Chapter VI: Appendix: A.--Aerschot

App. A.

War Office.

Military Court of Inquiry into the Violation of the Laws of War.

BELGIAN CIVILIAN UPRISING IN AERSCHOT ON AUGUST 19TH AND 20TH, 1914.

_Comprehensive Report._

The officially summoned Belgian Commission of Inquiry, together with the foreign Press, have included the case of Aerschot in their innumerable calumnies against the German method of waging war in Belgium. Neither could find enough to say in their descriptions of the "barbarous" attitude adopted by the German troops and their officers towards the "harmless" inhabitants, nor against the utter lack of ground for the Court of Punishment held in the "peaceful" town. The true facts of the matter, which have been established by a number of carefully sworn testimonies given by unprejudiced witnesses, reveal quite a different picture.

On August 19, 1914, German troops of the 8th Infantry Brigade were housed in Aerschot. The town quietly watched the Brigade Staff enter on the same day. Colonel Stenger, in command of the brigade, sent his adjutant, Captain Schwarz, in advance, in order to procure billets for the members of the staff. Captain Schwarz was received in a friendly manner by the Mayor and his wife. The Mayor suggested that his own house, situated in the market-place, would provide the best accommodation. The Colonel and his orderly officer, Lieutenant Beyersdorff (App. 1), went there in the afternoon between four and five. The relations between the officer staying in those quarters and his host were from the very first amiable and polite (App. 1).

Colonel Jenrich, officer commanding Infantry Regiment No. 140, attached to the Brigade, was made Governor of the town, and summoned the Mayor in order to ask him whether any dispersed Belgian soldiers were hidden in the place, or disguised as civilians in the houses. The Mayor replied to both questions in the negative. Colonel Jenrich warned him expressly against attacks by the civil population, for which the Mayor, on penalty of death, would be held responsible. Further, he desired him to see that the inhabitants delivered up all weapons. This demand Colonel Jenrich had to repeat twice, as it turned out that great quantities of weapons were kept back by the population (App. 2).

At 8 o'clock in the evening a particularly loud report was heard in the town, which proved to be the signal for a general firing on the German troops gathered together in the streets and the market-place. The fire--evidently at the given signal--opened from the roof windows of a corner house near the market-place, situated opposite that of the Mayor (App. 3). Three volleys were fired from this house, then the shooting ceased for a short time, after which brisk and rapid firing began again from many of the houses. The shots came chiefly from the roof window. All the doors and windows of the house from which the first shot had been fired were firmly locked, and had to be broken open by the soldiers. The house was set on fire. Several civilians, who attempted to flee, were seized, many with weapons in their hands (App. 5). Eighty-eight men amongst them were shot as francs-tireurs (App. 3).

Colonel Stenger had remained alone in his room in the Mayor's house. By a notice on the door the house was easily recognisable as being the quarters of the Brigade Staff. Colonel Stenger, trusting to the assumed friendliness of the inhabitants, had spent the afternoon on the balcony adjoining his room, where he was clearly visible to all. Towards the evening he retired to his brightly lit room, leaving the balcony doors wide open (App. 1). When Captain Schwarz and Lieutenant Beyersdorff went to call on him in the evening about 8 o'clock, in order to receive instructions with reference to the uprising, they found Colonel Stenger lying mortally wounded in the middle of the lighted room, with the balcony doors still wide open. The doctor, who was immediately summoned, could only testify to the death that had already overtaken him (App. 1). The shots fired at the Colonel occurred then at the same time as those of the first lively volleys fired from the house opposite his room. It was the case of a systematic attack upon the German troops, who, robbed of their leader, were to fall into disorder and confusion. Hence the cessation of the firing after the first volleys, when the criminals saw they had succeeded in murdering the Colonel, and its immediate hostile renewal against the apparently leaderless troops. The sequence of events is so obvious that it is only confirmed by the previous pretence of friendliness on the part of the inhabitants, and not weakened by this fact, as the Belgian representation of events would have it.

An immediate search of the Mayor's house showed that the family were not only cognizant of the hostilities, but also participated in them. Shots were fired into the street from the locked cellar, the key of which the family declared to have been lost, and it had to be forcibly opened; a stand had even been moved to the cellar window, in order to make their position easier for the marksmen (App. 1), and a musketeer was positively certain that he had noticed a shot fired from the house (App. 1). The Mayor's son alone could be held responsible for the actual deed; hidden away by his family, he was fetched out of a dark room (App. 1). But since the whole family were guilty of the Colonel's murder after having received him with such "hospitality," according to Belgian reports, both father and son were shot on the following day, August 20 (App. 2).

