had taken place, I determined to pass the night in bivouac. There we came under fire about 11.45 p.m. from the direction of Corbion, at a distance of some 500-600 metres to the west of us. I at once ordered the watch to seek shelter and reply vigorously to the fire, which then in a short time ceased. After about a quarter of an hour the firing recommenced, and, indeed, more actively than before. When I myself with four men advanced towards our assailants they fled in the direction of Corbion. When we reached the hedge from behind which firing had taken place our assailants were already from 100-200 metres away. I recognised unmistakably that these persons were civilians, and not soldiers.
Read over, approved, signed.
Signed: PESCHKE.
The witness was sworn.
Signed: SCHWEINITZ. Signed: LIPS.
App. 32.
REPORT of Senior Staff-Surgeon Kaiser, Surgeon-in-Chief, Field Hospital No. 2, XII. Army Corps.
AMIFONTAINE, _October 3rd, 1914_.
Field Hospital No. 2 of the XII. Army Corps, posted at Sorinnes was, on the evening of the following day, between 7 and 8 o'clock, fired upon by armed inhabitants from the park of the castle. The shots came from the thicket immediately behind the castle courtyard. The fire was aimed at the _personnel_ of the hospital, who were engaged in cooking in a large house next to the park. As I myself, with hospital inspector Voigt, entered the park in order to see after the cooking, we were fired at.
Signed: Dr. KAISER, Senior Staff-Surgeon and Surgeon-in-Chief.
App. 33.
REPORT of Senior Staff-Surgeon Esche, Field Hospital 7, No. 73, N. Army Corps.
On August 24th, towards 6 p.m., a column on the march was at Biesme fired upon by inhabitants from the houses of the village. A detachment of some 50 men of Infantry Regiment No. 164, which was guarding 216 prisoners in the castle garden in which the Field Hospital No. 7 was posted, moved out in order to restore quiet, while for the time being lightly wounded men undertook the guarding of the prisoners. Sergeant Kortebein and two drivers of Field Hospital No. 7, Schmidt and Dietrich, saw shots fired from two of the houses.
According to the statement of the lady occupying the castle of Gougnies, in which the medical officers and officials of the field hospital were quartered, the _Conseiller provinciel_ at Gougnies, Adelin Piret, had distributed to the inhabitants the weapons stored up at the Mairie. Shots were fired from the village at a column marching through it.
Signed: ESCHE, Senior Staff-Surgeon and Surgeon-in-Chief.
App. 34.
REPORT of 1st Lieutenant Balterman, commanding Military Pack Column No. 6, X. Army Corps, 1st Train Division of the X. Army Corps.
On August 23rd, 1914, at Le Roux, Military Park Column No. 6 of the X. Army Corps was fired at several times from a house. The assailants escaped. On August 24th the column was fired upon at Biesme from the flanks and the rear. Moreover, a side street was closed against us by some twelve armed civilians. These armed civilians were shot and several houses burnt down.
On August 24th the column was exposed to a very hot fire at Lanesse and Somzée. A number of civilians were shot and several houses burnt down.
Signed: BATTERMANN, 1st Lieutenant and Column Commander.
App. 35.
MILITARY COURT EXAMINATION of Lieutenant Henry Müller attached to the Telephone Section of the XII. Army Corps.
GUIGNICOURT, _October 9th, 1914_.
Present: President of the Court, SCHWEINITZ. Secretary, LIPS.
There appeared as witness Lieutenant of Reserve Müller, and was examined as follows:
As to Person: My name is Johannes Henry Müller. I am a student of physics; 28 years of age; Protestant; Lieutenant of Reserve attached to the Telephone Section of the XII. Army Corps.
As to Case: The following statement, dated October 7th, was read over to the witness:
On August 22nd there was an interruption in the telephone connection to Conneaux. Corporal Lorenze and another cyclist were dispatched on bicycles to remove the cause of this interruption. The two cyclists were fired upon at close quarters in front of a wood. The search of the farm, carried out by Lieutenant Müller (Telephone Section XII.), with a platoon of infantry, proved to be without result. According to the unanimous reports of soldiers, who were met on the way, a number of civilians came out of the wood immediately after the shots had been fired. A further search was set on foot, and the telephone cable was found to be cut right through at the place where the shots had been fired.
The witness thereupon made the following statement:
I am the Lieutenant Müller mentioned above. I was quartered in the castle of Conneaux; the little wood lay about 400 metres away from the castle. After the shots had been fired, the cyclists at once returned to me. Within a few minutes of their arrival the pursuit could already be set on foot, because the platoon of infantry mentioned in my report was ready at hand for employment as an escort. Only for this reason is it possible to furnish a definite statement as to the time and place when the civilians were met in the road lying behind.
