The Bavarians sent me, my children, Mme. Aufiero and her
daughter to a meadow near the Pont-de-l'Etang. A general
ordered that we be shot, but I threw myself at his feet,
begging him to be merciful. He consented. At this moment an
officer, wearing a great gray cloak with a red collar, said,
as he pointed to the dead body of my child, "There is one
who will not grow up to fight our men."
The next day, in my flight to Barriere Zeller, an officer
came up and told me that the body of my dead child smelled
badly and that I must get rid of it. Since I could find no
one to make a coffin, I found in the canteen two rabbit
hutches. I fastened one of these to the other, and there I
laid the little body. It was buried in my garden by two
soldiers, and I had to dig the grave myself.
APPENDIX IV
HOW GERMANS OCCUPY THE TERRITORY OF AN ENEMY
In the first days of April, 1916, the following notice, bearing the
signature of the German commander, was posted on all the walls of
Lille, the great town in the north of France which has been occupied
by the Germans since the beginning of the war.
All the inhabitants of the town, except the children under
fourteen years of age, their mothers, and the old men, must
prepare to be transported within an hour and a half.
An officer will decide definitely which persons shall be
conducted to the camps of assembly. For this purpose, all
the inhabitants must assemble in front of their homes, in
case of bad weather they shall be permitted to stay in the
lobbies. The doors of the houses must be left open. All
complaints will be unavailing. No inhabitant of a house,
even those who are not to be transported, can leave the
house before eight o'clock in the morning (German time).
Each person may take thirty kilograms of baggage with him.
Should there be any excess over this amount, all that
person's baggage will be refused regardless of everything.
Separate packages must be made up by each person, and a
visibly written, firmly secured address must be on each
package. The address must bear the person's name, surname,
and the number of his identification card.
It is very necessary for each person to provide himself with
utensils for eating and drinking, also with a woolen blanket
and some good shoes and some linen. Each person must have on
his person his identification card. Whoever shall attempt to
evade deportation shall be punished without mercy.
ETAPPEN--KOMMANDANTUR
The threat contained in the notice cited here was carried out to the
letter. Here is an account of it from the communication addressed by
M. D----, formerly the _receveur particulier_ of Lille, to M. Cambon,
formerly the French Ambassador to Berlin:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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