At the town Governor's instigation, Captain Karge, officer commanding the Military Mounted Police, was lodged in the house of the Mayor's brother, and thus he too shared the same fate (Apps. 2, 3).

According to the nature of the firing, no doubt remains of its being a case of a systematic and murderous attack on the German garrison. This was also admitted to Captain Karge by a civilian prisoner of the educated classes (App. 3). The participation of the Mayor's whole family proves that the Belgian authorities supported such treacherous deeds against the German troops--deeds that were, unhappily, only too frequent. In Aerschot this mischievous official authority led to the ruthless murder of the commanding officer.

BERLIN, _January 17th, 1915_.

Military Court of Inquiry into the Violation of Military Law.

Signed: Major BAUER.
Signed: Dr. WAGNER, Member of the Supreme Court of Judicature.

A. App. 1.

Present:
Lieutenant of Reserve KLAUSS, Officer of the Court.
Acting-Sergeant-Major ROSS, Clerk of the Court.

ROUBAIX, _November 6th, 1914_.

At the inquiry concerning the events in Aerschot, on the night of August 19-20, 1914, there appeared as witnesses:

1. The Adjutant of the 8th Infantry Brigade, Captain Schwarz.

2. The Orderly Officer of the 8th Infantry Brigade, Lieutenant of Reserve Beyersdorff. After they had been acquainted with the nature of the inquiry, and their attention had been called to the importance of the oath, they were separately examined, as follows:

1. Captain Schwarz.

As to Person: My name is Carl Schwarz. I am 34 years of age, of the Protestant faith.

As to Case: On the 19th of August I was sent in advance of Colonel Stenger, who later was shot, and was commanding the 8th Infantry Brigade, to Aerschot, to find quarters for the staff. The Mayor of Aerschot suggested to me that his own house, situated in the market-place, would provide the best accommodation. I entered this house, and was received in the most friendly manner by the Mayor's wife. Between four and five in the afternoon, Colonel Stenger and the Orderly Officer, Lieutenant of Reserve Beyersdorff, arrived.

Shortly before eight in the evening, soon after I had had a short interview with the Colonel in his room, there suddenly arose a brisk rifle-fire in the town; it was directed on the troops, who were partly passing through and partly halting in the market-place. The first shots, which, according to the sound, seemed to come from a northerly direction, I thought came from the enemy's fire, who had been reported as advancing from the north. But I was soon convinced by the shots directed on our house that they were intended for us. The shots did not emanate from our troops. After a short pause, the firing was renewed with equal violence. In the meantime, the Mayor was brought to me by the men of the 140th Infantry Regiment. I had to protect him from the fury of the men. I now went through the streets with the Mayor, and through him tried to bring the citizens to reason. After the firing had died down, I handed the Mayor over to the commandant of the town, Major Jenrich.

As I now returned to the Mayor's house to receive orders from Colonel Stenger, I found him lying seriously wounded on the floor of his room. Owing to the many shots fired at our adjoining rooms, and to the fact that the townsfolk obviously knew that the commander was billeted in the Mayor's house (indicated on the door), and further, that Colonel Stenger could be seen through the wide-open doors of the balcony, I was under the impression that the fire was specially directed against the Colonel.

After Colonel Jenrich had given the command that the troops should leave Aerschot, I personally, accompanied by a few men of the 140th Infantry Regiment, made a thorough search of the Mayor's house, from which shots were supposed to have been fired. On this occasion, by my orders, the locked cellar doors, of which the keys were alleged to have been lost, were broken in with axes. In the cellar, in front of the window which opened on to the street, I found a conspicuous stand from which shots must have been fired. The window-panes were completely shattered. Whilst we were searching the living-rooms, the Mayor's son came towards us from a darkened room. I, personally, handed him over to the sentry in the market-place. Those calumnies about our doings in the Mayor's house, published in a foreign newspaper, are untrue.

The negotiations concerning the housing and catering were conducted on both sides in a friendly fashion, mostly with the Mayor's wife, as the Mayor was occupied at the town hall. It was natural that, after the shooting of Colonel Stenger, the friendly tone which had reigned should have been changed to a strictly official one, and I did not omit to show my horror at the sad event.

Read over, approved, signed.

Signed: SCHWARZ.

Hereupon the witness took the oath.

2. Reserve Lieutenant Beyersdorff of the 12th Dragoon Regiment.

As to Person: I am called Bruno Beyersdorff. I am 31 years of age, and a Protestant.

