C. App. 43.
Extract from the Report of Grenadier Regiment No. 101, 22nd to the 30th August 1914.
August 23rd, 1914.
The Mayor of Les Rivages appears and protests that none of the inhabitants are in possession of weapons, and that no attack would take place on the troops.
After the Divisional Bridge (Pontoon) Train had arrived, the Pioneers begin the construction of a bridge over the Meuse, but a heavy enemy fire, partly from infantry, partly from the inhabitants on the opposite bank, perforates the pontoons and makes any further construction impossible.
At first the 11th Company is put across the Meuse and proceeds on a broad front through Leffe, where they are fired on from the houses and from the railway embankment. Several civilians, who fired on the company from places of concealment, are shot; the houses are set on fire.
Following the 2nd Company the remaining companies of the 1st Battalion have also reached Les Rivages. Whilst the battalion is standing by the Meuse to cross over, it is attacked from the houses by the inhabitants of the place. From all the windows, from the hedges of the gardens, from the slopes of the hills, bullets and shot from the rifles of the inhabitants rattle down on the companies.
The battalion at once received the order to take up the fight against the fanatical inhabitants of the place. With fixed bayonets, the Grenadiers rush through the narrow streets; with pickaxes and axes the closed doors and windows are burst open. In groups the Grenadiers force their way into the houses in order to seize the occupants who are still firing on us. Not only men and youths take part in the fighting, but also old men, women, and children.
The francs-tireurs have well chosen their hiding-places. Already twilight is falling, but still the fire of the enemy does not abate.
Our object is to reach the other bank of the Meuse, but, on the other hand, the troops and columns which follow us must be able to pass through the place without being attacked anew. Thus there only remains one remedy, to set the place on fire, and soon it is a sea of flames.