THE SHAME OF THE GERMAN ARMY

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2286, 21 October 1914, Page 6

THE SHAME OF THE GERMAN ARMY

LOUVAIN'S LAST HOURS

BELGIAN COMMISSIONER'S REPORT

FIENDISH CRUELTY

_ The full text of the Belgian Commission report, which gives instances of atrocities perpetrated by German troops in L-ouvain and llalines, is as follows: — Antwerp, August 31, 1914. To M. Carton do Viart, Minister for Justice. Sir, —Tlio Commission of Inquiry have tlie honour to malio tlio following report 011 acts of which tlio town of Louvain and neighbourhood and districts of Malines has been the scene: — The German Army entered Louvaiu on Wednesday, August 19, after having burned down villages through which it had pas-sod. i • As soon as they had entered the town of Louvain tho Germans requisitioned food and lodgings for their troops. They went to all tho banks of tho town and took possession of tho cash in hand. The Germa/i soldiers burst open tlio doors of houses which had 1 been abandoned by their _ inhabitants, , pillaged them, and committed other excesses.

The Gorman authorities took as hostages tho Mayor of the city, Sonator Van der Helen, tlio Viec-Jjcctor of the Catholic University, and tho Senior Priest of the city, besides cortain magistrates and all the men. All tho weapons possessed by the inhabitants, even fencing swords, had already been given up to tho municipal. authorities and placed by them in the Church of St. Pierre. Grimes on Women. In a neighbouring village, Corbeck Loo, on Wednesday, August 19, a young woman,'■ aged 22, whoso husband was with tho Army, and some of her relations were surprised by a band of German soldiers. Tho persons wlio were with her woro locked up in a deserted house, while sho herself was dragged into another cottage, where she was assaulted by soldiers.

11l tho samo village on Thursday, August 20, German 6oldiers fotqlied from ■their house a young girl, about 16 years old, and her. parents. Thoy conducted tliem to a small deserted country houso, and .wliilo somo of them, held back the father and mother, otliers entered tno house,. and, finding tlio cellar open, forced tlio girl to drink. Thoy then brought her on to tho lawn in front of tlio liouso and assaulted her.

. Finally tliey stabbed her in tho breaßt withi their bayonets. When this young girl had-been abandoned by them after theso abominablo deeds) 'she was brought hack to hor parents' houso, and tho following day, in view of tho gravity of hor condition, alio received Extreme Unction. from tho parish priest, and was taken, to tho hospital of Louvain, as hor life was despaired of. On August 24 and 25 Belgian troops mado a sortio from tho entrenched camp of Antwerp and attacked, the German Army before Malines. x Tho Germans were thrown back on Louvain and Vilvorde. On entering tlie villages which had been ocupfeS by tho enemy tho Belgian Army found them devastated. The Germans, as they retired, had pillaged and burnt the villages,'.taking with thorn the male inhabitants, wliom they forced to march »n front of tliein.

Belgian soldiers entering Hofstade on August 25 found tho body of ajl old woman wlio bad been killed by bavonst thrusts. She still held in her hand the needle with which she was sewing when she was killed. A woman 'and Tier 15 or-16-year-old soil lay on the ground, pierced by bayonets. A man had been hanged; Burned Alive. ■At Sempst, a neighbouring . village, were found the bodies of two men, partially carbonised. One of them had his legs cut off at the knees; the other had the arms and legs cut off. A workman, whoso burnt body has been seen by several witnesses, bad been stuck several times with bacyonets, and then, while still alive, tho Germans ];aa pourod petroleum over liim and thrown him into a ■houso, to which'thoy set lire, A woman who came out- of her ■liouso was killed in the same way. A witness,. whoso evidence has been taken by a roliablo British subject, declares that ho saw, on August 26, not far from Malines, during tho last Belgian attack, an old man tied by tlio arms to ono of tho rafters in tlio ceiling of his, farm. Tho body was completely carbonised, but tho head, arms, and feet woro .unburnt. Further on a child of about 15 was tied up, tho hands behind tho baok, and the bodv was completely torn open with bayonet wounds. Numerous corpsos of peasants lay on tho ground in positions of supplication, their arms lifted and their hands claspcd.

