Skip to main content

terrible story of German soldiers executing Belgian civilians, August 1914.

 terrible story of German soldiers executing Belgian civilians, August 1914.



Today 109 years ago, on August 25, 1914, the German Army began ravaging the Belgian city of Leuven, including its renowned university library.


On August 23, 1914, the Germans had carried out a particularly severe massacre in the Belgian town of Dinant, executing some 674 Belgian civilians by order of the local German commander.


On August 25, the Belgian Army delivered a sudden counter-attack, forcing the Germans to fall back to the city of Leuven. 


The retreat was disorganized and in the confusion which followed, the Germans claimed they had been assaulted by Belgian civilian free shooters from rooftops, which was illegal in war as per the 1907 Hague Convention.


At 8 PM, on August 25, 1914, a shooting reportedly broke out in the streets of Leuven between Belgian free shooters and German soldiers. 


In order to set an example, the Germans began breaking into civilian homes and ravaged Leuven over the course of the following 5 days.


Civilian homes were set ablaze and some 248 civilians of Leuven were killed in the onslaught, with another 10,000 becoming refugees. Men, who weren't beaten or shot in front of their families, were deported. Over 2,000 buildings were destroyed and large quantities of foodstuffs and industrial equipment were looted and taken back to Germany.


However, the sacking of Leuven would most of all be remembered for the deliberate burning of its historically and culturally significant university library, founded in 1426. 


Approximately 230,000 books were destroyed, including 950 Gothic and Renaissance manuscripts, a collection of 750 medieval manuscripts and more than 1,000 books printed prior to 1500 (incunabulas).


The sacking of Leuven and especially its library spawned international outcry and would sow the seeds for anti-German sentiments in neutral countries in the years to come.


In total, some 6,500 Belgian civilians (and 896 French) were executed by German authorities during the First World War, the far majority in 1914.


don't forget to leave your thoughts in the comments section below.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A great story about a little bit of 'humanity' during a terrible war.

A great story about a little bit of 'humanity' during a terrible war.                                                                                      In April 1945, 2nd Lt. Peter During was a South African fighter pilot (N.7 Squadron) running missions over Italy when his Spitfire was shot down by German AA fire. He managed to crash land his plane behind enemy lines where he was immediately captured.   Whilst been escorted to a German Lufwaffe Prisoner of War (POW) camp (he was a pilot and thus his interrogation and imprisonment was the responsibility of the German airforce), he opened a conversation with his captors. He was quickly able to establish that they could already see the writing on the wall, that the war was at an end and Germany would lose it. ...
Post a Comment
Read more

He said the family were "acutely aware" there were "extremists of all sides who are keen to hijack this incident for their own ends".

The family of a man who was kicked in the head by police at Manchester Airport has appealed for "calm in all the communities", an MP has said. Paul Waugh, Rochdale MP, said the "traumatised" family wanted to make it clear they had "no political agenda whatsoever" and did not condone political violence. Anger over the video led to protests outside Rochdale police station on Wednesday and Thursday nights, with another protest also held in Manchester city centre on Thursday. Mr Waugh said the family would not be attending any protests or giving any media interviews as they wanted their privacy protected. "The strong message they wanted to give is that they have no political agenda whatsoever," he told BBC Breakfast. "They wanted me to issue an appeal for calm among all sorts of different communities in Rochdale. "We've had a history of unfortunate division in our town and we do not want to go back to those days." He said the famil...
Post a Comment
Read more

Battle of Hat Dich Begins.

 Battle of Hat Dich Begins On the 3rd of December 1968, Australians from the 1st Australian Task Force participated in the Battle of Hat Dich as part of Operation GOODWOOD.  This operation involved the clearing of Hat Dich and its surrounding areas in a three month operation which would involve Australian, New Zealand, American and South Vietnamese forces. The battle was marked by sustained Australian patrols throughout the Hat Dich area and ambushes on tracks used by the enemy. American, South Vietnamese and Thai forces also operated in direct support of the ANZACS as part of the division-sized action. Under the codename Operation GOODWOOD, the battle of Hat Dich lasted 78 days, and saw 21 Australians, one New Zealander and 31 South Vietnamese killed.  The Royal Australian Regiment, the 3rd Cavalry Regiment and 1st Armoured Regiment were subsequently awarded the battle honour award “Hat Dich”, one of only five presented to Australian units during the war. don't forget to...
Post a Comment
Read more