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_THE SHIELDS OF ROeSSELAERE_
In a cafe, lower down, near the canal, I saw a number of German
soldiers, and was successful in having a chat with the inn-keeper, at
the farthest corner of the bar. I asked, of course, what they meant by
burning the village, and he told me that the Germans had made a number
of successful attacks on Fort Pontisse, until at last they had reduced
it to silence. They were now so near that they could open the final
assault. They were afraid, however, of some ambush, or underground mine,
and the Friday before they had collected the population, whom they
forced to march in front of them. When they had got quite near they
dared not enter it yet, and drove the priest and twelve of the principal
villagers before them.
"_The German Fury in Belgium_,"
By L. MOKVELD.
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"_THEY SHOT HER AS A FRANC-TIREUR_"
We ourselves regret deeply that during these fights the town of Loewen
has been destroyed to a great extent. Needless to say that these
consequences are not intentional on our part, but cannot be avoided in
this infamous franc-tireur war being led against us.
Whoever knows the good-natured character of our troops cannot seriously
pretend that they are inclined to needless or frivolous destruction.
GERMAN GENERAL STAFF.
_Berlin, August, 1914._
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_AERSCHOT AND AFTERWARDS_
The German troops penetrated into Aerschot, a town of 8,000 inhabitants,
on Wednesday, Aug. 19, in the morning. No Belgian forces remained
behind. No sooner did the Germans enter the town than they shot five or
six inhabitants whom they caused to leave their houses. In the evening,
pretending that a superior German officer had been killed on the Grand
Place by the son of the Burgomaster, or, according to another version of
the story, that a conspiracy had been hatched against the superior
commandant by the Burgomaster and his family, the Germans took every
man who was inside of Aerschot; they led them, fifty at a time, some
distance from the town, grouped them in lines of four men, and, making
them run ahead of them, shot them and killed them afterward with their
bayonets. More than forty men were found thus massacred.