They were taken to Lebbeke,
where there were in all 300 prisoners, and there they were locked up in
the church for three days and with scarcely any food.
A witness living at Baesrode was taken prisoner with 250 others and kept
all night in a field. The prisoners were released on the following
morning. This witness saw three corpses of civilians, and says that the
Germans on Sunday, the 6th, plundered and destroyed the houses of those
who had fled. The Germans left on the following day, taking about thirty
men with them, one a man of 72 years of age.
Later in the month civilians were again used as a screen, and there is
evidence of other acts of outrage.
ALOST.
Alost was the scene of fighting between the Belgian and German Armies
during the whole of the latter part of the month of September. In
connection with the fighting numerous cruelties appear to have been
perpetrated by the German troops.
On Saturday, Sept. 11, a weaver was bayoneted in the street. Another
civilian was shot dead at his door on the same night. On the following
day the witness was taken prisoner together with thirty others. The
money of the prisoners was confiscated, and they were subsequently used
as a screen for the German troops who were at that moment engaged in a
conflict with the Belgian Army in the town itself.
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