GERMAN ATROCITIES IN BELGIUM

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2391, 22 February 1915, Page 7

GERMAN ATROCITIES IN BELGIUM

SEVENTH OFFICIAL REPORT

WOMEN AND CHILDREN USED AS SHIELDS. . , Tho seventh report of the Belgian Commission of Inquiry into the German atrocities was issued at the end of December. . It is, first of all, established by numerous reports of medical witnesses that wounded men were found on the battlefield who had been shot by explosive bullets. Formal and categorical reports of many university professors make this clear. There is much evidence of a thoroughly trustworthy character that the German troops in many places abused the use of the white flag. . _ The following is a list of definite cases where civilians were employed in operations of war:— The soldiers Goffin, Heyvarts, ana Hertleer state that, having been made prisoners along with other men of their oompany on August 6, they were dragged by tho Germans with their hands tied behind their backs. Encountering at Saive a Belgian company of the 19th Regiment of the line, the Germans placed them in front. At a given moment they ordered them to cry qui, "Belgians, don't shoot, or you will shoot Belgians." Two of the prisoners fell, shot by the bullets of our own soldiers. ■■ . On Monday,, August 17, Joseph Rymon, of Schaffen, was forced, with two inhabitants of Meldert. to march in front of the German troops to the town of Diest, and afterwards to take these troops to Montaigu. On the same day a German patrol of ten men, commanded by a lieutenant, arrived at Phildouck irith a Belgian workman in front whom they had compelled to serve'them as guide. . ./ ,• . At Namur the Germans forced the inhabitants of the outskirts to dig near the cemetery of .Warisoul trenches phioh were exposed to the_ fire of the forts. The inhabitants of Bierwart were cojnpelled to work ■ upon defence works all along, the highway. ' On August 23 the _ Germans placed Women and children in front of their attacking.column at the bridge opposite Biez. Women and children were hit by the Belgian shots. In numerous places in Hainaut tho German troops forced civilians, both men and women, to precede thetn. A German column traversing Marchienne forced along in front of 1 it several hundred civilians. It proceeded to Mon-

tigny le Tiileul, where occurred the first important' engagement with the French Army. On August 22 the Germans arrested at Grimbergen in. their ' houses Jean Olbrechts, Arthur van Compenhout, and Augusta .van Cappelen. They kept them for eight days, during whioh the men were compelled during the day, under artillery fire, to go in search of material of war which had been abandoned and, with other inhabitants of Grimbergen, to dig trenches. On August 24 Michel de Vleeschouwer, his Brother Joseph, _ and their father, 67 years old, living in the same locality, were driven in front of a troop of Germans to protect them against the Belgian cannon fire. .On August 25, at Eppeheghem, the whole male population was taken by the Germans and compelled to work in the trenches. . At Semptst, men and women during tlie fight of August 25 were placed by the Germans in the front line »f. fire. .

A 1 typical Case. „ On August 25 the Gennans compelled nearly 200 persons—men, women, • and children of the village of Hofstade—to march in front of them. On. the Tervueren Road the Belgian troops were encountered, at ■ a distance of one hun.dred to two hundred yards off. The German soldiers fired • from. behind the "prisoners. The Belgians shot from the side so as not to hit their compatriots. On August 28 >he Germans took along with them (their hands bound behind their backs) a company of more than seventy inhabitants of' Louvain. At Hernt the first ranks of these, a slight engagement taking place between infantry, came under fire. On the next day they were sent on to Malines, where they were told they would have a taste of the Belgian machine-gun fire. They were only released when the Belgian outposts were reached. _ Four hours after their arrival at Malines the bombardment of the town began. On An gust. 28 at Lerent the Gennans forced to march in front of' the army 500 women and children, preoeded by the priest? of Wygmael and Wesemael. Numerous inhabitants. pf Louvain were obliged during several days to take part-in forced marches daily or to dig trenches. A thousand inhabitants of Wygmael—men, women, and childrenwere compelled 1 during ten days to accompany German troops during the fiditing. _ ■ . On September 12, at Erpe, a German column of 200 to 300. men, attacked by a Belgian automatic machine-gun, seized in their houses 20 to 25 men, including young men and a boy of 13. They marched these in front of the column in the middle of the road. _ Two of the young men were wounded in the upper part of the thigh. The operators of the machine-gun, obsemng the prisoners, ceased fire. A witness adds that at a given moment he heard • the order given clearly to shoot all the prisoners if the Belgians continued to fire. ' On Saturday, September 26,' in the fight at Alost, the Germans drove in front' of them during an attack on the Belgians several of the inhabitants. The Belgian .soldiers having called to these to drop down on their faces, a German fired upon one, wounding him.