ALONG THE MEUSE TO HUY, ANDENNE, AND NAMUR
BETWEEN two of my several trips to Louvain I made one to Namur in the
beginning of September, after having secured at Liège, by a trick, a
splendid permit which enabled me to travel even by motor-car.
There was a little more order in the whole district round Liège,
since the Germans behaved more decently, and provisions had arrived.
The shock, which the burning and butchering of so many places and
persons gave to the whole world, had also influenced the conduct of
the Germans, and from the beginning of September they made a practice
of asking each time when they thought that they had behaved decently:
"Well, are we such barbarians as the world calls us?"
In this relative calm the population felt somewhat relieved, and
ventured again into the streets. Outdoors on the "stoeps" of the
houses men sat on their haunches smoking their pipe and playing a game
of piquet. Most of them were vigorous fellows, miners, who did not
mind any amount of work, but now came slowly under the demoralising
influence of idleness.
My motor whirled along the gloriously fine road to Huy. It is a
delicious tour through the beautiful valley of the Meuse, along sloping
light-green roads. Had the circumstances not been so sad, I should have
enjoyed it better.
I had already been near Huy, at a time when several burning houses
shrouded the whole town in clouds of smoke. On August 24th, at ten
o'clock at night, some shots had been fired in the neighbourhood of the
viaduct. This was a sign for hundreds of soldiers to begin shooting at
random and arrest several persons. Several houses were perforated like
sieves by bullets, and an entire street of twenty-eight houses, the Rue
du Jardin, was reduced to ashes. No civilians were killed.
It is evident from the "Report on the Violations of International Law
in Belgium" that the Germans themselves admit that they were in the
wrong with regard to the atrocities which were committed here. The
following order of the day proves it:
"Last night a shooting affray took place. There is no evidence that
the inhabitants of the towns had any arms in their houses, nor is
there evidence that the people took part in the shooting; on the
contrary, it seems that the soldiers were under the influence of
alcohol, and began to shoot in a senseless fear of a hostile attack.
"The behaviour of the soldiers during the night, with very few
exceptions, makes a scandalous impression.
"It is highly deplorable when officers or non-commissioned
officers set houses on fire without the permission or order of the
commanding, or, as the case may be, the senior officer, or when by
their attitude they encourage the rank and file to burn and plunder.
"I require that everywhere a strict investigation shall take place
into the conduct of the soldiers with regard to the life and
property of the civilian population.
"I prohibit all shooting in the towns without the order of an
officer.
"The miserable behaviour of the men has been the cause that a
non-commissioned officer and a private were seriously wounded by
German ammunition.
"The Commanding Officer,
"MAJOR VON BASSEWITZ."
I was informed further that there had been no fighting for the
possession of Huy. The citadel on which the German flag flew had not
been put in a state of defence on account of its great age. The old
bridge over the Meuse at Huy had been wrecked by the Belgians, but the
Germans had simply driven stout piles into the river, to support a
floor which they put over the wrecked part, and so restored the traffic.
During my visit I happened to make the acquaintance of Mr. Derricks, a
brother of the lawyer who had been murdered so cruelly at Canne, and
also a member of the Provincial States. The poor man was deeply moved
when he heard the details about his brother's death. I made him very
happy by taking a letter with me for his sister-in-law, who was now at
Maastricht.
At Andenne things seemed much worse than at Huy. I stopped there on
my way to Namur, and had been prepared in Liège for the sad things
I should hear. A proclamation posted in the last-named town ran as
follows:--
"_August 22nd_, 1914.
"After having protested their peaceful sentiments the inhabitants
of Andenne made a treacherous attack on our troops.
"The Commanding General burned down the whole city with my
consent, shooting also about one hundred persons.
"I acquaint the inhabitants of Liège of this, that they may
understand what fate threatens them if they should assume a similar
attitude.
"The Commanding General-in-chief,
"VON BUELOW."
General von Buelow says here that he gave his consent to the shooting
of about one hundred persons, but I can state with absolute certainty
that there were about 400 victims. We must therefore assume that the
other 300 were killed without his consent.
Andenne, on the right bank of the Meuse, was a town of 8,000
inhabitants. When the Germans arrived there on the morning of August
19th they found the bridge connecting Andenne and Seilles wrecked. In
the afternoon they began building a pontoon bridge, which was ready
the next day. They were very much put out about the wrecking of the
other bridge, by the Belgian soldiers, a couple of hours before their
arrival. Their exasperation became still greater when they discovered
after having finished the pontoon bridge, that the big tunnel on the
left bank of the Meuse had also been made useless by barricades and
entanglements.
By refusing to pay at cafés and shops the military already expressed
their dissatisfaction. Then on Thursday, August 20th, about six in
the evening, after a great many troops had crossed the river by the
pontoon bridge, a shot was heard which seemed the sign for a terrible
fusillade. Guns seemed to have been mounted at convenient places
outside the town, for shells exploded right at its centre. The troops
did no longer cross the bridge, but spread themselves in a disorderly
manner all over the town, constantly shooting at the windows. Even
mitrailleuses were brought into action. Those of the inhabitants who
could fly did so, but many were killed in the streets and others
perished by bullets entering the houses through the windows. Many
others were shot in the cellars, for the soldiers forced their way
in, in order to loot the bottles of wine and to swallow their fill of
liquor, with the result that very soon the whole garrison was a tipsy
mob.
