chapter xi
from maastricht to the french frontier
the destruction of dinant
adventures incite to ever more risky undertakings, and we long constantly for more sensation. such an experience prompted me to an arrangement with mr. tervooren, editor of het leven, to try to motor to the french frontier.
we left maastricht, in the early morning of september 9th, with a smart fellow as chauffeur. louvain we found tolerably quiet, although fearful scenes were witnessed in the search for corpses, which were found in the cellars of many houses.
on that day i saw for the first time in belgium german sailors and marines, and even an admiral and some officers. at that time the appearance of the naval men gave the newspapers much room for conjectures; it was found later that they were to be used in the attack on antwerp, and afterwards had the task allotted to them of occupying the sea-board.
i found sailors also in brussels, but for the rest there was only a little military display there. in this town reigned a certain oppressive silence and157 the cafés were not much frequented. the brussels people did not hide their patriotic sentiments, and nearly every house displayed the belgian flag, thanks chiefly to the strong attitude of burgomaster max. outwardly brussels had not suffered by the war; not a house was damaged and nobody had been killed yet. nor was there lack of provisions, as was proved by the fact that at the "métropole," one of the largest restaurants, i paid only seventy-five centimes (sevenpence-halfpenny) for bread, cold beef, and pickles.
we met only a few germans on the road from brussels to charleroi, and found no garrison except in the townlet hal. very little burning had taken place on this road, but so much the more plundering and looting. a woman took us all over her house in the neighbourhood of brussels, to show us the total wrecking. small pieces of furniture were generally taken away, but stoves, kitcheners, and cupboards were smashed. she herself had had her face badly wounded, because she had hidden herself in the cellar when the germans came near, and they had beaten her out of that with their rifle-butts. many other women were treated in the same manner.
when we came to jumet, a suburb of charleroi, and a prosperous place with flourishing factories, we found the whole town wrecked.... nearly all the houses were burned immediately after the occupation by the germans, and many inhabitants were killed, of course under the pretext that they had been shooting.
after driving through this scene of misery we158 entered charleroi, and exactly at that moment one of the springs of my motor broke in two, which made the car useless. charleroi seemed worse damaged than namur. according to an official statement issued at the time, one hundred and sixty-five houses had been burned, among them many on the fine boulevard audent, the saint joseph institute, the convent of the s?urs de namur, and the adjacent ancient, miraculous little chapel of "sainte marie des remparts."
probably more than one hundred civilians had been shot, whereas many perished in the cellars. the heads of the municipality and several priests had at first been taken as hostages. bail of ten million francs was asked for their release, but after much haggling they consented to accept one and a half millions, which sum was forthcoming from the various local banks.
just as at louvain and other towns, the germans indulged in looting and plundering also at charleroi; and probably this explains why here too the finest houses were destroyed. moreover, many atrocious cases of rape occurred here as at dinant, about which town more anon. at a café, where the proprietor unburdened his mind to me, with tears in his eyes, i read a statement in which they were impudent enough to write that they had passed a pleasant night in circumstances described in detail, whilst the father had been locked up.
charleroi was taken on august 22nd. on the evening of the 21st a small patrol had entered the town, and of these not a man escaped. but in the morning of the 22nd at seven o'clock a large force159 of germans arrived and immediately began to burn and to shoot.
on the day of my stay at charleroi, at about seven o'clock in the evening, there was a good deal of bustle round about the station, many trains from maubeuge arriving. one of these trains was entirely filled by officers of the garrison who had been taken prisoner. another carried only wounded germans, lying on light stretchers, on which they were transported through the streets to the hospitals at charleroi. many had fearful wounds, and convulsively held their hands on the injured parts, while others lay still, the pallor of death on their face. maubeuge must have cost the germans enormous sacrifices, as for many of the wretched wounded no room could be found at charleroi, and they had to be taken farther by train, to namur or brussels.
german officials told that immediately after the surrender maubeuge had been set on fire in various places, because civilians, etc.... the reader is by now able to complete the sentence.
after i had collected some information in the town and my colleague of het leven had taken several snapshots, we thought that it was time to look for lodgings and to get our motor-car repaired.
