As to Person: I am called Bruno Beyersdorff. I am 31 years of age, and
a Protestant.
As to Case: At the hearing of the witness it turned out that his
evidence agreed with the evidence of Captain Schwarz. Therefore Captain
Schwrarz's deposition was read to him, whereupon he declared this
evidence to be correct, and confirmed it and added a few more details.
With the exception of a few short intervals, I was at the time in
question in the same room with Captain Schwarz. The negotiations
concerning the housing and catering, which we both had with the Mayor
and his wife, were conducted in an entirely friendly fashion.
I am, for similar reasons, of the same opinion as Captain Schwarz, that
the fire which was directed on our quarters was especially intended
for Colonel Stenger. In referring to this, I want to add that Colonel
Stenger, especially noticeable by his decorations, sat for some time
on his balcony, and could be clearly seen from the whole market-place.
I also, with Captain Schwarz, left the room after the first sounds
of firing, and proceeded to the market-place to restore order there
amongst the troops, who had become disorganised through the firing.
When the shooting began soon after, for the second time, I went alone
to Colonel Stenger's room, to ask him for orders. As no one opened the
door after repeated knocking, I entered, and found him stretched on
the floor in the middle of the room, with his face on his bended arm,
in his death-agony. As I could observe wounds, and there was copious
bleeding, I immediately fetched a doctor, who certified that the
Colonel had since died. I cannot give the name of the doctor. I was not
present at the searching of the rooms, which took place later. There
is no question of our having behaved in a rough manner in the Mayor's
house, as is supposed to have been stated in a foreign newspaper. After
the Colonel's body had been found, we did adopt a strictly official
tone towards the Mayor's wife. On leaving the house, Captain Schwarz
said to the Mayor's wife, "Your husband had been frequently warned,
and you will have to bear the consequences." I also wish to add to
this, that, after the firing had ceased, Captain Karge, as far as I
know, gave command for at least three houses to be set on fire, from
which shots were supposed to have been fired. I myself ascertained that
during the burning of the house belonging to the Mayor's neighbour,
exploding munition was distinctly heard. It was noticeable from the
separate detonations.
Read over, approved, signed.
Signed: BEYERSDORFF.
The witness thereupon took the oath.
Signed: KLAUSS, Lieutenant of Reserve and Officer of the Court.
Signed: ROSS, Acting-Sergeant-Major, as Clerk to the Military Court.
A. App. 2.
Present:
Lieutenant of Reserve KLAUSS, as Officer to the Military Court.
Acting-Sergeant-Major ROSS, as Secretary to the Court.
OSTEL, _November 3rd, 1914_.
At the inquiry concerning the events of the night of August 19 and 20,
1914, in Aerschot, there appeared as witness the officer commanding the
140th Infantry Regiment, Colonel Jenrich. After he had been acquainted
with the subject of the inquiry, and his attention had been drawn to
the importance of the oath, he was examined as follows:
My name is Andreas Jenrich. I am 56 years of age; Protestant. On
August 19th I came personally with the staff of my regiment to
Aerschot, after the 3rd Division had had a fight with Belgian troops
in that neighbourhood. I was commander of the place, and had to make
preparations for internal administration, as well as for safety. The
Staff of the 8th Infantry Brigade were already in Aerschot, and were
billeted in the Mayor's house. I at once sent for this gentleman and
asked him whether there were any disbanded Belgian soldiers hidden
away, or if there were otherwise any Belgian soldiers in civilian
clothing in the houses. He denied this. I pointed out the consequence
to him, for which he and the town would be held responsible, if
anything was undertaken by the populace against the German troops; and
especially I left him in no doubt as to the death penalty awaiting
him should an attack by the civilians against the German soldiers
take place. I felt justified in this threat, as on the day before, in
Schaaffen, near Siest, civilians fired at our soldiers, killing several
of them. As far as I know, at midday on August 19, 1914, the General
commanding the II. Army Corps, Von Linsingen, had likewise warned the
Mayor and the population.
I also ordered the civilians to give up all their weapons in front of
the town hall in the market-place. After an hour I ascertained that
only a small quantity of arms had been given up. I then renewed my
commands to the Mayor that he should see to the handing over of all
weapons. To my especial astonishment, 36 rifles were then brought
forth, which had evidently been intended for the purpose of public
shows and for the Garde Civique. Portions of ammunition for these
rifles were found packed away in a case. After repeated and serious
warning to the Mayor, a larger quantity of weapons was given up.
