PROOF OF ATROCITIES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 15886, 6 April 1915, Page 8

PROOF OF ATROCITIES.

BELGIANS' EYES PUT OUT.

CIVILIANS AS SHIELDS.

The ninth and tenth reports of the Commission of Inquiry into German atrocities in Belgium give details of the destruction of Termonde, which was several times bombarded. When the Germans first entered the town troops advanced to the civil hospital, and there arrested as hostages Dr. Van Winckel, president of the Red Cross Association, who was attending to tho wounded; and also the Rev. M. Van Poucke, the chaplain, and M. Cesar Schellekens, the secretary of the United Civil Hospitals, accompanied by various townsmen, who were arrested on the way thither. Whilst the soldiers were pillaging the shops and the bank, General Von Boehn was posing for his photograph on the stairs of the Town Hall. On September 5, the complete destruction of the town by fire began tinder the direction of a Major von Sommerfeld. The hospital, it is stated, was not spared; it was drenched with petroleum and set alight. The sick, wounded, and old people were carried out, but one epileptic man perished in the blaze. Many inhabitants of Lebbeke, Saint Gilles, and Termonde, were arrested and sent off to Germany. The parish priest of Lebbeke, his curate, the communal secretary, the notary, and about 450 other people from the above-named places were interned, partly at the camp at Soltau, partly at tho camp at Munster. During tho whole of their journey, and for the first part of their imprisonment, they were treated in a most odious fashion. While on the march three of them, exhausted by hunger, tried to turn off from the road; they were at once put to death—two were bayoneted, the third was thrown down on the ground and clubbed. Names are given of inhabitants of Lebbeke and St. Gilles who were murdered on their own lands by blows from bayonets, picks, or hatchets. Twelve men of 'Lebbeke had taken refuge in a farm; they were tied together, and led to the back of the farm, where they were murdered. Their bodies were all thrown into the same trench. Six men of St. Gilles were tied arm to arm, and conducted to Lebbeke. The Germans put out their eyes and then killed them with their bayonets. At Termonde six German infantrymen fired twice, from a distance of five yards only, on Dr. F. Hemereyk and on his porter, though both were wearing the armlet with the Red Cross. The portei died five days later—his wound was made by an explosive bullet. Some German soldiers, under an officer, compelled 15 civilians • to march in front of them on the road to St. Gilles; of this party three were ladies and two young girls! At St. Gilles a man, who had received five bayonet thrusts in the abdomen, was tied up, as if crucified, to a door—his right hand bound to the door-handle, his left to the bell-pull. The commissioners state: "From the moment that the German Army had taken possession, with the Belgian Army in front of Liege, it found a way to protect itself by pushing before it groups of civilians. A" witness has indicated the manner in which the German battery tired on the Convent of Peres Cannes at Chcvremont, by placing all around the battery inhabitants taken from the neighbourhood, many men, women, and children. Tho same witness saw a troop of Germans passing at intervals tho forts of ChanelFontaine and Fleron, in front of them a group of civilians collected along the way, most of them having their hands tied behind their backs. Another group of civilians were forced to march in the middle of tho troops, included in which was an octogenarian with two companions who were being dragged. " Another witness describes how a German column was formed, crossing the Parish of Horinage, advancing to attack the French troops. They planted themselves on tho river opposite to tho Sambre as follows: One, cyclists ; two, infantry, spaced ; three, group of 100 males, hostages; four, mass of infantry ; live, autos., many drawn by horses ; six, cannons; seven, a group of about 300 hostages surrounded by a cord. Although tho French occupied the highest point of vantage, it was some time before they became engaged in the combat, owing to the presence of civilians at the head and centre of the columns. When the combat had commenced a groat number of tho German soldiers were hit by the French bullets, find fell. These troops occupied the village, put lire to all the houses along the streets, but did not arrest the file of the invading army. At 10 p.m. the witness perceived a fresh group of civilians, amongst whom there were women and children. Part of this group had to pass tho night on the bridge of La Sambre in order to avoid the bombardment by the French. Tho others were pushed in front of the fire.