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MLLEDGEVTLLE, GEORGIA.
THE MILLEDGEVWJ3 NEWS.
WEDNESDAY MORNING, MAY 15, 1 918>
The Confessions
qfa
Deserter
» - ■ ■ ■
Written by a Prussian Officer*.
Who Participated in the Ravafi,
ing and Pillaging of Belgium
Cofyijkt by Drtnti Prtt Pot. ^
'Again we reached a village, which
to all appearances had been Inhabited
by contented people. Now Indeed
nothing but ruins could be seen.
Wrecked houses and farms, dead sol
diers, German and Belgian, and among
them many civilians, who had been
shot by military order.
Toward midnight we reached the
German lines. The Gerrauns had
tried to take a village which lay'with
in the fortified belt of Liege and was
defended tenaciously by the Belgians.
Here all forces had to be used In or
der to drive the enemy out, house by
Iwuse and street by street. It was not
very dnrk yet, so that we bad to wit
ness with all of our senses the terrible
fights which developed here. It was a
man-to-man fight. With the butts of
our guns, knives, fists, teeth v.’o went
against the enemy.
One of my best friends fought with
a giant Belgian. The guns of both had
fallen to the ground. They hammered
one another with fists. I had just
closed an account with a twenty-two-
year-old Belgian and wns going to as
sist my friend because his antagonist
was of superior strength. My friend
succeeded suddenly In biting the Bel
gian on the chin so deeply that he tore
a piece of flesh out with his teeth. The
Belgian’s pnln must hnve been terri
ble. He released my comrade and ran
away with an Insane cry of pain.
Everything developed by seconds.
The blood of the Belginn ran out of
my friend’s mouth; a terrible nnusea
and Indescribable loathing seized him.
The taste of warm human blood
brought him almost to the verge of In
sanity. In the course of this night
battle I came In contact for the first
time with the butt of a Belginn gun.
During a hand-to-hand fight with a
Belgian, a second enemy soldier
struck me on the back of the head
with the butt of his gun so hard that
my helmet wns forced down over ray
ears. The. pain wns fearful and I
fainted.
When I revived, I was lying In a
barn, with my head bnndaged, among
other wounded men. My wound wns
not severe. I only had n feeling as If
my head was twice Its normal size.
The other wounded soldiers and the
ambulance men snld the Belgians hud
been forced back within the forts and
that hard fighting was still In prog
ress.
Wounded men were brought In con
tinuously and they told ua that the
Germans had already stormed several
forts and had taken a number of main
nnd auxiliary defenses, but could not
hold them because they had not been
sufficiently supported by artillery. The
defenses Inside the forts and their gar
risons were still Intact. The situation
was not ripe for a storming attack, so
the Germans had to retire with enor
mous losses. The reports we received
were contradictory. It wns Impossible
to get a clear picture. In the meam
time the artillery bombardment had
become so Intense that It horrified
even the German soldiers. The heavi
est artillery was brought into action
against the steel arid concrete de
fenses.
No soldier so far knew anything of
the existence of the 42-centimeter mor
tars. Long after Liege was In Ger
man bunds these soldiers could not
understand how It was possible that
the defenses, which consisted of dou
ble six-meter walls of steel and con
crete, were reduced after only a few
hours’ bombardment.
I myself could not take part In these
operations, being wounded, but my
comrades told me later how the cap
ture of the several forts came about.
Artillery of all caliber was trained on
the forts, but It was the 21-centimeter
mortars and the 42s which performed
the real work.
From a distance the 42-centiiueter
projectiles were heard to arrive, to the
accompaniment of a fearful hissing
that sounded like a long drawn-out
screech which filled the whole at
mnsphere. Wherever It fell, every
thing was destroyed witl In a radius
of several hundred meters. The air
pressure which the bursting of the pro'
jectlle produced was so terrible that It
made breathing difficult for those of
us who were holding the advanced po
sitlons.
To make this witches’ holiday com
plete, the Zeppelins appeared during
the night to participate In the work of
destruction. The soldiers suddenly
heard above their heads the whirling
of propellers and the noise of the mo
tors. The Zeppelins came neurer.
They were not discovered by the ene
my until they were close to the forts,
which Immediately played all the
Played the 8earchlight on Them.
rew moments luter powerful detona
tions revealed the fact thut the Zep
pelin had thrown off “ballast.'’ That
went on a long while. Explosion fol
lowed explosion. These were followed
by clouds of fire. In the air, exploding
shrapnel which the Belgian artillery
fired ut the airships could be observed.
The whirling of the propellers started
up again, directly above our hendp. It
became quieter and quieter, until the
powerful ships of the utr disappeared
from our vicinity.
Thus the forts wore leveled. Thou
sands of Belglnns lay behind the walls
and under the fortifications, dead and
burled. A general storming attack
followed. Liege was In the hands of
the Germans, who hud paid. In dead
alone In this battle, 28,000 men.