Towards 8 o'clock the troops had just marched in, and still found
themselves in the streets. All at once, at 8 o'clock exactly, firing
suddenly began from all the houses, and this was naturally returned
by our men. I should especially like to point out that before the
commencement of the general firing, a particularly loud report was
heard, which must have been the alarm signal. I succeeded, with several
other officers, amongst whom I may mention Brigade Adjutant Captain
Schwarz, in stopping the fire of our soldiers in the market-place. Soon
after I heard from Captain Schwarz that the officer commanding the
brigade had been found shot dead in his room in the Mayor's house. At
about 8.30 in the evening I commanded the evacuation of the town, and
we bivouacked outside the place on the way to Wispelaer.
In the meantime the houses had been searched by the troops, and a
considerable number of inhabitants taken prisoners, who were proved to
have taken part in the attacks on the soldiers. Of the male population
taken prisoners the Mayor, with his son as well as his brother, and
every third man, were shot the next morning.
Read over, approved, signed.
Signed: JENRICH.
Hereupon the witness was sworn.
Signed: KLAUSS, Lieutenant of Reserve and Officer to the Military Court.
Signed: ROSS, Acting-Sergeant-Major and Secretary to the Military Court.
A. App. 3.
Present:
President of the Military Court, HOTTENDORFF.
Secretary to the Military Court, WESTPHAL.
TOURCOING, _November 15th, 1914_.
At the investigation concerning the events in Aerschot on the night of
August 19th to 20th, 1914, there appeared as witness Captain Karge of
the cavalry, officer commanding the troops of the Field Cavalry Police
of the II. Army Corps, who, after his attention had been drawn to the
importance and sanctity of the oath, was examined as follows:
As to Person: My Christian name is Hans. I am 42 years of age;
Protestant.
As to Case: The witness was handed the supplement to this Record and
declared:
I have given my evidence in writing in the supplement. Witness then
further added to the Record, after this supplement had been read
through:
I acknowledge the supplement just read as my own. Several German
officers told me that, according to report, the Belgian Government, and
especially the King of the Belgians, had intimated that it was the duty
of every male Belgian to do the German Army as much harm as possible.
An Order of this kind was also supposed to have been found on a
captured Belgian soldier. I also heard that Belgian soldiers had been
discharged in their native towns, so that they could there fight in
plain clothes against the Germans. It is true that a number of Belgian
soldiers, who were partly clothed as civilians, were made prisoners. An
officer, who was present at the attack in Aerschot, told me that on the
belfry tower of a certain place in the neighbourhood of Aerschot he had
himself read that Belgians who caught German officers were not allowed
to keep them prisoners on parole, but were to shoot them. I cannot
exactly repeat this officer's words, but they contained the meaning I
have just given.
A college teacher from Aerschot, whom I have already mentioned in the
supplement, assured me, as I now positively remember, that the Garde
Civique had orders to do the German Army as much harm as possible.
Read over, approved, signed.
Signed: KARGE.
The witness thereupon took the oath.
Proceedings closed.
Signed: HOTTENDORFF. Signed: WESTPHAL.
Supplement to A. App. 3.
On August 19th, 1914, towards 8 o'clock in the evening, I stood at an
open window in the quarters which had been offered me by the Mayor of
Aerschot, whose brother's house it was, situated in a street which led
to the market-place. It may have been a few minutes to eight when I
heard a shot. A column was just marching down the street towards the
market-place. I leant out of the window, under the impression that
perhaps one of the soldiers had carelessly fired a shot from his rifle;
immediately there was a fusillade. I had just looked in the direction
from which the single shot had been fired, and I could ascertain that
from the ledge of the roof of a red corner-house, situated opposite
my billet, towards the right, the smoke and dust were ascending.
My certainty that the first shot had been fired from this spot was
strengthened, and I now distinctly saw a second volley being fired from
the same place, appearing in thin clouds of smoke. The shots may have
been fired from about eight or ten rifles, and from the regularity of
the volley I had the impression that we had to do with a well-organised
and perhaps military operation. Shortly after the second volley a third
was heard, and added to that a brisk and rapid firing took place, which
did not proceed only from the house mentioned, but also from the other
houses in this street.
Apparently this firing did not only come from the windows, but also
from the openings in the roof and prepared loopholes in the attics of
the houses; it is because of this that one can explain the small harm
done to the men and animals. The street was narrow, and the rifles had
to be placed in an unnaturally slanting position, if they were to be
aimed at the halting columns in the middle of the street. The drivers
and soldiers of the supply column had in the meantime left their
waggons and horses and sought shelter from the fire in the doorways of
the houses. Some of the waggons had collided with each other, and the
restless horses, having lost their drivers, had broken loose.