we found rooms, but were guarded during the night by soldiers, who walked up and down the landing, because there were officers also staying at the hotel. their regular footfall prevented us from sleeping a wink, but with the help of some fibs and netherland cigars we induced them to let us go out, and we went to a sort of smith in a kind of garage160 to repair the motor-car. we turned up our sleeves and, assisted by the smith's technical directions, succeeded in putting the broken spring together, using stout steel clamps and screws.
before leaving we went back to the hotel for breakfast. there—it was a first-class hotel—they gave us an apology for coffee, without milk or sugar, and two flimsy pieces of bread, as hard as wood and as black as shoe-polish. i was intensely hungry, and as nowhere at charleroi anything else could be had, i did my best with the wooden bread and succeeded in washing it down with much chewing and jawing. but the sweet, hard stuff did not suit my digestion, and i felt ill already when at six o'clock we got into the motor-car and left for dinant.
we could not keep to the main road all the time, for it was forbidden by proclamation to go farther than nine miles and a half from the town, and we should have been stopped without fail.
we first drove through the suburb montigny-sur-sambre, which shared the fate of jumet, and was entirely destroyed by fire. after leaving the town we went in the direction of chatelet, where we found an immense battle-field. terrific fighting must have taken place here, for the number of buried was enormous. on a wide stretch of land we saw a great number of mounds, with crosses, and covered with quicklime. on the crosses the numbers are given of the brave who fell there. so i read, for example:—
"here rest 10 soldiers, french, i. reg. 36. fell 22.8. r.i.p."
161 "here rest 23 soldiers, german, i.r. 78. and 91. fell 22.8.14. r.i.p."
"here rest 7 officers, german, i.r. fell 22.8.14. r.i.p."
"here rest 140 soldiers, french, i.r. 36. fell 22.8. r.i.p."
there were very many similar ones, but i copied only these, because they lay just near the road; farther on there were numerous other white mounds with crosses.
the villages gougnies and biesmes had been destroyed also; of the former not one house was left undamaged; but nothing happened to the townlet mettet. here we were forbidden to go on, as we were already more than nine miles and a half from charleroi. this compelled us to leave the main road, and to proceed along byways which soon took us to the ardennes, where our motor-car rushed along in zigzags.
from time to time the tour became a break-neck affair, as the mountain roads were wet and muddy after much rain, and at corners we were often in great fear of being hurled down into the depth. it was a wonderfully fine district of green rock, although somewhat monotonous after a time, as it seemed that we were simply moving in a circle, which impression was strengthened by the fact that frequently we passed through tunnels and viaducts which were very alike to one another.
i felt very sick, for the sweet rye-bread which i had forced down my throat in the morning did not agree with me at all. at last i felt so ill that i162 was obliged to lie down on the floor of the car, and it took my colleague all his time to convince me that he did not think that my last hour had struck.
in the end and in despair i accepted an aspirin tablet which he had pressed on me a hundred times, and although i do not know whether it was owing to that, or in spite of it, it was a fact that i felt somewhat better.
after touring quite a long while through this labyrinth, we got at last back to the main road from namur to dinant, near anhec. here immediately we saw proofs of war, drawn from widespread destruction. the railway bridge across the meuse near houx, so picturesquely situated at the foot of a high rock, had been blown up.
bouvigne, a hamlet near dinant, had suffered fearfully from the bombardment of that town. trees were splintered by the shells, the church was nearly a total wreck from the same cause, and two houses by the road had been riddled by bullets into a sieve, and also damaged by shells. on the whole scene of war i have not seen one house carrying so many bullets in it; their holes made the doors look like wire-netting. in these houses the french had barricaded themselves, brought mitrailleuses to them, and defended them until the last. none of those heroes left them alive. my colleague took many snapshots of this remarkable spot, while i collected bullets, fragments of shell, and similar mementos of this warfield.
in order to give the reader some idea of the fearful things that happened at dinant, i insert163 here some quotations from the reports drawn up by the belgian inquiry committee about the violations of international law, of which i can affirm the truth word for word, because they are identical with the information that i got myself at dinant.
"the destruction took place from august 21st to the 25th.