As to Case: At the hearing of the witness it turned out that his evidence agreed with the evidence of Captain Schwarz. Therefore Captain Schwrarz's deposition was read to him, whereupon he declared this evidence to be correct, and confirmed it and added a few more details.

With the exception of a few short intervals, I was at the time in question in the same room with Captain Schwarz. The negotiations concerning the housing and catering, which we both had with the Mayor and his wife, were conducted in an entirely friendly fashion.

I am, for similar reasons, of the same opinion as Captain Schwarz, that the fire which was directed on our quarters was especially intended for Colonel Stenger. In referring to this, I want to add that Colonel Stenger, especially noticeable by his decorations, sat for some time on his balcony, and could be clearly seen from the whole market-place. I also, with Captain Schwarz, left the room after the first sounds of firing, and proceeded to the market-place to restore order there amongst the troops, who had become disorganised through the firing. When the shooting began soon after, for the second time, I went alone to Colonel Stenger's room, to ask him for orders. As no one opened the door after repeated knocking, I entered, and found him stretched on the floor in the middle of the room, with his face on his bended arm, in his death-agony. As I could observe wounds, and there was copious bleeding, I immediately fetched a doctor, who certified that the Colonel had since died. I cannot give the name of the doctor. I was not present at the searching of the rooms, which took place later. There is no question of our having behaved in a rough manner in the Mayor's house, as is supposed to have been stated in a foreign newspaper. After the Colonel's body had been found, we did adopt a strictly official tone towards the Mayor's wife. On leaving the house, Captain Schwarz said to the Mayor's wife, "Your husband had been frequently warned, and you will have to bear the consequences." I also wish to add to this, that, after the firing had ceased, Captain Karge, as far as I know, gave command for at least three houses to be set on fire, from which shots were supposed to have been fired. I myself ascertained that during the burning of the house belonging to the Mayor's neighbour, exploding munition was distinctly heard. It was noticeable from the separate detonations.

Read over, approved, signed.

Signed: BEYERSDORFF.

The witness thereupon took the oath.

Signed: KLAUSS, Lieutenant of Reserve and Officer of the Court.
Signed: ROSS, Acting-Sergeant-Major, as Clerk to the Military Court.

A. App. 2.

Present:
Lieutenant of Reserve KLAUSS, as Officer to the Military Court.
Acting-Sergeant-Major ROSS, as Secretary to the Court.

OSTEL, _November 3rd, 1914_.

At the inquiry concerning the events of the night of August 19 and 20, 1914, in Aerschot, there appeared as witness the officer commanding the 140th Infantry Regiment, Colonel Jenrich. After he had been acquainted with the subject of the inquiry, and his attention had been drawn to the importance of the oath, he was examined as follows:

My name is Andreas Jenrich. I am 56 years of age; Protestant. On August 19th I came personally with the staff of my regiment to Aerschot, after the 3rd Division had had a fight with Belgian troops in that neighbourhood. I was commander of the place, and had to make preparations for internal administration, as well as for safety. The Staff of the 8th Infantry Brigade were already in Aerschot, and were billeted in the Mayor's house. I at once sent for this gentleman and asked him whether there were any disbanded Belgian soldiers hidden away, or if there were otherwise any Belgian soldiers in civilian clothing in the houses. He denied this. I pointed out the consequence to him, for which he and the town would be held responsible, if anything was undertaken by the populace against the German troops; and especially I left him in no doubt as to the death penalty awaiting him should an attack by the civilians against the German soldiers take place. I felt justified in this threat, as on the day before, in Schaaffen, near Siest, civilians fired at our soldiers, killing several of them. As far as I know, at midday on August 19, 1914, the General commanding the II. Army Corps, Von Linsingen, had likewise warned the Mayor and the population.

I also ordered the civilians to give up all their weapons in front of the town hall in the market-place. After an hour I ascertained that only a small quantity of arms had been given up. I then renewed my commands to the Mayor that he should see to the handing over of all weapons. To my especial astonishment, 36 rifles were then brought forth, which had evidently been intended for the purpose of public shows and for the Garde Civique. Portions of ammunition for these rifles were found packed away in a case. After repeated and serious warning to the Mayor, a larger quantity of weapons was given up. Towards 8 o'clock the troops had just marched in, and still found themselves in the streets. All at once, at 8 o'clock exactly, firing suddenly began from all the houses, and this was naturally returned by our men. I should especially like to point out that before the commencement of the general firing, a particularly loud report was heard, which must have been the alarm signal. I succeeded, with several other officers, amongst whom I may mention Brigade Adjutant Captain Schwarz, in stopping the fire of our soldiers in the market-place. Soon after I heard from Captain Schwarz that the officer commanding the brigade had been found shot dead in his room in the Mayor's house. At about 8.30 in the evening I commanded the evacuation of the town, and we bivouacked outside the place on the way to Wispelaer.

