Chapter XI: Appendix: C.--Dinant (3)

In the meantime the last detachment of the foremost company had pushed forward into the village itself. The men proceeded in quite detached formation. They were at once received by francs-tireurs firing from the various visible houses on both sides of the street. The detachment was obliged first to clear each individual house of francs-tireurs before they could again advance a little. The street door had to be smashed in and each separate room had to be captured from the francs-tireurs. About 10 a.m. two platoons of our company, one of them the 2nd Platoon under Lieutenant Schreyer, to which I belonged, came to the help of our comrades. We were obliged to fight for each individual house, to kill the male population in them who, as far as I saw, carried rifles and fired, and to shut up the women and children in order in this way to advance gradually. Only some quite old men were found without arms. They were not killed, but locked up with the women. In the afternoon, towards 3 o'clock, the house-fighting still fluctuated, and we had not yet penetrated as far as the village square when I received the order to go back with about half a platoon and occupy the heights of the Meuse from which francs-tireurs were still firing. In executing this order, I passed a wood-sawing factory before which lay about thirty francs-tireurs who had been shot. This house had been stormed by men of my 1st Platoon. They told me in the evening that each separate room in the house had been occupied by civilians engaged in firing. The francs-tireurs had been shot according to the usages of war.

Up on the heights I did not succeed in catching a franc-tireur. Up there they were by this time very much scattered. Right under the heights lay the village. I could look straight down from above into the village street. The street-fighting was still in progress, but became less since the village in the meantime had begun to burn. On the opposite heights I saw German Jägers--I believe Marburgers--subduing armed civilians. These francs-tireurs had previously also fired on my platoon. When I returned, towards 7 o'clock in the evening, from the heights, the whole place, as far as the village square which lies on the Meuse, was in the hands of the Germans. About the whole village, also on the village square, there lay corpses of francs-tireurs. I took part in the storming of eight or ten houses. They all afforded the same picture: shots from the windows, street doors barred so that they had to be forced open, all male persons, without any military badge or uniform, armed with sporting-guns. As soon as we got into the room they dropped their weapons and held up their hands. During the street-fighting and on the heights where the civilians were firing I did not see any uniform. The civilians did not give me the impression of being soldiers in civilian clothes. They were mostly older people, 40 years old and upwards, or young fellows of 17 to 18 years; persons of 20 to 30 years I practically did not see at all.

Read over, approved, signed.

Signed: STIEBING, Acting-Sergeant-Major.

The witness was sworn.

Signed: Dr. UHLIG. Signed: GÖRNER.

C. App. 32.

Present:
Lieutenant FRANCKE, Officer of the Court.
Acting-Sergeant-Major LANGE, Military Clerk of the Court.

Acting-Sergeant-Major (Deputy Officer) Bauer states:

My name is Kurt Bauer. I am 24 years old; Protestant; now Acting-Sergeant-Major of Reserve, attached to 6th Company, Infantry Regiment No. 178; in civil life Cand. Arch.

As my company leader had been fired at from a factory in Leffe my platoon received the order to clear the factory and the houses standing in the rear. I advanced with my detachment and plainly saw that we were heavily fired on from roof windows and skylights in the roofs of the factory and the houses, as well as from bushes on the heights, by civilians armed with pistols. We stormed the houses and set them on fire. I was also witness to the fact that we were even fired on from the monastery, although the Geneva flag was hoisted above it.

Read over, approved, signed.

Signed: KURT BAUER.

The witness was sworn.

Signed: FRANCKE. Signed: LANGE.

C. App. 33.

EXTRACT from the Report of Operations, Infantry Regiment No. 103.

_August 23rd, 1914._

At 4.30 in the afternoon the regiment received the order from the 32nd Infantry Brigade to move off to Leffe. The regiment halted in the ravine east of Leffe behind the pontoon column of the division. As the firing from the slopes of the ravine down into the valley was continuous, the 9th Company received the order to clear the southern slopes. One man of the regiment was severely wounded by a shot fired from a house by an inhabitant; the house was set on fire; the men, who were inside with weapons in their hands were shot; in other ways, too, the place was cleared of francs-tireurs.

C. App. 34.

Present:
Lieutenant of Reserve KLEBERGER, as Officer of the Court.
Sergeant RICHTER, as Military Clerk of the Court.

ORAINVILLE, _March 17th, 1915_.

Summoned as witness, there appeared Major Langheld, who, after being advised as to the significance of the oath, made the following statement:

As to Person: My name is Karl Anton Emil Langheld. I am 43 years old; Protestant; Major, Infantry Regiment No. 143.

As to Case: On the afternoon of August 23rd I marched with my battalion at the head of the regiment from Lisogue to Leffe. The march from the beginning of the Leffe Valley was somewhat interrupted. During the advance the report came from the rear that a man of the 1st Company had been shot at from a house. By command of Captain Wuttig the house was set on fire by soldiers of the 1st Company, and the men who were seized in it, with weapons in their hands, were shot. During the whole of the afternoon one heard continual firing among the houses in Leffe and on the heights encircling the right and left of the Leffe Valley. A company of the Jäger Battalion, No. 11, was engaged in clearing the slopes on which there were armed inhabitants. The 9th Company of my regiment received a similar commission on the southern slope. I myself marched on with the 10th and 11th Companies to the bank of the Meuse in order to cross over there. Here I saw several times that guilty male inhabitants were shot.

On the night of the 24th, from time to time, fugitives turned up at our outposts--principally women and children--amongst them a number of nuns led by a priest. I sheltered them in a farm near which the 11th Company was in bivouac. Our men gave some of their provisions to the people, although they had only a little themselves. I pacified the fugitives myself, and as I was obliged that same night to march farther, I handed over to the priest a note to say that these people had incurred no blame. I was unable to take further trouble about them. However, I asked the Catholic Divisional Chaplain Kaiser, whom I met next morning, to see that the people got away safely.

Read over, approved.

Witness was sworn according to regulations.

