Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1914-09-27
LOUYATN CITIZENS
HELD RESPONSIBLE
German Officer, Writing of Attack,
Says Troops Fired On With
out Warning.
RETRIBU1oN FOLLOWS SWIFTLY
Houses Searched and People Having
Arms shot, Finally In squads
Of from FIFTY 20 sixty
Persons.

BERLIN, Sept. 7-(Correspondence Of
the Associated Press,)-An official Ger
man statement on the destruction Of
Louvain has Just been given out II
rays:
Belgium IL officially spreading false
representations about the occurrences
through which the city Of Bouvain was
made 10 suffer. II is claimed that Ger
man troops. having been repulsed by Bel
gians making a sortie from Antwerp,
were fired upon by mistake by the Ger
man garrison Of Louvain. and that in this
way fighting occurred there. But
events prove incontestably that the Ger
mans repulsed the Belgian sortie.
During this battle before Antwerp an
undoubtedly organized attack was made
upon the German troops at many places
in Louvain. after apparently friendly re-
lations between the Germans and the
citizens Of the town had seemed for
twenty-four hours TO be beginning The
attack was at first against landwehr
battalion. composed Of older men of quiet
disposition and themselves mostly faith
ers Of families; also against sections of
the general staff that had remained in
the city and upon moving columns Of
and wounded. They won the upper hand.
however. owing to the arrival Of fresh
troops by rail- who were fired upon at
the station. The truth OF the foregoing
statements lie established beyond all cavil.
The city hall was saved, but further at
tempts 10 extinguish the fire were I'M
successful"
Ask Aid Through Dutch.
a. H. - II
deutsche Allgemeine Zeltung. the diplo-
matte representatives Of Germany in neu-
trail countries have been supplied with
material for rebutting the charges made
abroad against Germanys manner OF
conducting the war The German govern
ment also instructed it's minister to The
Hague to ask the Dutch government in
the interests of humanity 70 impress
urgently upon the Belgian government
the necessity of restraining the civil
population OF Belgium from its abso-
lutely useless resistance, and the Dutch
minister OF foreign affairs complied with
this request
Meanwhile letter written by Ger
man officer. who was In Louvain during
the uprising of the civilian inhabitants.
has been printed. II is as follows:
'LoUVAIN, Aug. T.-Dear PARENTS
"On the 25th we took train from
Liege TO Louvaln. arriving here at D.
m Before the train stopped bullets were
pattering against its sides and they were
whistling through tho dir thick and fast
when we got out. We had no idea what
was going on The station lies In a de-
preston and we stood there as II caught
In trap. We had heard something
about fight with the English in the
vicinity of Louvain and we thought that
they had probably broken through our
lines and were firing upon us.
But we were soon to learn otherwise.
The citizens of Louvain. who had hitherto
kept very quiet and shown themselves
friendly TO us, suddenly began firing upon
our soldiers and conveys OF provisions
and ammunition. The shooting began in
the whole city. as II by word OF com
mand. In the main street a machine gun
was mounted in the window of pro-
jecting house, which was barricaded.
Corps in Great DanEer.
ut was a dangerous situation for our
corps and division staff. who were
quartered In the city. In view Of tho
friendly attitude OF the inhabitants. the
garrison OF the city had been reduced
to a handful of men to hold the railway
station. The staff officers and the sta
ton guard would simply have been muir
dered and the station would have been
blown up; but thank God. there was an
error in this calculation of the citizens.
'of course they did not anticipate that
two battalions had arrived Just five
minutes before our train pulled m the
station. At first we quickly fired several
salvos into the houses and then all was
quiet. l was first to be ordered to take
my platoon. about S. men, and search
two houses, to bring out all the men and
seize all their arms This went off all
right and other searching parties were
ordered out. We set fire at once TO
houses In which arms and ammunition
and suspicious individuals were found
and these rascals we're shot On Tues
day night about thirty such executions
occurred. Afterwards we were again
fired upon suddenly. and we had several
dead and wounded. Thereupon we set
fire to this entire quarter OF the city, a
horrible sight But these people willed
Il thus.
Yesterday, Wednesday. we had only
90 protect the railway station; and there
we were fired upon again
More houses were then fired and some
fifty or sixtey men shot, including some
Belgian soldiers In civilian clothes I
then searched a number OF streets with
my platoon for arms and ammunition;
IN doing which some heartrending scenes
occurred. We we're compelled to be severe
Last night we were let alone, but our
troops were fierd upon in another quarter
Of the city For this reason the whole
civilian population has today been
herded together and this afternoon our
heavy artillery is going to level the whole
city with the earth"
Matters did not. however. go 10 that
extent as DIT. Karl Helfferieh. a director
OF the Deutsche bank. reports. He has
Just returned 70 Berlin from a visit tC
Louvain and says that the city was by
no means wholly destroyed The entir,
southern half and a part OF the western
section were hardly injured at all. Ever
while the German soldiers were doinl
volunteer firemens work In saving TN
beautiful city hall. he reports, they wer,
tired upon by civilians.
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