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
On the 6th of August 1914 I reached at Retinne a military ambulance
station, where the staff was very busily occupied. The character of the
station was clearly made known by its Red Cross flags, and in view of
the whole nature of its activities no doubt could exist as to its real
character. In the immediate vicinity no fighting had taken place; on
the contrary, our troops had already advanced to Bellaire. Nevertheless
our ambulance station was persistently fired upon; continually, for
the whole day long, single shots fell amongst us, coming from the
houses close at hand, and mostly, as a matter of fact, from the roofs.
The shots which fell upon the hospital could only have proceeded from
civilians, as there were no longer any enemy troops in the place. As I
could not for the time being secure any troops for the protection of
the ambulance station, I armed the lightly wounded and allowed them to
return the fire--for the moment, however, with little success, as we
could not see our well-concealed adversaries. When in the evening some
detachments of troops arrived at Retinne and were also fired at, the
houses were systematically searched. From some houses dozens of men
were dragged out. It was noticeable that in the houses were only one or
two women and no children at all, so that I formed the impression that
the firing had been arranged beforehand. The men fetched out of the
houses were without exception civilians of various ages.
Read over, approved, signed.
Signed: Staff-Surgeon Dr. REHM.
Proceedings closed.
Signed: Dr. WELT. Signed: LORENZ.
App. 5.
STATEMENT of Lieutenant Zielsche, Machine-gun Company, Infantry
Regiment No. 42.
WALDRIEDER, _August 17th, 1914_.
1. At Visé the inhabitants carried out a surprise attack upon the 18th
Pioneers on the night of the 15th-16th August.
2. Between Visé and Warsage my platoon was continuously fired at from
the immediate surroundings from about 10 o'clock in the evening till 3
in the morning. A column of army bakers retired from Visé and was also
fired at. We could see nothing of the inhabitants. When in the morning
I passed through Warsage in order to secure provisions, it was empty,
with the exception of one or two houses.
Signed: ZIELSCHE, Lieutenant.
App. 6.
MILITARY COURT EXAMINATION of Non-commissioned Officer of Reserve
Rasch (Reserve Regiment No. 74).
HANOVER, _November 20th, 1914_.
Present:
President of the Court, LINDENBERG.
Secretary, LÜHE.
There appeared as witness Dentist Rasch, Non-commissioned Officer of
Reserve, now in Reserve battalion, Infantry Regiment No. 74, who stated:
As to Person: My name is Gustav. I am 29 years old; Lutheran.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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