A Westphalian prisoner states, "The commanding officer ordered us to
shoot two women, and we did so. One of them was holding a child by the
hand, and in falling she dragged the child over with her. The officer
gave orders to shoot the child, because it could not be left alone in
the world." At Rouves, a Government clerk refused to tell a Bavarian
officer the numbers of the French regiments in the neighbourhood. The
officer killed him with two shots from his revolver. At Crézancy,
another officer shot with his own hand young Lesaint, 18 years old, "to
prevent his being a soldier later on." At Emberménil, Madame Masson was
shot for having, in absolute good faith, given some wrong information.
As she was obviously in a state of pregnancy they made her sit down on a
bench to meet her fate. At Ethe, two priests were shot "for having
buried some weapons." At Marquéglise, a superior officer ordered the
arrest of four young fugitives. Learning that two of them came from
Belgium, he exclaimed, "The Belgians are filthy people," and without
more ado took his revolver and shot them one after the other. Three were
killed outright, the fourth expired the following day.
From the crowd of fugitives which left Louvain in flames, the priests
were singled out, and searched. On one of them, a Jesuit father, by name
Dupierreux, they found a note-book containing the following note in
French, "When I used to read about the Huns under Attila devastating
towns, I smiled. I smile no longer now that I have seen with my own eyes
the hordes of to-day setting fire to the churches and library of
Louvain." In front of the assembled troops the priests were placed in a
semi-circle round the Jesuit Father. The incriminating phrase was read
out, and then translated into German. The lieutenant said that it
constituted an incitement to murder, and that the Jesuit must be shot on
the spot. The sentence was carried out forthwith, and the other
priests, his companions, were made to bury him where he fell.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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