France. Armée. Légion étrangère; World War, 1914-1918 -- Personal narratives
At Bonville, in a barn, a German officer shot in the eye nine wounded
French soldiers, who, lying stretched out, were unable to move.
At Montigny le Titcul, the Germans discovered M. Vidal dressing the
wounds of a French soldier, L. Sohier, who was shot in the head. M.
Vidal was shot at sight, then the wounded man was killed.
At Nary, they compelled twenty-five women to march parallel with them as
a shield against the French fire.
At Malinas, six German soldiers, who had captured five young girls,
placed the girls in a circle about them when attacked.
At Hongaerdi they killed the priest.
At Erpe, the Germans forced thirty civilians, one only thirteen years
old, to march ahead, while, hidden among the crowd were German soldiers
and a machine gun.
At Ouen-Sur-Morin, on Sept. 7, 1914, the Death’s Head Huzzars, the Crown
Prince’s favorite regiment, drove all the civilians into the Chateau,
then, sheltered by those innocents, they told the English, “Shoot away.”
At Parchim, where 2,000 civilians, French prisoners, were interned, two
prisoners, hungry, demanding food, were clubbed to death with the butt
end of rifles, while the young daughter of one of them was immediately
given eight days “mis au poteau.”
At Gerberviller, at the home of Lingenheld, they searched for his son, a
stretcher bearer of the Red Cross, tied his hands, led him into the
street and shot him down. Then they poured oil on the body and roasted
it. Then the father, of 70 years, was executed, along with fourteen
other old men. More than fifty were martyred in this commune alone.
Sister Julia, Superior of the Hospital Gerberviller, reports: “To break
into the tabernacle of the Church of Gerberviller the enemy fired many
shots around the lock, the interior of the ciborium was also
perforated.”
Statement of Mlle. ——, tried and acquitted for the murder of her infant,
in Paris.
“At Gerberviller, I worked in the hospital. Going to the church one
night, three German hospital stewards caught and assaulted me. I did not
understand their language. I thought they were men. I did not know they
were brutes.
“Yes, I killed the child; I could not bear to feel myself responsible
for bringing anything into the world made by the workings of a German.”
In Belgium alone, more than 20,000 homes have been pillaged and burned.
More than 5,000 civilians, mostly old men, women and children, with
fifty priests and one hundred and eighty-seven doctors, have been
murdered.
At Timines, 400 civilians were murdered.
At Dinant, more than 600 were martyred, among them seventy-one women, 34
old men, more than 70 years of age, six children of from five to six
years of age, eleven children less than five years. The victims were
placed in two ranks, the first kneeling, the second standing, then shot.
The foregoing statements, vouched for by the most responsible
representative men in and near the invaded district, are some of the
cases continually being brought to public attention.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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