In the meantime the houses had been searched by the troops, and a considerable number of inhabitants taken prisoners, who were proved to have taken part in the attacks on the soldiers. Of the male population taken prisoners the Mayor, with his son as well as his brother, and every third man, were shot the next morning.

Read over, approved, signed.

Signed: JENRICH.

Hereupon the witness was sworn.

Signed: KLAUSS, Lieutenant of Reserve and Officer to the Military Court.
Signed: ROSS, Acting-Sergeant-Major and Secretary to the Military Court.

A. App. 3.

Present:
President of the Military Court, HOTTENDORFF.
Secretary to the Military Court, WESTPHAL.

TOURCOING, _November 15th, 1914_.

At the investigation concerning the events in Aerschot on the night of August 19th to 20th, 1914, there appeared as witness Captain Karge of the cavalry, officer commanding the troops of the Field Cavalry Police of the II. Army Corps, who, after his attention had been drawn to the importance and sanctity of the oath, was examined as follows:

As to Person: My Christian name is Hans. I am 42 years of age; Protestant.

As to Case: The witness was handed the supplement to this Record and declared:

I have given my evidence in writing in the supplement. Witness then further added to the Record, after this supplement had been read through:

I acknowledge the supplement just read as my own. Several German officers told me that, according to report, the Belgian Government, and especially the King of the Belgians, had intimated that it was the duty of every male Belgian to do the German Army as much harm as possible.

An Order of this kind was also supposed to have been found on a captured Belgian soldier. I also heard that Belgian soldiers had been discharged in their native towns, so that they could there fight in plain clothes against the Germans. It is true that a number of Belgian soldiers, who were partly clothed as civilians, were made prisoners. An officer, who was present at the attack in Aerschot, told me that on the belfry tower of a certain place in the neighbourhood of Aerschot he had himself read that Belgians who caught German officers were not allowed to keep them prisoners on parole, but were to shoot them. I cannot exactly repeat this officer's words, but they contained the meaning I have just given.

A college teacher from Aerschot, whom I have already mentioned in the supplement, assured me, as I now positively remember, that the Garde Civique had orders to do the German Army as much harm as possible.

Read over, approved, signed.

Signed: KARGE.

The witness thereupon took the oath.

Proceedings closed.

Signed: HOTTENDORFF. Signed: WESTPHAL.

Supplement to A. App. 3.

On August 19th, 1914, towards 8 o'clock in the evening, I stood at an open window in the quarters which had been offered me by the Mayor of Aerschot, whose brother's house it was, situated in a street which led to the market-place. It may have been a few minutes to eight when I heard a shot. A column was just marching down the street towards the market-place. I leant out of the window, under the impression that perhaps one of the soldiers had carelessly fired a shot from his rifle; immediately there was a fusillade. I had just looked in the direction from which the single shot had been fired, and I could ascertain that from the ledge of the roof of a red corner-house, situated opposite my billet, towards the right, the smoke and dust were ascending. My certainty that the first shot had been fired from this spot was strengthened, and I now distinctly saw a second volley being fired from the same place, appearing in thin clouds of smoke. The shots may have been fired from about eight or ten rifles, and from the regularity of the volley I had the impression that we had to do with a well-organised and perhaps military operation. Shortly after the second volley a third was heard, and added to that a brisk and rapid firing took place, which did not proceed only from the house mentioned, but also from the other houses in this street.

Apparently this firing did not only come from the windows, but also from the openings in the roof and prepared loopholes in the attics of the houses; it is because of this that one can explain the small harm done to the men and animals. The street was narrow, and the rifles had to be placed in an unnaturally slanting position, if they were to be aimed at the halting columns in the middle of the street. The drivers and soldiers of the supply column had in the meantime left their waggons and horses and sought shelter from the fire in the doorways of the houses. Some of the waggons had collided with each other, and the restless horses, having lost their drivers, had broken loose.

As shots also came my way, I sought shelter against the partition wall between the windows. After a short time, I thought I heard the firing returned by our soldiers in the market-place. Soon after, signals and calls were heard to "cease fire." The firing did then cease for a time, but was apparently renewed on both sides, though not so violently as before.

