BREMEN, _January 10th, 1915_.
Present:
Officer of the Court, AHRENS.
Secretary, HEINHORST.
At the investigation regarding the events at Louvain the following
witnesses appeared, and, after the importance of the oath had been
pointed out to them, made the following statement:
1. Officer's Deputy Walter Kruse, 3rd Company, Reserve Battalion,
Reserve Infantry Regiment No. 75.
On the evening of August 25th, 1914, at about 9 o'clock, the 3rd
Battalion, Reserve Infantry Regiment No. 75, entered by train the
station at Louvain. At a distance of about 300 metres from the station
building our train was suddenly fired at from both sides of the railway
embankment. I heard the shots rattling against the carriages. The
train stopped, and an order was given to leave the train. I made my
men at once deploy along the track and reply to the firing. We were
about three to four minutes under fire when I received some small shot
in the right upper thigh. I then had myself bandaged, and was not a
direct witness of the subsequent events. The firing, after scarcely
ten minutes, suddenly ceased, whereupon the companies were rallied. In
the dark one could only see the flashes of the shots. They came for
the most part from above, so that one was obliged to assume that they
had been fired from the windows, roofs, and trees. I did not see any
individual persons who fired. About an hour and a half later I heard
from the railway station, where I lay wounded, another burst of violent
firing, which, however, ceased again at once.
Read over, approved, signed.
Signed: WALTER KRUSE.
The witness was sworn.
2. Sergeant-Major Ludwig Hilmer, 3rd Company, Reserve Infantry Regiment
No. 215, at present at Bremen.
When the train with the 3rd Battalion, Reserve Infantry Regiment No.
75, entered the station at Louvain on the evening of August 25th, 1914,
at about 9 o'clock, we were suddenly fired at from both sides, at a
distance of about 300 to 400 metres from the station building. The
window-panes in my compartment broke at once. We got out and replied to
the firing. The enemy could not be seen, because it was already quite
dark. We only saw the flashes of the shots, and assumed that they came
from the houses at each side of the railway. Five men of my company
were wounded in this fight. I ascertained that the wounds were partly
caused by small shot. After about ten minutes the firing ceased, but
was resumed again at once. Only when we had the lights on the station
extinguished did the firing cease. The companies now rallied to the
station, removed their packs, and were ordered to fire all the houses
from which firing had taken place, after searching them first. With
this order we received strict injunctions not to hurt a hair of women
and children. My company entered in groups the houses of the section
allotted to it. Captain Brinckmann and I entered an inn diagonally
opposite the station, and found there behind the bar a waiter with
a ball-gun and ammunition. He was immediately taken to the railway
commandant by some men. We then continued searching. Various civilians
were led off by my men, and after a final decision of the commandant
they were shot in the place before the station. In accordance with
my orders, I helped to fire several houses, after having convinced
myself in every case that no one was left in them. At about 12 o'clock
p.m. this work was finished, and the company returned to the station
building, in front of which lay about fifteen inhabitants, shot. Two
clergymen also stood there who were to serve as hostages. I heard a
patrol report that in a church inhabitants had been taken with guns
and munition. Sleep was not to be thought of during the night, because
the town was echoing with the explosion of bombs and munition stored
in the burning houses. One might have believed oneself in a heavy
artillery fire. On the morning of August 26th the company was again
alarmed, because baggage was being fired at in the town. We advanced
into a street about five minutes' distance from the station, and were
here fired at from the houses, apparently with shot-guns. We entered
the houses and took prisoner several civilians whose behaviour had
been suspicious. The houses from which the firing had come were then
set on fire. About noon the company returned to the station. At about
3 o'clock p.m. I stood with an acting-sergeant-major at the monument
in front of the station, when we were suddenly exposed to a violent
fire. Immediately afterwards five riderless horses galloped towards
us, coming from the street in which the shots had been fired. As was
ascertained subsequently, the horses were those of gendarmes whose
riders had been shot in the town. Arrangements were now made and
published in the whole town by the ringing of bells and the beating
of drums that every company advancing into the town must be headed by
a number of hostages. These were to be shot the moment there was any
more firing from the houses. Among the hostages held at the station
were clergymen and state officials. In spite of these measures, the
inhabitants again fired on that evening and during the night. The
morning of August 27th passed without any special events for my
company, because we urgently needed rest. It was only during the
afternoon that we were again active. As peace could not be restored in
the town by means of hostages, the order was issued to take all male
inhabitants, aged seventeen to fifty. I carried out this order by the
help of a strong platoon of eighty men after the order had been read
out everywhere by a lieutenant. The people had to be fetched out of
every house. After three hours' work I took 200 to 300 persons to the
station. Every man on whom arms or munition was found was shot; these
again numbered some fifteen to twenty persons. The others were notified
that if shots were again fired during the night they would all be put
in front of a machine-gun. This announcement was effective, for the
next night passed perfectly quietly. On the following morning, hardly
were the prisoners dismissed when the firing began afresh. My company,
accompanied by hostages, advanced again into the town, and was again
fired at. Again we had to fire some houses. On this occasion I saw
with my own eyes how a civilian fired from a high window upon Captain
Brinckmann. I heard the shot fall in the street. The Captain at once
ordered the burning of the house. From here we advanced to a monastery
on a hill. It was said that firing had taken place there, but we found
neither arms nor munition. But immediately we again heard cries for
help from the main road leading past the monastery; we hurried back,
and had to assist an artillery column that had been fired at. We again
set a few houses on fire, whereupon the command was given for all
inhabitants to leave Louvain, as firing with artillery was to commence.
