https://wwi.lib.byu.edu/index.php?title=II_FIGHTING_IN_BELGIUM&feed=atom&action=historyII FIGHTING IN BELGIUM - Revision history2024-03-29T06:28:08ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.39.4https://wwi.lib.byu.edu/index.php?title=II_FIGHTING_IN_BELGIUM&diff=8450&oldid=prevBkimberl at 18:29, 13 July 20092009-07-13T18:29:32Z<p></p>
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<tr><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><center><FONT SIZE="+3"></FONT><FONT SIZE="+3">II</FONT><FONT SIZE="+2"></FONT><BR><BR></div></td><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><center><FONT SIZE="+3"></FONT><FONT SIZE="+3">II</FONT><FONT SIZE="+2"></FONT><BR><BR></div></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="diff-marker" data-marker="−"></td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div> </div></td><td class="diff-marker" data-marker="+"></td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><ins style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;"><p align="right"> </ins>[[<ins style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">Main_Page </ins>| <ins style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">WWI Document Archive ]] > [[Diaries, Memorials, Personal Reminiscences]] > [[A German Deserter's War Experience]] > </ins>'''<ins style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">II FIGHTING IN BELGIUM</ins>''' <ins style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;"></p><hr></ins></div></td></tr>
<tr><td class="diff-marker" data-marker="−"></td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><del style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">Go To </del>[[<del style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">III SHOOTING CIVILIANS IN BELGIUM </del>| '''<del style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">Next Chapter</del>'''<del style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">]]</del></div></td><td colspan="2" class="diff-side-added"></td></tr>
</table>Bkimberlhttps://wwi.lib.byu.edu/index.php?title=II_FIGHTING_IN_BELGIUM&diff=5874&oldid=prevHirgen at 05:47, 30 October 20082008-10-30T05:47:30Z<p></p>
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<tr><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>us if this should continue for months-----?</div></td><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>us if this should continue for months-----?</div></td></tr>
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<tr><td colspan="2" class="diff-side-deleted"></td><td class="diff-marker" data-marker="+"></td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><ins style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">Go To [[III SHOOTING CIVILIANS IN BELGIUM | '''Next Chapter''']]</ins></div></td></tr>
</table>Hirgenhttps://wwi.lib.byu.edu/index.php?title=II_FIGHTING_IN_BELGIUM&diff=5544&oldid=prevHirgen at 00:36, 2 September 20082008-09-02T00:36:41Z<p></p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div><center><FONT SIZE="+3"></FONT><FONT SIZE="+3">II</FONT><FONT SIZE="+2"></FONT><BR><BR><br />
<br />
<FONT SIZE="+2">FIGHTING IN BELGIUM</FONT><br><br></center><br />
<br />
<br><br>ABOUT ten minutes we might have lain in the grass when we suddenly<br />
heard rifle shots in front of us. Electrified, all of us jumped<br />
up and hastened to our rifles. Then the firing of rifles that<br />
was going on at a distance of about a mile or a mile and a half<br />
began steadily to increase in volume. We set in motion immediately.<br />
<br />
<br><br>The expression and the behavior of the soldiers betrayed that<br />
something was agitating their mind, that an emotion had taken<br />
possession of them which they could not master and had never experienced<br />
before. On myself I could observe a great restlessness. Fear and<br />
curiosity threw my thoughts into a wild jumble; my head was swimming,<br />
and everything seemed to press upon my heart. But I wished to<br />
conceal my fears from my comrades. I know I tried to with a will,<br />
but whether I succeeded better than my comrades, whose uneasiness<br />
I could read in their faces, I doubt very much.<br />
<br />
<br><br>Though I was aware that we should be in the firing line within<br />
half an hour, I endeavored to convince myself that our participation<br />
in the fight would no longer be necessary. I clung obstinately,<br />
nay, almost convulsively to every idea that could strengthen that<br />
hope or give me consolation. That not every bullet finds its billet;<br />
that, as we had been told, most wounds in modern wars were afflicted<br />
by grazing shots which caused slight flesh-wounds; those were<br />
some of the reiterated self-deceptions indulged in against my<br />
better knowledge. And they proved effective. It was not only that<br />
they made me in fact feel more easy; deeply engaged in those thoughts<br />
I had scarcely observed that we were already quite near the firing<br />
line.<br />
<br />
<br><br>The bicycles at the side of the road revealed to us that the<br />