'longed did not take part In any opera-1 dishes on, the bodies of dead horses
tlons after the fall of Liege, but was I lying about and ate as gayly as If
transported to this part of Belgium. • they were at home at their own tables.
Now I lenrn for the first time how I
heavy was the loss in my company In ■
the Liege fighting. We lost 187 men In j
dead and wounded.
This night we slept In an open field. I
The few human corpses near our camp
failed to disturb ns. Only water was
lacking, and after the dinner our thirst
became very acute, even torturous.
We soon marched on, under a burn-
At five o'clock the next morning we | Ing mld-d-v sun, the dust of the high
sear-mllgnts at their disposal on them,
hunting the firua.uent for the flying
foe. The whirling of the propellers
, of the airships sti pped suddenly. In-
I stead, high In the air a brilliant light
ppeared, the searchlight of the Zep-
lln, which, for a moment. Ulumlnat-
the entire landscape.
Suddenly all became dark again. A
CHAPTER II.
I went to Alx-la-Chappelle to a hos
pital. 1 met many more wounded men
who had fought in Belgium. All were
of the opinion that the Belgian dead
numbered as many civilians ns sol
diers. Even If the German soldiers
who fought Id Belgium do not admit
the cruelties committed against the
Belgians, It cannot be denied that at
least 80 per cent of the cruelties
known to the world to have been com
mitted In Belgium were only too true
A young soldier who lay next to me
In the hospital told me that his com
pany, during a street fight In Liege,
was given orders to kill everybody
without discrimination. Systematical
ly, one house after another was set on
fire. The Inhabitants either fell In the
flames or became the victims In the
streets to the gun barrels of the Ger
man kultur-benrers.
At the tlmu 1 doubted the words of
my neighbor, even though 1 had seen
what German warfare meant. After
a few days I \vu» released from the
hospital and agalu restored to my de
tuchment. Tartly by auto, partly by
foot, I reached my detachment by ten
o'clock lu the evening. Our transport
moved this time over Trier to Luxern
burg. The little grand duchy of Lux
emburg was overrun entirely by Ger
man soldiers. The Germans who had
made their homes In Luxemburg had
everything taken away from them, es
pecially the farmers, all food, without
thought of payment, so that In Luxem
burg at this time there was a shortage
of food. The people here as well as
In Belgium were very friendly, yet they
harbored u terrible bitterness against
the German government, which had
loosed Its troops like a band of robbers
and murderers over their peaceful
country.
Belgium and Luxemburg, the two
first unhappy victims of the damnable
German politics and Its drunkenness
with power I
That the Luxemburg citizens detest
ed Germany an Incident showed me
which happened In the village of Mar-
moth. We were iu a friendly conver
sation with a Luxemburg farmer. Two
officers approached and listened. One
officer, a captutn, asked the Luxem
burger, “What do you think of the
war, and of the quickness of Germany!
There Is only one Germany. Isn't
there?"
“Yes," replied the funner. “Thunk
the Lord."
For those four words the farmer
was arrested at once and transported
to Germany as a court prisoner. I
could never learn what becuuie of
him.
The same evening we were trans
ported in automobiles and on the eve
ning of August 20, TJ14, we reached
our detachment, which wus about 35
tnlles from the Belgluu city of Neuve
Chat earn The regiment to which I tie-
marched again until four o'clock In j
the afternoon, when we were given a ]
rest.
It was about ten o’clock In the eve
ning when we received orders to ad
vance. We were all ready to proceed
when another order came for us to re
main at our bivouac overnight. Dur
ing the night we heard thundering of
cannon which became more violent.
The battle of Neuve Chateau, which
had continued from August 22 to Au
gust 24, 1914, had begun.
At four o'clock on the morning of
August 22 we resumed our march. At
Neuve Chateau the French army had
encountered the Fourth German army.
First there was, as always, minor out
post and patrol fighting. By and by
larger masses of troops participated,
and as we took our part In the battle
on the evening of August 22, the fight
had developed Into one of the moat
sanguinary of the world war.
When we arrived the French occu
pied almost three-quarters of the town.
The artillery had set the main part of
Neuve Chateau on fire and only the
beautiful residence section In the west
ern part of the city escaped at that
time. All night long the house-to-
house fighting continued, but when at
noon of August 23 the city was In Ger
man hands the enormous cost to the
Germans could finally be determined.
Residences, cellars, streets and side
walks were heaped with dead and
wonnded. The houses were In ruins—
empty shells, in which hardly anything
remained undamaged thut was of any
real value. Thousands became beg
gars in one terrible night. Women and
children, soldiers nnd citizens were ly
ing where the pitiless shells and bul
lets had hurled them from life Into
death’s dark void. True impartiality
reigned In the killing. There was »
Belginn womun lying next to a Belginn
baby which she bad borne from house
to street. Close by luy a man of un
certain years before an empty bouse.
