Present:
Military Magistrate, NAUMANN.
Secretary of Military Court, SCHWARZBACH.
LA MALMAISON, _December 8th, 1914_.
In the inquiry concerning the violations of International Law
committed against German troops, there appeared as witness Medical
Non-commissioned Officer Ostmann of the 5th Company, Grenadier Regiment
No. 101, who, after the importance of the oath had been pointed out to
him, made the following statement:
As to Person: My name is Otto Eduard Ostmann, 26 years old; Protestant;
shop assistant by trade.
As to Case: On the evening of August 23rd, 1914, when it was getting
dark, my company entered Les Rivages. It halted in the street at the
beginning of the place. As there was no medical non-commissioned
officer farther on, I went as far as the crossing-place over the Meuse
and stood close by in the middle of the street. There was no one in the
street in my immediate neighbourhood.
While I was facing the houses where some civilians were standing,
a shot fell from a house to the right of me; I immediately felt a
stinging pain under my right eye and felt blood running down my cheek.
My Battalion-Surgeon, Dr. Haupt, after examining the wound, said that a
small shot had grazed me. The shot could only have been meant for me,
since I was the only person standing in an open space of 2 metres in
circumference.