The Washington times., 1915-05-30

population was not caused because re-
treating German troops were by Mistake
attacked by their own comrades, bLt the
misled population, who did not realize
thought they could shoot down the re-
tiring Germany troops without amy
danger to themselves. At 1dege. as In
other German towns. German troops did
not start firing the city until 1t was an
absolutely necessary
The bloody fight at Dinant ts de-
scribed in part as follows:
"Those who were caught with arms
In hand were shot Immediately, while
those who were merely suspected were
tages.
I'm spite of these preventions the
grenadiers we're here again fired up
on by the population. and suffered
considerable losses. especially In Of
ficers. Shots were even fired from
the cathedral Already during the
forenoon the commander of the 46th
brigade sealized 1T would be impos-
sible to control the fanatic popula-
tion without the use Of artillery,
were handed over to women. ma
jority Of the women and children
| coming from burning Dinant and ar
riving at Les Rivages August "a
| food and drink. Next morning they
all received coffee from the regimen
| tai field kitchen.
Outbreak In Louvain.
This peaceful picture suddenly
| changed on August 20. 1914. On that
| date Belgian troops made a sortie from
Antwerp in the direction of Louvain.
German troops occupying Louvain went
| out to meet them and the fight ended In
| the serious defeat Of the Belgians, who,
| toward evening. were driven back into
Antwerp. Evidently the inhabit OF
| Louvain, who after the occupation OF
| the city had maintained constant secret
| communications with Antwerp and who
knew about the planned sortie of their
| countrymen, had not counted on such
result of the fight. They held the wrong
| opinion that the planned attempt to
| break through by the Belgian army,
assisted by English troops, must meet
with success, and they saw in the tenn
pOrary advance of Belgian troops VIC
| tory and announcement to take part
| In the fight themselves.
Those inhabitants who had taken
part In the attack were shot and the
| houses from which the shots had been
| fired were burned. 1t was not possible
| to prevent the fire from spreading to
! other houses and destroying some
| streets. In this manner cathedral
| also caught fire. First our troops pre-
| vented the fire from spreading further,
| and under the guidance OF their Of
| ficers they put out the fire in the most
| self f-sacrihcing manner.
| THE following facts prove this rising
| was no accident, but had been prepared d
a long time beforehand. as alread !
| proved by the rockets which gave the
| signal for tho attack:
| Il. The fact that weapons were found
| in great quantities. although these were
| supposed to have been surrendered on
| August 10. according to the report Of
| the mayor.
| 80. The observation which was made
! that a great number We're in Louvain
I and We're distributed all over the city.
1T was an easy thing for these to
find room in hotels and in many rooms
in boarding houses which had been left
vacant by students. Three burning
houses. containing many boxes OF
cartridges and explosives which had
| been hidden there by the population
exploded. According to this, what hap
pened was a carefully planned attack
which lasted several days during which
the fight was carried on with the great
est stubbornness.
Crimes By Civil Guard.
The Belgian government itself has
never dared to state that regular
troops belonging TO the Belgian army
took part II was a cowardly attack
by Franc-tireurs, who were willingly
received and hidden by the people OF
I>ouvain. Crimes committed by the
civil guard were revealed to the entire
civilized world. At Louvain. unfortu
nately nunlber OF priests We're fana
tic enough to abuse their influence
upon the people and advise them to re
ceive franc-tireurs, and 1t was proved
that a number OF them even took g
| narSNnpt IN ha fnh