The German Fury in Belgium: Experiences of a Netherland Journalist during four months with the German Army in BelgiumMokveld, L. (Lambertus)
History
The German Fury in Belgium: Experiences of a Netherland Journalist during four months with the German Army in Belgium
Mokveld, L. (Lambertus)
Belgium -- History -- German occupation, 1914-1918; World War, 1914-1918 -- Atrocities
"On the previous day many workmen of the silk factory Kimmer and
their wives and children had found a shelter in the cellars of the
building, with some neighbours and relatives of their employer. At
six o'clock in the evening the unfortunate people made up their
mind to leave their hiding-place and went into the street, headed
by a white flag. They were immediately seized by the soldiers and
roughly ill-treated. All the men were shot, among them Mr. Kimmer,
Consul of Argentina.
"Nearly all the men of the suburb Leffe were massacred en masse.
In another quarter twelve citizens were murdered in a cellar. In
the Rue en Ile a paralytic was shot in his bath-chair, and in the
Rue d'Enfer a boy, fourteen years old, was struck down by a soldier.
"The railway viaduct of the suburb Neffe became the scene of a
bloody massacre. An old woman and all her children were shot in a
cellar. A man sixty-five years old, his wife, a son and a daughter
were placed against a wall and shot through the head. Other
inhabitants of Neffe were placed in a boat, taken to the Rocher
Bayard, and shot there; among them were a woman eighty-three years
old and her husband.
"A number of men and women had been locked in the yard of the
prison.... At six o'clock in the evening a mitrailleuse was placed
on the mountain and fired at them, an old woman and three others
being killed.
"Whilst some soldiers committed these murders, others looted
and wrecked the houses, smashed the safes or blew them up with
dynamite. They forced their way into the Banque Centrale de la
Meuse, seized the manager, Mr. Xavier Wasseige, and called upon
him to open the safe. As he refused to do so, they tried to force
it open, but in vain. Thereupon they took Mr. Wasseige and his
two eldest sons to the Place d'Armes, where they and 120 of their
fellow-citizens were shot by means of a mitrailleuse. The youngest
three children of Mr. Wasseige were held by soldiers and forced to
attend the slaughter of their father and brothers. We were also
informed that one of the young Wasseiges lay dying for an hour and
nobody dared to come to his assistance.
"After the soldiers had performed their duty as vandals and bandits
they set the houses on fire. Soon the whole town was one immense
pool of fire.
"All the women and children had been taken to a convent, where they
were kept imprisoned for four days, without hearing of the fate of
their beloved ones. They themselves expected to be shot in their
turn. Round about them the burning of the town went on.
"The first day the religious were allowed to give them some food,
although not sufficient. Soon they had nothing to eat but carrots
and unripe fruit.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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