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

by Germany. Auswärtiges Amt

In the face of these brutal attacks, the German soldiers had to protect themselves by energetic retaliatory measures. As had been threatened, the inhabitants who had participated in the attack were shot, and the houses out of which they fired were burned. It was impossible to prevent the fire from spreading to other houses, and thus some rows of them were destroyed. It was in this way also that the Cathedral caught fire (App. 4). A further spreading of the conflagration was prevented by our troops who, led by their officers, undertook the work of extinguishing the fire in a self-sacrificing manner (App. 46). Thanks to their efforts, only a comparatively small part of the town, i.e. the quarter between the station and the town hall, suffered. The magnificent town hall was saved through the efforts of our troops. The burning houses lit up the dark night and enabled our soldiers to meet the attack more effectively. Thus it diminished gradually; only here and there a few shots were fired during the night. The next morning, however, the attacks were renewed with great violence. The disturbances still continued on this and the following days, though the hostages were, on August the 26th and 27th, again led through the streets in order to exhort the inhabitants to keep the peace (Apps. 1, 37, 38, 40, 44, 45, 47).

That the insurrection did not break out accidentally, but was prepared long beforehand, can be proved, apart from the above-mentioned rocket-signals which announced the beginning of the surprise attack, by the following facts:

1. The circumstance that arms had been found in large quantities, though these, according to the declaration of the Mayor, had been already handed over on August 19th (Apps. 1, 20).

2. The observation that a great number of young men entered Louvain and dispersed in the town (App. 34). It was easy for them to take up quarters in the hotels and the lodging-houses left by the students.

3. Numerous stores of cartridges and explosives, which had been hidden there by the population, exploded in the burning houses (Apps. 1, 2, 6, 37).

In accordance with these facts, the attack evidently was carefully planned, and lasted for several days with the utmost stubbornness. The length of time during which the revolt against the German military force continued excludes any idea of spontaneous and excited actions on the part of isolated persons. The direction of the treacherous revolt must have been in the hands of highly placed persons. Everything points to the fact that the authorities had a hand in the organisation. The official headquarters of the Chief of the so-called Garde Civique were in Louvain; he was still in the town immediately before the rising, and the movement commenced there with the dispatch into Louvain of undisciplined young men not wearing any distinctive badge or uniform, who, together with soldiers transformed into civilians, concealed themselves in the houses in order, while invisible themselves, to fire at a suitable moment upon the apparently departing German troops.

The Belgian Government itself has never dared to speak about the regular troops having participated in these actions. We are here dealing with the perfidious deeds of francs-tireurs who were most readily received and offered hiding-places by the population of Louvain. The crimes of the Garde Civique will be unveiled to the whole civilised world in the classical case of Louvain (Apps. 1, 30, 45, 48).

Unfortunately a number of priests also allowed themselves to be carried away into misusing their influence upon the civilian population, and encouraging them to shelter the insurgents; it is certain that some of them even took direct part in the fighting (Apps. 1, 19, 34, 37, 38, 41, 42, 45, 48). Those who appreciate the authentic facts discovered by the German Government regarding the case of Louvain, facts which are not based upon hasty examinations of people labouring under strong excitement and possessing little education, by equally agitated examiners, but which are founded upon inquiries entered upon in a calm and quiet spirit, will be able to judge for themselves what value can be attached to other similar accusations on the part of the Belgians against the German troops.

In the case of Louvain the Official Belgian Commission of Inquiry has tried to account for the doubtless very embarrassing fact, so difficult to be explained away, of the shots fired in the streets by maintaining that the German troops had fired on their own soldiers. But it conceals the point that the firing lasted several days and was renewed continuously. This simple fact does away with the thread-bare attempt to explain the beginning of the street-fights.

While the Belgian Commission of Inquiry so lightly brushes aside the above-mentioned principal question of the violation of International Law, it seeks to calumniate the German Army by accusations in isolated cases. We have not been able to establish the truth of any of these cases; the impartial person must not overlook in this matter on what kind of evidence these cases are founded, nor how these accusations recede into the background, compared with the principal question of the origin of the street-fights. They are based on the depositions of the same persons who are responsible for the statement that Louvain was completely destroyed, and that of the whole town nothing but the town hall and the station remained intact, as is asserted in the third Report of the Commission and thus announced throughout the whole world.