d) Diary of Private Philipp. (Kamenz, Saxony. 1st Company. 1st Battalion of the 178th Regt.) The same day 23rd August, a soldier of the same regiment saw a similar scene to that described above, probably the same, but the point of view is a different one (Plate 4).
“In the evening, at 10 o’clock the first battalion of the 178th Regt went down to the village that had been burnt to the north of Dinant. A sad and beautiful sight, and one that made you shudder. At the entrance of the village there lay about 50 dead bodies strewn on the road. They had been shot for having fired on our troops from ambush. In the course of the night, many others were shot in the same way, so that we could count more than two hundred. The women and children, lamp in hand, were obliged to watch the horrible scene. We then ate our rice, in the midst of the corpses, for we had not tasted food since morning.”[9]
Plate 4.
A fine military subject indeed, and worthy to compete at the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts. One passage in the text however is obscure, and might embarrass the competitors. “The women and children lamp in hand were obliged to watch the horrible scene.”
What scene? The shooting, or the counting of the corpses? Painters, who wish to elucidate this point need only consult the colonel of the 178th Regt. What a gallant soldier!
He did, that night, but carry out the spirit of his superiors and comrades in arms. He who wishes to be convinced need but read in the Sixth Report of the Belgian Enquiry Commission on the violation of the laws of nations (Le Havre, 10 Nov. 1914) the base proclamations which the Germans placarded in Belgium. Three short excerpts will suffice.
Extract from a Proclamation of General von Bülow posted up at Liège on the 22nd of August 1914:
“The inhabitants of the town of Andenne, after having protested their peaceful intentions, treacherously surprised our troops. It is with my full consent that the general in command had the whole place burnt, and about a hundred people were shot.”[10]
Extract from a Proclamation of Major Commander Dieckmann[11] posted up at Grivegnée on the 8th of September 1914: