Germans in Belgium.

BullyBeef

This is taken from German investigations that were translated into English after the war, each event did show multiple witness accounts be they German or Belgian.
It helps to show only a fraction of events .
Military Court Examination of Reservist Ernst Baldeweg, Infantry Regiment No. 35. Magdeburg, November 1st, 1914. Gericht der immobilen Etappen-Kommandantur No. i. Present : Military Assistant-Judge Dr. Pauls, Judge. Gladrow, Secretary.

Either on Sunday, August 9th, 191 4, or on Monday. August loth, 1914, I saw at a village quite close to Herve in Belgium a German hussar bound to a tree by his hands and feet. Two large, long nails had been driven through his eyes and his head, so that he was fixed to the tree by the two nails. The hussar had ceased to live. In the same village there was lying by a wooden fence in front of a farm an infantry-man of the 52nd Infantry Regiment. His eyes had been put out, his ears, nose, and fingers cut off, and his stomach slashed about so that the intestines were visible. The breast of the dead soldier had also been so badly stabbed that it was completely mangled.
For both these cases of gross cruelty the Belgian civilians alone can be held responsible.

Military Court Examination of the soldier Koch, Infantry Regiment No. 25. Staden, November 2yth, 1914. Divisional Headquarters. Present : President of the Court, Jager. Secretary, Brehmer.
There appeared as witness the soldier Koch, 4th Com- pany, Infantry Regiment No. 25. After he had been made aware of the object of the inquiry, and the importance of the oath had been pointed out to him, he was examined as follows :
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.


Military Court Examination of Landwehr soldier Alwin Chaton, Reserve Infantry Regiment No. y8. Braunschweid, October 315^, 1914. (The Hospital " Konzerthaus.") Gericht der stellvertretenden XL. Brigade. Present : President of the Court, Dr. Behme. Secretary, de Boer. witness the Landwehr soldier Alwin Chaton, 5th Company, Reserve Infantry Regiment No. y8,

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.


Present : President, Dr. Czarnikow. Secretary, Thiele. Allemant in France, December 18th, 1914. There appeared as witness Lieutenant Brandt of the Reserve, Infantry Regiment von Alvensleben (6th Branden- burg) No. 52, who, after the importance of the oath had been pointed out to him, was examined as follows :
My name is Kurt Brandt, aged 32 ; Protestant ; book-keeper in the printing works of J. Schmidt at Markneukirchen, Saxony.
As to Case : I can only repeat the statements which I made in my report to my regiment on September 27th.

During the firing, field gendarmes handed over to me about five civilians who bore no badge or uniform. The gendarmes reported that they had taken the persons with arms in their hands, and they also produced the arms. I did not examine the prisoners, but had them taken to the Commandant.
The owner of the hotel
was handed over by me to the General Staff Officer of the IX. Reserve Army Corps, a captain, whose name I do not know. It was the same officer who had given me instructions to destroy the two hotels. The
civilian was examined by the officer and shot about half an hour later. At about the same time two priests were shot ; when I saw them, they had already been apprehended. On inquiry, an orderly officer of the Commander General told me that they had distributed ammunition among the civilians.

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 ist 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 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 parafiin 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.




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 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 living in the station square there were several dressed in clerical garb
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.
Whatever priests were shot, were found guilty before the Court.
I expressed my view that priests had stirred up the people and had taken part in the attacks.


These are various reports that were in the press during the period of time that the above witness accounts & investigations refer to.
Nieuwe Gazet, August 8th : — De Burgerij Schiet Mee Op Den Indringer. (" The citizens also fire on the invaders.") " At Bemot the outposts had to fight against the civilians who fired like madmen at the invaders from houses, roofs and windows. Some women even took part in the struggle. A young girl, eighteen years of age, armed with a revolver, fired at an officer. . . The peasants and inhabitants kept up a regular fusillade against the Germans."

Nouveau Pricurseuty Antwerp, says h propos of the massacre of Bemeau : — " The priest of the village gives the signal to fire with a sporting gun from the belfry of the village. He was surrounded, forced to descend and shot." This is given as the account of an eye-witness.

Afatin, Antwerp, No. 225 : — " At Dormael the three brothers Sevenans who had fired on the Germans were shot ; their bodies were pierced by lance-wounds and their house was burnt down."

The Uhlans had remounted and were advancing on the village at a trot while the infantry at the same time wheeling to the right attacked the village from the flank. The population allowed the assailants to approach. The attack of the Uhlans was terrible, no less terrible the resistance of the villagers. Men, women and children opened such a frightful fire on the enemy that the first ranks tumbled one on the other. The Germans nevertheless entered the village streets, cavalry in front, infantry behind, while the exasperated populace did not cease to overwhelm the enemy with its fire.
The women poured boiling oil and water on the German soldiers who rolled on the ground howling with the pain. It will be some time before the people in Germany learn what the assailants of the village of Herstael went through ; one can, in fact, count on five fingers those who escaped alive from the carnage."
De Stem van Haspengouw, August 6th : — " The Germans entered Vis6 where they met with a vigorous resistance not only on the part of a small detachment of soldiers who were there but also on the part of the civilians. The Germans completely destroyed the town."

Another correspondent of the same paper describes what he saw al Vis4: " Young and old ran to take up arms, and if they were unable to stop the murderous advance of the German cavalry, the inhabitants at least resisted till the last moment. People fired from the houses upon the Germans, who, in conformity with the laws of war, in these cases, accorded no mercy. They penetrated into the houses from which the shots had been fired and shot a certain number of inhabitants found with arms in their hands."
Nieuwe Gazet, August 8th : — " After the German artillery had set some houses on fire, the infantry marched to the attack. This was not only directed against the soldiers, but also against the civilian population who took part in the combat. People shoot from the houses, small boys and /women bombard the assailants with stones, and even some old men from ( behind the doors fire on the advancing soldiers." ]