I had taken the opportunity to leave my billet during the cessation of the firing, and go to the market-place, to inform a Colonel there of the proceedings I had witnessed. At the same time, I asked permission to set fire to the house from which the signal shot--as I took it to be--had been fired, and from which the volley had also come. In my opinion, the ringleaders were assembled there. The Colonel refused my request. I hereupon returned to my street, but was there detained a moment by a rifleman, who, standing in a doorway, called out, "Just now I plainly saw a shot fired from the house opposite." He then pointed out the house, which I recognised as that of the Mayor.

I now took a few soldiers who were standing near by (of the 140th Infantry Regiment), and proceeded with them to the house from which the first shots had been fired, and in the attic of which I guessed the instigators and leaders still to be. In the meantime the regiment arrived, and--giving my commands to the officer and his men--I ordered the doors and windows on the ground floor, which were firmly locked, to be battered in. The house had a front door and a shop door. I then also forced my way into the house, and with the help of a fairly large quantity of turpentine, which was found in a tin can holding about 20 litres, and which I had partly poured on the first floor, I succeeded, after a short time, in setting the house on fire. Further, I gave orders to the men who had so far taken no part in this affair to occupy the entrances to the houses and arrest all men seeking to escape.

As I left the burning house several civilians, amongst them a young priest, were arrested in the neighbouring houses. I had them taken to the market-place, where in the meantime my troop of Field Cavalry Police had assembled. I then ordered the columns to march out of the town, and took over the command of all the prisoners, but released the women, boys, and girls.

I received from a staff officer (divisional commander of Artillery Regiment No. 17) the order to shoot all the captured men. Then I gave orders to a part of my police force to conduct the columns out of the town, whilst the others were told to escort the prisoners and take them away. At the exit of the town a house was burning, and by its light I saw the guilty men, 88 in number, shot, but not before I had taken away three cripples from among them.

Later on I met a second batch of prisoners. I picked out the most intelligent looking, and told him all the prisoners would be shot, but that I would save his life if he told me the truth concerning the organisation of the attack. For I looked upon the whole affair as such. This man, who spoke German and was a teacher at a college in Aerschot, confessed to its having been a great mistake of the people of Aerschot to have sheltered some fugitive Belgian soldiers, and to have hidden them and clothed them in civilian garments. These had joined the Garde Civique, and they had then organised an attack.

If I consider all the circumstances of the strange and remarkable behaviour of the Mayor, his brother, and other citizens with whom I came into contact, then I have no doubt that a great part of the civil population were all agreed in carrying out their hostile intentions.

Signed: KARGE, Captain of Cavalry.

A. App. 4.

Present:
President of the Military Court, JÜNGST.
Secretary to the Court, APPEL.

GNESEN, _November 29th, 1914_.

At the investigation concerning the events of the night between August 19th and 20th, 1914, at Aerschot, Captain Schleusener of the 49th Infantry Regiment, at present in Gnesen, appeared as witness, and after his attention had been called to the importance of the oath, was examined as follows:

My name is Georg Schleusener, Captain and Company Commander, 6th Pomeranian Infantry Regiment No. 49, machine-gun section. I am 35 years of age, Protestant, and I live in Gnesen.

Late in the afternoon of August 19th, 1914, I arrived with my machine-gun section, on a special mission, in this little town of Aerschot, by the northern exit. About 350 yards from the market-place I heard a few isolated shots, which I took to be exploding ammunition. But I soon found I was mistaken, as I encountered some returning cavalry patrols and their waggons, belonging to the 3rd Infantry Division, trying to beat a hasty retreat. After having succeeded in stopping our own firing, I myself saw shots fired from the houses, whereupon I ordered our machine-guns to be directed on the house fronts to the left. I was told that shots had been fired from a house on the right. As I commanded the guns to be turned round in order to open fire, a medical officer told me that there were wounded in the house. At my instigation a search was made, and five men were found in the house. I did not allow this house to be fired on.

Captain Folz, at present attached to the General Staff in Berlin, is supposed to be able to give more direct information concerning the death of Colonel Stenger.

Read over, approved, signed.

Signed: SCHLEUSENER.

The witness was hereupon legally sworn.

Signed: JÜNGST, President of the Military Court.
Signed: APPEL, Secretary of the Military Court.

A. App. 5.

Present:
President of the Military Court, BERNHARDS.
Clerk of the Military Court, HOFMANN.

DARMSTADT, _January 12th, 1915_.

There appeared as witness at the inquiry concerning the detailed circumstances of the attack of the civil population in Aerschot, Captain Folz. After he had been acquainted with the subject-matter of the inquiry, and his attention had been drawn to the importance of the oath, he made the following statement:

My name is Hermann Folz. I am 32 years of age; Protestant; Captain, 49th Infantry Regiment, at present with the Reserve Flying Corps,