REPORT of Colonel von Wentzky, commanding 11th Cavalry Brigade, 5th Cavalry Division.
On the 10th August, Dragoon Regiment No. 8 arrived at Grande Rossière (2-1/2 kil. N.W. of Nives) and there bivouacked for the first time on Belgian soil, _i.e._ four squadrons of the regiment bivouacked in two detachments quite close to the village. The staff of the 11th Cavalry Brigade took up its quarters in a house. Here we found two elderly women and a young man who received us in a markedly cordial manner and exerted themselves most willingly in looking after us. We noticed that during the course of the evening young men came into the house for a short time and soon afterwards disappeared, and in the same way the young man belonging to the house disappeared.
Towards 11 o'clock in the evening I betook myself, accompanied by an orderly officer, to the bivouac of the 4th and 5th squadrons of Dragoon Regiment No. 8, which lay some 300 metres from my own quarters. When, after about 10 minutes, I wanted to return from this spot, I heard shots in various places; one could distinguish the reports of the sentries' rifles from those of other weapons. At this moment the Adjutant of Dragoon Regiment No. 8 came to me and reported that he had just been fired upon at the door of his house from a house lying opposite and ostensibly abandoned. I at once made the 4th squadron take up their rifles, and ordered Lieutenant Baron von Richthofen to surround the house from which the shots had come, and make prisoners of the persons found inside. Some minutes later the firing was renewed. Lieutenant Baron von Richthofen received a shot in the body, and died next day from the wound. Two civilians were fetched out of the house with pistols in their hands which had just been discharged; we also found in their possession both discharged and loaded cartridges. Later in the course of the night the bivouacs of Dragoon Regiment No. 8 were repeatedly fired at. According to the report of Lieutenant Nikisch there were found in the houses a considerable number of pistols, guns, and ammunition; also loose powder and quickfires, more especially in the house occupied by the 11th Cavalry Brigade.
Signed: VON WENTZKY, Colonel and Brigade Commander.