On August 22nd there was an interruption in the telephone connection to Conneaux. Corporal Lorenze and another cyclist were dispatched on bicycles to remove the cause of this interruption. The two cyclists were fired upon at close quarters in front of a wood. The search of the farm, carried out by Lieutenant Müller (Telephone Section XII.), with a platoon of infantry, proved to be without result. According to the unanimous reports of soldiers, who were met on the way, a number of civilians came out of the wood immediately after the shots had been fired. A further search was set on foot, and the telephone cable was found to be cut right through at the place where the shots had been fired.
The witness thereupon made the following statement:
I am the Lieutenant Müller mentioned above. I was quartered in the castle of Conneaux; the little wood lay about 400 metres away from the castle. After the shots had been fired, the cyclists at once returned to me. Within a few minutes of their arrival the pursuit could already be set on foot, because the platoon of infantry mentioned in my report was ready at hand for employment as an escort. Only for this reason is it possible to furnish a definite statement as to the time and place when the civilians were met in the road lying behind.
The men who fired had only one covered line of retreat, i.e. a road not under our observation, which I afterwards used in my pursuit. All the soldiers whom I met on this road gave a nearly unanimous description of some eight or ten civilians whom they had seen quickly running away. The approach of nightfall prevented their capture.
Read over, approved, signed.
Signed: Johannes Henry Müller, Lieutenant of Reserve.
The witness was sworn.
Signed: Schweinitz. Signed: Lips.
App. 36.
Military Court Examination of Sergeant Ebers, 3rd Guard Field Artillery Regiment.