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
Lively firing proceeded from a house obliquely opposite the present
commando, Rue de la Station, No. 120. Just in front of this house, No.
120, two officers of high rank and several soldiers passed, hurrying in
the direction of the station on account of the violent firing. I can
state with certainty that the officers and soldiers, who went along
the Rue de la Station during the time that I passed from the town hall
to the railway, did not fire. Accordingly, it is certain that while
the German soldiers did not fire, the inhabitants fired on us German
officers and soldiers from their windows in the Rue de la Station on
the night of August 25th to 26th, at between 11 and 12 o'clock, and,
particularly that when we passed the house No. 120, Rue de la Station,
I saw myself that a murderous fire was directed upon us officers and
soldiers from the second floor of this house. That we, or some of us,
were not killed, I can only explain by the fact that the officers and
soldiers ran along on the same side of the street from which the firing
took place, and that, moreover, it was dark.
A few minutes later I met, near the Monument, the commissariat
Commandant, Major v. Manteuffel, with the Belgian president of the
Red Cross, the prior of the Dominican Monastery, and the old priest
of the town. We four or five all saw the shot soldier and, a few
steps farther, the old Fischbach lying shot in front of the Monument.
I assumed that the comrades of the shot soldier, who had seen the
firing from the house of Fischbach upon their comrade, had immediately
carried out this punishment on the owner of the house. I then joined
the Commandant with his group of eight soldiers and the three hostages.
The Commandant went with his soldiers and the three hostages through
the main streets of the town, and the Father Prior announced in a
loud voice in Flemish and French that no Belgians should fire upon
German soldiers, otherwise the hostages would have to be shot and the
town would have to pay a fine of twenty millions, and furthermore the
houses, from which German soldiers had been fired at, would be burnt.
From this statement of mine, which I can conscientiously swear to, it
can be clearly seen that on the night of August 25th to 26th, and also
on the forenoon of August 26th, the inhabitants fired repeatedly and
frequently upon German officers and German soldiers without any cause,
that is to say, without a German officer or a German soldier having
first fired upon the inhabitants.
Finally, I wish to add that during those days I saw myself a 1st
Surgeon, a Captain, and a Landsturm soldier wounded by small-shot, the
two former in the face; I treated the Landsturm soldier myself; he had
shot-wounds in the forehead, on the right hand, and the right thigh. I
also treated a fourth wounded, a Landsturm soldier with shot-wounds in
the thigh.
Read over, approved, signed.
Signed: Dr. GEORG BERGHAUSEN.
The witness was then sworn.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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