This happened between 2 and 4 o'clock p.m. whilst our battalion was
still at the station. I observed myself that the artillery projectiles
only fell in those parts of the town in which attacks had been made.
Read over, approved, signed.
Signed: HILMER.
Hilmer was sworn.
3. Soldier Heinrich Westerkamp, company of wounded, Reserve Battalion,
Reserve Infantry Regiment No. 75.
At noon, on August 25th, I had arrived at Louvain with the 2nd
Battalion, Reserve Infantry Regiment No. 75. Whilst we were being
provisioned from the field-kitchens in that part of the town which is
near the suburb of Herent we were struck by the number of young strong
people who were in the street and putting their heads together. At
Herent I was transferred to the baggage because of foot-trouble whilst
my battalion marched on. I was about to draw water from a well when
suddenly the baggage was being fired on from all sides. The baggage
had already turned about, and as the horses could not be stopped we
returned to Louvain at full speed. But there, too, all was not safe,
as we heard from stragglers; we wanted to drive past the station into
the nearest village in order to spend the night there. We got, however,
only about 50 metres beyond the station, and had to halt there because
a wheel had come off a cart. Hardly had the carts stopped on the
perfectly dark road when we were violently fired at from the houses
near us, as well as from those on the other side of the railway and
from the bushes on the railway embankment. The man beside me on the
cart immediately received a shot in the foot. We dismounted and tried
to make ourselves safe. At that moment a civilian came running up
towards me from a house, pointing a revolver at me. I immediately shot
the person down. A hand-grenade exploded immediately after this, about
7 to 8 metres away from me, and smashed a horse. Three of us now sought
cover in the recess of a house, from which we succeeded in reaching
a goods-shed. At this time--about 9 p.m.--the 3rd Battalion arrived,
which we joined. During the night the detonations never ceased, and
the houses round the station were burning. From the Hôtel du Nord a
machine-gun had even been fired, as could be distinctly heard from the
regular shots. On the following morning I ascertained that five horses
of the baggage transport had been killed. I remained in front of the
station building until noon on August 26th, and I here saw that about
forty persons were examined by an officer and about half of them were
shot. Two clergymen were also brought forward, one of whom declared
himself a German, and said that he had not fired. I heard subsequently,
however, that a Browning pistol was found on him. I also saw a man
of Regiment No. 162 or 163 carried past on a stretcher. He whimpered
terribly, and I heard that whilst doing patrol duty in the town several
inhabitants fell upon him and cut off the scrotum. Later on I heard
that the man had died of his wound. A Belgian who addressed me in
German declared that the whole misfortune could have been avoided if
the clergy did not from the pulpit praise those who fire upon German
troops. At noon on the same day we followed the company with the
baggage after having previously received fresh horses. We only found
a heap of ruins where the village of Herent had stood. About three
days later I met Lieutenant Foerster (now of the 4th Company, Reserve
Infantry Regiment No. 75). He told me that German soldiers had had the
genital members cut off and put into the mouth, and that the latter had
then been sewn up.
Read over, approved, signed.
Signed: WESTERKAMP.
The witness was sworn according to regulations.
Signed: AHRENS, Lieutenant and Judicial Officer.
Signed: HEINHORST, Non-commissioned Officer.