cyclist corps were engaged by the enemy. We did not know, of course,<br />
the strength of our opponents as we approached the firing line<br />
in leaps. In leaping forward every one bent down instinctively,<br />
whilst to our right and left and behind us the enemy's bullets<br />
could be heard striking; yet we reached the firing line without<br />
any casualties and were heartily welcomed by our hard pressed<br />
friends. The cyclists, too, had not yet suffered any losses; some,<br />
it is true, had already been slightly wounded, but they could<br />
continue to participate in the fight.<br />
<br />
<br><br>We were lying flat on the ground, and fired in the direction<br />
indicated to us as fast as our rifles would allow. So far we had<br />
not seen our opponents. That, it seemed, was too little interesting<br />
to some of our soldiers; so they rose partly, and fired in a kneeling<br />
position. Two men of my company had to pay their curiosity with<br />
their lives. Almost at one and the same time they were shot through<br />
the head. The first victim of our group fell down forward without<br />
uttering a sound; the second threw up his arms and fell on his<br />
back. Both of them were dead instantly.<br />
<br />
<br><br>Who could describe the feelings that overcome a man in the<br />
first real hail of bullets he is in? When we were leaping forward<br />
to reach the firing line I felt no longer any fear and seemed<br />
only to try to reach the line as quickly as possible. But when<br />
looking at the first dead man I was seized by a terrible horror.<br />
For minutes I was perfectly stupefied, had completely lost command<br />
over myself and was absolutely incapable to think or act. I pressed<br />
my face and hands firmly against the ground, and then suddenly<br />
I was seized by an irrepressible excitement, took hold of my gun,<br />
and began to fire away blindly. Little after little I quieted<br />
down again somewhat, nay, I became almost quite confident as if<br />
everything was normal. Suddenly I found myself content with myself<br />
and my surroundings, and when a little later the whole line was<br />
commanded, &quot;Leap forward! March, march!&quot; I ran forward<br />
demented like the others, as if things could not be other than<br />
what they were. The order, &quot;Position!&quot; followed, and<br />
we flopped down like wet bags. Firing had begun again.<br />
<br />
<br><br>Our firing became more lively from minute to minute, and grew<br />
into a rolling deafening noise. If in such an infernal noise you<br />
want to make yourself understood by your neighbor, you have to<br />
shout at him so that it hurts your throat. The effect of our firing<br />
caused our opponent to grow unsteady; his fire became weaker;<br />
the line of the enemy began to waver. Being separated from the<br />
enemy by only about 500 yards, we could observe exactly what was<br />
happening there. We saw how about half of the men opposing us<br />
were drawn back. The movement is executed by taking back every<br />
second man whilst number one stays on until the retiring party<br />
has halted. We took advantage of that movement to inflict the<br />
severest losses possible on our retreating opponent. As far as<br />
we could survey the country to our right and left we observed<br />
that the Germans were pressing forward at several points. Our<br />
company, too, received the order to advance when the enemy took<br />
back all his forces.<br />
<br />
<br><br>Our task was to cling obstinately to the heels of the retreating<br />
enemy so as to leave him no time to collect his forces and occupy<br />
new positions. We therefore followed him in leaps with short breathing<br />
pauses so as to prevent him in the first place from establishing<br />
himself in the village before him. We knew that otherwise we should<br />
have to engage in costly street fighting. But the Belgians did<br />
not attempt to establish themselves, but disengaged themselves<br />
from us with astonishing skill.<br />
<br />
<br><br>Meanwhile we had been re&euml;nforced. Our company had been<br />
somewhat dispersed, and everybody marched with the troop be chanced<br />
to find himself with. My troop had to stay in the village to search<br />
every house systematically for soldiers that had been dispersed<br />
or hidden. During that work we noticed that the Germans were marching<br />
forward from all directions. Field artillery, machine-gun sections,<br />
etc., arrived, and all of us wondered whence all of this came<br />
so quickly.<br />
<br />
<br><br>There was however no time for long reflections. With fixed<br />
bayonets we went from house to house, from door to door, and though<br />
the harvest was very meager, we were not turned away quite empty-handed,<br />
as the inhabitants had to deliver up all privately owned fire-arms,<br />
ammunition, etc. The chief functionary of the village who accompanied<br />
us, had to explain to every citizen that the finding of arms after<br />