Both his legs were burned to the
knees. Uls wife luy on bis breast and
sobbed so pitifully that her grief could
not be endured. Most of the dead
were entirely or partly burned. The
cries of agony of the animals fighting
Incineration were mixed with the
groans and sobbing of the wounded.
But no one had time to bother with
them. The French were making an
other stand outside the city In an open
field. As the enemy vneated the town
the Germans made an error which cost
them hundreds of lives. They had oc
cupied the entire town so quickly that
the German artillery which shelled a
part of the city dlil not know of the
chunge In the skuutlou and threw
shells Into the tanks of the infantry. 1
Finally our soldiers were compelled to
give up some of their gains by the
pressure of our own as welt as the
French fire, hut regained this ground
nfterwnrds. Strangely enough, the
residence section previously mentioned
had not suffered seriously. All the
houses flew the Red Gross and were
used as temporary hospitals.
Here It wus reported that Belgians
mutllnted German soldiers. Whether
this were true, or only a minor, similar
to others being constantly started by
German soldiers, I cannot say, but I
do know that on August 24, after the
French hud retired. U was made
known through ait army order that
German soldiers had been murdered
there, aud that the German army could
not leave the scene of these outrages
without first avenging the victims.
It was ordered by the communder
of the army to level the remainder of
the city and to show no mercy. As we
took a short rest from our pursuit of
the enemy and looked backward clouda
of smoke to the eastward allowed that
the order had been executed. A re
maining battery of artillery had re
duced the city to ashes.
The French had made a stand out
side the city and resisted to the ut
most, but they were outnumbered. It
was simply Impossible to resist the
pressure of the German war machine.
When the Gorman columns, with fixed
bayonets, attacked to the accompani
ment of their blood-curdling yells
which, like their steel, penetrated to
the bone, they resembled In every, re
spect American Indians going Into ac
tion, flinging themselves with blood
curdling yells upon their enemies.
After a three-hour fight many French
men gave themselves up us prisoners.
With uplifted hands they sought
mercy.
At last, on the night of August 23
und 24, the enemy’s ranks were thrown
Into confusion and they retired slowly.
I was In the first detnehmeut which
pursued them. To the right aud left
of the road, In the field and ditches,
were dead and wounded.
The red pantaloons of the French
showed brightly on the ground. The
field gray of the Germans could burdly
be discerned.
The distance between us nnd the re
treating French became greater. Our
soldiers became happier over the out
come of the battle und seemed to for
get their past hardships. The corpses
which filled the roads and ditches were
forgotten amid the Jokes and songs
on every side. The men were already
accustomed to the horrors of war to
such an exteut thut they unconcerned
ly walked over the corpses, not even
considering It necessary to make a
slight detour.
At noon we nnUed and were served
with diuuer from the field kitchens.
We were surely hungry enough and
our canned soup was eaten with the
utmost relish. Many soldiers set thelj
wsy lying thick on our uniforms and
skin. Now, no more cheerfulness was
evident anywhere. Our thirst became
more unbearable and we grew weaker
from minute to minute. Many in our
ranks fell, unable to go further. Noth
ing remained for our commander ex
cept to halt, as he did not wish to ex
haust us all. As a result of this halt
we were left considerably In the rear
and lost our place among those pursu
ing the French.
About four o'clock we finally saw
before us a village. In the certain ex
pectation of getting water there we
quickened our pace. Fugitives and
empty munition columns passed us.
Among them there was a farm wagon
upon which were several civilian pris
oners, apparently franc-tlreurs. A
Catholic priest was among them. Ha,
like the others, had bis hands tied be
hind him with a rope. To our curious
questions as to what he had done, we
were told that he had Incited the
farmers to poison the water In the
village.
Soon we reached the village and at the
first well at which we might have satis
fied our thirst we found a sentinel
posted. He drove us away with a
warning that the water was poisoned.
Disappointed and terribly embit
tered, the soldiers cursed and gnashed
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their teeth. They hurried on to the
next well, but everywhere sentinels
forbade our taking refreshment
In an open space tn the center of
the village was n big well from which
there came water clear as crystal that
emptied into a big trough. Five sol
diers stood guard here to see that no
one drank. I was just about to pro
ceed with ray comrades when a large
part of my company threw themselves
like men possessed onto the well. The
guards were completely overcome and,
greedy as animals, all the men drank.
They quenched their thirst, but not
one became UK The priest, as we
learned later, was punished beenuse,
the officers said, the water In every
village had been poisoned, and we
were told that only by a happy chance
had the lives of .our soldiers been
spared. The God 1 of the Germans had
kept true gunrd, it appeared, but the
God of the Belgians was not there to
protect his.
In most of the places we passed we
were warned not to nse the water.
This, of course, had the effeet of mak
ing the soldiers hate the people from
whom they could expect only death. In
this way the vlelotts Instincts of our
men were aroused 1 .
The water, of course, was nowhere
poisoned. These ttes were told to
arouse hatred of the Belgians among
our soldiers. _ _
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