The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1918-07-10
officer ReinhOld Kothm OF thc 5econd
bnttSlion OF engineers, Third army
corpse

officer lieinhOld Kochm OF tilc second |,
bnttSlon OF engineers, Third army
corpse
"a horrible bath Of blood. The whole |
village burnt, the French thrown into
the blazing houses, civilians with the
rest" U'rom the diary of Private
lIasscmcr Of the Eighth army CORPSE
"In the night Of August 1910 the VII.
lagc Of SnintNlnurlcc was punished
for having fired on German soldiers by
being burnt to the ground by the Ger.
man troops twO regiments, the
Twelfth lnndwchr and the Seven.
tccnth) The village was surrounded.
men posted about yard from one an.
other. so that no one could get out.
Then the UhlNuS set fire to It, house
by house Neither man, woman. nor
child could escape; only the greater
part Of the 1.-Two stock wc carried OF
rs that could be USch. Anyone who
vcnturcd to come out was shot down.
All the inhabitants lcrt in The village
were burnt with the houses (F'rom
the diary of Private Karl Schruiclc OF
The Third Bavarian regiment and land
wchr infantry)
"At ten o'clock in tho evening the
first battalion of tn" On" hundred and
SCvcnty-ciGhth marched down the Stcrp
incline into tho burning village to HE
burning village to the north of Dinnnt
a terrific spectacle Of EhaStly beauty
At the entrance to the village lay about
fifty dead civilians, shot for having
fired upon our troops from ambush. IN
the course of the night many others
were also shot, SO that we counted over
20O. Women and children. lamp in
hand. were forced to look on ut the
horrible scene. We ate our rice later
III the midst Of the cnrpsV", for wc mad
had nothing since morning.. When we
searched the houses we found plenty
of wine and spirit, but no ca,abics.
Captain llamann WAS drunk" CrhiH
last phrase In shorthnnd) N'rom the
diary OF Private !'hilipp Of the One
Hundred and S"vcn;yri:;hth regimen,
of infantry, Twelfth army corpse
W";n.; from Belgium IN 1916 Irwin
.S. CuLh said
"Hrit;iy what saw was this: saw
wia" areas of Belgium and France 10
Wnicli not pcnny'3 worth Of wunt'.r
destruction had bcCn permitted 10 oc.
cur, IN which th" ripe pears hung un,
touched upon the garden walls; AID
! "lw other wide areas whore scarcely
one stone had been left to stand upon
| another; whore the fields were raw
aged whore tho male villagers had
been shot in squads whore the miscr-
able survivors had been left to Gcn In
holes, like wild beasts"
Even Soldiers Horrfied
SOmr German soldiers, we arc glad
to see, showed their horror ut the foul
deeds committed in belgium.
"'Ihr inhabitants have fled in the vii
| lH"o. II WAS horrible. There w0H clot-
ted blood ON all the boards. and what
! faces one saw. terrible to behold! The
dead, GO In al, were nt once buried.
Among them wcrc many old women,
| some Old men, and Il delivered
woman. awful to see; three children
| had claSpcd each other, and died thus.
! The altar and the vaults Of the church
are shattered. They had II telephone
| there to communicate with the enemy
| This morning, September 9, all the sur
vivors were expelled, and saw four
! little boys carrying n cradle, with a
| baby five or six months old In il, on
| two sticks. All this was terrible to
| see. Shot after shot Thundcrbolt
! after thundcrbolt. Everything is given
over to pillagc; fowls and the rest all
killed. saw mother, too, with her
two children one had great wound
on the head and had lost IN eye"
| Qrom the diary Of Lance Corporal
Paul Spiclman Of the ErSntZ. first bri-
gade Of Infantry Of the Gunr,i)