The witness was told that the Governor-General, Field-Marshal General Baron von der Goltz, had arranged judicial proceedings for the purpose of ascertaining whether military persons, and, if so, which, are guilty of the destruction of Louvain by fire; he then made the following statement:

As to Case: When the General Staff arrived at Louvain station, Captain Albrecht, who has since fallen and who had preceded the General Staff, reported that he had prepared quarters in the town, at the Hôtel Métropole, where the Commander-in-Chief had also stayed, and that the town was perfectly quiet. We then proceeded to the Hôtel Métropole in the town, and from there to our offices. This was about 6 o'clock p.m.

We had just spread out our maps and were informing ourselves with regard to the situation when Acting-Sergeant-Major Fischer returned by motor from the III. Reserve Corps and reported that the III. Reserve Corps before Antwerp was attacked and asking for immediate support from the IX. Reserve Corps. At that time about half of our corps was detrained and the other half still on the rails. The Chief of the General Staff and I immediately went to see the General in command. Meanwhile the greater part of the officers of the General Staff with the horses had arrived and were still busy with the unloading. It must also be mentioned that on driving up to the battlefield the Commanding General ordered the alarm to be sounded, and the troops already quartered in Louvain were ordered to the battle-ground.

At 9 o'clock p.m. the General, the Chief of the General Staff, and I returned to Louvain by motor-car. The battle took place at Bueken, 7 km. north of Louvain. On returning to Louvain we already found in the villages situated between Bueken and Louvain regular troops (of the Landwehr) who declared that our men were being fired at in the surrounding villages. We saw ourselves how all the traffic was stopped in a village because firing from the houses had taken place. All troops warned the Commanding General from going into the town because street-fights were taking place there. But the Commanding General declared that he would not leave his Staff in the town if fighting were going on, and he wished to return to the Staff. We were therefore obliged to get out when we got into Louvain. The Commanding General, with the chauffeurs and we few officers, went through the dark town to the market-place at about 10 o'clock p.m. During this march through the town a flank fire was opened on us every time we turned a street corner. Suddenly, the Staff veterinary surgeon of the corps arrived and reported that the Staff of the General Commandant had been attacked, and that the horses were either shot or had stampeded. The men were firing on the houses. The baggage therefore was safe, only the horses were gone. We went first of all to the town hall, and there found a number of hostages who had been taken in the meantime. My brother, Lieutenant v. Klewitz, now told the hostages in the presence of the Commanding General that they would be shot if the firing in the town did not cease at once. The hostages then begged to be allowed to use their influence in the streets. Lieutenant v. Klewitz then passed through the town with the hostages, and the inhabitants were exhorted to be quiet. We then went to our Hôtel Métropole. When we arrived there we found in front of the house a civilian, shot. It appeared that this man had sat in the Hôtel Métropole, and when the hotel was searched he had been found in a room, armed, and had wounded two soldiers, whereupon the soldiers shot him in a hand-to-hand fight and threw him out of the window. Besides one civilian person, of whom we know nothing, there was no longer anyone in the hotel.

The Commanding General then went, under escort of a company of infantry, through the streets to the station, and stayed there in order to conduct the whole affair. The motors of the General Staff had also taken up a position there. Temporary quiet reigned at the station. At about 11 o'clock p.m. some isolated shots were fired from the surrounding houses upon the troops stationed at the railway station, which was followed by continually increasing firing, so that the Commanding General ordered the house to be taken. The house was taken and, as armed resistance was encountered, it was set alight. The house was hardly alight when I saw personally the following incident:

I was standing with my back to the station and looking at another house. I saw how the corner window on the top was lit up, a dark figure appeared at the window, and a shot was fired into the street. At the same moment when this shot was fired I saw how the tiles in the roof of the Hôtel Maria Theresa were raised, and a terrible fire was opened from the roof of this hotel upon the troops in the station square. We all immediately sought cover. Personally I had the definite impression that we were being fired on with machine-guns from the Hôtel Maria Theresa; the bullets were rattling down on us. On the following morning one was able to ascertain that we had been fired upon with machine-guns, because at the station one could distinctly see the rows of fire. The fire from the machine-guns lasted about four to five minutes, and was immediately replied to by our troops, who finally took the house and set it alight. In the meanwhile, a number of wounded were brought in. Definite instructions had been given to burn at once all those houses from which firing had taken place. Many Belgian civilians were taken with arms in their hands; they were to be shot by order of the General in Command. At about 2 o'clock the firing ceased. Stores of ammunition continually exploded during the burning down of the houses. The General in Command sat in a railway carriage from 2 till 4 o'clock at night. At 4 a.m. the army corps marched to the battle. We did not pass through the main streets, but drove along an avenue. Here I saw distinctly the following incident:

As I sat in the motor several shots were fired out of a cellar on the left at a distance of 20 metres. We fired on this cellar-opening, whereupon the firing ceased. The Commanding General left the motor with loaded revolver and went to the open place just in front of the bridge. We then went to the battlefield. Behind us, infantry advanced. The officer marching at the head was shot by a civilian who sat on a tree at exactly the same place where we had left the car.

As the regular line of halting-places was continually fired at, orders were given to clear the town by force. Two guns with 150 rounds were sent. The two guns fired shrapnel from the station into the streets. Thus at least that quarter near the station was made safe, and in this way it was possible to take the columns, that had been bivouacking for days before Louvain, through the town.

Read over, approved, signed.

Signed: v. Klewitz.