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 10th August, Dragoon Regiment No. 8 arrived at Grande Rossière
(2-1/2 kil. N.W. of Nives) and there bivouacked for the first time on
Belgian soil, _i.e._ four squadrons of the regiment bivouacked in two
detachments quite close to the village. The staff of the 11th Cavalry
Brigade took up its quarters in a house. Here we found two elderly
women and a young man who received us in a markedly cordial manner and
exerted themselves most willingly in looking after us. We noticed that
during the course of the evening young men came into the house for a
short time and soon afterwards disappeared, and in the same way the
young man belonging to the house disappeared.
Towards 11 o'clock in the evening I betook myself, accompanied by
an orderly officer, to the bivouac of the 4th and 5th squadrons of
Dragoon Regiment No. 8, which lay some 300 metres from my own quarters.
When, after about 10 minutes, I wanted to return from this spot, I
heard shots in various places; one could distinguish the reports of
the sentries' rifles from those of other weapons. At this moment the
Adjutant of Dragoon Regiment No. 8 came to me and reported that he
had just been fired upon at the door of his house from a house lying
opposite and ostensibly abandoned. I at once made the 4th squadron
take up their rifles, and ordered Lieutenant Baron von Richthofen to
surround the house from which the shots had come, and make prisoners of
the persons found inside. Some minutes later the firing was renewed.
Lieutenant Baron von Richthofen received a shot in the body, and died
next day from the wound. Two civilians were fetched out of the house
with pistols in their hands which had just been discharged; we also
found in their possession both discharged and loaded cartridges. Later
in the course of the night the bivouacs of Dragoon Regiment No. 8 were
repeatedly fired at. According to the report of Lieutenant Nikisch
there were found in the houses a considerable number of pistols, guns,
and ammunition; also loose powder and quickfires, more especially in
the house occupied by the 11th Cavalry Brigade.
Signed: VON WENTZKY, Colonel and Brigade Commander.
App. 12.
REPORT of Lieutenant-Colonel and Regimental Commander von Giese
(Leib-Kürassier Regiment No. 1).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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