THE SACK OF DINANT.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVI, Issue 16842, 28 April 1915, Page 10

THE SACK OF DINANT.

BELGIAN LADY'S DIARY.

CRUELTY CF DRUNKEN HUNS. "Time 3" and Sydney "Sun" Services. LONDON, April 26. The following are extracts from the diary of a Belgian lady who has since died in England:— "The Germans entering Dinantwere mostly drunk. They fired tho houses, pillaged shamefully, and engaged the French with bayonets in tho streets. When the bombardment commenced, women and children fled terrified, nuns holding up their hands to hearten them. Hundreds in the most extreme terror and fatigue, lying on mattresses with their babies in cradles, were left in the streets. A barefooted woman; expecting a child, clad only in a chemise and a petticoat, was among those compelled to watch the unarmed husbands and sons shot. Many women sought refuge in hill caves, where several lost their reason as a result of their infanta dying. " The Germans discovered them, and compelled them to march in front of the army. When the French cannon ceased fifing, they were lined up facing the Gorman riflemen. The women appealed for mercy, but an officer replied, ' Dinant fired on our soldiers. . I am ordered to leave nothing in Dinant.' Heartbreaking farewells were taken, and then an officer rode up at the last moment and spared them. They were marched to camp, whero they saw immense braziers full of corpses. They were imprisoned in a church, and '•'n response to the appeals of priests, more kindly treated."