Court of the Commander.
Present:
President, Dr. STEENGRAFE.
Secretary, MEYER.
ALTONA, _March 3rd, 1915_.
There appeared as witness merchant Dammann, who, after the importance
of the oath had been pointed out to him, was examined as follows:
As to Person: My name is Carl Dammann, aged 31; Christian; merchant in
Hamburg; soldier of the Reserve.
As to Case: After mobilisation I volunteered for duty as motor-driver,
and as such I was assigned to the Staff of the IX. Reserve Army Corps.
On the evening of August 25th, 1914, we arrived in Louvain. At first
the inhabitants were very obliging.
My motor-car was put in the market-place, a big square near which
is the Hôtel Métropole. In the evening, towards 9 o'clock, we
motor-drivers stood under the trees of the place and chatted together.
Comrades told me they had seen a rocket go up.
Suddenly an awful firing commenced from the houses surrounding the
place. The fire was first of all directed on the baggage-carts which
were to be drawn up at the place. Each one of us sought cover, I on a
baggage-cart, the horses of which had just been shot. My car showed
later on a hole as large as a fist in the protective cover and in the
body of the car; to judge by the way the tin was bent, the shot must
have come from below, from a cellar. Whilst we sought cover, the
firing continued, and some of us were wounded. In my opinion this was a
well-prepared and planned attack of the civilian population.
After the firing had become less violent, we drivers went to the
station. At the market-place and in its small side-streets the houses
were burning. During our drive to the station, German patrols passed us
everywhere. In the station square firing took place principally from
the four large hotels there. The firing in the station square continued
till the morning.
Those persons of the town who had participated in the attack upon the
Germans were taken to the station square in the course of the evening
and during the night. An officer then examined them; the soldiers who
had brought up the people were examined. A number of men, nearly fifty,
were shot in the station square after the examination was over.
As far as I remember, there were two persons in clerical garb amongst
them; but there may have been more.
Read over, approved, signed.
Signed: CARL DAMMANN.
The witness was then sworn.
Signed: Dr. STEENGRAFE, President.
Signed: MEYER.