"on august 15th a fierce fight took place between the french troops on the left bank of the meuse and the germans who approached from the east. the germans were defeated, put to flight, and chased by the french, who crossed the river. on that day the town was not damaged much. some houses were destroyed by german howitzers, which were undoubtedly aimed at the french regiments on the left bank. one red cross helper who lived at dinant was killed by a german bullet when he was taking up one of the wounded.
"the next day all remained quiet, the french keeping the surrounding places occupied; not one fight took place between the two armies and nothing happened which might be looked upon as a hostile action by the populations, and there were no german troops near dinant.
"at about nine o'clock of friday evening, august 21st, german soldiers arriving by rail from ciney marched into the town by the rue saint jacques. they began to shoot into the windows without the slightest provocation, killed a workman who was on his way home, wounded another inhabitant and compelled him to call out: 'long live the kaiser.' a third they wounded in the abdomen with thrusts of their bayonets. they burst into the cafés, requisitioned all spirits, got tipsy on them, and left after setting several houses on fire and knocking to pieces the doors and windows of others.
"the inhabitants, frightened and perplexed, hid themselves in the houses.
"on sunday, august 23rd, at half-past six in the morning, the soldiers of the 108th regiment of the line drove the worshippers out of the premonstratensian church, separated the men from the women, and shot about fifty of the former164 through the head. between seven and nine o'clock there were house-to-house looting and burning by the soldiers, who chased the inhabitants into the street. those who tried to escape were shot off-hand.
"at about nine o'clock the soldiers drove all who had been found in the houses in front of them by means of blows from their rifle-butts. they crowded them together in the place d'armes, where they kept them until six o'clock in the evening. their guards amused themselves by telling the men repeatedly that they would soon be shot.
"at six o'clock a captain separated the men from the women and children. the women were placed behind a line of infantry. the men had to stand alongside a wall; those in the first row were ordered to sit on their haunches, the others to remain standing behind them. a platoon took a stand straight opposite the group. the women prayed in vain for mercy for their husbands, their sons, and their brothers; the officer gave the order to fire. he had not made the slightest investigation, pronounced no sentence of any sort.
"a score of these men were merely wounded and fell among the dead. for greater certainty the soldiers fired once more into the mass. a few got off scot-free in spite of the double fusillade. for over two hours they pretended to be dead, remained among the corpses without budging, and when it was dark were able to fly to the mountains. eighty-four victims remained behind and were buried in a garden in the neighbourhood.
"there were other murders on that same 23rd of august.
"soldiers discovered inhabitants of the suburb saint pierre in the cellars of a brewery, and killed them on the spot.
"on the previous day many workmen of the silk factory kimmer and their wives and children had found a shelter in the cellars of the building, with some neighbours and relatives of their employer. at six o'clock in the evening the unfortunate people made up their mind to leave their hiding-place and went into the street, headed by a white flag. they were immediately seized by the soldiers and roughly ill-treated. all the men were shot, among them mr. kimmer, consul of argentina.
"nearly all the men of the suburb leffe were massacred165 en masse. in another quarter twelve citizens were murdered in a cellar. in the rue en ile a paralytic was shot in his bath-chair, and in the rue d'enfer a boy, fourteen years old, was struck down by a soldier.
"the railway viaduct of the suburb neffe became the scene of a bloody massacre. an old woman and all her children were shot in a cellar. a man sixty-five years old, his wife, a son and a daughter were placed against a wall and shot through the head. other inhabitants of neffe were placed in a boat, taken to the rocher bayard, and shot there; among them were a woman eighty-three years old and her husband.
"a number of men and women had been locked in the yard of the prison.... at six o'clock in the evening a mitrailleuse was placed on the mountain and fired at them, an old woman and three others being killed.
"whilst some soldiers committed these murders, others looted and wrecked the houses, smashed the safes or blew them up with dynamite. they forced their way into the banque centrale de la meuse, seized the manager, mr. xavier wasseige, and called upon him to open the safe. as he refused to do so, they tried to force it open, but in vain. thereupon they took mr. wasseige and his two eldest sons to the place d'armes, where they and 120 of their fellow-citizens were shot by means of a mitrailleuse. the youngest three children of mr. wasseige were held by soldiers and forced to attend the slaughter of their father and brothers. we were also informed that one of the young wasseiges lay dying for an hour and nobody dared to come to his assistance.
