HOW BELGIANS SUFFER.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXIX, Issue LXIX, 27 September 1915, Page 3

HOW BELGIANS SUFFER.

A TOUCHING STORY: In writing to Mr"J. H/Dalton, of Auckland, a Belgian citizen says,: "I am from Vis©, »" little frontier town in. the-province.of Liege. The first was invaded by the army" of ,(kultur' on 4th August. 1914. Les bochee arrived firing on tno inoffensive civilians, who, had not a single Belgian soldier in the town, and by whom not a single shot had been fired. It was impossible for us to escape, the Belgian Government having destroyed the bridge leading over the Meuse. The. town was, surrounded by thousands of Germans. Towards five o'clock we were driven from our houses at the point of .the bayonet, and we were1 made to proceed, to the Rue de la Fontaine, with a threat to shoot ixs on the pre-, text that we had fired on them. , It was a sad .spectacle to eeo these sad, poor women, dragging and carrying their terrified children, for the barbarians had set fire to a farm near by. "An officer of high rank was..waiting for us in the middle of the street, and on the side soldiers waiting for orders. On our left, we could- see the mutilated body of Joseph Brouka, under the windows of his house. His son, desiring to lift his. fatherV body up, was fired .upon by the said officer. I resolutely advanced towards the officer, and asked him what his intention was concerning us. He answered, at the same time placing his revolver on my chest, that his soldiers had been fired upon, and he was going to take revenge. 'Sir,' 1 suid, 'possibly you are the father of a family yourself, and surely you will have pity on these women and poor children, W« have certainly taken no share in the shooting," in answer to which he told us to roturn to our homes, until seven o'clock at night, when we were to meet at the church to receive orders from the German major, who did not come, and the meeting was postponed until the next day. '

"All the men were made to fill in again the trenches that the Belgians had made. They had nothing but their hands to do the work with, having no tools, and were constantly threatened with, death. Finally the people were allowed to take refuge in caves and other places., in each instance the doors requiring to be left open, for we were obliged to give to our enemies all that they demanded from us. They set fire to.the church under the pre^text of the tower 9 being used as an observation post, and also threatened to burn all the other buildings-, which would, of necessity, destroy the residences of the unfortunate people living in the vicinity of these edifices. This was not done until the 16th of August. They then took fifty civilians, and these were caused -to walk all night, andi the bodies of these were found dreadfully mutilated by the German bayonets. Other civilians besides suffered the same fate.

'"I was given the task to read the Geiman General's proclamation regarding the surrendering of all arms. They caused me several times to pass in the midst of a company of soldiers, kneeling on the ground in the attitude of firing. The reason of this I could not understand, for only myself and Mr Lochston were alone in the street. Our arms and legs were tied, and these famous warriors, conveyed us to the Vise station, the soldiers demolishing and burning everything they came across, and drinking all that they could lay their hands.on. It was. the action of devils, and it is a miracle we escaped with our lives. On the night of the 16th. we were awakened by thousands of rifle shotsi discharged by the Germans. .'.'.'

"They set fire to many places. Haying been liberated, we ran to obtain the fire engines to put the fire out, but in the act of so doing, I was slightly wounded in the chest. I fell against the wall. I was picked up and taken home again. My men triecl to put the fires out, but the Germans fired on thjem. They took 596 men and consyed them to Germany, while 200 were obliged to work for them in the construction of roads. My third eon was among this number. However, after twelve days of intense suffering, a number managed to escape to Holland, in which country I was myself led by my wife, my eldest daughter, and a son of mine, aged 15.

"Quite a number more of the citizens of Vise were shot or bayoneted. They chased the women and the children without giving, them time to even collect together their most previous things. Personally, I was not even EJven time to open my desk—my watches, gold chains, and jewels—all remained where they were. We were not even permitted to take so much £» a shirt. We were in a deplorable state, having lived for twelve days in the charcoal caves, when the Boches allowed us a little leisure. Now, our unfortunate little town has been obliterated, for after the enemy hadburnt it, the walls of the buildings were pulled down to construct a large station. Of the city of Vise nothing remains. Before the war I was the proprietor of a business—No. 10 and 12, Ilue de Perron, keeping a grocery establishment. 1 was well off, but now I have nothing left, but still happy to have escaped the massacre of myself and family. "My sons and my sons-in-law are prisoners in Germany, having been wounded in the performing of their duties as soldiers. We were transferred at the end of August, 1914, to our camp in Holland, where we were under military guard by Dutch soldiers. At the comencement of December, we were taken to another camp—Neuipeet —and at the end of December I was happy to reach La Faye in a refugee's house witlx my wife, my daughter, and son. There were 32 of us in the house. We had to be separated, but were made comfortable in the rooms, heated by gas and light given to us gratuitously. Moreover, .seven francs have been given to us for food, but. it is difficult to say what next we shall get. I beg that you will pardon me, dear sir, for tbo length of this letter, which you maj not read to the end, but to me it is a real relief to let a benefactor know of my troubles. L assert on iny oath, all I nave included in this letter, which you can treat as you may desire. I beg of you, my dear benefactor, to accept my sincere thanks and salutation, and that God may preserve you and your family, and your dear country from a German invasion."

"PS.—I was chief of the volunteer fire brigade' of Vise before the war, and I had the honor of possessing more decorations for acts of courage and devotion than any other man in the city. Forgive my scribble, for I have nearly lost my sight. I have seven children —four*boys and three girls, and not one of them has a straw bed to sleep on.' 1