Signed: KLEBERGER, Lieutenant of Reserve and Officer of the Court.
Signed: RICHTER, Sergeant, as Clerk to the Military Court.

C. App. 35.

Present:
Lieutenant of Reserve KLEBERGER, as Officer of the Court.
Sergeant RICHTER, as Clerk of the Military Court.

ORAINVILLE, _March 17th, 1915_.

Summoned as witness, there appeared Lieutenant Richter, who, being advised as to the significance of the oath, made the following statement:

As to Person: My name is Martin Richter. I am 31 years old; Protestant; Lieutenant of 1st Company, Infantry Regiment No. 103.

As to Case: On the advance of the 1st Battalion of 4th Infantry Regiment No. 103 on the 23rd August 1914 to the crossing-place over the Meuse at Leffe, there came a single shot from a farm. A soldier of the 1st Company of the regiment was wounded.

By order of Captain Wuttig the farm was searched. About fourteen male civilians were arrested who had with them weapons and ammunition for sporting-rifles, pistols, etc.

A thirteen to fifteen year-old lad was released on account of his age; the other thirteen persons were shot.

Read over, approved.

Witness was sworn as usual.

Signed: KLEBERGER, Lieutenant of Reserve and Officer of the Court.
Signed: RICHTER, Sergeant, as Clerk of the Military Court.

C. App. 36.

Present:
Lieutenant of Reserve KLEBERGER, as Officer of the Court.
Sergeant RICHTER, as Clerk of the Military Court.

ORAINVILLE, _March 17th, 1915_.

On summons there appeared as witness Lieutenant of Reserve Martin, who, being instructed as to the significance of the oath, made the following statement:

As to Person: My name is Kurt Martin. I am 24 years old; Protestant; Lieutenant of Reserve, 2nd Company, Infantry Regiment No. 103.

As to Case: I have seen how a German soldier was wounded by small shot, and know that he died of the effect of the injury in the castle before Leffe. The doctor who treated him was Dr. Schneider, now in Infantry Regiment No. 102.

The inhabitants of Leffe arrested in a house near the factory were well treated. After their provisions were exhausted, they were provided for from the field kitchen of the 5th Company, Infantry Regiment No. 103. They were later on released by a general order. At one time I was detailed as guard of the hospital which was located in the Château de Chession, near Leffe. The proprietress, a Madame Chiehe, and her people we also provided with food; she expressed her warm appreciation of the kind treatment.

Read over, approved.

The witness was duly sworn.

Signed: KLEBERGER, Lieutenant of Reserve and Officer of the Court.
Signed: RICHTER, Sergeant, as Clerk of the Military Court.

C. App. 37.

REPORT of the 8th Company, Infantry Regiment No. 178. on the fighting round Dinant on August 21st and 23rd, 1914.

_February 14th, 1915._

Private Jentsch states in general the same as the witness, Non-commissioned Officer Macher,[2] except that he actually only saw a great pool of blood on a floor; the dead German soldier, of whom he had heard, had already been concealed. He does not now know to which company he belonged. On the same day, according to his statement, a further batch of four civilians were shot because they had attacked a sentry of Infantry Regiment No. 182. These people were fetched out of an underground passage. The order was given by Lieutenant Tränker.

[Footnote 2: See App. 29.]

In the military school about 400 men in civilian clothes were guarded. These were well looked after, and were also later on allowed to receive their relations. On the fourth day we were relieved by Reserve Infantry Regiment No. 106.

Signed: LUCIUS, 1st Lieutenant and Company Leader.

_Deposition._

Present:
Lieutenant THOMAS, as Officer of the Court.
Acting-Sergeant-Major LANGE, as Clerk of the Military Court.

There appeared as witness Private Jentsch, who, after the reading over of the preceding report, made the following statement:

As to Person: My name is Karl Albin Richard Jentsch. I am 22 years old; Protestant; private, 8th Company, Infantry Regiment No. 178.

As to Case: I maintain the correctness of my statements.

The witness was thereupon sworn.

Read over, approved, signed.

Signed: JENTSCH.
Signed: THOMAS. Signed: LANGE.

C. App. 38.

Present:
Military Magistrate, HUNERSDORF.
Military Court Secretary, MÜLLER, Clerk of the Military Court.

CORBENY, _December 12th, 1914_.

In the investigation concerning the violations of International Law committed against German troops, there appeared as witness Captain Nitze, who, after reference to the significance of the oath, was examined as follows:

As to Person: My name is Otto Hermann Oswald Nitze. I am 34 years old; Protestant; Company Leader, Machine-Gun Company, Infantry Regiment No. 177.

As to Case: On August 23rd, 1914, as we were marching into Leffe, I found myself several hundred metres in front of the company, and was all at once fired at from the surrounding houses.

I first rode back to the company and confirmed the order already given to bring the houses under fire. I then rode to the Detachment Leader, Lieutenant-Colonel von Zeschau, reported the attack, and received the order to have the houses searched and, in case any male persons were found in them with arms, to set the houses on fire.

In the search there were discovered by Lieutenant-Colonel Reichel in my presence two persons of forty years of age who had hidden themselves in a room and were armed with a Belgian pistol and a rifle of an ancient pattern.

As I heard, a third man had also been found in the house. The first two men were immediately shot. While Lieutenant-Colonel Reichel went on farther to search other houses I saw how at least eight rifles were discharging on the search-parties a brisk fire from the first floors of at least two houses. The marksmen stood behind windows barricaded with mattresses. I saw the flash of the shots and heard the bullets whistle; as far as I could judge from the reports, they were using partly bullets, partly small shot. Only the horse of Assistant Doctor Sippel was wounded.

Read over, approved, signed.

Signed: NITZE.

The witness was sworn.

Signed: HUNERSDORF. Signed: MÜLLER.

C. App. 39.

EXTRACT from the Report of the 3rd Field Pioneer Company.

_August 23rd, 1914._

The patrols were heavily fired on from the houses and from the other bank.

