We have dragged
out of every corner all survivors, one after another, men, women, and
children, found in a burning cloister, and have shot them 'en masse.'"
The following depositions on the massacres at Nomeny are made by
prisoners, one a Bavarian officer in the Reserve, the other a private in
the same regiment. The lieutenant says: "I gathered the impression that
it was impossible for the officers at Nomeny to prevent such acts. As
far as I can judge, the crimes committed there, which horrified all the
soldiers who were at Nomeny later on, must be put down to the acts of
unnatural brutes." The soldier says, "At five o'clock regimental orders
were received to kill every male inhabitant of Nomeny, and to raze
everything to the ground; we forced our way into the houses." Here is a
more detailed account of a massacre near Blamont. "All the villagers
fled: it was terrible; their beards thick with blood, and what faces!
They were dreadful to look at. The dead were all buried, numbering
sixty. Among them were many old men and women, and one unfortunate woman
half confined--the whole being frightful to look at. Three children
were clasped in each other's arms, and had died thus. The Altar and the
vaulting of the church were destroyed because there was a telephone[11]
communicating with the enemy. This morning, 2nd September, all the
survivors were expelled. I saw four small boys carrying away on two
sticks a cradle containing a baby of five or six months.
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