Report of Captain Larrass, commanding 9th Foot Artillery Munitions Column, and of 1st Lieutenant Reichel, commanding 5th Artillery Munitions Column; also the Military Court Examination of Lieutenant-Colonel Hübner and Sergeant-Major Peschke.
Eastern Camp, Siffone, October 2nd, 1914.
9th Foot Artillery Munitions Column.
Report.
On August 23rd, 1914, the 9th Foot Artillery Munitions Column was bivouacked at Sorrinnes in Belgium at 7.30 p.m. As it was becoming dark the inhabitants of the village, whose behaviour had been extremely quiet the whole afternoon, treacherously and maliciously opened fire on the bivouac. In accordance with my orders, during the afternoon a young man was seized in a house in which an old man of seventy, alleged to be at the point of death, was lying on a bed. This was done because suspicious noises were audible in the house. In the evening the column was fired at, and more particularly from this house. In the course of this attack of the inhabitants upon the column, not only small shot was fired, but also bullets, which exploded on impact.
Signed: Larrass, Captain and Commander
of the 9th Foot Artillery Munitions Column.
Siffone, November 1st, 1914.
5th Artillery Munitions Column, XII. Army Corps.
On the afternoon of August 23rd, 1914, the 5th Artillery Munitions Column occupied a bivouac at the western exit from Sorrinnes. Throughout the day no villagers showed themselves; on the contrary, the village appeared to be completely abandoned. At nightfall, about 9 p.m., the entire column, bivouacked near Sorrinnes, was from all sides suddenly fired upon by the inhabitants from the houses or from the roof windows and from hedges.
Signed: Reichel, 1st Lieutenant and Column Commander.