The company advanced with the pontoon waggons on the steep, narrow road into Dinant behind Rifle (Fusilier) Regiment No. 108 and Infantry Regiment No. 182.

There was firing from the houses, although one could see little of the enemy. The company took part in searching the houses for civilians; some were arrested with arms in their hands and subsequently shot. The infantry had considerable losses here.

The order came to evacuate the town as it was to be first bombarded by our artillery.

The company, with Grenadier Regiment No. 101, reached the Meuse at Les Rivages. The village appeared to be quite peaceful; nevertheless, a number of inhabitants were arrested by the Grenadiers for security. The rifle-fire of the enemy on the left bank was only very weak. The houses over there burst into flames, one after another, as a result of our artillery fire. The crossing began at once with a half-column corps, Pontoon train, Train Battalion No. 12, which had been assigned to the company; the building of the bridge was at once begun, and at first proceeded rapidly.

Suddenly we received heavy rifle-fire from the houses on the right bank. The firing was briskly answered by the Grenadiers who were waiting in dense masses to cross. The houses were set on fire. On the afternoon of August 24th the bridge was finished. In the meantime, it frequently happened that firing came from the heights, and even from the cellar of a burnt-out house. In such cases, civilians caught with arms in their hands were shot.

C. App. 40.

Present:
President of the Court, SCHWEINITZ.
Secretary, LIPS.

INVINCOURT, _March 1st, 1915_.

In the matter for inquiry concerning the events in Dinant there appeared as witness Major von Zeschau, who stated:

As to Person: My name is Arnd Maximilian Ernst von Zeschau. I am 41 years old; Protestant; Major and Battalion Commander, Grenadier Regiment No. 101.

As to Case: On August 23rd, 1914, towards 6 o'clock in the afternoon, I, with my 11th Company, reached the Meuse at Les Rivages, and was at once taken across. I had the order to gain the heights on the other bank, to the right of the 2nd Company, which had already been put across. Opposite Les Rivages were connected rows of houses. We first went downstream as far as the church, and then turned off to the right. I passed with a detachment through a very narrow lane; the shop windows and house doors were closed. Suddenly four to five shots came from behind me. My men at once broke open the house from which the shots were fired. The house was empty; at the back was a small yard with a washhouse. In the yard lay a discharged sporting-gun.

Going farther, we came to a railway embankment through which ran a culvert. Before it lay a dead civilian with a weapon like a carbine. On the other side of the embankment was Lieutenant von Oer, who shouted to me that he had been fired at from the culvert. In the culvert I noticed some people; a few paces in front of the culvert crouched some of my men with rifles at the ready, and, on my question, reported that there had been firing from the culvert. I shouted into the culvert, "Sortez, on ne vous fera rien." As the people did not come out, I caused about five to six men to fire some shots, ten to twelve in all, into the culvert. As there arose a great outcry in the culvert, I left a non-commissioned officer behind to clear it. This officer reported to me next morning that he had fetched out about thirty-five to forty civilians, men, half-grown lads, women, and children, and with them a number of weapons--he told me there were about eight to ten carbine-shaped weapons. The captured civilians were handed over at the bridge-head. About 200 metres behind the railway embankment I came into fighting contact with the French infantry.

Read over, approved, signed.

Signed: VON ZESCHAU.

The witness was thereupon sworn.

Signed: SCHWEINITZ. Signed: LIPS.

C. App. 41.

Present:
President of the Court, OERTEL.
Secretary, Acting-Sergeant-Major SOMMERBURG.

PROVISEUX, _March 2nd, 1915_.

There appeared as witness for examination Non-commissioned Officer Faber, who, after reference to the significance and sanctity of the oath, was examined as follows:

As to Person: My name is Kurt Friedrich Faber, non-commissioned officer, 10th Company, Grenadier Regiment No. 101. I am 22 years old; Protestant.

As to Case: According to my war-diary, I crossed the Meuse at Dinant on Sunday, August 23rd, 1914, at 6.5 p.m. in company with Major von Zeschau and about three detachments of Grenadiers. We were bound for the ridge of hills lying opposite, as these were said to be occupied by the enemy. On my way thither I noticed in a side-street that a woman discharged shots at us from a revolver from a half-opened door. I thereupon fired at the woman, who quickly banged the door to. I do not know whether I hit her.

Read over, approved, signed.

Signed: KURT FRIEDRICH FABER.

The witness was thereupon sworn.

Signed: OERTEL, Lieutenant and Officer of the Court.
Signed: SOMMERBURG, Acting-Sergeant-Major and Clerk of the Court.

C. App. 42.

Present:
President of the Court, Lieutenant of Landwehr OERTEL.
Secretary, Acting-Sergeant-Major SOMMERBURG.

PROVISEUX, _March 2nd, 1915_.

There appeared as witness for examination Grenadier Schlosser, who, after reference to the significance and sanctity of the oath, was examined as follows:

As to Person: My name is Franz Otto Schlosser, Grenadier, 10th Company, Grenadier Regiment No. 101; 22 years old; Protestant.

As to Case: On the afternoon of August 23rd, 1914, I crossed the Meuse at Dinant in a boat with Captain Graisewsky, Lieutenant von der Decken, and men of the 10th Company, Grenadier Regiment No. 101. When we were about the middle of the river, there began a heavy fire on us from various directions. On the other bank we occupied, by order of the Captain, a trench, and there received a heavy fire from the houses which were on the right and left of us. I saw with my own eyes that several women stood at the window of a house and discharged shots at us. We then received the order from the Captain to fetch the occupants from the houses, and brought about twenty persons out, I believe, only women and children. These were brought down as prisoners to the Meuse. We then set fire to the houses.

Read over, approved, signed.

Signed: FRANZ OTTO SCHLOSSER.

The witness was thereupon sworn.

Signed: OERTEL, Lieutenant and Officer of the Court.
Signed: SOMMERBURG, Acting-Sergeant-Major
and Clerk of the Military Court.