the search would lead to punishment by court-martial. And court-martial<br />
means---death.<br />
<br />
<br><br>After another hour had passed we were alarmed again by rifle<br />
and gun firing; a new battle had begun. Whether the artillery<br />
was in action on both sides could not be determined from the village,<br />
but the noise was loud enough, for the air was almost trembling<br />
with the rumbling, rolling, and growling of the guns which steadily<br />
increased in strength. The ambulance columns were bringing in<br />
the first wounded; orderly officers whizzed past us. War had begun<br />
with full intensity.<br />
<br />
<br><br>Darkness was falling before we had finished searching all the<br />
houses. We dragged mattresses, sacks of straw, feather beds, whatever<br />
we could get hold of, to the public school and the church where<br />
the wounded were to be accommodated. They were put to bed as well<br />
as it could be done. Those first victims of the horrible massacre<br />
of nations were treated with touching care. Later on, when we<br />
had grown more accustomed to those horrible sights, less attention<br />
was paid to the wounded.<br />
<br />
<br><br>The first fugitives now arrived from the neighboring villages.<br />
They had probably walked for many an hour, for they looked tired,<br />
absolutely exhausted. There were women, old, white-haired men,<br />
and children, all mixed together, who had not been able to save<br />
anything but their poor lives. In a perambulator or a push-cart<br />
those unfortunate beings carried away all that the brutal force<br />
of war had left them. In marked contrast to the fugitives that<br />
we had hitherto met, these people were filled with the utmost<br />
fear, shivering with fright, terror-stricken in face of the hostile<br />
world. As soon as they beheld one of us soldiers they were seized<br />
with such a fear that they seemed to crumple up. How different<br />
they were from the inhabitants of the village in which we were,<br />
who showed themselves kind, friendly, and even obliging towards<br />
us. We tried to find out the cause of that fear, and heard that<br />
those fugitives had witnessed bitter street fighting in their<br />
village. They had experienced war, had seen their houses burnt,<br />
their simple belongings perish, and had not yet been able to forget<br />
their streets filled with dead and wounded soldiers. It became<br />
clear to us that it was not fear alone that made these people<br />
look like the hunted quarry; it was hatred, hatred against us,<br />
the invaders who, as they had to suppose, had fallen upon them<br />
unawares, had driven them from their home. But their hatred was<br />
not only directed against us, the German soldiers, nay, their<br />
own, the Belgian soldiers, too, were not spared by it.<br />
<br />
<br><br>We marched away that very evening and tried to reach our section.<br />
When darkness fell the Belgians had concentrated still farther<br />
to the rear; they were already quite near the fortress of Li&egrave;ge.<br />
Many of the villages we passed were in flames; the inhabitants<br />
who had been driven away passed us in crowds, there were women<br />
whose husbands were perhaps also defending their &quot;Fatherland,&quot;<br />
children, old men who were pushed hither and thither and seemed<br />
to be always in the way. Without any aim, any plan, any place<br />
in which they could rest, those processions of misery and unhappiness<br />
crept past us---the best illustration of man-murdering, nation-destroying<br />
war! Again we reached a village which to all appearances had once<br />
been inhabited by a well-to-do people, by a contented little humanity.<br />
There were nothing but ruins now, burnt, destroyed houses and<br />
farm buildings, dead soldiers, German and Belgian, and among them<br />
several civilians who had been shot by sentence of the court-martial.<br />
<br />
<br><br>Towards midnight we reached the German line which was trying<br />
to get possession of a village which was already within the fortifications<br />
of Li&egrave;ge, and was obstinately defended by the Belgians.<br />
Here we had to employ all our forces to wrench from our opponent<br />
house after house, street after street. It was not yet completely<br />
dark so that we had to go through that terrible struggle which<br />
developed with all our senses awake and receptive. It was a hand<br />
to hand fight; every kind of weapon had to be employed; the opponent<br />
was attacked with the butt-end of the rifle, the knife, the fist,<br />
and the teeth. One of my best friends fought with a gigantic Belgian;<br />
both had lost their rifle. They were pummeling each other with<br />
their fists. I had just finished with a Belgian who was about<br />
twenty-two years of age, and was going to assist my friend, as<br />
the Herculean Belgian was so much stronger than he. Suddenly my<br />
friend succeeded with a lightning motion in biting the Belgian<br />
