The German Army in Belgium, the White Book of May 1915Germany. Auswärtiges Amt
History
The German Army in Belgium, the White Book of May 1915
Germany. Auswärtiges Amt
World War, 1914-1918 -- Atrocities; World War, 1914-1918 -- Belgium
Signed: KIELMANNSEGG.
Witness was hereupon sworn.
Signed: VON HAUGK, Lieutenant and Officer of the Court.
Signed: BEYMANN, Acting-Sergeant-Major, Clerk of the Court.
C. App. 8.
(Guards) Grenadier Regiment No. 100.
Present:
Lieutenant of Reserve BANDEL, as Officer of the Court.
Non-commissioned Officer HAUNSTEIN, as Military Clerk of the Court.
GUIGNICOURT, _January 9th, 1915_.
By order there appeared as witness Captain von Montbé, who, being
warned to speak the whole truth, made the following deposition:
As to Person: My name is Charles Sylvester Alban von Montbé. I am 31
years old; Protestant.
As to Case: It has not come to my knowledge that any cruelties have
been committed by our soldiers on the inhabitants of Dinant; neither
have the inhabitants of Dinant been ill-treated or mutilated or been
badly treated at all; on the other hand, various inhabitants of the
place who have treacherously fired from the houses, so far as one could
get hold of them, were shot.
Read over, approved, signed.
Signed: V. MONTBÉ.
Witness was hereupon sworn.
Signed: BANDEL, Lieutenant and Officer of the Court.
Signed: HAUNSTEIN, Non-commissioned Officer
and Military Clerk of the Court.
C. App. 9.
GUIGNICOURT, _January 8th, 1915_.
_Deposition._
Lieutenant Prietzel of the Reserve appeared as witness and, being
warned to speak the truth, in lieu of oath declared as follows:
As to Person: My name is Ernst Rudolf Prietzel. I am 29 years of age;
Evangelical-Lutheran; Dr. Jur. of Bautzen.
As to Case: When the 5th Company of the 1st (Guards) Grenadier Regiment
marched into Dinant it was fired on from the houses situated in the
narrow lane leading from Herbuchenne. I was myself able to observe
shots from about three windows. Grenadier Oberlander was killed;
probably two or three Grenadiers were wounded. The shots undoubtedly
did not come from the opposite bank of the Meuse, which, at that time,
was only weakly occupied by the enemy troops. On the contrary, the
shots were discharged by the civilian population. In the narrow lane,
and previously towards Herbuchenne, there lay numerous dead and wounded
of the 8th Company, which had, in the same way, been fired at by the
civilian population from the houses.
One could plainly see in the burning houses of Dinant, mostly wrecked
by our artillery, that cartridges were exploding in the flames. These
houses were unsuitable for military purposes, especially for defence.
The cartridges must therefore have originated from the civilian
population.
On the other side of the Meuse was a building provided with a Red Cross
flag. The walls enclosing this building had loopholes. The building was
therefore, despite the Red Cross flag, adapted for defence. The 5th
Company, in passing through the narrow lane mentioned above, replied to
the fire of the civilian population.
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