Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1918-12-26
Diary Of a eruaes citizen.
From the notes Of a resident of Bruges
during German occupation. in
the xasndon m

From the notes Of a resident OF Bruges
during German occupation. in
the London Times.
A%irplanes were continually flying over
the town for the purpose Of observation
and were always fired at by the Ger
mans. On this particular morning shells
were fired by the cannon at st. Croix.
and one, bursting on the edge of the
canal between the Quai Long and the
Quai de la Poterie. caused much damage
to harbors. and killed about a dozen
children just leaving school. together
with several adults.
AS usual, notices were published that
the terrible disaster was the result Of
bombs dropped by the English. although
the people living near proved the falsity
Of this statement by declaring that no
airplaines had been overhead at the time.
Von Buttlar (the kommandant) was pres
ent at the burial of the victims, carry
ing . funeral wreath; and, as q final
hustled about to suit h convenience Of
a photographer sent to take a picturesque
group, with this ruffian In the middle.
On the night of June 3. 1917. the tiled
roofs of a large number OF cottages were
destroyed in the Due de la Barriere by
later the German official book shop ex-
hibited photographs of the street marked
''Fl~iegerangriffe auf Brugge."
During the night of September 3, 1917.
some ar men dropped bombs at the Bas-
sin, and were fired Upon from st. Croix.
Whether by accident or design. several
shells fell upon houses In he middle Of
the town. there exploding and killing q
dozen people and wounding many others.
Among the dead were three sisters Of the
poor. a part Of whose convent was COM
pletely destroyed. The nun were not
allowed to send invitations to the funeral
mass unless they consented to add
ssIYl1oI hv EnOliah h0rhS onA tho
friends Of the persons killed were ordered
to add similar words to the notices at the
church doors. On their refusal to do
this the notices were removed by order
Of the kommandantur.
Up to the present date the most disas-
trous event Of this kind occurred on the
night Of October Is, when 20 lives were
lost in a poor quarter Of the town near
the Rue Tongue. There was a funeral
service for 16 of the victims at ''Notre
Dame" but no notices we're affixed at
the church doors. 1t now being under
stood that the Germans had forbidden
this except on the same conditions az
those mentioned above. This last dis
aster was clearly caused by shells fired
from q cannon, as. indeed. was freely
admitted by German soldiers. At some
distance from the homes where the In
habitants we're killed was a house with q
high gable, which. being shot off as the
shell passed. fell towards the buildings
destroyed.
At the end Of 1917 and beginning Of 1915
numbers Of underground cellars were BE-
lected from all over the own and con-
verted into ''unterstands," or shelters.
each to provide standing room for from
200 to 1000 persons. Tin case the English
should lombard Bruges!" These proved
Of great service later on as . protection
against their own shells n falling
s%hrapnel. Whilst the entrance to enc Of
these cellars was being prepared in the
house of N. Ganshof. q merchant. q par
tition wall was opened which disclosed
5000 hidden bottles Of wine. These were,
Of course, Immediately confiscated with
out payment.