THE SACK OF DINANT

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2447, 28 April 1915, Page 8

THE SACK OF DINANT

LEAVES FROM A LADY'S DIARYVLondon, April 26. !The diary of a Belgian lady who has ■ since died In England,' says i "The Germans on entering Dinant were mostly •: drunk. They set fire to the houses and pillaged shamefully) being enraged at finding French bayonete in the streets. • iWhen the bombardment commenced the ■ women and children fled terrified to the ■ nuns, who held up their hands to hearten them. "Hundreds who were suffering from t the most extreme terror and . fatigue were lying on mattresses. Babies' cradles were left in tie streets. A • barefooted woman who was expecting • a child, and who was clad only in a chomise and petticoat, was amoiig those compelled to watch unarmed husbands i and sons shot. 1 • "Many women took refuge in 'hill oaves, where several lost their reason I*,: as -the ' result of their ' infants ' dying. The Germans discovered them and.com- . p6lled them to march in front of the ! army. The French cannon ceased firing ! and they were lined up facing the Ger- >■ \. man : riflemen, to whom, they appealed ; for mercy. The officer in command of tho riflemen replied: 'Dinant fired on bur soldiers, and I am ordered to leave ■ nothing in Dinant.' : Heartbreaking farewells wore then taken. "An officer rode up at. the last' mo- ; •■•■r ment, spared the women; and inarched fii'lthem to camp, whero they saw immense braziers full of corpses. The women ! ■ were kept as. prisoners in a church, and ■ in'response to appeals by tho priests ?•; were more kindly treated."—"Times" and Sydney "Sun" services. ■