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
Immediately afterwards the Medical Corps, I believe it to have been the
2nd (including a certain Dr. Wild) as well as a section of the supplies
of the 3rd Division, came towards us, under incessant fire, and
informed us they had been fired upon. A Belgian battalion was supposed
to be advancing. With difficulty we managed to make headway with our
machine-gun company, and by taking a seat on the last waggon, with
the company leader, Captain Schleusener, I proceeded in the direction
of the alleged advance of the Belgian force. About three kilometres
before the town, near a windmill, we discovered that there was no enemy
at hand. I thereupon returned on foot to Aerschot. We had already,
during our march out of the town, heard continuous firing. Entering
Aerschot by a bridge, I noticed that our troops were being fired upon
from the houses. Shots came sometimes from the upper floors, sometimes
from the cellars, and one could distinctly tell by the sound that both
rifles and machine-guns were being used. The situation developed in
such a manner that our own men had to seek cover with their backs to
the houses, and as soon as a marksman was observed in the opposite
house he was fired at. I saw several of our men wounded by these shots,
and the bullets also whistled round my head. Near the town hall, which
was to have been converted into an artillery depot, stood a captain of
the 140th Infantry Regiment, who continuously ordered the bugles to
sound the "Cease fire." Evidently the officer first wished to stop the
firing of our men in order to be able to settle upon a plan of action.
Brigade Adjutant Schwarz, since fallen, met me in the market-place
and informed me that the officer commanding the 8th Brigade, Colonel
Stenger, had been shot. I immediately hurried to the Mayor's billets,
which were situated in the Mayor's house in the market-place, and there
found Colonel Stenger dead on his bed. The orderly officer present,
Lieutenant Beyersdorff, Dragoon Regiment No. 12, told me he had found
the Colonel in the room, about three metres from the window, lying dead
on his face. On the spot one distinctly saw two pools of blood, and
I also noticed that the wall opposite the window was marked by many
bullet-holes, and the window-panes were shot through. I saw a wound on
the corpse stretching from the right eye to the right ear, and also a
shot through the right breast, but of the latter one saw only the broad
hole caused by the bullet. The regimental doctor of the 140th Infantry
Regiment, who on the following day opened the corpse in my presence,
found in the passage of the breast wound a shapeless lead bullet,
which had broken up on coming in contact with a hard substance. The
bullet had torn a main artery and caused immediate death. According to
the evidence of the doctor, the facial wound was not caused by a shot
from an infantry rifle. Owing to the vertical passage of the wound,
and the nature of the shot, there can be no doubt that the Colonel was
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