“I know that a very short time after the evacuation of the old port the rumor spread that this measure had been brought about by financial interests, but I can assure you that in my opinion such a hypothesis is erroneous. The order came from the higher authorities of the Reich Government and had only two motives—the security of troops and the danger of epidemics.”
We do not intend to give you a complete description of the attacks committed by the Germans but merely a few examples. We submit Document F-600 as Exhibit Number RF-415, Page 59:
“At Ohis (Aisne) a civilian wanted to give an American soldier some cider to drink. The Germans returned. The American soldier was taken prisoner, and M. Hennebert was also taken away by the Germans to a spot known as the ‘Black Mountain’ in the village of Origny en Thiérache where his body was later discovered partly hidden under a stack of wood. The body bore the trace of two bayonet wounds in the back.”
I submit Document F-604 as Exhibit Number RF-416, Page 61 of the document book. A civilian was killed in his vineyard. Young men and girls walking along the road were killed. The motive was given as “presence of Maquis in the region.” All these victims were completely innocent.
Document F-904, which I submit as Exhibit Number RF-417, Page 62 of your document book. At Culoz “. . . young boys were arrested because they had run away at the sight of the Germans. . . .” They were reported. “. . . not one of them belonged to the resistance.”
At St. Jean-de-Maurienne—Document F-906, submitted as Exhibit Number RF-418, Page 63 of your document book:
“On 23 August the gendarmes, Chavanne and Empereur, dressed in civilian clothes, and M. Albert Taravel were arrested by German soldiers without legitimate reason. The lieutenant who was in charge of the Kommandantur promised the officer of the gendarmes to release these three men. This German later surreptitiously ordered his men to shoot these prisoners.
“Mademoiselle Lucie Perraud, 21 years of age, who was a maid at the Café Dentroux, was raped by a German soldier of Russian origin, under threat of a pistol.”
I will not mention any more of the atrocities described in this document.