in the chin. He bit so deeply that he tore away a piece of flesh<br />
with his teeth. The pain the Belgian felt must have been immense,<br />
for he let go his hold and ran off screaming with terrible pain.<br />
<br />
<br><br>All that happened in seconds. The blood of the Belgian ran<br />
out of my friend's mouth; he was seized by a horrible nausea,<br />
an indescribable terror, the taste of the warm blood nearly drove<br />
him insane. That young, gay, lively fellow of twenty-four had<br />
been cheated out of his youth in that night. He used to be the<br />
jolliest among us; after that we could never induce him even to<br />
smile.<br />
<br />
<br><br>Whilst fighting during the night I came for the first time<br />
in touch with the butt-end of a Belgian rifle. I had a hand to<br />
hand fight with a Belgian when another one from behind hit me<br />
with his rifle on the head with such force that it drove my head<br />
into the helmet up to my ears. I experienced a terrific pain all<br />
over my head, doubled up, and lost consciousness. When I revived<br />
I found myself with a bandaged head in a barn among other wounded.<br />
<br />
<br><br>I had not been severely wounded, but I felt as if my head was<br />
double its normal size, and there was a noise in my ears as of<br />
the wheels of an express engine.<br />
<br />
<br><br>The other wounded and the soldiers of the ambulance corps said<br />
that the Belgians had been pushed back to the fortress; we heard,<br />
however, that severe fighting was still going on. Wounded soldiers<br />
were being brought in continuously, and they told us that the<br />
Germans had already taken in the first assault several fortifications<br />
like outer-forts, but that they had not been able to maintain<br />
themselves because they had not been sufficiently provided with<br />
artillery. The defended places and works inside the forts were<br />
still practically completely intact, and so were their garrisons.<br />
The forts were not yet ripe for assault, so that the Germans had<br />
to retreat with downright enormous losses. The various reports<br />
were contradictory, and it was impossible to get a clear idea<br />
of what was happening.<br />
<br />
<br><br>Meanwhile the artillery had begun to bombard the fortress,<br />
and even the German soldiers were terror-stricken at that bombardment.<br />
The heaviest artillery was brought into action against the modern<br />
forts of concrete. Up to that time no soldier had been aware of<br />
the existence of the 42-centimeter mortars. Even when Li&egrave;ge<br />
had fallen into German hands we soldiers could not explain to<br />
ourselves how it was possible that those enormous fortifications,<br />
constructed partly of reinforced concrete of a thickness of one<br />
to six meters, could be turned into a heap of rubbish after only<br />
a few hours' bombardment. Having been wounded, I could of course<br />
not take part in those operations, but my comrades told me later<br />
on how the various forts were taken. Guns of all sizes were turned<br />
on the forts, but it was the 21- and 42-centimeter mortars that<br />
really did the work. From afar one could hear already the approach<br />
of the 42-centimeter shell. The shell bored its way through the<br />
air with an uncanny, rushing and hissing sound that was like a<br />
long shrill whistling filling the whole atmosphere for seconds.<br />
Where it struck everything was destroyed within a radius of several<br />
hundred yards. Later I have often gazed in wonderment at those<br />
hecatombs which the 42-centimeter mortar erected for itself on<br />
all its journeys. The enormous air pressure caused by the bursting<br />
of its shells made it even difficult for us Germans in the most<br />
advanced positions to breathe for several seconds. To complete<br />
the infernal row the Zeppelins appeared at night in order to take<br />
part in the work of destruction. Suddenly the soldiers would hear<br />
above their heads the whirring of the propellers and the noise<br />
of the motors, well-known to most Germans. The Zeppelins came<br />
nearer and nearer, but not until they were in the immediate neighborhood<br />
of the forts were they discovered by our opponents, who immediately<br />
brought all available searchlights into play in order to search<br />
the sky for the dreaded flying enemies. The whirring of the propellers<br />
of the airships which had been distributed for work on the various<br />
forts suddenly ceased. Then, right up in the air, a blinding light<br />
appeared, the searchlight of the Zeppelin, which lit up the country<br />
beneath it for a short time. Just as suddenly it became dark and<br />
quiet until a few minutes later, powerful detonations brought<br />
the news that the Zeppelin had dropped its &quot;ballast.&quot;<br />
That continued for quite a while, explosion followed explosion,<br />
interrupted only by small fiery clouds, shrapnel which the Belgian<br />
artillery sent up to the airships, exploding in the air. Then<br />