It struck me always that as soon as something took place anywhere
which might lead to disorder, the method adopted was as follows: first
a fusillade in order to scare the inhabitants, secondly looting of
numberless bottles of wine, and finally cruel, inhuman murders, the
ransacking and the wrecking.
The game of shooting and looting went on all through the night of the
20th. Not a window or door remained whole even if the house was not
burned down altogether.
At four o'clock in the morning all the men, women, and children who had
not yet been put to death were driven to the Place des Tilleuls, but
on the way many men had their brains blown out. Amongst others, Dr.
Camus, the septuagenarian burgomaster, was then wounded and afterwards
received the finishing stroke by a hatchet.
At the Place des Tilleuls fifty men were taken from the crowd at
random, escorted to the Meuse, and shot. In the meantime other soldiers
went on wrecking, firing, and looting.
Andenne offered a dismal spectacle. The doors and windows of the houses
that were not completely burned down had been kicked and beaten to
pieces, and boards had been nailed before the holes. The inhabitants
hung about disconsolately, and I could tell by their faces how they
suffered, for every family in the town mourned the death of one dear to
them.
They all became excited whenever I mentioned the accusations brought
against them. They asserted with the greatest emphasis that it was an
absolute lie that the civilians had shot. "Even if they torture me to
death," said most of them, "I'll still contend that this accusation is
untrue."
The German officers, of course, held a different opinion; they alleged
that the shooting by the civilians was even very general and purported
to be a decided attack on the army. I asked them whether they had found
any rifles or other arms at the "searches" of the houses--I expressed
myself somewhat cautiously on purpose--for that ought to have been the
case if such a great number of citizens had joined in the shooting.
"No," they answered, "they were sly enough to see to it that we did not
find these. They had been buried in time, of course."
The answer is, surely, not very convincing!
The Germans had flung some more bridges across the river beyond
Andenne, which had been used for the occupation of Namur chiefly,
and lay idle now guarded by only one sentry. I left by the town-gate
without any difficulties; the German soldiers jumped out of the way and
stood to attention, as soon as they noticed the Netherland flag flying
at the front of the motor. To the right and the left of the gateway
they had written in gigantic letters: "Newspapers, please!"
Namur was shelled on August 21st and the 23rd. Many houses were then
already wrecked, many civilians killed. On the 23rd the Belgian army
withdrew and only some of the forts were defended. This withdrawal
of the Belgian army may have been a strategical necessity, but it is
certain that the forts had not been defended unto the last. Five forts
fell into the hands of the Germans without having suffered any damage.
On the afternoon of the 23rd the hostile troops entered the town,
and on that day the inhabitants had not to suffer, excepting from
requisitions made. But the following evening it was suddenly on fire
at various spots, and the soldiers began to shoot in all directions,
making many victims. Before setting the houses on fire, with a liberal
use of the lozenges mentioned already, the usurpers ransacked them and
removed numerous pieces of valuable furniture. The Place d'Armes, the
Place Léopold, the Rue St. Nicolas, Rue Rogier, and the Avenue de la
Plante were almost entirely reduced to ashes. With the town-hall many
valuable pictures were destroyed. The day following the conflagration
they left off shooting at last, but the looting went on for days more.
When I drove into Namur, I found the town comparatively quiet; there
was some traffic in the streets, and Belgian army surgeons and British
nurses in their uniforms walked about freely. There were many wounded:
the German wounded were all placed in the military hospital; the
Belgians and the French had been taken to the Sisters of Mercy, the
Institution Saint Louis, the High School for Girls, and the Sisters of
Our Lady.
When I was eating a little at one of the hotels near the railway
station, I was offered the newspaper _l'Ami de l'Ordre_, which had
appeared again for the first time on that day, September 7th, under
the Censorship of the German authorities. For curiosity's sake I
translate here the first leaderette, published under the rule of the
new masters:--
"ENOUGH DESTROYED, ENOUGH DISTRESSED!
"More than one hundred houses have been burned or wrecked at Namur,
among them the town-hall, the house at the Namur Citadel, and the
Institution for ophthalmology in the Place Léopold. In the Grand
Marché and its neighbourhood about sixty have been destroyed by
fire. If we add to this the damage done by the bombardment from
Friday the 21st until Sunday the 23rd August, and the wrecking of
the bridges after the retreat of the army, we may estimate the
losses at 10,000,000 francs.
"Industry, trade, and agriculture exist no longer, labour is
unemployed, and food is getting scarce, and over this dismal scene
hovers the memory of numerous victims, of hundreds of prisoners of
war or missing soldiers. During the bombardment of August 23rd one
hundred persons were killed outright, or succumbed to their wounds.
There are innumerable other wounded. This it is plain must have
plunged the town into deep distress.
"It mourns the lost liberty, the happiness, the peace, the
brightness of her past prosperity which has vanished for a long
season to come, it laments on account of the prisoners of war, the
wounded, the dead.... And every morning the brilliant sun rises on
the scene, the warm rays bathe town and country, both alike cruelly
lashed by the frightful scourge.
"Yesterday crowds of believers prayed for peace, for that
blessing which is only valued when it is lost. Let us repeat our
supplications twofold, let us increase our zeal. Lord! O Lord!
listen to the voice of Thy people who pray to Thee! Be merciful!
Give us back our peace!"