German Atrocities: A Record of Shameless Deeds — John Shaqi
German Atrocities: A Record of Shameless DeedsLe Queux, William
History
German Atrocities: A Record of Shameless Deeds
Le Queux, William
World War, 1914-1918 -- Atrocities
The record of German atrocities in Belgium, indeed, rivals that of Alva
in the Netherlands in the sixteenth century. The worst Balkan methods
were being pursued by the army of the pious Kaiser. At Pontillac,
between Liége and Namur, the Burgomaster officially reported that the
men of the 17th Hussars from Mecklenburg entered the place, met with no
resistance, and demanded food, which the inhabitants at once gave them.
After eating and drinking to their full, to the surprise of everyone
they rode wildly through the streets emptying their carbines at the
windows of the houses. Two Belgian soldiers who were secreted in the
village returned their fire. A hot fusillade ensued, and then the
Germans deliberately shot down all the villagers they could find. They
also seized a M. Lahaye, a member of the Communal Council, and dragged
him through the streets with a rope round his neck.
Drunken German Soldiers.
Further details regarding the wild savagery at Aerschot reached the
Belgian Government after the issuing of the official report printed in
the foregoing pages. It seems that the population of the Belgian
provinces overrun by the Germans suffered, not only from the outrages of
the troops acting under the orders of their officers, but also from
atrocities due to drunken soldiers.
In one town some of them fired their rifles openly into the air and
afterwards declared that the inhabitants had fired on them. On this
pretext the people were dragged from their houses, which were then set
on fire, and in many cases women and girls were outraged and the men
shot. At Aerschot the troops--upon whom the Kaiser and the Austrian
Emperor were beseeching God’s blessing--stabled their horses in the
church, one of the most beautiful in Belgium, while the troops were set
to work to destroy the pictures and fittings in the noble edifice. The
Germans accused the son of the Burgomaster of killing the son of a
German colonel. This was denied by the Burgomaster’s son, who only fired
to defend his mother and sister from gross insults by the soldiery.
“=For every evil and unwarrantable act committed in the Western
theatre, ample vengeance will be exacted at the other
end.=”--_Times._
The Germans, however, surrounded the town. The inhabitants were then
dragged from their homes and the women separated from the men. The
latter were divided into batches and forced to run towards the river,
the troops laughing at them and firing at them as they ran. One man who
escaped by feigning death afterwards returned and counted forty-one
bodies of his friends. Many of them had been stabbed by bayonets after
being wounded. About one hundred and fifty of the male inhabitants of
this place were compelled to watch the German troops shoot the
Burgomaster, his son, and the Burgomaster’s brother.
Women Mutilated.
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