Part 8
As to Case: Up to August 16th of this year I belonged to the 1st Company of the Ersatz Battalion, Infantry Regiment No. 25. We were assigned as escort to guard the motor ambulances. The motor ambulances had been provided by the Voluntary Aid Society, and ran between Liège and Aix-la-Chapelle. One day in the period from 10th-16th August I was ordered to accompany one of these motors. We drove towards the battlefield in the vicinity of the town of Visé. In front of us the men of the Voluntary Aid Society deployed, and we followed slowly after them. From some rising ground I could easily survey the land lying in front of me. At a distance of about 500 metres I saw near a wounded German soldier two women sitting in a crouching position. I at first assumed that the women were praying beside the soldier. Hard by, three or four men were standing. One of these suddenly fired at me. I replied to the shot, whereupon the men and both the women ran away. I then went up to the wounded soldier, who was bleeding from a wound in the chest. His trousers were open in front and partly drawn back. On nearer inspection I ascertained that the sexual organ of the soldier had been completely severed and placed in his mouth. The soldier showed no longer any signs of life, but his body was still warm. The sight appeared to me so terrible that tears came into my eyes. I removed what had been put in the mouth, and buried it in the ground. I left the soldier lying there, as he was unquestionably dead.
On the same day I also found the body of a German, whose ring finger had been cut off. When I told this to the men of the Voluntary Aid Society, they gave me to understand that this was no news to them, as they had often seen the same thing before.
Read over, approved, signed.
Signed: MATHIAS KOCH.
The witness was sworn.
Proceedings end.
Signed: JÄGER. Signed: BREHMER.
App. 61.
REPORT of Medical Corps Company 2, VI. Army Corps.
BEINE, _October 15th, 1914_.
On August 23rd I went to the French field hospital through Rossignol, where the company had established its chief dressing-station. On the way a musketeer reported to me that a dead German was lying in a house. I at once inspected the corpse and ascertained that, in addition to a wound, which was not mortal, the head of the soldier had been burnt. A few metres away stood a half-filled bottle of petroleum, and another half-filled with benzin. One could clearly see from this that the inhabitants had dragged the wounded soldier into the house, saturated his head with petroleum and benzin, and then set it alight.
On the night of 24th-25th of August I drove in an automobile from Rossignol to Florenville, where a number of inhabitants were standing by a house engaged in a lively conversation. When, about 100 metres farther on from this point, I stopped my automobile in order to ascertain the direction from a signpost, I was suddenly exposed to a vigorous fire from these people behind me, so that it was only by driving off very quickly that I was able to save my life.
Signed: STERNBERG, Captain and Commander of Medical Corps Company 2, VI. Army Corps.
App. 62.
STATEMENT of Senior Staff-Surgeon Dr. Kiefmann, Medical Corps, VIII. Army Corps.
Proceedings at Field Hospital No. 3, VIII. Army Corps.
ST. MOREL, _October 15th, 1914_.
There appears as witness Dr. Beyer, who states that Lieutenant Erich Koch, 8th Company, Infantry Regiment No. 160, who had received a severe wound in the perinæum, with laceration of the rectum, informed him after receiving his wound he had been stripped naked by the civilians, robbed, and thrown into a cesspool.
Lieutenant Koch was in fact naked, and only wrapped in a blanket when brought into the hospital.
Read over, approved, signed.
Signed: Dr. BEYER, Staff-Surgeon.
There appears as witness Acting-Sergeant-Major (Medical Service) Joseph Steffen, who states in reference to the case in hand:
I can only confirm the statement of Staff-Surgeon Beyer. Lieutenant Koch gave me the same information, and added the fact that the women also had taken part in this outrage. Koch was wounded near Porcheresse.
Read over, approved, signed.
Signed: STEFFEN, Acting-Sergeant-Major, Medical Service.
Proceedings took place as above.
Signed: Dr. KIEFMANN, Senior Surgeon and Chief Staff-Surgeon.
App. 63.
MILITARY COURT EXAMINATION of Landwehr soldier Alwin Chaton, Reserve Infantry Regiment No. 78.
BRAUNSCHWEID, _October 31st, 1914_. (The Hospital "Konzerthaus.")
Gericht der stellvertretenden XL. Brigade.
Present: President of the Court, Dr. BEHME. Secretary, DE BOER.
There appeared to-day as witness the Landwehr soldier Alwin Chaton, 5th Company, Reserve Infantry Regiment No. 78, who made the following statement:
My name is Alwin Chaton. I am 32 years old; Protestant; book-keeper at Emmerstadt, near Helmstadt.
During the street-fighting in Charleroi, in the course of the fight we passed the main street and reached a side-street leading from the main street. When I had come to the street corner and fired down the side-street, I saw some 50 to 60 paces in front of me a German dragoon lying in the street. Three civilians were near him, one of whom was bending over the soldier, who was still kicking with his legs. I fired among them and hit the last of the three civilians; the others ran away. On coming nearer I saw that the civilian I had shot had a long bloodstained knife in his hand. The right eye of the German dragoon had been cut out, and the left one as well, though this was still hanging from the side of his head. From the nature of the wounds there could be no doubt that the eyes had been cut out, not in the fighting, but by sheer malice. A great deal of smoke came from the body of the dragoon. He had no doubt been soaked in inflammable liquid and set alight.
Later on I saw other bodies burning, though there was no sort of fire in the vicinity; these also must have been set alight.
Read over, approved, signed.
Signed: ALWIN CHATON.
The witness was thereupon sworn.
Signed: BEHME. Signed: DE BOER.
App. 64.
MILITARY COURT EXAMINATION of Acting-Sergeant-Major Weinreich, Infantry Regiment No. 20.
Court of the 6th Infantry Division.
Present: Deputy-President of the Court, SCHMETZER. Secretary, HÄNSE.
URSEL, _November 10th, 1914_.
There appears as witness Acting-Sergeant-Major Weinreich, Machine-gun Company, Infantry Regiment No. 20, who, after the importance of the oath had been pointed out to him, made the following statement:
As to Person: My name is Adolf Weinreich. I am 32 years of age; Protestant.
As to Case: One day in the middle of August this year, I proceeded with the Company Transport, behind the company, which was taking part in the fight. At the entrance of Neer-Linter I saw a German hussar lying in the house covered with a sack. I dismounted from my horse, lifted the sack, and noticed that the hussar was dead. His face was covered all over with blood, the eye cavities were bored out, the eyeballs themselves had been completely cut away and had disappeared. The coat was torn open, the breast exposed, and showed marks of some twenty stabs. I covered the corpse again with the sack.
Read over, approved, signed.
Signed: ADOLF WEINREICH.
The witness was hereupon sworn.
Signed: SCHMETZER. Signed: HÄNSE.
App. 65.
Herzogliches Amtsgericht.
Present: Oberamtsrichter Dr. SCHILLING, Judge. HORNIG, Secretary.
BLANKENBURG (HARTZ), _November 14th, 1914_.
There appeared as witness Fusilier Paul Rohr, 8th Company, Fusilier Regiment No. 36, at present in the Reserve Hospital at this place; he was examined as follows:
As to Person: My name is Paul Rohr; born on August 28th, 1892, at Galbitz, near Cönnern; Protestant.
As to Case: The following deposition, which he had made before Lieutenant Reyner on October 31st, 1914, was read over to witness:
"Whilst taking some straw for camp purposes from a barn near Brussels we found two otherwise unwounded German Uhlans hidden under the straw. Both had their eyes poked out. The case, as I know, has already been reported to my battalion commander, Kirchner."
He thereupon declared: I affirm this deposition to-day, and add the following detail: The occurrence took place in a village near Brussels at about the end of August this year. The two German Uhlans I found lying dead under the straw in the barn were absolutely unwounded, with the exception of their torn-out eyes, and there exists no doubt in my mind that the wounds inflicted, when their eyes were destroyed, were the sole cause of their death.
Read over, approved, signed.
Signed: PAUL ROHR.
After the witness had been admonished as to the importance of the oath, he was duly sworn.
Signed: Dr. SCHILLING. Signed: HORNIG.
App. 66.
MILITARY EXAMINATION of Captain Troeger, Reserve Infantry Regiment No. 204.
Ministry of War.
Military place of examination concerning violations of the Laws of War.
Present: Kriegsgerichtzrat, Dr. LINDE, Judge. PFITZNER, Secretary.
BERLIN, _November 24th, 1914_.
There appeared as witness Captain Troeger, Reserve Infantry Regiment No. 204, who stated:
As to Person: My name is Hans Troeger; 45 years old; Protestant.
As to Case: On the march from Ghent to Thourout, two volunteers of Reserve Infantry Regiment No. 203, who had collapsed from exhaustion, were mutilated by Belgian villagers, their ears and noses were cut off, their stomachs slit open, and one of them had his skull fractured by the heel of a boot. This fact was made known to us amongst others by the commanding officer of the company, Captain zur Nieden, to whose company the two volunteers belonged.
The following is another case, which took place at Cessen-Kappel:
Non-commissioned Officer Schnitzer, 5th Company, Reserve Regiment No. 204, reported to me on October 26th or 27th that he had found a mutilated Prussian dragoon at Cessen-Kappel whose ears and nose had been cut off, and his stomach slit open by villagers. The said non-commissioned officer thereupon searched the farms in question with a detachment of his men, and found a few armed inhabitants, who were shot at once.
On our march through Belgium from Ghent onwards we were constantly fired on by the inhabitants from houses and church towers.
Read over, approved, signed.
Signed: TROEGER.
The witness was sworn.
Proceedings concluded.
Signed: Dr. LINDE. Signed: PFITZNER.
APPENDIX A.--AERSCHOT
App. A.
War Office.
Military Court of Inquiry into the Violation of the Laws of War.
BELGIAN CIVILIAN UPRISING IN AERSCHOT ON AUGUST 19TH AND 20TH, 1914.
_Comprehensive Report._
The officially summoned Belgian Commission of Inquiry, together with the foreign Press, have included the case of Aerschot in their innumerable calumnies against the German method of waging war in Belgium. Neither could find enough to say in their descriptions of the "barbarous" attitude adopted by the German troops and their officers towards the "harmless" inhabitants, nor against the utter lack of ground for the Court of Punishment held in the "peaceful" town. The true facts of the matter, which have been established by a number of carefully sworn testimonies given by unprejudiced witnesses, reveal quite a different picture.
On August 19, 1914, German troops of the 8th Infantry Brigade were housed in Aerschot. The town quietly watched the Brigade Staff enter on the same day. Colonel Stenger, in command of the brigade, sent his adjutant, Captain Schwarz, in advance, in order to procure billets for the members of the staff. Captain Schwarz was received in a friendly manner by the Mayor and his wife. The Mayor suggested that his own house, situated in the market-place, would provide the best accommodation. The Colonel and his orderly officer, Lieutenant Beyersdorff (App. 1), went there in the afternoon between four and five. The relations between the officer staying in those quarters and his host were from the very first amiable and polite (App. 1).
Colonel Jenrich, officer commanding Infantry Regiment No. 140, attached to the Brigade, was made Governor of the town, and summoned the Mayor in order to ask him whether any dispersed Belgian soldiers were hidden in the place, or disguised as civilians in the houses. The Mayor replied to both questions in the negative. Colonel Jenrich warned him expressly against attacks by the civil population, for which the Mayor, on penalty of death, would be held responsible. Further, he desired him to see that the inhabitants delivered up all weapons. This demand Colonel Jenrich had to repeat twice, as it turned out that great quantities of weapons were kept back by the population (App. 2).
At 8 o'clock in the evening a particularly loud report was heard in the town, which proved to be the signal for a general firing on the German troops gathered together in the streets and the market-place. The fire--evidently at the given signal--opened from the roof windows of a corner house near the market-place, situated opposite that of the Mayor (App. 3). Three volleys were fired from this house, then the shooting ceased for a short time, after which brisk and rapid firing began again from many of the houses. The shots came chiefly from the roof window. All the doors and windows of the house from which the first shot had been fired were firmly locked, and had to be broken open by the soldiers. The house was set on fire. Several civilians, who attempted to flee, were seized, many with weapons in their hands (App. 5). Eighty-eight men amongst them were shot as francs-tireurs (App. 3).
Colonel Stenger had remained alone in his room in the Mayor's house. By a notice on the door the house was easily recognisable as being the quarters of the Brigade Staff. Colonel Stenger, trusting to the assumed friendliness of the inhabitants, had spent the afternoon on the balcony adjoining his room, where he was clearly visible to all. Towards the evening he retired to his brightly lit room, leaving the balcony doors wide open (App. 1). When Captain Schwarz and Lieutenant Beyersdorff went to call on him in the evening about 8 o'clock, in order to receive instructions with reference to the uprising, they found Colonel Stenger lying mortally wounded in the middle of the lighted room, with the balcony doors still wide open. The doctor, who was immediately summoned, could only testify to the death that had already overtaken him (App. 1). The shots fired at the Colonel occurred then at the same time as those of the first lively volleys fired from the house opposite his room. It was the case of a systematic attack upon the German troops, who, robbed of their leader, were to fall into disorder and confusion. Hence the cessation of the firing after the first volleys, when the criminals saw they had succeeded in murdering the Colonel, and its immediate hostile renewal against the apparently leaderless troops. The sequence of events is so obvious that it is only confirmed by the previous pretence of friendliness on the part of the inhabitants, and not weakened by this fact, as the Belgian representation of events would have it.
An immediate search of the Mayor's house showed that the family were not only cognizant of the hostilities, but also participated in them. Shots were fired into the street from the locked cellar, the key of which the family declared to have been lost, and it had to be forcibly opened; a stand had even been moved to the cellar window, in order to make their position easier for the marksmen (App. 1), and a musketeer was positively certain that he had noticed a shot fired from the house (App. 1). The Mayor's son alone could be held responsible for the actual deed; hidden away by his family, he was fetched out of a dark room (App. 1). But since the whole family were guilty of the Colonel's murder after having received him with such "hospitality," according to Belgian reports, both father and son were shot on the following day, August 20 (App. 2).
At the town Governor's instigation, Captain Karge, officer commanding the Military Mounted Police, was lodged in the house of the Mayor's brother, and thus he too shared the same fate (Apps. 2, 3).
According to the nature of the firing, no doubt remains of its being a case of a systematic and murderous attack on the German garrison. This was also admitted to Captain Karge by a civilian prisoner of the educated classes (App. 3). The participation of the Mayor's whole family proves that the Belgian authorities supported such treacherous deeds against the German troops--deeds that were, unhappily, only too frequent. In Aerschot this mischievous official authority led to the ruthless murder of the commanding officer.
BERLIN, _January 17th, 1915_.
Military Court of Inquiry into the Violation of Military Law.
Signed: Major BAUER. Signed: Dr. WAGNER, Member of the Supreme Court of Judicature.
A. App. 1.
Present: Lieutenant of Reserve KLAUSS, Officer of the Court.
## Acting-Sergeant-Major ROSS, Clerk of the Court.
ROUBAIX, _November 6th, 1914_.
At the inquiry concerning the events in Aerschot, on the night of August 19-20, 1914, there appeared as witnesses:
1. The Adjutant of the 8th Infantry Brigade, Captain Schwarz.
2. The Orderly Officer of the 8th Infantry Brigade, Lieutenant of Reserve Beyersdorff. After they had been acquainted with the nature of the inquiry, and their attention had been called to the importance of the oath, they were separately examined, as follows:
1. Captain Schwarz.
As to Person: My name is Carl Schwarz. I am 34 years of age, of the Protestant faith.
As to Case: On the 19th of August I was sent in advance of Colonel Stenger, who later was shot, and was commanding the 8th Infantry Brigade, to Aerschot, to find quarters for the staff. The Mayor of Aerschot suggested to me that his own house, situated in the market-place, would provide the best accommodation. I entered this house, and was received in the most friendly manner by the Mayor's wife. Between four and five in the afternoon, Colonel Stenger and the Orderly Officer, Lieutenant of Reserve Beyersdorff, arrived.
Shortly before eight in the evening, soon after I had had a short interview with the Colonel in his room, there suddenly arose a brisk rifle-fire in the town; it was directed on the troops, who were partly passing through and partly halting in the market-place. The first shots, which, according to the sound, seemed to come from a northerly direction, I thought came from the enemy's fire, who had been reported as advancing from the north. But I was soon convinced by the shots directed on our house that they were intended for us. The shots did not emanate from our troops. After a short pause, the firing was renewed with equal violence. In the meantime, the Mayor was brought to me by the men of the 140th Infantry Regiment. I had to protect him from the fury of the men. I now went through the streets with the Mayor, and through him tried to bring the citizens to reason. After the firing had died down, I handed the Mayor over to the commandant of the town, Major Jenrich.
As I now returned to the Mayor's house to receive orders from Colonel Stenger, I found him lying seriously wounded on the floor of his room. Owing to the many shots fired at our adjoining rooms, and to the fact that the townsfolk obviously knew that the commander was billeted in the Mayor's house (indicated on the door), and further, that Colonel Stenger could be seen through the wide-open doors of the balcony, I was under the impression that the fire was specially directed against the Colonel.
After Colonel Jenrich had given the command that the troops should leave Aerschot, I personally, accompanied by a few men of the 140th Infantry Regiment, made a thorough search of the Mayor's house, from which shots were supposed to have been fired. On this occasion, by my orders, the locked cellar doors, of which the keys were alleged to have been lost, were broken in with axes. In the cellar, in front of the window which opened on to the street, I found a conspicuous stand from which shots must have been fired. The window-panes were completely shattered. Whilst we were searching the living-rooms, the Mayor's son came towards us from a darkened room. I, personally, handed him over to the sentry in the market-place. Those calumnies about our doings in the Mayor's house, published in a foreign newspaper, are untrue.
The negotiations concerning the housing and catering were conducted on both sides in a friendly fashion, mostly with the Mayor's wife, as the Mayor was occupied at the town hall. It was natural that, after the shooting of Colonel Stenger, the friendly tone which had reigned should have been changed to a strictly official one, and I did not omit to show my horror at the sad event.
Read over, approved, signed.
Signed: SCHWARZ.
Hereupon the witness took the oath.
2. Reserve Lieutenant Beyersdorff of the 12th Dragoon Regiment.
As to Person: I am called Bruno Beyersdorff. I am 31 years of age, and a Protestant.
As to Case: At the hearing of the witness it turned out that his evidence agreed with the evidence of Captain Schwarz. Therefore Captain Schwrarz's deposition was read to him, whereupon he declared this evidence to be correct, and confirmed it and added a few more details.
With the exception of a few short intervals, I was at the time in question in the same room with Captain Schwarz. The negotiations concerning the housing and catering, which we both had with the Mayor and his wife, were conducted in an entirely friendly fashion.
I am, for similar reasons, of the same opinion as Captain Schwarz, that the fire which was directed on our quarters was especially intended for Colonel Stenger. In referring to this, I want to add that Colonel Stenger, especially noticeable by his decorations, sat for some time on his balcony, and could be clearly seen from the whole market-place. I also, with Captain Schwarz, left the room after the first sounds of firing, and proceeded to the market-place to restore order there amongst the troops, who had become disorganised through the firing. When the shooting began soon after, for the second time, I went alone to Colonel Stenger's room, to ask him for orders. As no one opened the door after repeated knocking, I entered, and found him stretched on the floor in the middle of the room, with his face on his bended arm, in his death-agony. As I could observe wounds, and there was copious bleeding, I immediately fetched a doctor, who certified that the Colonel had since died. I cannot give the name of the doctor. I was not present at the searching of the rooms, which took place later. There is no question of our having behaved in a rough manner in the Mayor's house, as is supposed to have been stated in a foreign newspaper. After the Colonel's body had been found, we did adopt a strictly official tone towards the Mayor's wife. On leaving the house, Captain Schwarz said to the Mayor's wife, "Your husband had been frequently warned, and you will have to bear the consequences." I also wish to add to this, that, after the firing had ceased, Captain Karge, as far as I know, gave command for at least three houses to be set on fire, from which shots were supposed to have been fired. I myself ascertained that during the burning of the house belonging to the Mayor's neighbour, exploding munition was distinctly heard. It was noticeable from the separate detonations.
Read over, approved, signed.
Signed: BEYERSDORFF.
The witness thereupon took the oath.
Signed: KLAUSS, Lieutenant of Reserve and Officer of the Court. Signed: ROSS, Acting-Sergeant-Major, as Clerk to the Military Court.