About fifty civilians were concealed in the church
tower, and from there fired on our troops with a
_mitrailleuse_. All the civilians were shot.
[It may here be noted, for the sake of precision, that the
First Report of the Belgian Commission of Inquiry, Antwerp,
Aug. 28, Page 3, identifies some of the "civilians" killed at
Schaffen on the 18th of August; among them, "the wife of
Francois Luyckz, 45 years of age, with her daughter _aged 12,
who were discovered in a sewer and shot_"; and "the daughter
of Jean Ooyen, 9 years of age, who was shot"; and "Andre
Willem, sacristain, who was bound to a tree and _burned
alive_."]
(c) Notebook of a Saxon officer, unnamed, (178th Regiment,
Twelfth Army Corps, First Saxon Corps,) Aug. 26.--The
exquisite village of Gue-d'Hossus (Ardennes) was given to the
flames, although to my mind it was guiltless. I am told that a
cyclist fell from his machine, and in his fall his gun was
discharged; at once the firing was begun in his direction, and
thereupon all the male inhabitants were simply thrown into the
flames. It is to be hoped that like atrocities will not be
repeated.
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