the whirring of the propellers began again, first loud and coming<br />
from near, from right above our heads, then softer and softer<br />
until the immense ship of the air had entirely disappeared from<br />
our view and hearing.<br />
<br />
<br><br>Thus the forts were made level with the ground; thousands of<br />
Belgians were lying dead and buried behind and beneath the ramparts<br />
and fortifications. General assault followed. Li&egrave;ge was<br />
in the hands of the Germans.<br />
<br />
<br><br>I was with the ambulance column until the 9th of August and<br />
by that time had been restored sufficiently to rejoin my section<br />
of the army. After searching for hours I found my company camping<br />
in a field. I missed many a good friend; my section had lost sixty-five<br />
men, dead and wounded, though it had not taken part in the pursuit<br />
of the enemy.<br />
<br />
<br><br>We had been attached to the newly-formed 18th Reserve Army<br />
Corps (Hessians) and belonged to the Fourth Army which was under<br />
the command of Duke Albrecht of Wurttemberg. Where that army,<br />
which had not yet been formed, was to operate was quite unknown<br />
to us private soldiers. We had but to follow to the place where<br />
the herd was to be slaughtered; what did it matter where that<br />
would be? On the 11th of August we began to march and covered<br />
25-45 miles every day. We learned later on that we always kept<br />
close to the Luxemburg frontier so as to cross it immediately<br />
should necessity arise., Had it not been so oppressively hot we<br />
should have been quite content, for we enjoyed several days of<br />
rest which braced us up again.<br />
<br />
<br><br>On the 21st of August we came in contact with the first German<br />
troops belonging to the Fourth Army, about 15 miles to the east<br />
of the Belgian town of Neufch&acirc;teau. The battle of Neufch&acirc;teau,<br />
which lasted from the 22nd to the 24th of August, had already<br />
begun. A French army here met with the Fourth German Army, and<br />
a murderous slaughter began. As is always the case it commenced<br />
with small skirmishes of advance guards and patrols; little after<br />
little ever-growing masses of soldiers took part and when, in<br />
the evening of the 22nd of August, we were led into the firing<br />
line, the battle had already developed to one of the most murderous<br />
of the world war. When we arrived the French were still in possession<br />
of nearly three-quarters of the town. The artillery had set fire<br />
to the greatest part of Neufch&acirc;teau, and only the splendid<br />
villas in the western part of the town escaped destruction for<br />
the time being. The street fighting lasted the whole night. It<br />
was only towards noon of the 23rd of August, when the town was<br />
in the hands of the Germans, that one could see the enormous losses<br />
that both sides had suffered. The dwelling-places, the cellars,<br />
the roads and side-walks were thickly covered with dead and horribly<br />
wounded soldiers; the houses were ruins, gutted, empty shells<br />
in which scarcely anything of real value had remained whole. Thousands<br />
had been made beggars in a night full of horrors. Women and children,<br />
soldiers and citizens were lying just where death had struck them<br />
down, mixed together just as the merciless shrapnel and shells<br />
had sent them out of life into the darkness beyond. There had<br />
been real impartiality. There lay a German soldier next to a white-haired<br />
French woman, a little Belgian stripling whom fear had driven<br />
out of the house into the street, lay huddled up against the &quot;enemy,&quot;<br />
a German soldier, who might have been protection and safety for<br />
him.<br />
<br />
<br><br>Had we not been shooting and stabbing, murdering and clubbing<br />
as much and as vigorously as we could the whole night? And yet<br />
there was scarcely one amongst us who did not shed tears of grief<br />
and emotion at the spectacles presenting themselves. There was<br />
for instance, a man whose age it was difficult to discover; he<br />
was lying dead before a burning house. Both his legs had been<br />
burnt up to the knees by the fire falling down upon him. The wife<br />
and daughter of the dead man were clinging to him, and were sobbing<br />
so piteously that one simply could not bear it. Many, many of<br />
the dead had been burnt entirely or partly; the cattle were burning<br />
in their stables, and the wild bellowing of those animals fighting<br />
against death by fire, intermingled with the crying, the moaning,<br />
the groaning and the shrieking of the wounded. But who had the<br />
time now to bother about that? Everybody wanted help, everybody<br />
wanted to help himself, everybody was only thinking of himself<br />
and his little bit of life. &quot;He who falls remains where he<br />
lies; only he who stands can win victories.&quot; That one learns<br />
from militarism and the average soldier acts upon that principle.<br />
