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 August 24th, 1914, the 2nd Echelon of Trains had assigned to it
for quarters the villages of Acoz and Joncret. The staff of the 2nd
Train Section, X. Army Corps, and Horse Depot No. 2, occupied quarters
in Acoz. On our arrival at Acoz at 8.30 p.m. there was scarcely a
villager to be seen in the street. The doors and windows of the houses
were shut. After the horses had been brought into a barn opposite the
church, the three staff officers took up their quarters in the empty
and open house of the doctor, which was also opposite the church, but
on the other side of the square. The men of the Horse Depot were still
engaged in bringing their horses into the side street. When we officers
had been in the house about half an hour, a hot fire was, as if by word
of command, opened upon the doctor's house in which we were quartered
and on the Horse Depot. The shots came from all the windows of the
houses which lay opposite, and from those of the side street, in which
a part of the Horse Depot had already taken up their quarters, though
some were yet in the street. At this moment an artillery munitions
column marched through Acoz past the square near the church. These
troops were in the same way assailed by the fire of the inhabitants. In
conjunction with the men of the Horse Depot and this munitions column
we advanced against the houses from which shots were still being fired.
At last the firing ceased. All the front doors were shut, and had to
be burst open; all the back doors which led into gardens or the open
fields stood open. When the houses were searched there were found in
the priest's house the priest himself and two men, whom he had hidden
in the loft, with cartridges in their possession. The priest and these
two men were taken off by the munitions column, which continued its
march. The houses from which shots had come were set on fire. The staff
of the 2nd Train Section and Horse Depot No. 2 occupied quarters in
Serpinnes. Next day I dispatched Non-commissioned Officer Trapp and
Corporal Bölhof from the staff of the 2nd Train Section to Joncret with
orders. At Acoz, which they passed on the way, they were informed by
several non-commissioned officers and men of the artillery munitions
column and by an artillery non-commissioned officer, that in the town
hall, which lies near the doctor's house, several cases of dynamite had
been discovered and some hundreds of guns and cartridges in packets.
Each packet bore a label with the name of the townsman to whom they
were assigned. The artillery munitions column took possession of these
objects.
Signed: LÜDKE, Major and Commander, 2nd Train Section,
X. Army Corps.
App. 45.
MILITARY COURT EXAMINATION of 1st Lieutenant Müller, Lieutenant
Schröder, and Gunner Huismann, all of the 5th Artillery Munitions
Column, X. Army Corps.
Present:
Lieutenant MAACK, Officer of the Court.
Non-commissioned Officer, SCHÜTTE, Secretary.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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