App. 18.
Report of the Infantry Regiment von Winterfeldt (2nd Upper Silesian) No. 23 (24th Infantry Brigade).
October 4th, 1914.
Captain Wagner states: On 22nd August, at Léglise, two civilians from Antier were handed over to the company, which was acting as escort to the heavy baggage. These had been caught with guns in their hands by two gendarmes. At this period the company was fired at by civilians on several occasions.
At Tintigny was discovered the body of a reservist of Infantry Regiment No. 38, who had been slain by the inhabitants with a mason's pickaxe. At Laheycourt a man of the 1st Battalion shot dead a civilian who had fired at the soldiers from a garden.
Captain von Debschitz states: At Nothomb, our first quarters in Belgium, after the General in command had issued a proclamation, the inhabitants immediately handed in a very large quantity of military rifles and ammunition, which not long before had undoubtedly been distributed by the authorities for the purpose of a "franc-tireur" campaign. These were, as far as I knew, Menier rifles, recently oiled, with cartridges in cotton packing, labelled exactly as if they had just been received from a depot.
Lieutenant of Reserve Schmidt, Leader of the heavy baggage of the regiment, states: On the night of August 23rd-24th, while we were on our way from Habay to Neuve-Ansart, the heavy baggage was several times fired upon at Houdemont and Rulles. At Houdemont, inhabitants fired from windows and from behind walls; upon this, some houses were set on fire. In rear of Houdemont the heavy baggage passed through a defile. Here we noticed small lamp signals, and then suddenly a heavy fire was opened on the baggage from front, rear, and both flanks. Several bullets struck the woodwork of the waggons and the oat-sacks, one of which is still in our possession. One man was missing; two horses were wounded and had to be killed. In the same way at Rulles and in the rear of this village, the baggage was fired at from the front and on the right flank.
On August 24th the heavy baggage on the road from Ansart-Tintigny was again fired at from houses by francs-tireurs. In this way two convoy soldiers were shot dead. On the evening of the 25th August the baggage passed through the village of Villers devant Orval. Our men were there received in friendly fashion by the inhabitants, who distributed fruit and eatables among the soldiers. When darkness fell, and the baggage came to a long halt outside the village, shots were suddenly fired at them from the rear.
Signed: Count Keller.
App. 19.