Between Aug. 4 and 20, in the province of Liege alone, 1,061 persons were massacred, shot, hanged, or burnt by the German troops; more than 2,000 houses and 4 churches were burnt deliberately and by order, not counting those destroyed by bombardment. In the province of Limburg during the same period 65 persons fell victims to similar cruelties.
Liege having been occupied, the German army advanced up the Meuse Valley, and at the same time invaded the province of Luxemburg. The first French contingents now joined the Belgian troops in the neighbourhood of Dinant, Namur, and Arlon. Everywhere advance-guard fighting was delaying the enemy's progress and every skirmish was followed by cruel reprisals on the civil population.
The siege of Namur began on Aug. 20, and was the signal for more butchery. On the eve of the attack on Namur scenes of incredible savagery were enacted in the towns of Andenne, Seilles, and Landen. Without having received the faintest provocation, for three whole days the German troops in occupa- tion of these places never ceased massacring and burning. More than 250 persons perished. These scenes of horror, accompanied by the burning of over 150 houses, culminated on Aug. 21 in the execution of numbers of men, by order of the military authori- ties. They were shot en masse, and finished off with the bayonet or the butt-end, or by kicks. The whole canton of Andenne suffered similar horrors; nine persons were murdered by the German soldiers after subjection to horrible tortures.
Other localities suffered as cruelly. At Spontin 130 of the 160 houses that composed the village were burnt and 43 persons were massacred. At Somme-Leuze, Franc- Waret, Leuze-Long- champs, fire and murder reigned. Scarcely had the tragedy of Andenne been finished when the small town of Zamines was the scene of a yet more terrible drama. After skirmishes with Belgian and French advance-posts, the Germans, who had fought pushing a screen of civilians in front of them, made the civil population responsible for their losses. All the men were first shut up in the church, and then massed in a field, and on the word being given by the military commanders they were shot down by machine-guns. Some were finished off afterwards, chiefly by stretcher-bearers of the Red Cross; 383 men perished, about zoo were wounded, only 200 escaped. The town was burnt to the ground. The whole canton was subjected to horrible atrocities; in the neighbouring villages 114 men were killed by German troops and 567 houses burnt.
Just at the time of the fall of Namur, the German military at Dinant organized an appalling demonstration of terrorism. The town had been occupied on Aug. 22 after some hard fighting with French troops. At nightfall on Aug. 23 German soldiers rushed shouting about the streets, and everywhere fires broke out. The church, the town hall, the entire town were soon in flames. The inhabitants, arrested en masse, were either massa- cred, or else driven into different enclosed places where, after a while, a methodical extermination was commenced. In the presence of their families men were formed into groups and shot; 665 persons were killed, including 75 women and 35 children. This horrible butchery was copied in the neighbouring villages. Ah 1 of them were partially or completely burnt, any men found the inhabitants had taken to the woods were shot; at Anth6re and Surice more than 40 men were executed. In the cantons of Dinant, Walcourt, Florennes and Gedinne 946 persons were put to death; and besides the whole town of Dinant and two entire villages Outraye and Sorrines 1,732 houses and seven churches were destroyed.
On Aug. 23 the German troops entered Namur. Warned of the massacres by frightened peasants who had come fleeing before the enemy, the inhabitants abstained from any demonstration of feeling. The entry of the victorious army was devoid of incident. Yet suddenly on Aug. 24 a violent fusillade rang out in the streets, tc continue all that day and all the next. The bishop, Mgr. Heylen, proceeded to the German headquarters to protest against this useless cruelty. He was arrested. After two days the terror ceased; 75 persons had fallen, 15 of them women and 4 children. The town hall, the communal archives,
and no houses had been burnt down. In the villages surround- ing Namur, also, the same brutal work had gone on; between Aug. 23 and 26, 53 men were butchered and over 200 houses burnt.
While thus in the province of Namur 1,949 inhabitants were murdered, and more than 3,000 houses systematically burnt (not counting those destroyed by ordinary acts of war), the province of Luxemburg in its turn was suffering martyrdom. From Aug. 1 1 onward, wherever the enemy appeared in Luxem- burg, atrocities followed, those at Rossignol, Arlon, Zuitigny, Ethe, and Latour being sadly notorious. All these massacres were reprisals for engagements with the French forces. After the battles of Aug. 22 wounded soldiers found in the cantons of Virton and Etalle were killed, and the civil population hunted down and decimated. At Bleid 84 French wounded were tortured and then shot. At Latour Prince Oscar of Prussia presided in person over the execution of 71 inhabitants. At Ethe 218 persons were killed. The inhabitants of Houdemont, warned of the fate which awaited them, escaped massacre by flight; n of them were found by the Germans and put to death. At Touches the burgo- master was hanged; at Zuitigny 84 men were executed; at Rossignol, after the village had been set on fire, all the men were collected together and driven as far as Arlon, where 165 of the poor wretches were shot in cold blood. During the month of Aug. over 800 inhabitants of this province perished, and over 1,500 houses were deliberately destroyed.
While the German army was dominating the Meuse Valley by the seizure of Namur, it was at the same time working to- wards the heart of the country to assure a route for the invasion of France. The Belgian army, after its victorious stand at Harlen on Aug. 12, isolated, unsupported, menaced by n enemy army corps, was now forced to fall back on Antwerp.
On Aug. 19 the German army entered Louvain. Just as Vise had been burnt to terrorize the Liegeois, and Andenne and Di- nant to bring about Namur's submission, so Louvain had to be burnt in order to hold a terrible example up to Brussels. When the German army was in effective occupation of Louvain, menaced with no further trouble, orders were suddenly given to burn the centre of the town. The inhabitants were subjected to cruel mental torture. The men were collected and decimated, 79 being shot in the presence of their wives and children, while 334 others were sent captive to Germany, where they were paraded through the streets of Cologne under the insults and threats of the populace who pelted them with mud and stones.
Louvain's cathedral of St. Pierre was devoured by the flames, her ancient university and marvellous library were annihilated, and 1,120 houses were ruined. The suburbs suffered likewise. In that canton 1,71 7 houses were burnt down,86i houses pillaged, 226 inhabitants shot, and 653 deported to Germany. Aerschot was reduced to ashes, and 178 of its inhabitants were killed.
Enraged by the opposition they met within the environs of Tirle- mont, and by the sorties of the Antwerp garrison, the Germans vented their fury upon the numerous villages of Brabant, 594 inhabitants of which perished in the course of burnings, pil- lagings, and executions.
On Aug. 20 the German army entered Brussels. The entire Belgian army was massed under the protection of the forts of Antwerp. Sorties were made on Aug. 25 and 26 and Sept. 4; on Sept. 9 a general sortie of all the Belgian forces took place, with the object of diverting pressure from the French army, which was fighting on the Marne. Forced to protect itself from ihe Belgian army's perpetual attacks on its rear, on Sept. 28 the German army commenced the siege of Antwerp. On Oct. 6, after the destruction of the forts, the Belgian army retreated; and on Oct. 10, having eluded capture by the enemy, it took up position on the Yser.
The siege of Antwerp brought yet more fire and carnage. Over 1 60 persons in the fortified zone fell victims to the German soldiers. The town of Termonde, where the Belgian army again and again successfully opposed the crossing of the Scheldt by the German troops, was at last taken, and was then burnt to the ground.