And yet most soldiers are forced by circumstances to play the<br />
r&ocirc;le of the good Samaritan. People who could formerly not<br />
look upon blood or a dead person, were now bandaging their comrades'<br />
arms and legs which had been amputated by shells. They did not<br />
do it because they were impelled by the command of their heart,<br />
but because they said to themselves that perhaps to-morrow already<br />
their turn might come and that they, too, might want assistance.<br />
It is a healthy egotism which makes men of mercy out of those<br />
hardened people.<br />
<br />
<br><br>The French had formed their lines again outside the town in<br />
the open. At the moment when the enemy evacuated the town an error<br />
was made by the Germans which cost many hundreds of German soldiers<br />
their lives. The Germans had occupied the rest of the town with<br />
such celerity that our artillery which was pounding that quarter<br />
had not been informed of the changed situation, and was raining<br />
shell upon shell into our own ranks. That failure of our intelligence<br />
department caused the death of many of our comrades. Compelled<br />
by the firing of the enemy and our own artillery we had finally<br />
to give up part of our gains, which later on we recovered, again<br />
with great sacrifice. Curiously enough, the residential quarter<br />
with the villas I mentioned before had not suffered seriously;<br />
the Red Cross flag was hoisted on the houses in which temporary<br />
hospitals were established.<br />
<br />
<br><br>It is here that the Belgian citizens are said to have mutilated<br />
some German wounded soldiers. Whether it was true, whether it<br />
was only rumored, as was asserted also many times by German soldiers<br />
who had been in the hospitals, I do not know. But this I know,<br />
that on the 24th of August when the French had executed a general<br />
retreat, it was made known in an army order that German soldiers<br />
had been murdered there and that the German army could not leave<br />
the scenes of those shameful deeds without having first avenged<br />
their poor comrades. The order was therefore given---by the leader<br />
of the army---to raze the town without mercy. When later on (it<br />
was in the evening and we were pursuing the enemy) we were resting<br />
for a short time, clouds of smoke in the east showed that the<br />
judgment had been fulfilled. A battery of artillery that had remained<br />
behind had razed house after house. Revenge is sweet, also for<br />
Christian army leaders.<br />
<br />
<br><br>Outside the town the French had reformed their ranks, and were<br />
offering the utmost resistance. But they were no match for the<br />
German troops who consisted largely of young and active men. Frenchmen<br />
taken prisoner explained that it was simply impossible to withstand<br />
an assault of this war-machine, when the German columns attacked<br />
with the bayonet and the cry of &quot; Hurrah! hurrah!&quot; which<br />
penetrated to the very marrow. I can understand that, for we sometimes<br />
appeared to ourselves to be a good imitation of American Indians<br />
who, like us, rushed upon their enemies with shrill shouts. After<br />
a fight lasting three hours many Frenchmen surrendered, asking<br />
for quarter with raised hands. Whole battalions of the enemy were<br />
thus captured by us. Finally, in the night from the 23rd to the<br />
24th of August, the ranks of the enemy were thrown into confusion<br />
and retreated, first slowly, then flying headlong. Our opponent<br />
left whole batteries, munition columns, ambulance columns, etc.<br />
<br />
<br><br>I found myself in the first pursuing section. The roads we<br />
used were again literally covered with corpses; knapsacks, rifles,<br />
dead horses and men were lying there in a wild jumble. The dead<br />
had been partly crushed and pounded to a pulp by the horses and<br />
vehicles, an indescribably terrible spectacle even for the most<br />
hardened mass-murderer. Dead and wounded were lying to the right<br />
and left of the road, in fields, in ditches; the red trousers<br />
of the French stood out distinctly against the ground; the field-gray<br />
trousers of the Germans were however scarcely to be noticed and<br />
difficult to discover.<br />
<br />
<br><br>The distance between ourselves and the fleeing Frenchmen became<br />
greater and greater, and the spirit of our soldiers, in spite<br />
of the hardships they had undergone, became better and gayer.<br />
They joked and sang, forgot the corpses which were still filling<br />
the roads and paths, and felt quite at ease. They had already<br />
accustomed themselves to the horrible to such a degree that they<br />
stepped over the corpses with unconcern, without even making the<br />
smallest detour. The experience of those first few weeks of the<br />
war had already brutalized us completely. What was to happen to<br />
us if this should continue for months-----?</div>Hirgen