C. App. 43.

EXTRACT from the Report of Grenadier Regiment No. 101, 22nd to the 30th August 1914.

_August 23rd, 1914._

The Mayor of Les Rivages appears and protests that none of the inhabitants are in possession of weapons, and that no attack would take place on the troops.

After the Divisional Bridge (Pontoon) Train had arrived, the Pioneers begin the construction of a bridge over the Meuse, but a heavy enemy fire, partly from infantry, partly from the inhabitants on the opposite bank, perforates the pontoons and makes any further construction impossible.

At first the 11th Company is put across the Meuse and proceeds on a broad front through Leffe, where they are fired on from the houses and from the railway embankment. Several civilians, who fired on the company from places of concealment, are shot; the houses are set on fire.

Following the 2nd Company the remaining companies of the 1st Battalion have also reached Les Rivages. Whilst the battalion is standing by the Meuse to cross over, it is attacked from the houses by the inhabitants of the place. From all the windows, from the hedges of the gardens, from the slopes of the hills, bullets and shot from the rifles of the inhabitants rattle down on the companies.

The battalion at once received the order to take up the fight against the fanatical inhabitants of the place. With fixed bayonets, the Grenadiers rush through the narrow streets; with pickaxes and axes the closed doors and windows are burst open. In groups the Grenadiers force their way into the houses in order to seize the occupants who are still firing on us. Not only men and youths take part in the fighting, but also old men, women, and children.

The francs-tireurs have well chosen their hiding-places. Already twilight is falling, but still the fire of the enemy does not abate.

Our object is to reach the other bank of the Meuse, but, on the other hand, the troops and columns which follow us must be able to pass through the place without being attacked anew. Thus there only remains one remedy, to set the place on fire, and soon it is a sea of flames.

C. App. 44.

REPORT on the Street-fighting in Les Rivages (Dinant) on August 23rd, 1914.

The companies of the 1st Battalion of Grenadier Regiment No. 101 had reached Les Rivages in the afternoon of August 23rd, 1914, but had to be retired for about 600 to 800 metres on the road from Pont de Pierre on account of our own artillery having opened a heavy fire on this locality. The Mayor of the place, who was fetched up by me, protested that there were no weapons at hand, and that the inhabitants entertained no plot against our troops. He was commissioned to have ready, within a fixed time, bread and butter for the companies at the outlet of the place, where later the bridge was thrown over the Meuse. The companies did not get there to enjoy these, since, in the meantime, the 2nd Company had crossed over and the remaining companies were involved in the street-fighting.

When the companies, after the cessation of our artillery fire, had again been led out to Les Rivages and had been divided into commandos to receive the victuals asked for, the inhabitants began a murderous fire on the companies from all the houses and gardens and also from the hill-slopes. Inside and outside the houses, men of all ages were firing, also innumerable women and even girls of ten years of age. Here a woman was severely wounded in the breast by the inhabitants, and was bandaged by us.

The battalion received the order to take up the fight against the inhabitants of the place, who were firing as if demented; for this purpose the 3rd and 4th Companies pushed forward to the street-and house-fighting, whilst portions of the 1st Company remained on the river-bank. A part of the inhabitants who were acting in a particularly mean fashion and were firing madly with all kinds of firearms, without let or hindrance, upon our troops, were shot down to the number of about twenty; amongst these were some women who, with special cunning, fired again and again into the companies from the rear. This shooting was done to defend ourselves and to scare the inhabitants from any further atrocities. About 100 to 150 men and women, also children, were seized and taken over the Meuse to the opposite bank by the first rope-ferries, partly to prevent further outrages, partly to remove them, as far as they appeared innocent, from the terrible fighting.

The fighting of the 3rd and 4th Companies in the streets lasted until far into the darkness, until finally the burning of the whole place put a stop to the general activity of the population.

The order to take up the street-fighting by direction of the regiment came through me and was detailed by me to the 3rd and 4th Companies. I, for my part, can only protest that the inhabitants of the place--men of every age women and girls--fired madly on us at a given signal, and that the remedy taken only constituted an act of self-defence. The situation in which the troops found themselves, especially at the spot where the bridge was later thrown across, deserves, in every true sense, the name of a witches' cauldron, for a worse situation, brought about by a raging force of men and women, cannot be imagined. Despite all the dreadful impressions of such fighting, I have since always admired the calmness our men maintained in the presence of such brutes, far removed from any thought of cruelty, even though they themselves were exposed to the worst.

Signed: SCHLICK, Major and Commander, 1st Battalion,
Grenadier Regiment No. 101.

C. App. 45.

Present:
President of the Court, SCHWEINITZ.
Secretary, LIPS.

NEUFCHÂTEL, _March 2nd, 1915_.

In the inquiry concerning the events in Dinant there appeared as witness Major von Zeschau, who stated:

As to Person: My name is Karl Adolf Heinrich von Zeschau. I am 46 years old; Protestant; Major and Adjutant, General Command, XII. Army Corps.

As to Case: On the 23rd of August 1914 I arrived at the Meuse in Les Rivages at 6 p.m. All the houses were closed; none of the inhabitants were to be seen. The Grenadiers stood in column of route on the by-road which enters Les Rivages, the head of the column at the valley road. I inquired whether the houses had been searched. Thereupon a patrol was dispatched to search the houses, and an acting-sergeant-major reported to me that the houses were empty. I stayed there about a quarter of an hour and watched the effect of our artillery on the houses on the left bank of the Meuse. At this time there came along by the valley road from Dinant a number of inhabitants--men, women, and children--who were held up by the Grenadiers.

As the bridge was half finished and some pontoons with Grenadiers were at the opposite bank, my task was finished and I returned to the Commanding General. When I again returned to the bridge-head at Les Rivages there lay there a heap of corpses. I learned that shortly after my departure there had been firing from the seemingly empty houses. In the night several hundred inhabitants who had come from Dinant arrived at the crossing-place. These were well treated; many women and children were also provided with provisions by the soldiers.

