Present:
President of the Military Court, Hottendorff.
Secretary to the Military Court, Westphal.
Tourcoing, November 15th, 1914.
At the investigation concerning the events in Aerschot on the night of August 19th to 20th, 1914, there appeared as witness Captain Karge of the cavalry, officer commanding the troops of the Field Cavalry Police of the II. Army Corps, who, after his attention had been drawn to the importance and sanctity of the oath, was examined as follows:
As to Person: My Christian name is Hans. I am 42 years of age; Protestant.
As to Case: The witness was handed the supplement to this Record and declared:
I have given my evidence in writing in the supplement. Witness then further added to the Record, after this supplement had been read through:
I acknowledge the supplement just read as my own. Several German officers told me that, according to report, the Belgian Government, and especially the King of the Belgians, had intimated that it was the duty of every male Belgian to do the German Army as much harm as possible.
An Order of this kind was also supposed to have been found on a captured Belgian soldier. I also heard that Belgian soldiers had been discharged in their native towns, so that they could there fight in plain clothes against the Germans. It is true that a number of Belgian soldiers, who were partly clothed as civilians, were made prisoners. An officer, who was present at the attack in Aerschot, told me that on the belfry tower of a certain place in the neighbourhood of Aerschot he had himself read that Belgians who caught German officers were not allowed to keep them prisoners on parole, but were to shoot them. I cannot exactly repeat this officer's words, but they contained the meaning I have just given.
A college teacher from Aerschot, whom I have already mentioned in the supplement, assured me, as I now positively remember, that the Garde Civique had orders to do the German Army as much harm as possible.
Read over, approved, signed.