The Germans burned a
number of houses at this time. Corpses of 14 civilians were seen in the
streets on this occasion.
A well-educated witness, who visited the Wetteren Hospital shortly after
this date, saw the dead bodies of a number of civilians belonging to
Alost, and other civilians wounded. One of these stated that he took
refuge in the house of his sister-in-law; that the Germans dragged the
people out of the house, which was on fire, seized him, threw him on the
ground, and hit him on the head with the butt end of a rifle, and ran
him through the thigh with a bayonet. They then placed him with
seventeen or eighteen others in front of the German troops, threatening
them with revolvers. They said that they were going to make the people
of Alost pay for the losses sustained by the Germans. At this hospital
was an old woman of 80 completely transfixed by a bayonet.
Other crimes on noncombatants at Alost belong to the end of the month of
September. Many witnesses speak to the murder of harmless civilians.
In Binnenstraat the Germans broke open the windows of the houses and
threw fluid inside, and the houses burst into flames.
Pages:
458
459
460
461
462
463
464
465
466
467
468
469
470
471
472
473
474
475
476
477
478
479
480
481
482