As shots also came my way, I sought shelter against the partition wall
between the windows. After a short time, I thought I heard the firing
returned by our soldiers in the market-place. Soon after, signals and
calls were heard to "cease fire." The firing did then cease for a time,
but was apparently renewed on both sides, though not so violently as
before.
I had taken the opportunity to leave my billet during the cessation of
the firing, and go to the market-place, to inform a Colonel there of
the proceedings I had witnessed. At the same time, I asked permission
to set fire to the house from which the signal shot--as I took it to
be--had been fired, and from which the volley had also come. In my
opinion, the ringleaders were assembled there. The Colonel refused my
request. I hereupon returned to my street, but was there detained a
moment by a rifleman, who, standing in a doorway, called out, "Just now
I plainly saw a shot fired from the house opposite." He then pointed
out the house, which I recognised as that of the Mayor.
I now took a few soldiers who were standing near by (of the 140th
Infantry Regiment), and proceeded with them to the house from which
the first shots had been fired, and in the attic of which I guessed
the instigators and leaders still to be. In the meantime the regiment
arrived, and--giving my commands to the officer and his men--I ordered
the doors and windows on the ground floor, which were firmly locked,
to be battered in. The house had a front door and a shop door. I then
also forced my way into the house, and with the help of a fairly large
quantity of turpentine, which was found in a tin can holding about 20
litres, and which I had partly poured on the first floor, I succeeded,
after a short time, in setting the house on fire. Further, I gave
orders to the men who had so far taken no part in this affair to occupy
the entrances to the houses and arrest all men seeking to escape.
As I left the burning house several civilians, amongst them a young
priest, were arrested in the neighbouring houses. I had them taken
to the market-place, where in the meantime my troop of Field Cavalry
Police had assembled. I then ordered the columns to march out of the
town, and took over the command of all the prisoners, but released the
women, boys, and girls.
I received from a staff officer (divisional commander of Artillery
Regiment No. 17) the order to shoot all the captured men. Then I gave
orders to a part of my police force to conduct the columns out of the
town, whilst the others were told to escort the prisoners and take them
away. At the exit of the town a house was burning, and by its light I
saw the guilty men, 88 in number, shot, but not before I had taken away
three cripples from among them.
Later on I met a second batch of prisoners. I picked out the most
intelligent looking, and told him all the prisoners would be shot,
but that I would save his life if he told me the truth concerning the
organisation of the attack. For I looked upon the whole affair as such.
This man, who spoke German and was a teacher at a college in Aerschot,
confessed to its having been a great mistake of the people of Aerschot
to have sheltered some fugitive Belgian soldiers, and to have hidden
them and clothed them in civilian garments. These had joined the Garde
Civique, and they had then organised an attack.
If I consider all the circumstances of the strange and remarkable
behaviour of the Mayor, his brother, and other citizens with whom I
came into contact, then I have no doubt that a great part of the civil
population were all agreed in carrying out their hostile intentions.
Signed: KARGE, Captain of Cavalry.
A. App. 4.
Present:
President of the Military Court, JÜNGST.
Secretary to the Court, APPEL.
GNESEN, _November 29th, 1914_.
At the investigation concerning the events of the night between August
19th and 20th, 1914, at Aerschot, Captain Schleusener of the 49th
Infantry Regiment, at present in Gnesen, appeared as witness, and
after his attention had been called to the importance of the oath, was
examined as follows:
My name is Georg Schleusener, Captain and Company Commander, 6th
Pomeranian Infantry Regiment No. 49, machine-gun section. I am 35 years
of age, Protestant, and I live in Gnesen.
Late in the afternoon of August 19th, 1914, I arrived with my
machine-gun section, on a special mission, in this little town of
Aerschot, by the northern exit. About 350 yards from the market-place
I heard a few isolated shots, which I took to be exploding ammunition.
But I soon found I was mistaken, as I encountered some returning
cavalry patrols and their waggons, belonging to the 3rd Infantry
Division, trying to beat a hasty retreat. After having succeeded in
stopping our own firing, I myself saw shots fired from the houses,
whereupon I ordered our machine-guns to be directed on the house fronts
to the left. I was told that shots had been fired from a house on the
right. As I commanded the guns to be turned round in order to open
fire, a medical officer told me that there were wounded in the house.
At my instigation a search was made, and five men were found in the
house. I did not allow this house to be fired on.
Captain Folz, at present attached to the General Staff in Berlin, is
supposed to be able to give more direct information concerning the
death of Colonel Stenger.
Read over, approved, signed.
Signed: SCHLEUSENER.
The witness was hereupon legally sworn.
Signed: JÜNGST, President of the Military Court.
