D. App. 41.
Court of the Commander.
Present:
President, Dr. Steengrafe.
Secretary, Meyer.
Altona, March 3rd, 1915.
There appeared as witness merchant Dammann, who, after the importance of the oath had been pointed out to him, was examined as follows:
As to Person: My name is Carl Dammann, aged 31; Christian; merchant in Hamburg; soldier of the Reserve.
As to Case: After mobilisation I volunteered for duty as motor-driver, and as such I was assigned to the Staff of the IX. Reserve Army Corps.
On the evening of August 25th, 1914, we arrived in Louvain. At first the inhabitants were very obliging.
My motor-car was put in the market-place, a big square near which is the Hôtel Métropole. In the evening, towards 9 o'clock, we motor-drivers stood under the trees of the place and chatted together. Comrades told me they had seen a rocket go up.
Suddenly an awful firing commenced from the houses surrounding the place. The fire was first of all directed on the baggage-carts which were to be drawn up at the place. Each one of us sought cover, I on a baggage-cart, the horses of which had just been shot. My car showed later on a hole as large as a fist in the protective cover and in the body of the car; to judge by the way the tin was bent, the shot must have come from below, from a cellar. Whilst we sought cover, the firing continued, and some of us were wounded. In my opinion this was a well-prepared and planned attack of the civilian population.