"after the soldiers had performed their duty as vandals and bandits they set the houses on fire. soon the whole town was one immense pool of fire.
"all the women and children had been taken to a convent, where they were kept imprisoned for four days, without hearing of the fate of their beloved ones. they themselves expected to be shot in their turn. round about them the burning of the town went on.
"the first day the religious were allowed to give them some food, although not sufficient. soon they had nothing to eat but carrots and unripe fruit.
166 "the inquiry also brought to light that the german soldiers on the right bank, who were exposed to the fire of the french, hid themselves here and there behind civilians, women and children.
"in short the town of dinant is destroyed. of 1,400 houses, 200 only remained standing. the factories, where the labouring population got their bread and butter, were wrecked systematically. many inhabitants were sent to germany, where they are still kept as prisoners. the majority of the others are scattered all over belgium. those who stayed in the towns were starved.
"the committee has a list of the victims. it contains 700 names, and is not complete. among those killed are seventy-three women and thirty-nine children between six months and fifteen years old.
"dinant had 7,600 inhabitants, of whom ten per cent. were put to death; not a family exists which has not to mourn the death of some victims; many families have been exterminated completely."
when we entered the town in our motor-car, those of the unfortunate population who had escaped from the murderous massacre had already left the town. between the ruins and the deserted french red cross cars we drove to the pontoon bridge which the germans had flung across the river by the side of the meuse bridge, which had been blown up. here we were stopped by german soldiers who guarded the pontoon bridge. in a café we came across a few of the citizens who had remained. these unfortunate people had no home, no money, and no food, lacked the wherewithal to go farther away, and now depended on the charity of the murderers of their relatives. twice a day they were allowed to call at one of the german stores for a piece of bread, in exchange for a ticket which167 they might get at the commander's office. the germans, upholders of morality and "kultur," saw to it that their victims did not overeat themselves.
our passport had to be stamped by this same commander, and my colleague had to ask him for a permit to take photographs. the commander would not hear of this, but finally agreed, after my colleague had snapshotted him and his staff in front of the office. our passport was marked: "1. landsturm infantry battalion, dresden."
dinant offered a terrible sight; it no longer existed. on foot, of course, we walked along the place where a large shop once stood, but one could not even distinguish where the road had been. not one street was left, and the few houses that were saved are not in the centre of the town. on a slope on the left bank of the meuse there had been two large monasteries, which had been turned into hospitals. they had been wrecked completely by gun-fire, and as if in bitter mockery at the cruel fate, the red cross flags flew there still undamaged.
in the centre of the town everything, including the large buildings, had been levelled with the ground. this was the case with the principal church "de notre dame," the college of the same name, the "belle vue," the monasteries, etc., of the "frères et s?urs de notre dame," the "saint nicolas" and "saint pierre" churches, and three large factories, "oudin," "le mérinos," and "la dinant," the "banque centrale de la meuse," the town-hall, the ancient "palace of the prince-bishops," and all its archives, the magnificent post-and-telegraph office, the large hotels "de la tête168 d'or," "des postes," "des ardennes," "moderne," "terminus," the hotels "de la citadelle," "la paix," "la gare," etc., etc., the "institut hydrothérapique," all houses of the "bon secours" congregation, etc.
the finest view of dinant was from the beautiful bridge affording a passage across the meuse with the "notre dame" in the background. this church was built just in front of a steep rock, on top of which stood the citadel of dinant.
now the bridge is blown up, the greater part of the church destroyed by the germans, and, had nature not been more powerful than their brutal, clumsy violence, they would have pulled down that rock too. but it is still there, the solitary remnant of the famous beauty of dinant.
my companion wanted to take a snapshot of this point, but in order to enliven the scene somewhat, he requested a few soldiers to stand in the square in front of the church. each had a couple of champagne bottles hanging on his stomach, and refused absolutely to accede to my colleague's request to remove them. they insisted upon being snapshotted with those bottles hanging on their bodies! so my companion took this snapshot of "kultur" in that condition, houses burned down, a church destroyed, and in front of these the grinning and coarse villains, puffing out their bodies, proud of their empty bottles....