Read over, approved, signed.

Signed: VON ZESCHAU.

The witness was thereupon sworn.

Signed: SCHWEINITZ. Signed: LIPS.

C. App. 46.

Present:
President of the Court, SCHWEINITZ.
Secretary, LIPS.

NEUFCHÂTEL, _February 19th, 1915_.

In the matter for inquiry concerning the events in Dinant there appeared as witness Captain Reserve Ermisch, who stated:

As to Person: My name is Karl Traugott Hubert Ludwig Ermisch. I am 37 years old; Protestant; engineer (with diploma), director of mines, now Captain of Reserve, 1st Field Pioneer Company.

As to Case: On August 23rd, 1914, I was with the 3rd Company of the Pioneer Battalion No. 12, and present when the pontoons of the Corps Bridging Train, at first brought down to Dinant, were obliged to turn back. We then made a detour into the valley road which leads to Les Rivages; from there I was sent out to reconnoitre the place for the bridge. In Les Rivages all was peaceful. Neither French nor German soldiers were to be seen. When I had been there about one hour, my company arrived with the bridging waggons and other German soldiers. These rounded up the civilian population standing near as hostages. In the meantime, I commenced with the construction of the bridge. Somewhere about 4 or 5 o'clock we suddenly received a tolerably heavy fire, which was directed straight towards us at the bridge-head. We were forced to conceal ourselves under the cover of the bridge. I noticed plainly that the firing came from the slopes to the right and left of the flanking valley, and particularly from a red house not far from the Bayard Rock, which stands near the north of Les Rivages. In consequence, the hostages were shot by direction of a senior Grenadier officer.

Read over, approved, signed.

Signed: ERMISCH.

The witness was thereupon sworn.

Signed: SCHWEINITZ. Signed: LIPS.

C. App. 47.

Present:
President of the Court, SCHWEINITZ.
Secretary, LIPS.

NEUFCHÂTEL, _March 2nd, 1915_.

In the inquiry concerning the events in Dinant there appeared as witness, 1st Lieutenant of Reserve Freiherr von Rochow, who stated:

As to Person: My name is Heinrich Bernhard Wichart Freiherr von Rochow. I am 30 years old; Protestant; 1st Lieutenant of Reserve Uhlan Regiment No. 17, now Commander of the Cavalry Staff Escort of the General Command, XII. Army Corps.

As to Case: On August 23rd, 1914, I reached Les Rivages at nightfall, and saw at the crossing-place a great heap of corpses. In the course of the evening, when the crossing was in progress and things had become quieter, we saw that some wounded were among them. These were brought away. I myself saw a girl of about eight years with an injured face, and an older woman with a shot in the upper part of the thigh taken to the women prisoners and handed over to the doctor. I remained until the bridge was finished the next day. Up till then shots were being fired again and again, obviously by the inhabitants. The houses were searched by field-police. The people who were in them were examined, and in the course of this I also acted as interpreter. Two men, from whose house there had been firing, and in whose pockets ammunition was found, were shot. A woman was not shot, although a loaded revolver was found on her, because her guilt was not fully established.

The guilt of every single person was dispassionately considered by the officers present.

Read over, approved, signed.

Signed: Freiherr VON ROCHOW.

The witness was thereupon sworn.

Signed: SCHWEINITZ. Signed: LIPS.

C. App. 48.

Present:
President of the Court, SCHWEINITZ.
Secretary, LIPS.

NEUFCHÂTEL, _March 2nd, 1915_.

In the inquiry concerning the events in Dinant there appeared as witness Major Steinhoff, who stated:

As to Person: My name is Fritz Eugen Steinhoff. I am 48 years old; Protestant; Major and Commander of Pioneers, XII. Army Corps.

As to Case: On August 23rd, 1914, about 5 o'clock in the afternoon, I came to the crossing-place at Les Rivages, where there was no one except an officer's patrol of the Pioneers. I went as far as the bank, and then on about 100 metres towards Anseremme. Various soldiers pointed out to me that there was firing from the bridge, and from the houses near the bridge. Wounded soldiers lay in the street. I was also fired at, and other soldiers warned me against proceeding farther.

I went back to the crossing-place, and there met Colonel Meister, to whom I reported my observations. He had the district cleared by a detachment, which brought in a large number of men and women. Of these, the men were placed by a wall at the crossing-place, the women and children somewhat farther downstream. The crossing and building of the bridge was now in progress. When the bridge had been pushed out about 40 metres, a heavy rifle-fire was delivered from the houses of Les Rivages and from the rocks above on the waiting Grenadiers and the Pioneers at work. I myself heard the whistle, on a rough estimate, of 100 bullets. A great confusion ensued. Everybody sought cover, and work was interrupted. Even the Grenadiers, who stood there in a mass, were in great agitation. I went again through a garden-plot to the Meuse in order to look after the Pioneers. At this moment the fire of the enemy flared up, and simultaneously I heard a couple of rapid volleys in the immediate vicinity.

I thereupon went back and saw at the spot, where previously the captured men had stood, a heap of corpses. From that moment onwards the francs-tireurs' firing ceased completely, and the bridging work proceeded undisturbed.

Read over, approved, signed.

Signed: STEINHOFF.

The witness was thereupon sworn.

Signed: SCHWEINITZ. Signed: LIPS.

C. App. 49.

Present:
President of the Court, SCHWEINITZ.
Secretary, LIPS.

NEUFCHÂTEL, _February 18th, 1915_.

In the inquiry concerning the events in Dinant there appeared as witness the Divisional Chaplain, Dr. Kaiser, who stated:

As to Person: My name is Dr. Paul Kaiser. I am 52 years old; Roman Catholic Divisional Chaplain of the 32nd Infantry Division.

As to Case: I lay in Leffe from the evening of the 23rd until the morning of the 25th August. On the afternoon of the 24th August, a Captain of my acquaintance invited me to eat a plate of soup with him. This took place in a courtyard where, besides ourselves, were the Captain's servant, who was cooking the soup there, and two or three units who were pottering about round a freight-automobile. All at once some shots were heard and missiles flew quite close over us. Everyone was naturally excited. In the direction from which the shots presumably came, stood a fairly new brick-built house, distant about 100 metres. Between the first floor and the attic was a white ledge in which one could see several holes, and from which arose smoke, evidently from a shot which had just been discharged. As I learned, the house was then searched. Shortly afterwards, a whole procession of civilians, men and women, were led off by us; these persons, as I was told, had all been arrested in the house. They were then handed over to the Cadet School, which was used as a prison.

Read over, approved, signed.

Signed: Dr. KAISER.

The witness was thereupon sworn.

Signed: SCHWEINITZ. Signed: LIPS.

C. App. 51.

Present:
President of the Court, SCHWEINITZ.
Secretary, LIPS.

NEUFCHÂTEL, _February 18th, 1915_.

In the matter for inquiry concerning the events in Dinant, there appeared as witness Staff-Surgeon Dr. Petrenz who, after the importance of the oath had been pointed out to him, was examined as follows:

My name is Max Georg Hand Petrenz. I am 36 years old; Roman Catholic; by profession Dr. med., Staff-Surgeon with the Commander of the Train, XIIth Army Corps.

Questioned on the subject of his examination, he stated the following:

On August 21st and 22nd, 1914, I was in Taviet; on August 23rd the mounted echelon of the General Command started off and reached the Meuse at Les Rivages towards 10 o'clock in the evening. As I learned, the village of Sorinnes had been cleared on August 22nd of all the men and suspicious characters by our troops. When I came to Sorinnes early on the 23rd August I saw a burning house surrounded by our troops. I learned that passing hussars had been fired on from the house, that the house had been searched for the marksmen without result, and that in order to smoke them out of their hiding-places the house had been set on fire. I related this when I had ridden back again to Taviet, to my billet-landlady, a woman of the middle class. She gave it as her opinion that they were certainly, some of them, once more from Dinant. She related further, that suspicious characters had been sent out from Dinant to the surrounding districts; if these did anything to the German troops, the blame was put upon the inhabitants. I gathered from her words that the resistance to the German troops was directly organised in Dinant.

Our mounted escort set out from Taviet at three in the afternoon, made a halt for some time to the south of the Sorinnes-Dinant road, and carried out the descent to the Meuse in the ravine which leads to Les Rivages. We reached this point when it was already dark. In the night there came here a large number of women and children who really wanted to go still farther south. As this was attended with great danger, because everything on the way was burning, we detained them there and sheltered them in a large empty house, just opposite the pontoon bridge, where they were safe from the danger of fire. Besides myself, a number of Grenadier officers of the (Guards) Grenadier Regiment No. 100 also looked after the sheltering of the women and children. The next morning, at my request, all the women and children were provided with warm coffee by Captain von Criegern.

On the bank of the Meuse, between the river and a garden wall, there lay close to the left of the pontoon bridge a heap of civilians who had been shot; how many I do not know--I estimate the number at from thirty to forty. I do not know who had shot them. I have heard that the Grenadier Regiment No. 101 had carried out an execution there. Among those who had been shot were also some women; by far the majority were young lads. Under the pile I discovered a girl of about five years old, alive and quite uninjured. I took her out and brought her to the house where the women were. She accepted some chocolate, was quite pleased and evidently quite unconscious of the gravity of the situation. I thereupon examined the pile of corpses to see if any more children were among them. I only found further a girl of about ten years with a wound in the leg. I had her bandaged and lodged her with the women also. The next morning she was almost without pain. It turned out that the mother of the girl was among the women who had come from Dinant. The mother and daughter were very grateful to me.

The pile of corpses was so situated that it could not be seen from the house in which the women and children were lodged. When I was getting ready at 9 o'clock the next morning for marching off, Pioneers were about to dig a common grave for the bodies behind the garden wall, before which they lay. It was in an orchard. I convinced myself personally and by daylight that only the dead lay there. Any mistake of burying alive is precluded.

Further, I will cite the following:

In the course of the night I was requested by a Grenadier officer to take a wounded civilian from a house in danger of fire into a safe place. The man had a bullet wound in the upper thigh; he belonged to the better class. He told the Grenadier officers that he had been shot by Belgian francs-tireurs because he would not grant them a hiding-place in his house. He had been bandaged by our people, and was now carried into the house to the women.

The next morning, after crossing the Meuse, we rode along the left bank in order to gain the road to Onhaye. The bank lying opposite, as well as the houses of Dinant, seemed deserted. Only in the doorway of some hotel stood a civilian who aimed a rifle at us and fired, without making a hit. When we replied with revolver shots he disappeared.

Read over, approved, signed.

Signed: Dr. PETRENZ.

The witness was thereupon sworn.

Signed: SCHWEINITZ. Signed: LIPS.

C. App. 52.

Present:
Lieutenant of Reserve KLEBERGER, as Officer of the Court.
Sergeant RICHTER, as Clerk of the Military Court.

ORAINVILLE, _March 17th, 1915_.

Summoned as witness there appeared Private Steglich, who, after the importance of the oath had been pointed out to him, made the following statement:

As to Person: My name is Willy Steglich. I am 22 years old; Protestant; by calling bricklayer in Mügeln, now private in the Machine-Gun Company, Infantry Regiment No. 103.

As to Case: With Acting-Sergeant-Major and some other men--there were also present some Marburg Jäger--I fetched the occupants out of a house in Dinant which had been wrecked by the impact of a shell, and set them at liberty. There were men, women, and children. They were then brought to a house where, at the instigation of an officer of the Marburg Jäger, they were protected and looked after by two Red Cross nurses.

In various houses in Dinant we found a quantity of small-shot ammunition lying piled up by the windows; everywhere the lowest pane was broken, evidently to allow a rifle to be pushed through the opening.

