ALLEGED GERMAN OUTRAGES

27
BELGIAN REFUGEE.
On the 20th August there was violent rifle firing by the German b 3
soldiers upon the inhabitants of the village of Seilles, near Andenne,
and at the same time that the inhabitants were massacred the Germans
set fire to a great number of houses in the village—perhaps 70 to 100.
The day before (19th August) four houses had been burnt on the
pretext of firing having taken place from them on the German troops.
There was no such firing and I did not hear a single shot.
On 20th August I was talking to a friend at his door. The Red *
Cross flag was flying from the roof and was quite distinct, but as
I stood there a violent firing on the house from German rifles took
place.
MARRIED WOMAN.
On the 15th August I went to see my husband at Antwerp ; he b 4
is a soldier. I remained there for two days. On my way back I
had to leave the train by Ouvelet and I was trying to return on foot
towards Huy. At Andenne I could not get any further. The Belgian
soldiers stopped me ; I remained there for two days. On the second
day the Germans entered. On the third day as they were eating in a
hotel the Belgian guns began to fire upon Andenne. Then the German
soldiers left the house and began to fire upon it. We hid ourselves
in the cellar, where we remained until 7 o'clock the next day ; there
were 13 of us in the cellar. In the morning we escaped across the wall
to hide in the neighbour's cellar, because it was a little calmer. At
8 o'clock the Germans started to fire upon the house where we were.
Then they came in ; they drove everybody out with rifles and revolvers
in their hands. They shot the three men in the garden, although
the women begged for their lives. They kept us in the corridor with
our arms raised.
Then they shut us up in a room on the second floor. I escaped
through a door which the Germans had not noticed and went down to
the first floor. Then I escaped by a window on the first floor.
On the road I met a German who was carrying a sheet full of pipes
and cigars, which he had stolen. He competed me to help him to
carry it and he took away my cloak and my bag. Then he let me go
and gave me back my property and also gave me a card by way of pass.
A waggon passed with about 10 German soldiers on it and they
compelled me to get up and kissed me. Then they let me go.
I was able to cross the bridge at Huy by means of the soldier's card.
I remained several days at home at Huy.
On the 23rd, a Sunday morning, my father, being in ill-health,
went out for a walk. He met 15 Germans, who beat him, his skull
was cut open ; but he was not dead. He was carrying an umbrella
and the German soldiers accused him of carrying a *gun. They
dragged him as far as the theatre in the park, where they again beat
him and broke his feet with their rifle butts. Finally they hanged
him to the roof of the theatre.
About lunch-time somebody came to tell us that our father was a
prisoner in the park. We went to see, and we begged for his life, but
he was already almost dead. My sisters saw him cut down and his
body thrown into the water. I remained in bed for seven days and on
the third day we were allowed to have the body back.
The soldiers belong to the 13th German Regiment of the Line ; I
should be able to recognise them.
BELGIAN SOLDIER.
After the retreat from Namur the whole Transport Corps arrived ** f b 5W
at Bioulx, near Namur, and I then saw German soldiers with lighted Environs of
torches putting house after house on fire. This was about 9.30 p.m. Namur.