The men who fired had only one covered line of retreat, _i.e._ a road not under our observation, which I afterwards used in my pursuit. All the soldiers whom I met on this road gave a nearly unanimous description of some eight or ten civilians whom they had seen quickly running away. The approach of nightfall prevented their capture.
Read over, approved, signed.
Signed: JOHANNES HENRY MÜLLER, Lieutenant of Reserve.
The witness was sworn.
Signed: SCHWEINITZ. Signed: LIPS.
App. 36.
MILITARY COURT EXAMINATION of Sergeant Ebers, 3rd Guard Field Artillery Regiment.
BERLIN, _November 12th, 1914_.
Proceedings held at the barracks of the 3rd Guard Field Artillery Regiment.
There appeared after citation Sergeant of Landwehr II, Georg Ebers, office assistant in the chief office of the Great Berlin Tramways, at this time attached to the 4th Reserve Battery, 3rd Guard Field Artillery Regiment. The witness, being duly sworn on oath, made the following statement:
On August 23rd, 1914, when non-commissioned officer attached to the 5th Battery, 1st Guard Reserve Field Artillery Regiment, I was wounded in the neighbourhood of Namur. On the next day, August 24th, I was brought to the 2nd Field Hospital, XI. Army Corps, which occupied the convent at Champion, near Namur. On the evening of this day, when everything was already quiet, there commenced at 10 o'clock a general fusillade. The window-panes were shot through, and we noticed the flash of the guns from the houses lying opposite. I myself in some ten cases saw civilians firing upon us from windows and skylights in three houses lying opposite to the wings of the convent. When the firing began, the soldiers of the medical corps and the lightly wounded, of whom I was one, assembled round the doctor in the corridor. We next looked for the convent Sisters, who had disappeared, and found them hidden in the cellar. We brought them into our midst and betook ourselves to the main entrance with the intention, of making a sally. Meanwhile a Belgian and a French doctor, both of whom were prisoner-inmates of the hospital, advanced to the door and there addressed the population in the hope of quieting them. The firing thereupon diminished; but as we entered the street in order to search the village with the aid of men belonging to the munitions column encamped in the vicinity, the firing began afresh and continued till about 11 o'clock in the evening. At night, about 10, houses from which shots had come were set on fire. At daybreak we ascertained that the outside walls of the convent showed numerous marks of shot. Further, we found in a house occupied by a priest, lying opposite the chief entrance of the convent, about 40 cases of dynamite and some 30 cases of cartridges. I was present, and saw with my own eyes how our artillerymen ascertained the number and contents of the cases.
Read over, approved, signed.
Signed: GEORG EBERS.
Proceedings took place as above.
Signed: GURADZE, Lieutenant of Landwehr Artillery II. and Officer of the Court.
App. 37.
MILITARY COURT EXAMINATION of Acting-Sergeant-Major Schulze, Corporal Spans, and the Grenadiers Wenzel, Kachel, Pfeiffer, Wittstadt, and Wilhelmy, all of Infantry Regiment No. 93.
Proceedings in BERLIN, _September 18th, 1914_.
There appeared as witnesses Acting-Sergeant-Major Schulze, 9th Company, Corporal Spans, 12th Company, the Grenadiers Wenzel, 5th, Kachel, 9th, Pfeiffer and Wittstadt, 12th, and Wilhelmy, 5th Company, Infantry Regiment No. 93, and made the following statements in the official deposition:
On August 24th, 1914, we were wounded inmates, together with Belgian and French wounded, of the Convent of Champion, which was arranged as a hospital. After the withdrawal of our troops, there remained on the evening of August 24th only a Light Munitions Column in the direct neighbourhood of the convent. No sentries were posted.
Towards 10 o'clock in the evening a hot fire was suddenly opened on the main entrance and windows of the convent. I, Acting-Sergeant-Major Schulze, was awaked by the shots, and proceeded to the main door, and there heard the whistle of bullets as they passed. I then returned to fetch my weapons. When I again reached the exit, the Light Munitions Column had already commenced operations. Previous to this, as Grenadiers Wilhelmy and Wenzel had heard, the Belgian doctor, who was also an inmate of the convent, had gone into the courtyard and addressed to the shooters concealed from view a demand that they should cease fire. As the doctor, however, re-entered the convent, the firing continued.
The Light Munitions Column now cleared the courtyard and its surroundings, captured several francs-tireurs, who were proved to have formed the firing-party, carried out a search of the neighbouring houses, made absolutely certain that the shots had come from these, and then, as punishment, set the houses on fire.
We may also observe that on August 25th a search of all the houses in the village was undertaken, in the course of which several cases of dynamite and ammunition were discovered in the house of the priest. The dynamite was rendered harmless by the artillerymen of the Light Munitions Column. The priest was left for two days under guard by the Light Munitions Column, and then once more set at liberty.
Read over, approved, signed.
Signed: SCHULZE, SPANS, WENZEL, KACHEL, PFEIFFER, WITTSTADT, WILHELMY.
The proceedings took place as above.
Signed: HILSMANN, Lieutenant and Adjutant, Reserve Battalion, Reserve Infantry Regiment No. 93.
## Acting-Sergeant-Major Schulze, together with Corporal Spans and the
soldiers Kachel and Wittstadt, came before the Court after citation, and were to-day sworn to the preceding declaration.
BERLIN, _November 11th, 1914_.
Officer of the Court:
Signed: HILSMANN, Lieutenant and Adjutant.
Secretary of the Court:
Signed: JUMPERTS, Non-commissioned Officer of Landwehr.
App. 38.
STATEMENT of Major Heltzer, 18th Reserve Hussar Regiment and Leader of the Heavy Baggage, 32nd Infantry Division.
On the early afternoon of August 25th, 1914, the Heavy Baggage of the staff, 32nd Infantry Division, after a considerable halt at the S.W. exit of the village of Anthée, was in the act of getting ready to move off. Very suddenly a vigorous fire was opened upon it on several sides from houses and from a thicket in the vicinity.
All the men of the divisional baggage were equipped with rifles and sent ahead through the houses, in order to protect the waggons as they moved off. Later on, a detachment of infantry arrived on the scene, which occupied the village and relieved our men.
Of this infantry detachment half a platoon was assigned to act as escort of the Heavy Baggage.
2. When shortly afterwards the head of the baggage column reached the neighbouring village of Rosée, here, too, it was assailed by a vigorous fire from houses and gardens and from a neighbouring copse. I ordered a search to be made of a farm standing on the road from which an extremely hot fire had previously come. Inside were found a man, a woman, and two half-grown boys. The man and the woman were shot while attempting to escape.
No Belgian or French troops of any kind were present either in Anthée or Rosée.
The attacks on our troops were always made from ambush, and gave one the appearance of a general and concerted co-operation; they were usually preceded by a shot, fired as a signal.
Signed: HELTZER.
App. 39.
STATEMENT of 1st Lieutenant Stiemcke, commanding Military Train Column 7, X. Army Corps, attached to Train Section 1, X. Army Corps.
On August 26th, 1914, when the column, in conjunction with the 2nd Echelon, approached the village of Silenrieux, it was immediately fired upon by members of the civilian population from the church tower. It was therefore necessary for our riflemen to advance against the place. When these accordingly replied to the fire, shooting took place from a number of houses in the village.
Signed: STIEMCKE, 1st Lieutenant and Column Commander.
App. 40.
STATEMENT of 1st Lieutenant Schumann, commanding Military Train Column No. 4, X. Army Corps, attached to Train Division No. 1, X. Army Corps.
On the night of 21st-22nd August, 1914, the Military Train Columns Nos. 1 and 4 bivouacked in front of Fleurus. A soldier standing at his post was dangerously wounded in his ear by a shot fired by a civilian, who had crept up under cover of a straw stack. The civilian escaped in the darkness.
On August 26th, 1914, the column proceeded on its march to Verguies through the village of Silenrieux. The inhabitants met our troops on the march in a kindly and well-disposed manner. At the exit of the village towards Verguies the column was forced to halt for some time. At this point the officers of the column, which was halting in front of the church, noticed that the church roof was partially uncovered on the side next to the street. The village itself did not show any signs of damage in the case of the houses lying on the other main street. When the advance of the column was resumed, the last section, as it passed the church and the houses lying near it, was suddenly fired upon. To meet this surprise attack the riflemen of the column were deployed and opened fire upon the church and the houses from which the shots had come.
As at least 30 to 40 shots were fired from the church tower, it is impossible that this could have happened without the knowledge of the priest. The surprise attack gave one the impression of having been thoroughly prepared in advance.
Signed: SCHUMANN, Ist Lieutenant and Commander.
App. 41.
STATEMENT of Lieutenant Deule, Telephone Section, X. Army Corps.