_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: