Court of the Government-General at Brussels.
Present:
Dr. Ivers, Judge of Military Law.
Secretary, Rambeau.
Louvain, September 23rd, 1914.
First Lieutenant Telemann of the Reserve, Supply Commando, declared as follows:
As to Person: My name is Paul Telemann, born at Nordhausen on October 20th, 1877; Protestant; Royal President at the Ministry of Public Works in Berlin.
The witness was informed that the Governor-General, Field-Marshal General Baron von der Goltz, had arranged judicial proceedings for the purpose of ascertaining whether German military persons, and, if so, which, were guilty and deserving of punishment; he then made the following statement:
As to Case: Since noon on August 25th the infantry barracks, Rue de Tirlemont, with about 300 men suffering from foot trouble and a few slightly wounded doing guard duty at Louvain, were under my supervision.
On the evening of August 25th I and two 1st Staff-Surgeons were having supper in the Café Royal—since burned down—in the market. Suddenly—as far as I remember, soon after 8 p.m.—I heard lively firing in the market, which steadily increased. The hostess, a German, immediately switched off the electric light, and we and the other guests of the establishment, chiefly officers and non-commissioned officers of our army, went into a back room so as not to be hit from the street. As the greater number of us were without arms, we decided for the present to wait there.
When after a time the firing ceased, we hurried into the street, and there met German soldiers going along the houses for the purpose of taking action against those from which inhabitants had fired. As far as I remember, only isolated shots fell at that time. We went over to the town hall, where I met a group of people from my barrack who had gone to the town hall to look for me. I at once went with them to the infantry barracks. During this time also only isolated shots were fired behind us.
The guard and a large number of soldiers stationed there stood in front of the infantry barracks with their rifles ready, and they showed me several houses in the Rue de Tirlemont from which inhabitants had fired on them. I forbade them, under threat of heavy punishment, to set these houses on fire as they had intended, as I wished to protect the "Military Hospital" opposite the barracks and the barracks themselves with the wounded. A short time afterwards we heard continuous firing from the direction of the adjoining Place du Peuple, and in this direction we also saw several houses burning. Motor-cars arrived now, bringing German wounded to the "Military Hospital." As far as I remember, there were in all about thirty to thirty-five, amongst whom were also some severely wounded, as, for instance, Captain v. Esmarch, who had shot wounds in the head and had dislocated both arms in his fall from horseback.