Court of the Government-General at Brussels.
Present:
Dr. IVERS, Judge of Military Law.
Secretary, REISENER.
NOYON, _September 27th, 1914_.
Major von Klewitz, officer of the General Staff, IX. Reserve Corps,
declares as follows:
As to Person: My name is Wilhelm von Klewitz, born at Magdeburg on
February 3rd, 1872; Protestant.
The witness was told that the Governor-General, Field-Marshal General
Baron von der Goltz, had arranged judicial proceedings for the purpose
of ascertaining whether military persons, and, if so, which, are guilty
of the destruction of Louvain by fire; he then made the following
statement:
As to Case: When the General Staff arrived at Louvain station, Captain
Albrecht, who has since fallen and who had preceded the General Staff,
reported that he had prepared quarters in the town, at the Hôtel
Métropole, where the Commander-in-Chief had also stayed, and that the
town was perfectly quiet. We then proceeded to the Hôtel Métropole in
the town, and from there to our offices. This was about 6 o'clock p.m.
We had just spread out our maps and were informing ourselves with
regard to the situation when Acting-Sergeant-Major Fischer returned by
motor from the III. Reserve Corps and reported that the III. Reserve
Corps before Antwerp was attacked and asking for immediate support
from the IX. Reserve Corps. At that time about half of our corps was
detrained and the other half still on the rails. The Chief of the
General Staff and I immediately went to see the General in command.
Meanwhile the greater part of the officers of the General Staff with
the horses had arrived and were still busy with the unloading. It must
also be mentioned that on driving up to the battlefield the Commanding
General ordered the alarm to be sounded, and the troops already
quartered in Louvain were ordered to the battle-ground.
At 9 o'clock p.m. the General, the Chief of the General Staff, and I
returned to Louvain by motor-car. The battle took place at Bueken,
7 km. north of Louvain. On returning to Louvain we already found in
the villages situated between Bueken and Louvain regular troops (of
the Landwehr) who declared that our men were being fired at in the
surrounding villages. We saw ourselves how all the traffic was stopped
in a village because firing from the houses had taken place. All
troops warned the Commanding General from going into the town because
street-fights were taking place there. But the Commanding General
declared that he would not leave his Staff in the town if fighting
were going on, and he wished to return to the Staff. We were therefore
obliged to get out when we got into Louvain. The Commanding General,
with the chauffeurs and we few officers, went through the dark town to
the market-place at about 10 o'clock p.m. During this march through
the town a flank fire was opened on us every time we turned a street
corner. Suddenly, the Staff veterinary surgeon of the corps arrived and
reported that the Staff of the General Commandant had been attacked,
and that the horses were either shot or had stampeded. The men were
firing on the houses. The baggage therefore was safe, only the horses
were gone. We went first of all to the town hall, and there found a
number of hostages who had been taken in the meantime. My brother,
Lieutenant v. Klewitz, now told the hostages in the presence of the
Commanding General that they would be shot if the firing in the town
did not cease at once. The hostages then begged to be allowed to use
their influence in the streets. Lieutenant v. Klewitz then passed
through the town with the hostages, and the inhabitants were exhorted
to be quiet. We then went to our Hôtel Métropole. When we arrived there
we found in front of the house a civilian, shot. It appeared that this
man had sat in the Hôtel Métropole, and when the hotel was searched
he had been found in a room, armed, and had wounded two soldiers,
whereupon the soldiers shot him in a hand-to-hand fight and threw
him out of the window. Besides one civilian person, of whom we know
nothing, there was no longer anyone in the hotel.
The Commanding General then went, under escort of a company of
infantry, through the streets to the station, and stayed there in order
to conduct the whole affair. The motors of the General Staff had also
taken up a position there. Temporary quiet reigned at the station.
At about 11 o'clock p.m. some isolated shots were fired from the
surrounding houses upon the troops stationed at the railway station,
which was followed by continually increasing firing, so that the
Commanding General ordered the house to be taken. The house was taken
and, as armed resistance was encountered, it was set alight. The house
was hardly alight when I saw personally the following incident:
I was standing with my back to the station and looking at another
house. I saw how the corner window on the top was lit up, a dark
figure appeared at the window, and a shot was fired into the street.
At the same moment when this shot was fired I saw how the tiles in
the roof of the Hôtel Maria Theresa were raised, and a terrible fire
was opened from the roof of this hotel upon the troops in the station
square. We all immediately sought cover. Personally I had the definite
impression that we were being fired on with machine-guns from the Hôtel
Maria Theresa; the bullets were rattling down on us. On the following
morning one was able to ascertain that we had been fired upon with
machine-guns, because at the station one could distinctly see the rows
of fire. The fire from the machine-guns lasted about four to five
minutes, and was immediately replied to by our troops, who finally took
the house and set it alight. In the meanwhile, a number of wounded were
brought in. Definite instructions had been given to burn at once all
those houses from which firing had taken place. Many Belgian civilians
were taken with arms in their hands; they were to be shot by order of
the General in Command. At about 2 o'clock the firing ceased. Stores of
ammunition continually exploded during the burning down of the houses.
The General in Command sat in a railway carriage from 2 till 4 o'clock
at night. At 4 a.m. the army corps marched to the battle. We did not
pass through the main streets, but drove along an avenue. Here I saw
distinctly the following incident:
As I sat in the motor several shots were fired out of a cellar on the
left at a distance of 20 metres. We fired on this cellar-opening,
whereupon the firing ceased. The Commanding General left the motor
with loaded revolver and went to the open place just in front of the
bridge. We then went to the battlefield. Behind us, infantry advanced.
The officer marching at the head was shot by a civilian who sat on a
tree at exactly the same place where we had left the car.
As the regular line of halting-places was continually fired at, orders
were given to clear the town by force. Two guns with 150 rounds were
sent. The two guns fired shrapnel from the station into the streets.
Thus at least that quarter near the station was made safe, and in this
way it was possible to take the columns, that had been bivouacking for
days before Louvain, through the town.
Read over, approved, signed.
Signed: V. KLEWITZ.
The witness was then sworn.
Proceedings closed.
Signed: Dr. IVERS. Signed: REISENER.