France. Armée. Légion étrangère; World War, 1914-1918 -- Personal narratives
“August 23, 1914, at Gomery, Belgium, a German patrol entered the
ambulance, fired upon the wounded, killed the doctor and shot the
stretcher bearers.” Part of a deposition of Dr. Simon, in Red Cross
Service, 10th Region.
“The night of the 22d (August, 1914), I found in the woods at 150 yards
to the north of the crossroads, formed by the meeting of the large
trench of Colonne with the road of Vaux de Palaneix to St. Remy, the
bodies of French prisoners shot by the Germans. I saw thirty soldiers
who had been gathered together in a little space, for the most part
lying down, a few on their knees, and all mutilated the same way by
being shot in the eye.” Affidavit of a captain of the 288th Infantry.
“We saw there an execution squad. Before it lay, on the slope of the
side of the road, fifty bodies of French prisoners who had just been
shot. We approached and saw one hapless Red Cross man who had not been
spared. A non-commissioned officer was finishing off with revolver shots
any who still moved. He gave us, in German, the order to point out to
him those of our men who still breathed.” Report of Dr. Chou, who was
captured and repatriated. He related the above to a Danish physician,
Dr. De Christmas.
“I saw a British prisoner killed by a sentry at point blank range,
because he did not stop at the command. Another British soldier was shot
by a sentry with whom he had a discussion. The shot broke his jaw; he
died next day.” Report of Sergt. Major Le Bihran, narrating conditions
at Gottingen.
The French Government has the note book of a German soldier, Albert
Delfosse of the 111th Infantry of the 14th Reserve Corps. “In the forest
near St. Remy, on the 4th or 5th of September, I encountered a very fine
cow and calf, dead, and again, the bodies of French men, fearfully
mutilated.”
Order of the Day, issued by General Stenger near Thiaville, Meurthe and
Moselle, August 26, 1914:
“After today we will not make any prisoners; all the prisoners are to be
killed; the wounded, with arms or without arms, to be killed; the
prisoners already gathered in crowds are to be killed; behind us there
must not remain any living enemy.”
Signed,
The Lieutenant commanding the Company,
STOV.
The Colonel commanding the Regiment,
NEUBAUER.
The General commanding the Brigade,
STENGER.
General Stenger was in charge of the 58th Brigade, composed of the 112th
and 142d Bavarian Infantry. Thirty soldiers of these regiments, now
prisoners, have made affidavits to this, signed with their own names,
which are in the possession of the French Government.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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