On the 6th of August 1914 I reached at Retinne a military ambulance station, where the staff was very busily occupied. The character of the station was clearly made known by its Red Cross flags, and in view of the whole nature of its activities no doubt could exist as to its real character. In the immediate vicinity no fighting had taken place; on the contrary, our troops had already advanced to Bellaire. Nevertheless our ambulance station was persistently fired upon; continually, for the whole day long, single shots fell amongst us, coming from the houses close at hand, and mostly, as a matter of fact, from the roofs. The shots which fell upon the hospital could only have proceeded from civilians, as there were no longer any enemy troops in the place. As I could not for the time being secure any troops for the protection of the ambulance station, I armed the lightly wounded and allowed them to return the fire—for the moment, however, with little success, as we could not see our well-concealed adversaries. When in the evening some detachments of troops arrived at Retinne and were also fired at, the houses were systematically searched. From some houses dozens of men were dragged out. It was noticeable that in the houses were only one or two women and no children at all, so that I formed the impression that the firing had been arranged beforehand. The men fetched out of the houses were without exception civilians of various ages.
Read over, approved, signed.
Signed: Staff-Surgeon Dr. Rehm.
Proceedings closed.
Signed: Dr. Welt. Signed: Lorenz.
App. 5.
Statement of Lieutenant Zielsche, Machine-gun Company, Infantry Regiment No. 42.
Waldrieder, August 17th, 1914.
1. At Visé the inhabitants carried out a surprise attack upon the 18th Pioneers on the night of the 15th-16th August.
2. Between Visé and Warsage my platoon was continuously fired at from the immediate surroundings from about 10 o'clock in the evening till 3 in the morning. A column of army bakers retired from Visé and was also fired at. We could see nothing of the inhabitants. When in the morning I passed through Warsage in order to secure provisions, it was empty, with the exception of one or two houses.