Tho Belgian Consul in Uganda, who is now a volunteer in tho Belgian army, reports that whorovcr the Germans passed the country has been devastated. The few inhabitants who remain in tho villages tell of tho atrocities committed by tho enemy. .Thus, at Wackerzeel, seven Germans are said to htiYo assaulted a woman, and then- to liavo killed her.

In the same village thoy stripped a young boy to the waist, threatened him with death, holding a revolver to his chest, pricked him with lances, and then chased him into a field and shot at him, without, however, hitting him. Everywhere there is ruin and devastation. At Buecken many inhabitants were killed, including a priest who was over eighty years old.

Between Impdo and Wolverthem two wounded Belgian .soldiers lay near a house, which was 011 fife. Tho Germans threw these two unfortunate men into tho flames. What Happened at Louvain. At-nightfall on August 26 the "Gorman troops, repulsed by our soldiors, c-ntered Louvain panic struck. Several witnesses affirm that the German 'garrison which occupied Louvain was erroneously informed that tho enemy were entering the town. • Men of tlio garrison immediately marched to the station, shooting haphazard the while, and there mot tho Gorman troops, who had been repulsed by tho Belgians, tho latter having just ccased the pursuit. . Everything tends to prove that the German regimentß fired on onoj another. ■ At once the Germans began bombarding the to™, pretending that civilians had fired on tho troops, a suggestion which is contradicted by all tho witnesses, and could scarcely have been possible, becauso the inhabitants of Louvain had had to give up thoir arms to tho municipal authorities several days before.' Tho .bombardment lasted till about ten o'clock at night. The Germans then set firo to the to.wn. 'Wherever the fire had not spread tho German soldiers entered the houses with their, firo grenades, with which' some of them seem to be provided. Tho greater part of tho town of Louvain was thus a prey to the flames, particularly the quarters of the tipper town, comprising tho modern buildings, the anciont Cathedral of St. Pierre, the University Buildings, together with the University Library, its manuscripts and collections, and tho Municipal Theatre.

Tho Commission considers it its duty to insist, in tho midst of all these horrors, oil tho critno /committed against civilisation by tho deliberate destruction of an academic library,, which was one of tho treasures of Europe. Tho corpses of many civilians encumbered tho streets and squares. On tho road from Tirlomont to Louvain alono a witness counted moro than 500. On the doorsteps of liousce cnuld bo seen carJjonised hsdiefi of bid,-.

ing in their cellars, were driven out by the fire, tried to escape and fell into tlie flames. Tlio suburbs of Louvain suffered the same fato. We can affirm that the houses in all tlio disticts between Louvain and Malines, and most of the suburbs of Louvain itself, have practically been destroyed. Sufferings of Civilians. On Wednesday morning, August 26, tlio German's brought to the Station Squares of Louvain a group of moro than 75 persons, including sevoral prominent citizens of the town, amongst whom wero Father Coloboet and another Spanish priest, and also an American priest. The men wore brutally separated from their wives and children, and after having been subjected to tho most abominable treatment by tho Germans, who several times threatened to shoot them, they wore forced to march to the village of Campenhont in front of tho German troops. • They wero shut up in the village church, where they passed the night. About four o'clock tlio nest morning a German officer told them they hod better go to confession, as they would bo shot half an hour later. About halfpast four they were liberated. Shortly afterwards they were again arrested by a German brigade, which foroed them to march before them in tho direction of Malines. In roply to a question of one of the prisoners, a Gorman officer said they wore going to give them a tasto of tho Belgian quick-firers before Antwerp. They were at last released on the Thursday afternoon at the gates of Malines. It appears from other withesses that sevoral thousand male inhabitants of Louvain, who had escaped the shooting and the fire, wero sent to Germany for a purpose which is still unknown to us. Eyewitness's Account The fire at Louvain burnt for several days. An eye-witness who left Louvain oil August 30 gavo the following description of tho town at that time:— Leaving Weert St. Georges, I only saw burnt-down, villages and half-crazy poasanta, who, on meeting anyone, held up their hands as a sign of submission. Before ovory house, oven those burnt down, hung a' white flag, and the burnt rags of them could be Been among tho rums. At_ Weert St. Georges I questioned the inhabitants on the causes of tlio German reprisals, and they affirmed most positively that no inhabitants had fired a shot, that in any case tho arms had been previously collected, but that tho Germans had taken vengeance on tho population because a Belgian soldier belonging to tho Gendarmerie had killed a Uhlan.