Read over, approved.

The witness was thereupon sworn.

Signed: KLEBERGER, Lieutenant of Reserve and Officer of the Court.
Signed: Sergeant RICHTER, as Clerk of the Court.

C. App. 53.

Present:
Lieutenant of Reserve KLEBERGER, as Officer of the Court.
Sergeant RICHTER, as Clerk of the Court.

ORAINVILLE, _March 17th, 1915_.

Summoned as witness there appeared Acting-Sergeant-Major Bartsch, who, after the importance of the oath had been pointed out to him, made the following statement:

As to Person: My name is Erich Bartsch. I am 25 years old; Protestant; Acting-Sergeant-Major in the Machine-Gun Company, Infantry Regiment No. 103.

As to Case: As patrol leader I found in a series of houses in Dinant sporting ammunition lying all ready, from which it may with certainty be assumed that it had been used by the francs-tireurs before their expulsion, as ammunition for firing on the German troops.

From the streets I saw inhabitants in the cellars of burning houses, chiefly women and children, who were no longer able to save themselves from their perilous position. Through the men of my patrol, in company with the Marburg Jäger, their rescue was made possible, and the persons saved were lodged in houses which were guarded by German troops. At times the work of rescue could only be carried out with great danger to life on the part of the patrol.

I myself was witness to the fact that Sisters of Mercy, in company with German soldiers, fetched along provisions for the inhabitants who had been given protection.

I was also present when Colonel Hoch sent all non-interested persons to their homes, with the strict injunction not to let themselves be seen in the streets.

For the other inhabitants whose houses had been completely burned down, lodging was procured in the houses of the railway signalmen.

Close to Dinant a bullet was found by a hussar in the leaden centre of which a spear-shaped steel blade had been inserted. This missile was passed round in my platoon.

Read over, approved.

The witness was thereupon sworn.

Signed: KLEBERGER, Lieutenant of Reserve and Officer of the Court.
Signed: Sergeant RICHTER, as Clerk of the Military Court.

C. App. 54.

Present:
Lieutenant of Reserve KLEBERGER, as Officer of the Court.
Sergeant RICHTER, as Clerk of the Military Court.

ORAINVILLE, _March 17th, 1915_.

Summoned as witness there appeared Reservist Hentschel, who, after the importance of the oath had been pointed out to him, made the following statement:

As to Person: My name is Alfred Hentschel. I am 25 years old; Protestant; by trade a butcher in Dresden, now Reservist, 9th Company, Infantry Regiment No. 103.

As to Case: In a house in Dinant which stood at the right of the bridge I found a severely wounded civilian, an old man with white hair, who still had his sporting rifle with him. I also came across civilians farther on in Belgium who had fired on the German troops with sporting rifles. In a village beyond Dinant, which cannot be very far from Dinant, I had my right hand injured by shot-wounds. The shot are probably still in the fingers.

On this side of the Meuse, where a convent stood, we distributed bread and what else we still had (cold meat, etc.) to the population, women and children, also men.

Read over, approved.

The witness was thereupon duly sworn.

Signed: KLEBERGER, Lieutenant of Reserve and Officer of the Court.
Signed: Sergeant RICHTER, as Clerk of the Military Court.

C. App. 55.

Rifle (Fusilier) Regiment No. 108, Officer of the Court I.

LA VILLE-AUX-BOIS, _January 20th, 1915_.

There appeared Assistant Surgeon of Reserve, Dr. Sorge, 1st Battalion, Rifle (Fusilier) Regiment No. 108, who, being warned to speak the truth, made the following statement:

As to Person: My name is Kurt Hermann Georg Sorge. I am 27 years old; Protestant; 1st Assistant Surgeon of the Ear Department of the town Infirmary of Friedrichstadt, Dresden.

As to Case: During the fighting of the 1st Battalion, Rifle Regiment No. 108, near and in Dinant, I was always in the immediate neighbourhood of the troops engaged. I have repeatedly bandaged riflemen whose injuries were to be ascribed to non-military rifles (shot-wounds).

Women, children, and old men were always spared. The burial of the inhabitants who had been shot, as far as my sphere of work extended, never took place on the same day. I have, moreover, repeatedly seen that bread and drink were handed to various inhabitants by the riflemen.

Read over, approved, signed.

Signed: Dr. K. SORGE, Assistant Surgeon of Reserve, 1st Battalion,
Rifle (Fusilier) Regiment No. 108.

The witness was thereupon sworn.

Signed: GLASER, Lieutenant of Reserve, Adjutant, 1st Battalion,
Rifle (Fusilier) Regiment No. 108, as Officer of the Military Court.

C. App. 56.

WOOD SOUTH-WEST OF LA VILLE-AUX-BOIS, _February 5th, 1915_.

By order of Rifle (Fusilier) Regiment "Prinz Georg" there appeared as witness Non-commissioned Officer Lauterbach, who, being warned to speak the whole truth, made the following statement:

As to Person: My name is Paul Rudolf Lauterbach. I am 27 years old; Protestant; by trade mechanician, now non-commissioned officer, 10th Company, Rifle (Fusilier) Regiment No. 108.

As to Case: When, on our advance with the company, from the fort we had reached the Sorinnes-Dinant road in Dinant, I distinctly saw how a woman, standing at full height at a window, fired on the German soldiers with a rifle. The woman was immediately shot by a German soldier, and fell with the upper part of her body on the window-sill.

Volleys of rifle-fire were discharged from a remarkably large house on the west bank of the Meuse which was flying the Red Cross flag.

South of the Dinant-Sorinnes road by the Meuse, at a place which I am no longer able to fix, I saw lying there the charred body of a German Jäger whose feet were bound together with wire.

Read over, approved, signed.

Signed: PAUL RUDOLF LAUTERBACH.

The witness was thereupon sworn.

Signed: LOSSOW, Lieutenant and Officer of the Court.
Signed: SCHUBERT, Clerk of the Military Court.

