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
As to Case: Up to August 16th of this year I belonged to the 1st
Company of the Ersatz Battalion, Infantry Regiment No. 25. We were
assigned as escort to guard the motor ambulances. The motor ambulances
had been provided by the Voluntary Aid Society, and ran between Liège
and Aix-la-Chapelle. One day in the period from 10th-16th August I
was ordered to accompany one of these motors. We drove towards the
battlefield in the vicinity of the town of Visé. In front of us the
men of the Voluntary Aid Society deployed, and we followed slowly
after them. From some rising ground I could easily survey the land
lying in front of me. At a distance of about 500 metres I saw near a
wounded German soldier two women sitting in a crouching position. I at
first assumed that the women were praying beside the soldier. Hard by,
three or four men were standing. One of these suddenly fired at me. I
replied to the shot, whereupon the men and both the women ran away. I
then went up to the wounded soldier, who was bleeding from a wound in
the chest. His trousers were open in front and partly drawn back. On
nearer inspection I ascertained that the sexual organ of the soldier
had been completely severed and placed in his mouth. The soldier showed
no longer any signs of life, but his body was still warm. The sight
appeared to me so terrible that tears came into my eyes. I removed what
had been put in the mouth, and buried it in the ground. I left the
soldier lying there, as he was unquestionably dead.
On the same day I also found the body of a German, whose ring finger
had been cut off. When I told this to the men of the Voluntary Aid
Society, they gave me to understand that this was no news to them, as
they had often seen the same thing before.
Read over, approved, signed.
Signed: MATHIAS KOCH.
The witness was sworn.
Proceedings end.
Signed: JÄGER. Signed: BREHMER.
App. 61.
REPORT of Medical Corps Company 2, VI. Army Corps.
BEINE, _October 15th, 1914_.
On August 23rd I went to the French field hospital through Rossignol,
where the company had established its chief dressing-station. On the
way a musketeer reported to me that a dead German was lying in a house.
I at once inspected the corpse and ascertained that, in addition to a
wound, which was not mortal, the head of the soldier had been burnt. A
few metres away stood a half-filled bottle of petroleum, and another
half-filled with benzin. One could clearly see from this that the
inhabitants had dragged the wounded soldier into the house, saturated
his head with petroleum and benzin, and then set it alight.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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