The population still remaining in Louvain have taken refuge in the suburb of Hoverle, where they aro extremely crowded. They have been cleared out of tho town by the. troops and the fire. ■ 5

The fire started a little beyon'd tliei American College, and/the town is entirely destroyed, except for the Town Hall and' the station. Furthermore, the fire was still burning to-day, and. the Germans, far from taking any steps to stop it, seemed to feed it with straw, an instance of which I observed in the street adjoining the Town Hall. The cathedral and the theatre are destroyed and have fallen in, as also the library; in short, the town has the appearance of an ancient ruined city, in the midst of which only a .few drunken soldierß move about, carrying bottles of wine and liqueurs, while the officers themselves, seated in armchairs round the tables, drink like their men.

In the streets the swollen bodies of dead horses rot in the sun, and the smoll of fire and putrefaction pervades tho whole place. The .Coinmission has not yet. been able to obtain information about thhe fate of tlio Mayor of Louvain and of the ether notables who were taken as hostages. Commission's Conclusions. The Commission is able to draw tho following conclusions from the facts which have so far been brought to its notice: In this war, the occupation of any place is systematically accompanied and followed, sometimes even preceded, by acts of violence towards the civil population, which acts are contrary" both to the usages of war and to' the most elementary principles of humanity. The German procedure is everywhere the same. Thev advance along a road, shooting, inoffensive passers-by—particu-larly bicyclists—as well as peasants working in the fields. In the towns or villages where they stop they berin by requisitioning food and drink, which they consume till intoxicated. Sometimes from the interior of deserted houses they let off their rifles at random, and declare that it was the inhabitants who fired. Then tho scenes of fire, murder, and especially pillage begin, accompanied by acts of deliberate cruelty, without respect to sox or age. Even where they pretend to know the actual person guilty of tho acts they allege, they, do not content themselves with executing him summarily, but they • soizo tho ■ opportunity to decimate tho population, pillage the houses, and then sot them on fire.

. After a preliminary attack and massacre, they shut up the men in tho ohurcli, and thon ordered the women to return to their houses and to leave their doros open all night. jSont Into Slavery, From sevoral places the male population has been sent to Germany, thero to be forced,_ it appears, to work at tho harvest, as in the old days of slavery. There are many cases of tho inhabitants being forced to not as guides, and to dig trenches and entrenchments for tho 1 Germans. Numerous witnesses assort that during their marohes, and ovon when,,attacking, tho Germans place civilians, men and women, In their front' ranks, in order to prevent our soldiers firing.

The ovidenco of Belgian offioers and soldiers shows that German detachments do not hesitato to display either the white flag or the'-Red Cross flag in order to approach our troops with impunity. On tho other hand/ they fire on our ambulancos and maltreat the ambulance men. • They maltreat and kill the woundod. The clorgy seem to bo particularly chosen as subjects for thoir brutality. Finally, -wo. have in our possession expanding bullets which hadi been abandoned by tho enemy at •AVcrchtcr, and we possess doctors' certi'ficates showing that wounds must have been inflicted l by bullets- of this kind. ■ The documents and evidence on which these conclusions rest will be published in duo course. The President, (Signed) COOREMAN. The Members of tho Commission, (Signed) Count GOBLET D'AEVIELLA. RYOKMANS. 'STRATJSS. VAN OUTSEM. The Secretaries. (Signed) Cliev. ERNST DE BUNSWYCK ORTS.