The German Army in Belgium, the White Book of May 1915

by Germany. Auswärtiges Amt

February 14th, 1915.

Report.

With reference to the fighting round Dinant on August 21st and 23rd, Non-commissioned Officer Macher, 8th Company, Infantry Regiment No. 178, states:

Towards 7 a.m. on the 23rd August 1914 the order came for the attack on Leffe, a suburb of Dinant. The 6th and 7th Companies, Infantry Regiment No. 178, occupied a height in front of the place. The 3rd Battalion of the regiment had already advanced; the 5th and 8th Companies followed in the valley in the second line.

When we came near the place we heard in front a muffled sound of firing.

The 3rd Detachment of the 8th Company of the regiment was sent in advance to take cartridges to the 3rd Battalion. The battalion, lying on the height, was engaged with the enemy's infantry on the opposite bank of the Meuse. To get there we were obliged to pass through Dinant. At the entry to the town there already lay dead civilians, and some soldiers warned us against passing through the place in close order as there was firing from the houses. After this, we went through the street on the right and left along by the houses, rifle in hand, ready to fire. The houses were shut up, the cellar windows barricaded and provided with loopholes. On the march back to the Company I saw that the 5th Company of the regiment and the Marburg Jägers were searching the houses; there were also lying in the street some dead civilians and a wounded German. Some men and a number of women were handed over to the platoon by a strange officer to be taken to the mill. Several civilians had already been assembled there; some dead also lay there.

After we had again reached the company we heard, coming from a farm on the right, firing which was apparently meant for us. Riflemen of the Guards fetched the people out of the farm; they were only civilians, about six men and a number of women and children.

When the company had been advanced to the open space near the convent, firing came from a house standing opposite. From this quarter also men were brought out. In the searching of the house, under the leadership of Sergeant Schuster of the 8th Company, a cellar which was occupied by civilians was not opened. Sergeant Schuster therefore fired through the door, and thereby wounded in the chest a woman who was in the cellar. As Private Jentsch also deposes, after the opening of the cellar, he immediately provided for the transport of the wounded woman to the hospital in the convent by men of the Medical Corps. According to the statement of Private Jentsch, the woman died and lay for two days on a bier in the convent.

Finally the company arranged the frontage of the houses along the Meuse for defence, and other companies undertook to clear the inhabitants out of the houses. The women and children were principally taken to the convent. Towards 10 p.m., when the baggage entered the place, the firing from the houses began again. We were given the alarm. The buildings behind us on the slopes afforded a special difficulty on account of the numerous exits. We here came in contact with a company of Infantry Regiment No. 177. The leader of the company ordered the houses to be set alight because there was still firing from other windows. He himself smashed a lamp and fired the first house. We then marched off and returned to the company. The nocturnal firing, in my opinion, was done by civilians, for our troops had already occupied the opposite bank. In one house a dead soldier was lying on the floor, as was reported to me by men of the company.

In one street the company was fired on from the rear; many of the men said at once that the assailant was a woman; this, however, could not be established with certainty. Among the men seized I saw one of youthful age; all the rest were older; grey-haired men were also among them.