C. App. 57.

(Guards) Grenadier Regiment No. 100, 2nd Battalion.

WILLMSBARACKEN, _January 31st, 1915_.

Deposition concerning the wounding by the discharge of (small) shot in Dinant.

There appeared as witness Grenadier Bischoff, who, being warned to speak the truth, made the following statement:

As to Person: My name is Karl Bischoff. I was born on January 18th, 1893, at Dürschau, near Zittau; Protestant; by trade butcher.

As to Case: When the 7th Company was marching through Dinant at about 7 o'clock p.m. on August 23rd we were fired on from two houses. I was struck in the left arm and the left leg. An examination of the wounds in the leg showed that they resulted from a discharge of small shot.

In the Carolahaus in Dresden a small round bullet was removed in an operation by Dr. Kretzschmar from the left foot; besides this a pellet was located in the left upper thigh, and is still there. On December 10th I returned again to the 7th Company.

Read over, approved, signed.

Signed: KARL BISCHOFF.

The witness was thereupon sworn.

Signed: V. LOEBEN, Lieutenant and Officer of the Court.
Signed: BAIER, Non-commissioned Officer and Clerk of the Court.

C. App. 58.

Present:
Lieutenant of Landwehr OERTEL, as Officer of the Court.
Acting-Sergeant-Major SOMMERBURG, as Clerk of the Court.

PROVISEUX, _March 2nd, 1915_.

There appeared for examination as witness Deputy-Officer Ebert, who, after the importance of the oath had been pointed out to him, made the following statement:

As to Person: My name is Eduard Kurt Ebert, Deputy-Officer, Acting-Sergeant-Major, 11th Company, Grenadier Regiment No. 101; 33 years old; Protestant.

As to Case: On August 23rd, 1914, I came back early, towards 9 o'clock, from a patrol which I had undertaken on the previous evening from before Château Reux to Dinant in company with Lieutenant Schurig and some men of the 9th and 12th Companies of my regiment, which lay in readiness about half an hour's distance from Dinant. On the way back from Dinant to the regiment we found at the end of the town a non-commissioned officer and six men of Rifle Regiment No. 108 lying dead in the road. Some of the dead showed wounds on the face and chest, which Lieutenant Schurig, as well as myself, recognised without doubt as having been caused by small shot.

On the evening of the same day, probably about 5 p.m., I stood with the 12th Company of Grenadier Regiment No. 101 in the street on the bank of the Meuse below the place where the bridge was being built. All at once a heavy fire was opened on us from all sides, especially from above. A man of the 12th Company, who stood beside me, received a shot in the stock of the rifle. I removed the missile myself from the wood; it was a small round bullet. The firing then died down, and I was put across the Meuse. After I had crossed over, I received the order from Lieutenant and Adjutant Stark to guard the civilian prisoners who had been rounded up there, and later the military prisoners also. I then saw how men of my guard handed water to the captive women and children and gave them chocolate. I myself bandaged a wounded French sergeant.

Read over, approved, signed.

Signed: EDUARD KURT EBERT.

The witness Ebert was thereupon sworn.

Signed: OERTEL, Lieutenant of Reserve and Officer of the Court.
Signed: SOMMERBURG, Acting-Sergeant-Major
and Clerk of the Military Court.

C. App. 59.

Present:
Lieutenant of Reserve DACHSEL, as Officer of the Court.
Non-commissioned Officer of Reserve STEIGER, as Clerk of the Court.

LA VILLE-AUX-BOIS PRÈS PONTAVERT, _March 6th, 1915_.

At the request of the Imperial German Court of Justice of the General Government in Belgium there appeared by order, as witness, Medical-Corps Non-commissioned Officer Rost, who, after the importance of the oath had been pointed out to him, and he had been warned to speak the truth, made the following statement:

As to Person: My name is Paul Richard Rost, Medical-Corps Non-commissioned Officer, 6th Company, Rifle (Fusilier) Regiment No. 108; 25 years old; Protestant.

As to Case: When I was attending the wounded in Dinant on the night of August 21st and 22nd, I noticed that behind the men, some in their shirt-sleeves, who were firing from the windows, the heads of women were also visible.

The next day I saw in the courtyard of the Château of Sorinnes, among the dead lying there on biers, Corporal Kirchhof of my company. He had an injury to the skull which could only have originated from a blunt instrument. The brain-pan was quite smashed in.

On August 23rd I found on a detached estate near Dinant, close by the road which leads from Sorinnes to Dinant, a German soldier almost completely carbonised, lying under a burnt heap of straw. He appeared to be a Jäger, judging from portions of his equipment which lay near. I was told by comrades that a second Jäger had been found in a field in the vicinity of Dinant, with his face burnt. The estate, where I found the Jäger, had been organised as a dressing-station for wounds.

Read over, approved, signed.

Signed: PAUL RICHARD ROST.

The witness was thereupon sworn.

Signed: DACHSEL. Signed: STEIGER.

C. App. 60.

Present:
Lieutenant of Reserve DACHSEL, as Officer of the Court.
Non-commissioned Officer STEIGER, as Clerk of the Court.

LA VILLE-AUX-BOIS PRÈS PONTAVERT, _March 6th, 1915_.

At the request of the Imperial German Court of Justice of the General Government in Belgium, there appeared by order, as witness, Rifleman Lange, who, after the importance of the oath had been pointed out to him, and he had been warned to speak the truth, made the following statement:

As to Person: My name is Emil Bruno Lange, Rifleman of Reserve, 7th Company, Rifle (Fusilier) Regiment No. 108; 25 years old; Protestant.

As to Case: In the night-fighting at Dinant on August 21st I saw an elderly woman firing at us from a house which was brightly lighted up by a lamp burning in the street. After some time she fell backwards; apparently she had been hit by us.

Read over, approved, signed.

Signed: EMIL BRUNO LANGE.

The witness was thereupon sworn.

Signed: DACHSEL. Signed: STEIGER.