Signed: APPEL, Secretary of the Military Court.
A. App. 5.
Present:
President of the Military Court, BERNHARDS.
Clerk of the Military Court, HOFMANN.
DARMSTADT, _January 12th, 1915_.
There appeared as witness at the inquiry concerning the detailed
circumstances of the attack of the civil population in Aerschot,
Captain Folz. After he had been acquainted with the subject-matter of
the inquiry, and his attention had been drawn to the importance of the
oath, he made the following statement:
My name is Hermann Folz. I am 32 years of age; Protestant; Captain,
49th Infantry Regiment, at present with the Reserve Flying Corps,
Section 3. On a day in August, the date of which I have forgotten,
I arrived in Aerschot, as my regiment's billeting officer, with the
Staff of the 8th Infantry Brigade. It was between three and four in
the afternoon when we rode into the place. Of German troops, the 3rd
Infantry Division had already passed through in batches, and already
the narrow and angular little town was full of commissariat, artillery,
and ammunition columns. We had been about three hours in the little
town, when suddenly violent firing began. The firing seemed to come
from the north-west exit of the village.
Immediately afterwards the Medical Corps, I believe it to have been the
2nd (including a certain Dr. Wild) as well as a section of the supplies
of the 3rd Division, came towards us, under incessant fire, and
informed us they had been fired upon. A Belgian battalion was supposed
to be advancing. With difficulty we managed to make headway with our
machine-gun company, and by taking a seat on the last waggon, with
the company leader, Captain Schleusener, I proceeded in the direction
of the alleged advance of the Belgian force. About three kilometres
before the town, near a windmill, we discovered that there was no enemy
at hand. I thereupon returned on foot to Aerschot. We had already,
during our march out of the town, heard continuous firing. Entering
Aerschot by a bridge, I noticed that our troops were being fired upon
from the houses. Shots came sometimes from the upper floors, sometimes
from the cellars, and one could distinctly tell by the sound that both
rifles and machine-guns were being used. The situation developed in
such a manner that our own men had to seek cover with their backs to
the houses, and as soon as a marksman was observed in the opposite
house he was fired at. I saw several of our men wounded by these shots,
and the bullets also whistled round my head. Near the town hall, which
was to have been converted into an artillery depot, stood a captain of
the 140th Infantry Regiment, who continuously ordered the bugles to
sound the "Cease fire." Evidently the officer first wished to stop the
firing of our men in order to be able to settle upon a plan of action.
Brigade Adjutant Schwarz, since fallen, met me in the market-place
and informed me that the officer commanding the 8th Brigade, Colonel
Stenger, had been shot. I immediately hurried to the Mayor's billets,
which were situated in the Mayor's house in the market-place, and there
found Colonel Stenger dead on his bed. The orderly officer present,
Lieutenant Beyersdorff, Dragoon Regiment No. 12, told me he had found
the Colonel in the room, about three metres from the window, lying dead
on his face. On the spot one distinctly saw two pools of blood, and
I also noticed that the wall opposite the window was marked by many
bullet-holes, and the window-panes were shot through. I saw a wound on
the corpse stretching from the right eye to the right ear, and also a
shot through the right breast, but of the latter one saw only the broad
hole caused by the bullet. The regimental doctor of the 140th Infantry
Regiment, who on the following day opened the corpse in my presence,
found in the passage of the breast wound a shapeless lead bullet,
which had broken up on coming in contact with a hard substance. The
bullet had torn a main artery and caused immediate death. According to
the evidence of the doctor, the facial wound was not caused by a shot
from an infantry rifle. Owing to the vertical passage of the wound,
and the nature of the shot, there can be no doubt that the Colonel was
not fired at from the street, but by an inhabitant of the opposite
house. To judge by the calibre of the breast bullet, the weapon used
must have been a muzzle-loader. The bullet taken from the body I gave
into the keeping of the paymaster of the 2nd Battalion, 49th Infantry
Regiment. The paymaster's name is Wirowski. The revolt was then
systematically suppressed, and the houses searched for francs-tireurs.
In this way about forty civilians, amongst whom were several--at least
two--priests, were found with weapons in their hands. According to
my observations and to the events described, there is no doubt that
a systematic plan of attack on the German troops had been adopted by
the Belgian civilians. The regimental adjutant, Lieutenant v. Oppen,
was also witness to the events, and will be able to make a statement
regarding them. The Captain of the II. Corps of Military Police, named
Karge, was also present.
Read over, approved, signed.
Signed: FOLZ.
Legally sworn.
Signed: BERNHARDS.
Signed: HOFMANN.
Supplement to the Record of November 15th, 1914.